8
Aureliasatattheirlittle dining room table the next morning, looking out over the square with a cup of tea in hand. Julia had wanted to work in the shop again that day, but Aurelia decided to let her sleep in a bit so she could revise a few more pages ahead of her deadline. With those few pages done, however, her mind had shifted back to her encounter with the characters the night before.
She’d been able to get downstairs without any trouble—Oliver and Julia didn’t stir—and had been pleased to think she might be able to keep up her visits during Julia’s stay. After a while, she’d talked to Jane and Rochester, and had told them that her niece was visiting and was reading their book. Rochester got a kick out of that and welcomed Aurelia to ask them questions, which she’d already been formulating in her mind. She mentally logged their answers so that she could remember each one as Julia got further along in their book.
Correctly assuming that Julia would need a solid amount of time to get herself up, dressed, and ready given how she’d been dressed and made up the day before, Aurelia stood from the table and went to wake her. Once Julia was lodged in the bathroom for what promised to be a good long while, Aurelia headed toward her own bedroom to pull herself together for the day. Passing the guest room, her eye caught on something tangled up in Julia’s unmade bed: a stuffed animal. Aurelia recognized it as Julia’s favorite from childhood, and smiled at the object that belied her niece’s efforts to grow up too quickly.
Mark stopped by that morning, giving Aurelia a chance to introduce him to Julia. He’d been a longtime customer of the shop, ever since Aurelia’s aunt Marigold had owned it, and now he’d become good friends with Aurelia and Oliver. Julia was polite in the way that children are when they’re not really invested in getting to know a random adult they may never see again. After a few minutes, Aurelia set her to dusting the bookshelves so that she and Mark could chat.
“How is Rebecca doing?”
“She’s good. She was asking when you’re going to host another book talk?”
Aurelia had started a lecture series the year before and now held monthly events at the shop.
“Not until the fall. We’re taking a break for the summer, mostly because I don’t think many people would willingly sit inside when it’s so hot.”
“It’s always been warm in the shop in the summer months,” Mark agreed with a smile and a nod to the open door. “Oh, I can’t leave without asking: Rebecca wasn’t sure what to wear to the wedding. Should we be formal or more casual?”
“As casual as you like. We’ll just be across the street in the square for the ceremony, then a few minutes’ walk from there for dinner. I’ll be a little dressed up”—Aurelia smiled—“but we’re telling everyone to be comfortable.”
After he left, she sat at her desk to pay a few bills in between helping customers, and Julia settled in on the window seat on the mezzanine to read. Aurelia was happy to see her digging intoJane Eyreand left her to it.
9
Beforetheweekwasout, Aurelia and Julia had fallen into a routine. Julia did light cleaning around the shop, sometimes with gusto and sometimes reluctantly, depending on how hot it was. She’d even begun ringing up customers at the register, which she seemed to enjoy.
With Julia helping out in the shop, Aurelia had more time to write, which slowly started to ease her tension around the deadline Louisa had set for her. That release of pressure was a magical thing, giving Aurelia a chance to find her rhythm with writing again. There weren’t so many edits to make after all; it had just seemed like a lot of work when there was a time crunch attached to it. But the deadline seemed manageable now, like she’d have no problem turning in an updated draft on time, which was a welcome relief.
Less welcome was Oliver’s impending departure for his trip. They’d been apart before, but this time Aurelia felt a strange uneasiness, like she needed him with her just now. The night before his trip, their friends David and James took Julia to a show in the West End, giving the near-newlyweds a night to themselves. David and James had introduced Aurelia and Oliver, and were over the moon knowing that their matchmaking had been successful.
Aurelia and Oliver had agreed to have just one glass of wine at home before leaving for dinner, but that plan went out the window once Aurelia started kissing him. An hour later—having missed their dinner reservation—they were wrapped around each other in bed, Aurelia holding him a little too tightly.
Oliver kissed the top of her head, then pulled at her arms to loosen them.
“Think you can pin me here and I won’t be able to leave?” he asked, laughing softly.
“Would that work?” she asked, squeezing him tighter before easing her grip.
“You’ve been anxious about this trip. Is everything alright?”
“I don’t know what it is… It’s just a feeling. I want you here.”
“Can’t live without me? That’s a good sign since we’ll be making it permanent soon.”
“Julia’s readingJane Eyre—that’s the book she picked to read first.”
“Okay…”
Oliver waited, knowing she would eventually link up those two distinct lines of thought.
“I was skimming through it again, and I found this scene where Rochester goes out of town the night before the wedding. Jane feels off all day while she waits for him to come back. She senses something’s wrong but can’t put her finger on it. And of course, she’s right. Something’s very wrong, but she doesn’t know what it is yet.” Aurelia paused before finishing, “That’s how I feel.”
“I promise I don’t have a mad wife living in the attic,” Oliver said in a very serious tone.
“There’s no attic here. Maybe you’re hiding her somewhere else?”
“Alright. You’ve guessed my big secret, might as well tell you now: Jack’s been keeping an eye on her for me.”
