Page 34 of The Bookshop By the Loch

I swung round to him. “I think you’re forgetting, Mr Black, that your uncle’s bookshop has been here in Bracken Way for thirty years. If anybody should be grateful about this arrangement, it’s you.”

I found myself drowning in intense green again and jerked my eyes away.

“You seem to forget, Ms Dunbar, that you only have a year to make a success of this place. Not long in the scheme of things.”

“It’s long enough,” I snapped. “Don’t worry about that.”

I wheeled back inside. Arrogant prat!

“Excuse me?”

A hesitant, female voice made me spin round.

She was, I suspected, in her mid-forties and attractive, with a riot of dark, curly, shoulder-length hair and a scattering of freckles dancing across her nose. “I wondered if you might be looking for bookshop staff?”

I gave her an encouraging smile. “Yes, we will be.”

Her small white teeth flashed. “Oh, that’s wonderful. I’d be very interested.” She shot out one hand and we shook. “I’m Chloe Fleming. I live locally. I used to work full-time in a bookshop in Edinburgh.”

My smile widened at her evident enthusiasm. “I’m Lexie Dunbar, the new manager. Wow. That must have been interesting. Do you work at the moment?”

Streaks of colour appeared on Chloe’s creamy cheeks. “No. I have two teenage sons at Bracken Way High School and now that they’re older, I’m keen to get out of the house and back to work.” I drank in her bright trainers and the chunky silver rings on her hands. “I love reading and I’m a real book lover. I can supply you with references?”

Chloe proceeded to delve into her bag and produced a pale blue folder, which contained copies of references from her old bookshop, Chapters.

Chapters was a very prestigious bookshop in Edinburgh, located just off Princes Street. It featured vaulted ceilings, spiralling staircases and the sheer volume of books they sold was staggering. Their staff were well-trained and didn’t get through the door unless they showed a real enthusiasm for reading.

I scanned Chloe’s references.

They were exceptional and spoke about her being “very well organised”, having “excellent communication skills” and possessing “a genuine love of books, which is infectious”.

Talk about a blessing! I think I was looking right at one.

I read on about her winning employee of the month four times for her innovative ideas, which ranged from prize-giving read-a-thons to draw in younger readers to literary events up at Edinburgh Castle.

I could feel her trying to read my expression. I looked up and smiled. “The job is yours, Chloe. If you want it. It’s a full-time position, though.”

Chloe’s face split into a huge grin and she began nodding her head so hard, her curls jumped everywhere. “Seriously? Yes please! Oh, thank you, Ms Dunbar. Thank you so much!”

“Please call me Lexie,” I beamed back at her. “If you give me your contact details, I’ll get back in touch with you. Would you be able to start straight away?”

There was more frantic head nodding. “Of course. You just tell me when.”

We shook hands and I watched her virtually pirouette out of the shop. I almost joined in.

Chapter Twelve

Tobias and I managed to just about maintain a strained entente cordiale, but today, much to my relief, he was out organising the delivery of his artwork and was also busy arranging for his furniture and possessions to be transported from Glasgow to his new flat here.

It was only five days now till our grand re-opening and my emotions were rolling around like a pinball machine.

Luckily, the weather had held out and there was no sign of the familiar dreich days so far that Bracken Way was infamous for, so we’d been able to sell the vast majority of the discounted books out on the pavement from the pasting table. Any that were left, had been donated to a couple of local charity shops.

Mum, Chloe and I were busy dusting the shelves, wiping down the counter and steam cleaning the blond wood floor.

The excitement ramped up as a lorry trundled its way up the high street and pulled into the kerb right outside the shop. It was the wholesalers with my new orders of the latest beach reads in romance, cosy crime and domestic thrillers.

A buzz of anticipation fired through me like a rocket. All these gorgeous new books! I couldn’t wait to slide them onto our new shelves.