Page 33 of The Romance Library

Sitting so close to Theo was torture. I had to focus on not making my leg accidentally touch his, which was hard given how tightly we’d all squeezed around that table.

I’d reasoned that once it was over I could avoid him for the rest of the weekend because I assumed Theo would race back to London the first chance he got. But then Glenda and Edwin had started talking about going to a theme park, which was my idea of hell.

I’d never understood why anyone would willingly go on something that would scare the living daylights out of them. Who the hell wanted to get catapulted to the top of a questionable metal structure, then dropped back to the bottom at a million miles an hour and risk having a heart attack in the process? It made no sense.

I’d hoped that because the trip was the next day it’d be booked up, but no such luck. Of course they had two spaces for us.

So in less than an hour, I’d be on a coach, heading to one of my worst nightmares with the person who was a nightmare personified.

I already planned to arrive at the meeting place early to get first dibs on a seat. There was no way I wanted to sit next to Theo. Having to go was punishment enough.

After putting an apple, a packet of crisps and some water in my handbag, I slipped out of the hotel, then dialled Sarah’s number.

I’d texted her yesterday to tell her all about my move to Sunshine Bay but hadn’t had a chance to speak to her properly since.

She picked up after a few rings. ‘Hello, you! How’s life in your new small town?’

‘Nice. It’s way better than my bedsit and it’s nice being by the sea. Still trying to get used to this tight-knit community stuff, though. Can you believe I’ve been roped into going to an amusement park?’

‘Oh my God! I thought you hated going on scary rides?’

‘I do!’

‘I’m sure you’ll be fine. Is your hunky rival going?’

I winced, regretting the fact that I’d told her Theo was good-looking.

‘Unfortunately, yes.’

‘Oooh, more forced proximity! Love it! And with you two beavering away in the rooms next to each other, it’s practically a workplace romance. Your life right now is like a series of tropes. All we need to add now is a bit of enemies-to-lovers!’ She laughed.

‘Stop! There will be no enemies-to-lovers shenanigans with me and him. I have to focus. I did a lot of research today, but I’ve still got so much work still to do.’ I blew out a breath as I thought about the stuff I’d found out so far.

What I’d attempted to communicate in the meeting was true. Romance was one of the biggest genres in the world. The most recent figures I found valued the romance market at something like $1.44 billion, which was huge.

That at least showed there was a demand for romance books in general. The challenge I had now was trying to work out how that showed that there was demand for this library—and how I could make money from it.

With Mrs Davis’s extensive book collection, at least I wouldn’t be short of books for people to borrow.

Then again, although she had a lot of books, most people liked to borrow the latest novels, so it was possible that if a lot of her collection was, say, ten, twenty or thirty years old, apart from some classics, it might not interest readers.

I’d have to have a budget to keep stocking the newest and most popular releases, which would have the most demand, and that wouldn’t be cheap.

The trouble was that whilst I thought a million pounds was a lot of money, now I was starting to realise it’d only cover the cost of buying Seaview High, some basic renovations, furniture and the running costs for the first few months. I’d still need to find a way to pay for heating, electricity, furniture and probably at least one other full-time member of staff to cover my day off long-term.

So I’d spent this morning brainstorming how to bring in some extra revenue. Mrs Davis had suggested in that letter that I could sell books, but I’d never ordered any for a shop before, so I wasn’t sure if I needed a minimum order. Then we’d need some sort of card machine and till to take payments and I had no idea how much all that cost.

She’d also said she wanted the library to help people ‘find love between the walls’, but how would that be possible? If most romance readers were female and a fair amount of them were looking for a male partner, how would the library bring them together? I just couldn’t see how I’d encourage a flock of single men through the doors. And even if by some miracle I did, how would they get talking when libraries were supposed to be silent, solitary spaces?

My head was spinning. I had a lot to do if I was going to put together a convincing pitch in three weeks.

‘Sounds intense,’ Sarah said sympathetically.

‘It really is. I’m going to need to dedicate every spare moment I have to this pitch. Which was why going to a stupid theme park is inconvenient.’

‘Can’t you just say you don’t want to go?’

‘No. Edwin, the guy who owns Seaview High, made it clear that building relationships is important to him, so I suppose I just have to see this trip as part of the pitch.’

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