Page 20 of The Secret Christmas Bookshop
‘How long have you known him?’ Sophie asked.
‘Oh, decades now,’ May said. ‘We both grew up here, and even though he’s a few years older than me, my brother Avery hung around with him a lot, and I ended up being the annoying little sister hanger-on. But when we were older we became friends in our own right, and stayed in touch when I was in the US and he was in London. We both gravitated back here at roughly the same time, and it was so generous of him to let me move into the manor house when I got back.’
Generous?Sophie frowned. That didn’t sound like something you’d say if you were together. Maybe they’d only become a couple fairly recently. ‘Are your parents still in the village?’ She couldn’t remember May mentioning them before.
‘They moved to Cornwall about eight years ago, replacing one beautiful, hard-to-get-to part of the country with another.’
Sophie tried not to react at the mention of Cornwall. ‘What about your brother?’
‘He lives in Norwich, so he’s not too far away, and he’s a builder, so he gets around a lot of the county, depending on where the work is.’
‘It’s good that he’s close by.’
‘What about you?’ May took another bite of her doughnut. ‘I remember you mentioning that you moved around a bit.’
Sophie nodded. ‘That’s right. Staying with different foster families.’
‘You weren’t ever adopted? I hope you don’t mind me asking.’
‘Not at all.’ Sophie had made it a rule to never be ashamedof her history. It hadn’t always been great, but there were plenty of children who had suffered a lot more than her, and it hadn’t been her – or any of their – faults. ‘I was going to be adopted when I was three, but the whole thing fell through before it could happen. I didn’t know about it until I was older, and by then I’d got used to not staying anywhere for very long.’Just like Jazz, she thought. ‘Before moving here I was in Canterbury, and it was Bristol before that.’
‘What made you come to Mistingham?’
The truth was, she’d heard someone on a train talking about their magical family holiday at the Norfolk seaside. She had been living in Canterbury for a year at that point, and she didn’t feel settled there. She’d loved the thought of going somewhere a little more remote where she could enjoy the contrasts – the emptiness in the wintertime, the buzz of tourists during spring and summer.
Many people wouldn’t understand why someone would uproot their life on such a whim, but she thought May might. ‘I heard someone saying how wonderful it was,’ she admitted. ‘I’d had a day out at the seaside in Kent, and I was on the train home, listening in to the conversations around me – as you do.’
‘Of course.’ May grinned.
‘I was selling my notebooks at fairs and markets, and didn’t have anything particularly tying me to Canterbury. So I just decided – Mistingham would be where I’d head next.’
‘And now you’re here, you’ve fallen in love and never want to leave.’ May said it so easily, and Sophie felt a slow shame creep over her, even though she didn’t know what she had to be ashamed of.
‘It’s a beautiful place,’ she said blandly. And then, wanting to change the subject, added, ‘Harry told me how you tricked him into naming his dogs Darkness and Terror. They’re such ridiculous names.’
‘Headmittedit?’ May squeezed her doughnut so hard that jam squirted onto her plate.
‘Yep. Well, I had to drag it out of him – it wasn’t something he offered up with relish. It makes me a bit worried about us working together,’ she admitted, half to herself.
‘It’ll be good for him,’ May said indulgently, and Sophie wondered how much softer he was with her.
‘What will be? Having to interact with other villagers, or working with me?’
May sipped her latte. ‘Both. He came back here for a reason.’
‘What was it?’
May shrugged. ‘It’s probably best if I let him tell you that. It’s one thing to encourage him to attend village meetings, another to give away all his secrets.’
‘Secrets?’
‘To Harry,everythingis his business and nobody else’s, which is why I was surprised he told you about the dogs. He plays on his isolation. He doesn’t have any family left here – his sister, Daisy, moved away when she was eighteen and, according to him, is intent on never coming back. He doesn’t do anything to discourage the rumours about him, he isn’t prepared to meet Ermin halfway about the oak tree. He could change everyone’s opinions about himsoeasily, but he says it’s about the principle.’
‘So what’s my play?’ Sophie asked her. ‘I told him I’d be in touch, but do you think I should turn up at the manor?Ask you very nicely for his number, or give you mine to pass on to him? Or should I start planning things without him and see how long it takes him to get mad?’
May laughed. ‘If you pick that option, you might end up doing the whole thing on your own. Why don’t you give me your number, and I’ll get him to call you. Also, this way we can stay in touch and meet up for coffee and cake again, or a drink in the Blossom Bough?’
‘That would be great.’ May was good fun, and Sophie wondered why they hadn’t done this before. They’d got on well, chatting easily if they both happened to be in the pub, and whenever they bumped into each other, but they had never purposefully got together until now. She suspected that May might want to keep an eye on her now she was going to be spending a lot of time with her boyfriend, but she certainly wasn’t coming across as possessive.
