Aurelia frowned, thinking.
“Miss Clack… Miss Clack… She’s sort of a loner, isn’t she? She had family and was invited to their parties and things, but she didn’t really seem to take part in them—as if she only went to have something to do and a story to tell later. And I got the sense that her family only invited her out of a sense of obligation, not because they liked her or wanted to spend time with her.” Aurelia paused and looked embarrassed. “That’s unkind of me to say, isn’t it?”
“Unkind, perhaps, but accurate to my understanding of her.”
“What else, then? She likes to meddle and be in the middle of things, but she’s not, really. Like I said, she isn’t anyone’s best friend or favorite aunt or cousin. At least not that we know of, anyway.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“Oh,” Aurelia said, sighing as she tried to reflect back on what she remembered of Miss Clack from her novel and from their nights together in the shop. “For all those reasons, she doesn’t seem to share any part of herself. She just wants to be in the mix so she can judge everyone else and let them know what she thinks of things. I mean, maybe there’s more to her than that, but that’s how her author wrote her, and that seems to be how she is in the shop.”
Aurelia looked to Cuff, hoping he’d give a hint as to whether she’d guessed his theory, but he just smiled.
“I’m someone’s favorite aunt, you know,” she said warily, raising her eyebrows at him.
“I can see that.”
“And I’m not a loner. Or a meddler. Mostly. Is she supposed to remind me not to be those things?” Aurelia hadn’t expected Cuff to answer, and she kept thinking before adding, “I said she doesn’t share much of herself… I guess I’ve been at risk of that—keeping my secrets about the shop.”
Cuff nodded slowly.
“Keeping people at a distance, sharing only what I had to—” Aurelia broke off, surprised to feel her eyes stinging as tears formed.
“It’s quite fortunate, is it not, that your niece visited when she did?”
“I guess it is. Everything’s still being sorted out,” she said, thinking of Oliver and their plan to keep lines of communication open about the characters, “but I think it’s worlds better than it was before. Even though I thought it was all under control, now that there’s another option—letting Oliver, Julia, and my sister in on things—it’s much better having them know.”
“Better for them, or better for you?” Cuff asked kindly.
“Well… both.”
Cuff nodded and looked at her with pride in his eyes. Aurelia felt a little proud of herself too, knowing she’d made things right at last.
50
Aureliaforcedherselftoget out of bed in time to see Antonia off the next morning. She made a strong cup of coffee to wake herself, then found her sister already awake and showered, ready to head back to Paris. Antonia nudged Julia awake for a hug goodbye, then insisted she could make her way to the station on her own. Aurelia felt a little sad as she watched her sister walk across the square, but reminded herself that she’d see her again soon. In less than a week, Antonia would be back with the rest of her family, ready to collect Julia and celebrate Aurelia and Oliver’s wedding.
That afternoon, Aurelia decided she’d made enough progress on the final chapters of her book to meet David for lunch. Julia looked fit to burst at the prospect of being left on her own in the shop—even if only for an hour. She kept testing out sitting at the desk and standing next to it, trying to decide which would seem more welcoming if a customer stopped in while she was ‘running things.’ Aurelia suspected the shop would be quiet, which—combined with the fact that she’d be meeting David at a café just around the corner from the shop—made her reasonably comfortable leaving Julia on her own.
Aurelia had called David before driving up to Yorkshire with Oliver the week before, wanting to let him know that she was okay and that she and Oliver had sorted things out after their argument. At lunch, she thanked him again and apologized for leaving out the details of what, exactly, had caused the temporary rift.
“So everything’s fine now?” David asked.
“It is. It’s much better. It’s going to be an ongoing thing—something we need to keep working on together. But we’re good,” she added with a smile.
“Well, I’m going to keep working onyou: you two need hen and stag nights.”
“No, we don’t,” Aurelia said, rolling her eyes at the sudden and yet not unexpected change of topic. “I know you want to see us dancing on tabletops until the wee hours, but you know that’s not our speed.”
“You keep saying that, so I’ve been thinking of alternatives. What about a mild, tame pub crawl?”
“I’d probably make it to two before I passed out under a table.” Aurelia laughed. “It wouldn’t be much of a crawl.”
“How about one club—just one?”
“I don’t know,” Aurelia said, pulling a face. “Neither one of us is really the club type. We’re more the swim in the ponds at Hampstead and sit with a picnic type.”
“Done!” David exclaimed.
