Antonia laughed at them both.
“I’ll be back in London next week anyway. In the meantime, I should get home and make sure Max and the boys haven’t let the house collapse around them.”
“Don’t leave just yet,” Aurelia pleaded. “One more day?”
“Alright, alright,” Antonia agreed.
Julia let out a dramatic sigh, as though one more day with her mother would be a misery, but it wasn’t very convincing since she couldn’t hide the smile on her face.
46
Aureliahadhopedtospeak with Oliver alone when he got back that afternoon, thinking it might be better if she broke the news to him one-on-one about the camera experiment and Julia’s request to stop any further efforts to see or hear the characters during her visit. Instead, Julia bombarded him as he reached the top step into the flat and told him everything.
“I know it’s unfair for you and Mum,” she said after she’d explained about their failed attempt to capture the characters on video. “But I think—and Mum and Aunt Aurelia agreed—that we shouldn’t do any more experiments for now.”
Oliver nodded slowly.
“I don’t have much time left,” Julia continued, “and—”
“I know,” Oliver said. “You want to work out why the characters are here.”
He smiled and Julia ran over to hug him.
“You’re the best! I knew you’d understand.”
Just then, Antonia came out of the guest room.
“What did I miss? Did you tell him about the camera?”
“I did. And he promised no more experiments.” Turning to Aurelia, Julia added, “So we’ll go down tonight?”
“Oh… You can go down tonight. Maybe I’ll stay up here and—”
“Don’t stay away on my account,” Antonia said, walking past Aurelia and squeezing her hand meaningfully before pulling Julia into the living room.
Oliver watched as they walked away and then looked back at Aurelia, his eyebrow raised.
“Something from earlier,” Aurelia said quietly.
She was about to explain when Julia called out from the living room, asking if they could watch aJane Eyreadaptation she’d found. Oliver smiled as Aurelia rolled her eyes at the monster she’d created.
“Could we talk later?” she asked, stepping closer and running her hand down his arm. “Just you and me? I feel like we haven’t had a minute alone together in too long.”
“We had dinner together the other night,” Oliver reminded her as he took her hand in his. “But I’ll happily steal another minute alone with you.”
After dinner and a viewing of theJane Eyreadaptation, they’d all chatted for a bit, winding down the time until midnight. Julia and Aurelia changed into character-approved clothes, and then it was a quarter to midnight, and Aurelia and Oliver still hadn’t had their minute alone.
“I know it’s late,” she said, pulling him aside as Julia said goodnight to Antonia. “But maybe we can chat now?”
“What about the characters?”
“They can wait,” she said firmly. “Julia can entertain them for a bit.”
Once she explained to Julia that the delay didn’t need to stop her, Julia was happy enough to go into the shop alone. Oliver followed them down the stairs, and Aurelia closed the door behind Julia before taking his hand and pulling him onto a stair next to her.
“This seems serious,” he said softly, stroking his thumb over the top of her hand.
“It’s not. Or maybe a little. It’s just… Every time I feel like I’m done processing that I’ve told you about the shop and that you and Antonia know about it, there’s some new feeling or thought that makes it feel like I’ll never finishing processing it.”
