Page 145 of The Romance Library

‘Hey, Jessica,’ Liam said, opening his arms for a hug too. He looked tall and muscular, just like he did on TV. This was so surreal. ‘Good to meet you. Congrats on the new venture.’

‘Thanks so much! This is Jane.’ I gestured towards her. Jane was rooted to the spot and now it was my turn to give her a nudge.

‘Hi!’ she squeaked. ‘I’m just going to check that Bob’s okay managing the crowds.’

‘Okay, thanks.’ I nodded. ‘And this is—’

‘Nice to see you again, Theo,’ Liam said, and my eyes bulged.

‘Hello, Liam, thanks for being here.’

‘You two know each other?’ I frowned.

‘We met in Paris,’ Theo said. ‘Through a mutual friend.’

‘Theo was gushing about this amazing woman who was opening a library. I said that was a coincidence, because my girlfriend was also opening a romance library for this brilliant female entrepreneur.’

‘Then we realised we were talking about the same library and Liam kindly asked if he thought it would help if he came along too,’ Theo added.

‘Yep. Thought it might earn him a few romance brownie points and help him win you back. Did it work?’ Liam smirked.

‘Well…’ I paused, still trying to take everything in. ‘If he’d bragged about getting you to help me, it might’ve, but he didn’t. Knowing Theo, I’m guessing he didn’t tell me because he didn’t want to take away from my big moment.’ I looked at Theo, but he didn’t say anything, he just smiled.

‘What a gent.’ Liam nodded his approval. ‘That alone is a reason to be with him, am I right? He’s a good guy.’

‘I know.’ I wrapped my arm around Theo. ‘I would’ve welcomed him back with open arms anyway. His thoughtfulness and sweet gestures were just the cherry on top.’

‘You two are adorable!’ Mia smiled.

‘Thanks. I hope we’ll be as happy as you two. I really appreciate you both taking time out of your busy schedules to help.’ I opened the door for the library so they could step inside. I’d already noticed a few photographers hanging about, so wanted to give them their privacy until the official ribbon-cutting.

‘No worries,’ Liam said.

‘It’s a pleasure! We love romance and books, so this is a dream. I hope you don’t mind us turning up early,’ Mia said. ‘I thought it would be nice to have a look around before everyone arrived. I can take some pics and share them later on social media too if you like?’

‘That’d be… amazing!’ I gushed.

Theo and I gave them a tour of the library and they both said how much they loved it. They even offered to take a selfie with the four of us. Mia and Liam really were the sweetest.

What felt like five minutes later, Jane came inside and announced that there was only forty minutes to go until the official opening time.

When I looked out of the window and saw the crowds, I gasped. There were hundreds of people that had all gathered to see the opening of a library that I’d helped bring to life. This was crazy.

‘We’ve got fifteen volunteers from the town. Some are helping to control the crowd and the rest I’ve given different tasks to help in the library and the bookshop, so we’re ready to go. Oh, and Kara’s in the events room with Maddie. She said to pop in if you want a quick hair and make-up touch-up.’

‘Great! I’ll be there in a minute. And Jane,’ I said. ‘Thanks for everything.’

‘You’re welcome. I’m so excited to get this library open!’

Thirty-five minutes later we were standing in front of the main door, which had a big pink ribbon across it and pink and white balloons on either side.

I’d never done any public speaking before so my stomach was in knots, but when I looked out into the crowd and saw all the friendly faces of the residents of Sunshine Bay who’d given up their time to come and support me, as well as Cecil, who’d been so helpful throughout this whole process, Sarah, who’d taken time off work to be here, Jane, who’d been a godsend, and of course my amazing man, they all gave me the courage to step out of my comfort zone once again.

‘Afternoon, everyone!’

‘Good afternoon,’ they chorused.

‘Thank you so much for coming to the official opening of The Romance Library. In a moment I’m going to hand you over to one of the most romantic couples I’ve ever met, Mia Bailey and Liam Stone, to cut the ribbon.’ A crowd of women screamed like groupies. ‘Oooh, looks like you have some fans!’ I joked and the audience laughed. ‘But first, I’d like to take a moment to honour the woman who made this possible: Mrs Meredith Davis. Sadly she’s no longer with us, but her dying wish was to create a romance library so that more people could discover the joy that comes from reading romance. She trusted me to bring her legacy to life, and I hope she’s looking down right now and thinks that I’ve done her dream justice. Anyway, enough from me. Please put your hands together and give our very special guests a very warm welcome. Ladies and gentlemen, Mia Bailey and Liam Stone!’

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