Page 84 of An Unexpected Kind of Love

“That’s it, then. He’s gone home for good.”

I show Lily my phone. She frowns and scrolls.

All I can hope is that if he’s back in America, he’s going to that audition. And then hopefully to try to sort things out with his family.

“I’m so sorry.” She squeezes my hand. Generously, she gives me the last of the ice cream.

Miserable, I just stare at her, at a loss for words. How could Blake have come to mean so much so fast? It doesn’t make sense.

“Tell you what. I’ll order takeaway. We’ll eat far too much and stay up too late watching dreadful films, drinking wine. I promise not a single romance.”

“Good, because I can’t bear it.” I sigh, eating the last of the chocolate ice cream.

…

After a couple of days at Lily’s and a plumbing repair later, I’m back at Barnes Books. While I was away, the lorry came with the rest of my boxed-up stock. With Gemma’s help, we work to put the shop back together again. Being so busy at least keeps me from dwelling every waking moment on Blake.

I take a break to go through the post that Gemma’s brought in. Bills, junk mail…and a seemingly innocent letter till I open it up. The letterhead is from one of my competitors, a mega bookshop chain.

Dear Mr. Barnes,

We admire the work that you and your family have put into Barnes Books for over fifty years, a fixture in Soho. Your bookshop is a well-recognized brand.

To that end, we are pleased to offer you a bid for the shop, with financial details enclosed. We would like to operate this shop as a satellite location to our franchise, and hope that you would be willing to stay on as the branch manager for continuity.

Please respond at your earliest convenience.

Kind regards,

Percy Green

My eyes widen, chest too tight. Indignant and relieved, I stare at the stupid letter for a long time before shoving it in my ledger and slamming the drawer shut.

It could be an out, selling this place and walking away from the constant financial stress.

Except, I’d be letting my parents down. And letting myself down too, after everything I’ve worked for. And sacrificed.

It’d be failure.

But, if I take their offer, it’ll take care of the bills. I’d no longer have to worry about the next thing to break, because how on earth is an indie shop supposed to survive when there’s a major chain with every book known to humankind?

…

Aside from the new floors, the only new thing in the bookshop is the rich aubergine paint. The street’s restored back to its usual self, without sign of any filming-related inconveniences or hassle. It’s back to the usual hum of traffic and flocks of tourists during midday in the summer.

And my phone stays silent. No messages from Blake.

Alice Rutherford confirms that the filming’s wrapped when she sends me payment for using the shop as a film location and makes sure that the repairs are done to my satisfaction. Everything has a sense of finality to it.

As with the filming chaos, the heatwave’s also gone from the height of summer. Along with the heat sparked inside me that Blake brought into my life.

Sensing my dark mood, even Gemma doesn’t give me a hard time like usual as we work. And when I work on the poetry section, alone, kneeling on the floor, I find the book of poetry Blake returned that first day, complaining about the poet’s bad Twitter behavior. I flip it open and a piece of paper falls out.

It’s tough to get your attention, but a man’s gotta do what he must. Even if it that means puttingBrideshead Revisitedin the Comedy section andThe Song of Achillesin Romance.

Call me sometime?

Followed by his initials and number.

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