Page 41 of Twilight at Croftwood Library
‘Well it’s either spreading the joy or people will be offended but I take your point. If it carries on like this we’ll be turning people away and that’s not good for either of us. I’d love to offer you the cinema but we’ve got bookings every evening for the event spaces even when we’re not showing a film that night. I’ll have a word with Jen at the Courtyard Café and see if she’d be up for helping. It’s the closest place to here as well which would help.’
‘Brilliant, thanks. But I’m worried now that people will think we’re being snobby or something.’
‘Nah, it’ll be fine,’ he said confidently. ‘All they have to do to be in the club is come into the library. It’s not that hard, Amy managed it.’ He suddenly looked awkward and turned away briefly.
‘And we’re assuming that they’ll prefer coming here to going to the Courtyard Café,’ said Lois, trying to get the conversation back to light-hearted.
‘Lois!’ He turned back and his grin told her that he was fine.
‘Sorry, you know I don’t mean it.’
‘I know. You’re one of the few people who understand the vast difference between a coffee house and a café.’
As Oliver began another round of coffee making, Lois turned back towards the throng to look for Linda but instead saw Amy watching her and Oliver. She flashed a tight smile at Lois, then turned her attention back to the person she was talking to although her eyes kept flicking back to them.
Even if Oliver hadn’t been too busy to join in, Lois knew there was no way either of them would have suggested sitting down together to discuss their book, it would have been a step too far. Lois had been hoping she might be able to join in with one of the groups but there was nowhere to sit down and after seeing Amy’s face, she felt a bit awkward standing at the counter and chatting to Oliver again. Instead, she began making her way around the room collecting empty cups and glasses.
She clustered all the empties she could find on the counter and then went behind and began washing up. She knew Oliver had a dishwasher but it would take umpteen loads and would make it late for him locking up if he had all this to do before he went upstairs.
‘Lois, you shouldn’t be doing that,’ he said, as he came out of the store cupboard with a fresh bag of coffee beans.
‘There’s nothing else I can do. It’s fine.’
‘I hear you went to London yesterday?’
She didn’t know whether to be annoyed that he knew that from the grapevine or touched that she had settled into Croftwood so well that she was the subject of town gossip.
‘I did. I went to see Alex. I was getting nowhere with asking him to move his things out of the house so I thought confronting him when he was sober was the best bet.’
‘And did it work?’
‘Well, we’ll see at the weekend. I’ve got high hopes though, we had a really good talk. It cleared the air so I think the game playing’s over.’
‘I’m glad. You don’t deserve to be messed around.’ He looked at her for a bit longer than felt normal and Lois was sure she could feel Amy’s eyes boring into the back of her head.
‘Thanks. I’ll go and clear some more tables now that people are starting to leave,’ she said, drying her hands on some paper towel.
‘What’s up with you tonight? You seem on edge.’ He stood in the way of her exit from behind the counter.
‘Nothing’s up,’ said Lois, pasting what she hoped was a relaxed smile on her face. ‘It’s just so busy and I didn’t expect it, that’s all.’ It said something that it hadn’t occurred to him that Amy being at the book club might be weird for her. Did he think she would just take it in her stride? If he did, he had more confidence in her than she had in herself. It was taking everything she had to try and act normally while being highly aware of how everything she did would look from Amy’s perspective. And Amy clearly felt that Lois was a threat, judging by the number of times Lois had caught her looking over at her.
But Oliver seemed satisfied with the answer and moved aside.
When people began to leave, Amy sidled over to the counter and stood next to Oliver, snuggling into his side until he bent down to kiss her. It seemed like a very clear sign to Lois that Amy was staking her territory as well as being something she didn’t want to have to watch, so she went and stood by the door instead and thanked people as they left, assuring the people who she knew had signed up to the club that the following month would be back to the promised format.
Once she left the coffee house and the adrenaline had worn off, Lois had a nauseous feeling come over her as she thought back on the evening. She wasn’t sure she could cope with that level of scrutiny from Amy. It was going to make life in Croftwood, and especially the book club, very tricky indeed.
24
When Lois arrived at the library the next morning, Linda was waiting in the doorway.
‘We’ve had an email!’ she blurted out before Lois had even taken her cycling helmet off.
‘About what?’ Lois wandered into the office to dump her bag and coat with Linda following her, clearly desperate to impart whatever news she was so excited about.
‘The Library of the Year competition! We’re through to the next round!’
‘Are we? I didn’t realise we were even in it yet. I thought people had to vote for us?’
