Page 84 of The Midnight Book Club
Aurelia caught his eye and saw that his expression was heavy.
“Once you have removed my old book from your table, promise me you will not put it back again.”
“I’m not sure I can make that promise,” she said, stunned by his request.“What if you don’t come out of your new book?What if I never see you again?”
“As Marmee said, you will know from the other characters in my new book that I am well and that we have succeeded in changing the course of my life for the better.”He paused, waiting for her to meet his eyes before continuing.“I look forward to living the new life you have created for me, and to letting go of the past.”
She knew he was right, but it was hard to accept the possibility of losing someone who’d come to feel like family.
“If I do not return to the shop, you must not think of my loss as something to grieve over, Aurelia.You have truly given me a gift, and we must both ensure that I make good use of it.”
Words failing her, she nodded her understanding.They looked at each other for a long moment, then she attempted a smile.Turning back to her desk, they kept working on his new story, sobered by the knowledge that their progress was also bringing them closer to what might be his last night in the shop.
49
Vronsky’spotentiallyimminentdepartureovershadowed Aurelia’s thoughts until lunchtime the following day, when she had the idea to take a break and head out for a walk.That’s when she remembered: she’d promised to walk with Oliver in just over an hour.She felt nervous but told herself that they were only going to talk about her book.They’d done that plenty of times before—over lunch, over coffee, while sitting in her shop—so throwing in some exercise wasn’t a big deal.It didn’t make it a date, she reminded herself.
She was a few minutes early when she arrived at Russell Square, so she took a seat on a bench and watched people passing by.Some looked like they were cutting through the square on their way to or from work, others were sitting on benches chatting on the phone or reading a book, and some were walking dogs.One little dog caught her eye, and she couldn’t help but laugh as he bounced around the grass, chasing pigeons and dragging along whoever was at the other end of the lead.The dog was an absolute mutt—it was short as a corgi, had blond fur that was wiry like a Jack Russell terrier, and was as goofy as a labrador.Completing the picture were floppy ears and a tail that was almost as long as its body.
As the dog came nearer, Aurelia looked up to match the dog with its owner in case she might want to use them in a story.
“Oliver?”
“Yes, hi.I’m sorry.”
He didn’t say for what, but then the dog began jumping at Aurelia, pawing at her legs as it tried and failed to jump up on the bench next to her.Aurelia bent down to pet it, laughing as it tried to lick her hands and face before turning to Oliver, circling around his legs and nearly tripping him with the lead, then doubling back to Aurelia to say hello again.
“This… This is not your dog.”
It couldn’t be.Oliver was reserved, always careful with his appearance, and this dog was… chaos and joy and likely to cause a mess.
“It is,” he sighed.“I was going to leave him at the office, but someone asked if I was going for a walk and he got too excited for me to leave him.”
“Did you?You got too excited?You wanted to come and join us?”Aurelia’s voice automatically took on a higher pitch, the same way it did when she talked to her father’s dogs (but never Fezz, who demanded a much more sedate tone).
“You have a dog,” Aurelia declared as she looked back at Oliver.
The fact of it was startling, like learning that Oliver wasn’t an editor at all but a race car driver.It didn’t compute, not least because the dog was all jumps, licks, and tail wags.
“What’s your name?”she asked the dog as she squatted down to try and pet him as he hopped all around her.
“It’s, um, Biscuit,” Oliver answered for him.
“Biscuit?What a very silly name for a very silly dog!”Aurelia gave the dog a few more rubs on his sweet little head before the dog’s name finally sank in.“Biscuit?Really?”she asked Oliver.
“It wasn’t my idea,” he said morosely.
Aurelia’s laughter began as an uncontrollable giggle before exploding into a burst of noise.
“No, I imagine it wasn’t,” she managed to get out.
“I’ve tried everything else starting with a B—Billy, Beau, Buster, Buddy—but he won’t answer to any of them.”
“Only Biscuit will do, eh?”Aurelia asked the dog before standing up.
From his name to his blond fur, Biscuit couldn’t be further from the dog Aurelia would have imagined for Oliver.
“You have a dog,” she said again.
