Page 9 of The Cotswold Christmas Bookshop

Friend.

Friend? Isla had wanted to say out loud, but thankfully, she stopped herself in the nick of time.

They’d been inseparable for years. Teenage sweethearts. Friend didn’t really cover it.

‘Isla, this is my wife Sophia and my daughter Amelia.’

‘Hi, it’s great to meet you!’ Isla said, her voice sounding unnaturally high, feeling doubly self-conscious now. Surely Charlie would have mentioned to his wife the name of his first love, and it wasn’t as if Isla was a terribly common name. Although, it hadn’t seemed to register with Sophia at all. Perhaps Isla had meant much less to Charlie than she thought. ‘Right, so we’re taking both these books, are we? Good choice,’ she said to Amelia. ‘Let me wrap them up for you.’

Isla was grateful for something to do, putting the books through the till and wrapping them in a paper bag, before handing them over to the little girl.

‘Enjoy!’ she said through gritted teeth, wishing their perfect little family would simply get a move on and leave the bookshop.

‘Well, it’s been great seeing you again,’ said Charlie with that megawatt grin that gave nothing away to how he must be feeling inside. She wondered now if he even had any finer feelings.

It put a dampener on the rest of Isla’s day, and she wasn’t entirely sure why. Admittedly, entertaining a fantasy, however briefly, that she would reunite with her teenage love across the top of some dusty bookshelves, and they would ride off into the sunset together, had been slightly extreme, but even so, the meeting with Charlie and his lovely family had unsettled her.

Seeing his handsome face again had taken her back to being a teenager and stirred all the wild emotions she’d experienced then. Hope, excitement, anticipation, followed by a sharp reminder of the heartbreak that had followed.

It was more than that, though. It made her take a long, hard look at herself and everything she’d achieved. She couldn’t help comparing herself to Charlie and where he was in life: a great job, a place in London and a gorgeous family. Clearly happy and thriving by the looks of things. And where was she? Living in a rented flat with a leaky roof, without a job and not a romantic prospect in sight. In her spare time, she sometimes went to gigs or on nights out with friends, but she could while away hours curled up on her bed, reading her books, sometimes realising that by the end of a weekend, she had done little else. If anyone had asked her, she would have said she was happy, but looking at her life through a different perspective, through Charlie’s gaze, then maybe, some might say that she’d been guilty of staying stagnant.

She exhaled a sigh and perched her bottom on the high stool behind the counter, looking all around her, thinking there were worse places to be having her quarter-life crisis.

It was Christmas. Not the time for making hasty decisions. In the new year, she would need to find a new job, reassess her living arrangements and maybe get back on the dating apps. The very thought made her shudder.

7

‘A penny for them?’

Isla had been lost in thought when Henry came past her on his way out of the shop. He was a dapper older gentleman, always sporting a hat, along with a knowing expression on his face and a twinkle in his eye. She’d never seen him actually buy anything yet, but that didn’t matter; she enjoyed his calming presence whenever he came to visit. He would sit in one of the comfy armchairs and browse through a variety of books for a couple of hours at a time.

‘Sorry, I was just thinking about my life choices,’ she said with a chuckle, although she was telling the absolute truth.

‘Well, for what it’s worth, I think you made a very good choice in coming here. You’re becoming part of the furniture now, like me and Heathcliff. I’m certainly grateful for every day that the front door is open. There was a spell when I thought Finch’s might be closing for good.’

‘Oh good grief! That would never happen.’ Isla was quick to reassure him, but Henry was only voicing her own concerns.

‘I don’t know about that.’ Henry gave a grave shake of his head. ‘Jon and Miriam are not as young as they used to be. It would be a sad day indeed if Bramlingham were to lose their only proper bookshop.’

It was unthinkable. She was certain Jonathan would never let it come to that. Especially if she could prove to him just how popular and profitable the business could continue to be.

‘They’ve had a bad year, but I’m sure everything will be back to normal next year.’

Her gaze appraised Henry as he stood in front of her, doing up the buttons on his coat.

‘Where are you off to now, Henry? Anywhere nice?’ she asked him.

‘I go to the little café on the hill for my lunch. I usually have a bowl of soup and some crusty bread. Then I might come back here for a couple of hours before heading home. Jon and Miriam don’t mind me being here, you know? I have asked them.’

‘Of course they don’t. You’re always welcome, Henry.’

‘The thing is, I don’t like being in the bungalow on my own. Not since my Ruby died. Too many memories. It’s funny, but I can come here and I feel as though I’m amongst friends. Even if I don’t speak to anyone, although that’s always a bonus. I used to have a lot of books of my own, but when we downsized, I donated them to the charity shop. I find it comforting to be here, with so many books around me.’

Isla’s heart went out to Henry. She understood his sentiment entirely.

‘I feel the same way about books,’ she agreed. ‘Is there any better job than working in a bookshop?’ she said, more to herself than to Henry, pausing for the briefest moment to wonder if it was actually true. Henry nodded his agreement, all the same. ‘Anyway, enjoy your lunch. I might see you again later, then.’

Isla kept busy for the rest of the day, making deliberate efforts not to dwell on the experience of having come face to face again with Charlie and how that had made her feel. In fairness, it wasn’t as though she’d been pining for him all these years; it was just that seeing him again had raised all sorts of thoughts inside her head about how different her life might have been if they had stayed together.