‘Yes,’ Quinn said. ‘When?’
‘I can stop by within the hour.’
Quinn was about to answer when the bell above the door tinged. He turned to see who was coming into the shop, and he almost dropped the phone.
That familiar stopping of time hit, where the snow no longer fell outside, and the voice of Emma on the other end of the phone disappeared. Noah stood in the doorway, his eyes locking with Quinn’s. They were no longer in the shop, but in the universe, surrounded by beautiful lights of red, pink, green, and everything in between.
‘Quinn? Hello?’
With a thud, time sped back into action, and Noah hadn’t been standing at the door staring at him like he thought, but somehow, he was right at the counter, and stood looking at a nearby display of books. Quinn cleared his throat, looking away, feeling embarrassed.
‘Sorry,’ Quinn said to Emma. ‘You were saying?’
‘I’ll arrive with a photographer, and he can take your photo either before or after the interview. He’ll probably want to take a few photos of the shop, too. We’ll aim to get this story out by the end of the week.’
‘Yes, absolutely, of course.’
It was something. The Hay Herald wouldn’t set the world on fire, but it was in circulation enough here in Hay for at least the locals in town to find out about it.
Emma said her goodbye, and when her voice cut, there was silence. Not even the familiar calming music that Quinn played over the speakers sank in. His own heart seemed to stop as he stood there, phone in his hand, at a loss for what to do.
‘This is a gorgeous book cover.’ Noah heldA Christmas Carolin his hand. ‘I’ve never seen it like this. The foil is such a stunning touch.’
Quinn nodded but said nothing. Damn it. Why couldn’t he speak? Say something. ‘Thank you.’
Thank you?What was he saying thank you for? It wasn’t like he had handcrafted every book cover and foiled it himself.
Noah placed the book back on the display, which Quinn had painstakingly worked on. He grimaced, and Noah looked at him. ‘What?’
‘Nothing.’
‘No, something’s wrong,’ Noah said, his hands slipping into his pockets, recoiling from the books.
‘I did the display carefully. Every book is at just the right angle. It doesn’t matter. I can sort it out.’
Noah looked at the display with a smirk, and that smirk alone was enough to make Quinn want to worship him. ‘It looks perfect to me.’
Quinn came around the counter, surprised his wobbly legs would carry him. ‘I took a marketing class, and they said that when you have a physical shop, you have to not only be mindful of how things look, but you need to take in the things we can’t see, too. You know, like the feng shui of it.’
Noah didn’t need to know that his feng shui marketing class came in the form of Ivy.
‘The harmonising of energy and surroundings. What do you see when you look at these books?’
Noah placed a finger to his chin, his forehead creasing. Quinn could watch him for hours. And that was what he did. At least it felt like he did. He stared for a long time, uncomfortably so, but Noah didn’t seem to notice or care.
Where were his academic sexy professor glasses? Never mind, they allowed Quinn to see every detail of his verdant eyes. That chin was so sharp. The jaw so defined, peppered with facial hair. His finger was thick, with creases at the knuckles and the joints. His fingernail had little white dots on them, manicured and looked after.
Quinn bit his own, a habit since childhood.
‘I see a stylish display of Christmas books for the Christmas season,’ Noah said. ‘And like I say, the foil is gorgeous.’
Quinn nodded. ‘Yes, but it is more than that. Walk around it.’
‘What?’
‘Walk around the display.’
Noah seemed hesitant, but did as he was told. He strolled like a casual observer at an art gallery, looking up and down. His eyebrows raised, and he looked impressed.
