‘Oh, you will?’ Ivy grinned as Quinn wondered what an influencer was.
‘I have 250k followers,’ she said and Quinn gasped. ‘I’ll make sure people fight back against this.’
‘Fight back?’
‘Aren’t you fighting back?’ a woman wearing a trans flag badge pinned to her bag asked. ‘Are you letting him evict you and close this place down? I came all the way from Scotland for this shop.’
‘You did?’
‘And I’ve been here a few times,’ a male customer said. ‘You helped my daughter come out.’
‘Hey guys, it’s me, Jenny, and I’m here at Kings & Queens, Hay-on-Wye’s only LGBTQ+ bookshop. And I’ve found out they’re evicting the owner and closing it down!’ The influencer had her phone in front of her, filming herself. ‘We must fight back against oppression and capitalist greed. When do they want you out?’
Quinn was on her screen, being filmed. ‘Uh … by Christmas.’
‘What?’ Every customer gasped.
‘No, no, no,’ Jenny the influencer raged. ‘Did you hear that, guys? They want him out by Christmas. No, we have to stop this from happening. Please let Hay council and the castle know they cannot threaten this shop with closure.’
Jenny stopped recording and instead began snapping more photos. She asked a bemused man next to her to take photos of her in the aisles, which she posed for with no shame. ‘I’m going to do a post, too. Don’t worry, you don’t have to pay me.’
‘I…’ Quinn didn’t want to finish the sentence. He had no intention of paying her.
‘Oh Quinn, this is wonderful!’ Ivy exclaimed. ‘Please, if you can, please get the word out there, everyone.’
The door opened, and a group of the town’s locals came in, each of them holding a newspaper.
‘Quinn, is this true?’
‘Are you really about to lose your shop?’
‘I’ve had my final eviction notice.’
The shop erupted in outrage, broken up by Deb and June rushing in.
‘Noah Sage has tweeted the article! Noah Sage has called for this shop to be saved!’
Ivy squealed, wrapping her arms around Quinn, jumping up and down like Noah was the saviour. She broke away from him.
‘Please, everyone…’ But voices drowned him out. ‘Can I get your attention?’ Still, no one listened to him. He stood on his counter, towering above the crowd. ‘Everyone, quiet!’
They all stopped talking. Jenny took a photo of him.
‘I appreciate you all coming here and I appreciate the concern. I appreciate the effort. But they have given me my final eviction notice. They want me out by Christmas. Is there really much we can do?’
‘Yes, there is,’ a voice from the doorway said.
Was this a pantomime?
Quinn turned; his eyes widened.
‘I’ve got the news coming here to do an interview with you for the six o’clock slot,’ Bloody Blair Beckett said, a grin on his smug and handsome face.
ChapterSixteen
By the afternoon, Hay had been set alight with the gossip of Kings & Queens. To Quinn’s amazement, everyone seemed outraged on his behalf. Many stopped by with concerns, voiced their anger, or asked how they could help. It made Quinn realise, for the first time, how important his shop was to the community and the town.
Bloody Blair Beckett stayed in the shop all day, attracting admiring glances and excited conversation from many of the customers and locals alike. Jenny the influencer disappeared, but her impact resulted in people sending emails and messages to Quinn and his shop.
