‘Okey-doke,’ Annie said. She’d had Mrs Griffiths’s number in her phone since uni and they always exchanged holiday greetings, so it didn’t seem strange to send the photos now. Harri’s mom was always nice to her.
She figured while she was in the messaging app she could try reaching Cassidy again. Harri was watching her, but if she was quick he wouldn’t know she still persisted in trying every few days.
No response came, other than the ‘heart eyes’ emoji from Mrs Griffiths and a ‘Have fun you 2.’ Annie turned the screen to show Harri and he broke into a grin.
She loved his smile. A tiny thought nudged into her mind, something about how lucky Harri was to not only have tawny brown Welsh eyes but a really good mouth too, with full lips and a strong Cupid’s bow.
It was then that the bookshop door opened.
The booksellers abandoned their cups on the cafe counter and bounded under the low door onto the shop floor, Annie whispering, ‘I’m serving this one!’ as she went.
‘Hi!’ she greeted the smiling woman, who was half inside the shop, shaking her umbrella into the courtyard.
She was about their age, Annie guessed, as well as small with dark hair and decked out in waterproofs like a mountaineer. Annie had her figured for a local before she even introduced herself as Jude Crawley, the bookings manager and treasurer for the Borrow-A-Bookshop community charity. She handed over a carry-container with a glossy brown cake inside.
‘Chocolate ganache gateau. Figured you might need something to sell, since the weather’s not great for nipping out to buy ingredients. I bake a wee bit.’ Jude’s accent was softly Scottish and her eyes genuinely smiling and bright.
‘I bakea wee bitsounds like an understatement to me,’ Annie cooed as she held the tub to her face like a kid examining the goldfish they’d just won at the fair. ‘Thank you! Do we owe you money?’
‘Nope.’ Jude shook her head. ‘It’s all part of the volunteer scheme. You’ll meet us all in the end, no doubt. Apologies in advance for that. Maybe you don’t know about the phenomenon of the Great British Busybody? There’s one behind every door in Clove Lore.’
This made Harri’s eyes widen. ‘Should we be worried?’
‘They’re a lovely lot, just a wee bit prone to getting overinvolved,’ Jude replied, before diplomatically clamping her lips shut.
‘I’ll look forward to meeting them,’ Annie said with conviction.
Harri didn’t look quite so sure. ‘Do the volunteers know anything about drumming up trade on a rainy day?’ he asked. ‘You’re the first person through the door this morning.’
‘Hmm.’ Jude considered her answer. ‘We’re a pretty inventive lot in Clove Lore. In quiet times we tend to put on special events to bring folk into the village.’
‘Special events?’ echoed Annie, already liking the sound of this.
‘Yeah, it’s kind of our thing, having such a small population in the village. We rely on tourists and visitors from all along the coast.’
Jude evidently noticed Harri’s brow furrowing at this, so she added quickly, ‘Like the kids’ poetry sessions every Wednesday. Austen Archer runs those, so you’ll soon meet her. It used to be a storytelling session but now she’s our resident poet, so…’ Jude’s shoulders bobbed. ‘And towards the end of summer we have a book festival kind of thing, anything to sell tickets and get people into the village, supporting local businesses.’
‘All right,’ Annie said, perfectly happy with this. ‘Should we be doing our own event?’
‘There’s nothing stopping you, if you want to. We can put word out through our channels. By which I mean Minty and Mrs Crocombe. They’re better than any Facebook ads or billboards for spreading news, I’m telling you.’
‘More volunteers?’ Harri hazarded.
Jude drew a deep breath. ‘Village matriarchs, more like, but yep, they run the whole show. You’ll see.’
Annie was deep in thought.
‘You know?’ she began. ‘Back at the middle school library where I used to… I mean, where I work…’ she corrected herself. ‘I hosted a silent reading club. Would local folks come to something like that?’
Jude nodded keenly. ‘You mean people gathering to read, here in the shop?’
‘Yep.’ Annie gripped the cake tub closer as she mulled it over. ‘Except in school we encouraged the older kids to come along, pick out a book and park themselves any place around the library. I’d make ’em turn off their cells. There’d be plenty talk, but when the bell rang, they were all talked out and ready to read. Ah, it was so fun!’ She knew she was getting swept away and tried to dampen it down. ‘Then, after, they’d talk about their books some, before their folks’d bring them home.’
Jude was impressed. ‘I wish I’d had a school librarian like you. I bet your Head loves you.’
‘You’d think.’ Without missing a beat, Annie shifted the focus away from her. ‘So, what do you reckon? The Borrow-A-Bookshop silent reading club?’ She spread a rainbow with a hand in front of her as though the words materialised in the air. ‘For one night only. Bring your own book, or buy or borrow one of ours.’
‘I’m in,’ said Jude. ‘And you could sell drinks.’
