Page 48 of Unapologetic Love Story

‘Why are you down here?’

She made a noncommittal sound. ‘One of Pepper’s crushes sent her a “you up” text and I didn’t want to go home just yet.’

‘You don’t like crowded places.’

It wasn’t a question. Raina tapped her temple with the pad of her finger. ‘Sensory overload. I can feel a shutdown coming. I’m better off somewhere cool and quiet.’

I’m better off wherever you are, Raina.

‘I used to hide down here all of the time, when I worked here,’ she added.

‘Oh, really?’

‘Either because of some creepy dude who wanted to follow me home after my shift or because some polished Chelsea lady wanted to bully me. Maybe a bad engagement party. Or just exhaustion.’

She closed her eyes and leaned a little closer to the ice.

‘It gets so bloody hot in this pub,’ she added. ‘This is the only place you can be cool. I used to wear the most ridiculous shorts because anything else would make my legs sweat like mad. Not very attractive.’

‘I don’t believe you.’

‘Believe it. What were your crappy jobs?’

She opened a packet of crisps, offering some to him. He accepted.

‘I had a paper round back in Scotland,’ he admitted. ‘Small town, everyone knew each other. People would stop me for a morning chat, so it took about four hours to get everyone their newspaper. I got sacked.’

Raina laughed.

‘When I moved to Cambridge, I couldn’t balance classes with a full-time job but I needed the money, so I wrote essays for people.’

Raina’s mouth dropped open in comical disbelief. ‘The King of Cancel Culture took money to ghost-write essays?’

‘Rich kids needed free time to party, I needed the income.’

‘My God.’

Tom smirked at her pretending-to-be-shocked tone of voice. ‘Then I moved to London and did some terrible internships during the working week and sold books on the weekend.’

‘Out of your car?’

‘In a shop.’

‘Which shop?’

‘It was in the financial district. Not there any more. Bankers got their shoes shined just outside during the week, but on the days I worked, it was pretty dead. Mostly families with young children, and tourists.’

‘I bet you were the perfect, taciturn bookseller.’

‘My first day, a guy came in and asked which one hundred books would look best on a shelf for the back of his YouTube videos.’

Raina made a noise of incredulity. ‘Oh, no! That’s horrendous.’

‘Yup.’

‘And thus, the avenger of the internet was born.’

They both laughed.