Page 40 of Twilight at Croftwood Library
‘Maybe not in the end but we should have done it anyway. I don’t think I’d be stalking you around London if we had.’
‘I’m so sorry, Lo.’ He turned to her and took her hand. ‘I’ll come back at the weekend and move my stuff out. I’ve sorted out a proper place to live, sharing a flat with a bloke I work with.’
‘Great. I’ll be working on Saturday and at home on Sunday. Come whichever day you like. I haven’t changed the locks.’ She smiled and squeezed his hand.
‘Thanks,’ he grinned. ‘I didn’t think you would have.’
Then she wished more than anything that she had, just so that she could keep surprising him.
They travelled back down in the lift together and lingered outside the door.
‘You didn’t come all this way just to see me?’ Alex said.
‘Of course not,’ lied Lois. ‘I have a meeting at the British Library this afternoon.’ She wasn’t going to give him an ego boost by telling him the truth.
‘Maybe see you at the weekend then.’ He gave her a quick peck on the cheek.
‘Thanks for the coffee.’
‘You’re welcome. It was nice to see you.’ He looked like he meant it, giving her a lop-sided smile that reminded her of why she’d fallen for his limited charms in the first place.
She headed back to the Tube with a spring in her step. She had taken control of the situation and managed to get it resolved. Obviously, he hadn’t moved his things out yet but this time, she knew he would.
23
The coffee house was full. More than full, it was heaving. Somehow, there were far more people who had turned up for the date-with-a-book club meeting than had filled in forms. The careful pairings and list that Rosemary had prepared was being massacred by Lois as she tried to welcome and seat as many people as they could fit. In the end, they’d had to abandon the idea of pairing people and instead had dedicated an area for each book and were sending people off to find someone to discuss the book with. As a result, it quickly morphed into a more usual kind of book club where it could be difficult to join in if you were not feeling at your most confident.
Oliver was run off his feet. Patsy was working at the cinema and their other barista, Jack, had been working all day so Oliver had sent him home. He resorted to calling Amy over from chatting with her group to help him make drinks. Linda had gone to the supermarket to buy some extra bottles of wine for him and staggered through the door just as the last people had arrived. Or who Lois hoped were the last people.
‘Lois, can you pour some wine for that table over there?’ asked Oliver as he made what seemed like twenty coffees all at the same time.
‘No problem. Just let me know what else you need. I’m all yours now they’re inside.’
Even though there wasn’t room to swing a cat in the place and some people were having to sit on chairs which Amy had fetched from the flat upstairs, as Lois walked around delivering drinks to various tables she was thrilled to overhear enthusiastic conversations about the books going on all around her.
‘Good grief, Lois. I didn’t expect this,’ said Linda leaning against the counter once she’d finished waitressing as well.
‘I know. And I don’t want to sound ungrateful but a lot of these people aren’t Croftwood Library customers.’
‘That’s what I thought. There are more people in here than we get through the library doors in a month, but I don’t know what we can do about it.’
‘Well, we need to do something because this is just the kind of thing we were trying to avoid. I’d be terrified if I walked through the door tonight expecting a date with a book and one other person.’
‘Me too,’ agreed Linda, flicking her eyes over to a woman with a very loud voice who was expressing her disappointment with the book she’d read and not allowing anyone to disagree with her.
‘Hmm. I do have an idea but I need to talk to Oliver and see if he can help.’
Linda looked exhausted so Lois sent her off to perch on the end of a bench to join in the discussion of the book she’d read.
‘Hey, Oliver,’ Lois said, once he was wiping down the coffee machine and looking slightly less manic. ‘Do you think anywhere else in town would be up for hosting the book club like this?’
‘Fed up of us already?’ he joked.
‘We need somewhere quieter.’ She missed that the most, having a conversation like this with him but she was relieved that she was managing to behave normally around him. His tack of pretending nothing had happened was easier to go along with than she’d thought and now that they’d not spoken about it for a couple of weeks, the moment had passed to start hashing things out.
‘If we could just have got rid of this book club thing tonight it would have been fine,’ he said with a grin that made Lois forget for a second that she should be trying harder not to find him attractive anymore.
‘I’ve been talking to Linda about how we’ve never seen most of these people in the library and I love that so many people are enjoying it, but if even one or two more people had turned up, some of our lovely customers might not have got in. I thought if we could get another venue on the same night, we could have this as the actual date-with-a-book club where we stick to the plan and pair people up from the cards they fill in at the library and anyone else who wants to join in goes to the other place.’
