Hill.
‘Thanks so much for all your help,’ he said.
‘You’re welcome,’ I replied as he made for the door. ‘I hope you enjoy it.’
He held his fingers to his temple, saluting. Then he was gone into the drizzle.
I felt a pang of disappointment at his disappearance but heard Norris coming upstairs, so tried to rearrange my face.
‘Pass us the order book,’ he said, standing on the other side of the counter. I handed it over in silence.
‘You all right?’ he added.
‘Yeah, fine. Why?’
‘Just look a bit flustered. Where’s Eugene?’
‘Upstairs, restocking travel.’
Norris opened the book and reached for a pen.
‘You missed Mrs Delaney,’ I went on.
‘My lucky day. She buy anything?’
‘No. But someone came in to collect an order and I sold another copy of The Struggle.’
Norris blew out heavily through his nostrils. ‘I’m not sure one hardback a day’s going to keep us open. Ah, we’ll see,’ he said, closing the book and handing it back to me.
‘I’ve been thinking about this and I’ve got a plan,’ I said, straightening up and deciding to broach my ideas.
Norris’s eyebrows waggled with suspicion.
‘We need to sort out the website. And I thought about a petition. Online and in here. I’ll get everyone who comes in to sign it.’
He didn’t reply.
‘And we really should have Instagram by now, Norris. I can run it, it’s easy. And Twitter.’
‘Twitter?’ Norris barked it as if it was a dirty word.
‘It’s free marketing, quite literally.’
‘No, no, no,’ he replied, shaking his head as he made for the stairs. ‘Can’t think about all this now. I’ve got enough on as it is.’
I stuck my tongue out at his back. ‘Didn’t want to think about it now’ was always his excuse. It was maddening. And irresponsible.
Then came the noise of Eugene clattering downstairs. He dropped an armful of empty boxes on the floor in front of the till.
‘They can’t stay there,’ I said.
‘Calm down, bossy boots,’ he replied, leaning on the counter and panting. ‘I’m famished. Do you mind if I have first lunch? Not sure I’m going to make it to second.’ Lunches in the shop were divided into first (an hour at twelve thirty) and second (an hour at one thirty), decided between us every day.
‘Nope, you go.’
‘Thanks,’ replied Eugene, yawning and stretching his arms over his head. ‘See you in a bit,’ he said, already halfway through the door before I could shout at him about the boxes.
‘Men,’ I muttered to myself. At home, I lived with two sisters who never put a mug in the dishwasher; in the shop, I worked alongside men who only thought of their stomachs. I wondered which was more trying. Not that long ago, Mrs Delaney had told me that gladioli plants were asexual. Sounded a much easier life, being a gladioli.
As I bent to slide my fingers under the boxes, the doorbell tinkled behind me so I stood up quickly, aware that another customer was being subjected to my bottom. ‘Sorry,’ I said spinning around, ‘I’m just tidy— Oh, hello.’
It was the man in the braces.
‘Hello again,’ he said, grinning. His hair was damp and there were dark spots on his shirt front from the rain. ‘I only… Well, I hope you don’t mind… The thing is I don’t go around London asking women I meet in shops this, but I wondered if you might be free, or might be interested, in perhaps having a coffee with me?’
‘A coffee?’ I repeated, as if I didn’t know what coffee was.
‘Or a drink,’ he said. ‘Whatever you like. I’d just like to talk to you more about books, if you wanted?’ He ran a hand through the wet strands of his hair and looked expectantly at me.
‘Er…’ I was so surprised by his reappearance that, as if witness to a baffling magic trick, I went mute.
‘If you can’t, or don’t want to, or if you’re taken and don’t for some reason wear a wedding ring – it’s often very hard to tell these days – then forget I ever asked and I’ll never come in here again. Although that would be a shame since it’s a splendid bookshop. But if none of those things apply then I would like very much to buy you some sort of beverage – hot or cold, it’s entirely up to you.’
‘Er…’ I started again, willing my brain into action. ‘Yes, lovely,’ I said, over the top of the boxes. It was only two feeble words but it was better than no words.
‘Good. I was hoping you’d