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She slings her handbag over her arm. ‘Yes, I’d like to. I’m keen to hear Sofia’s story. I might have been quick to judge her, you know.’ She dips her head as if she’s embarrassed. ‘I heard all the rumours and I thought I’d steer well clear. You don’t want to be seen making friends with people who’ve got that kind of reputation; otherwise next minute you’ll be the one on the outer, if you know what I mean?’
Small-town politics! The downright meanness of everyone listening to scurrilous rumours and ignoring a person in case their own name gets sullied. It’s hard not to shake my head at such a thing, but it happens everywhere. Here you happen to know the names of those on the edge because it’s such a small town. ‘I understand,’ I say. ‘But that’s what we’re hoping to change.’
‘What you said about the community coming together and supporting the vulnerable really touched me. And it also made me feel a wave of shame too. I call myself a Christian and yet I stood to one side and watched this happen. I intend to do better, to be better and I wanted you to know that.’
‘Thank you, Pat. I’m so happy to hear you say that. It doesn’t take much to make these changes and I know it’s already working.Our human books have enjoyed the experience and are already feeling more welcome in the town than they have in years. Like you, I’m learning too and intend to be better.’
‘You’ve done a beautiful thing. But one word of warning.’ She glances over her shoulder as if to make sure no one is listening in. ‘Beware of Maisie. She’s telling some tall tales about you. I’m sure they’re not true, and if there’s one thing we’ve learned from all of this it’s to take all this gossip with a pinch of salt. But still, she doesn’t appear to be very positive about her experiences with you and it’s building momentum in some camps.’
Oh bloody hell, Maisie. What now? ‘Thanks for the warning. Maisie has had a lot going on lately but I’ll have a word with her.’
‘Well, she’s got her reasons, I suppose. She loved her gran, you know. And her passing away like that, so recently, it knocked her for six, it did.’
Back at the library, it’s my turn to track Maisie’s every move. Why is she talking about me around town? I thought when she finally opened up to me that we’d connected, and things would improve.
She’s half-heartedly restacking shelves, shoving the books in like she wants to be anywhere but here. I flinch every time I see a book shoved so roughly. I don’t know whether to pull her up on it or if that will make matters worse, knowing thatshe’sbeen gossiped about in town, that someone toldmeabout what she’s been up to. Will we ever learn?
I decide to leave it be and try and work it naturally into a conversation later.I go to the computer to check the memberships. We’re getting close with 147 to go. My mobile phone rings so I snatch it up to find it’s Teddy calling from the Astor office.
‘Dear sister, I held my first board meeting today!’ Happiness springs through the phone line.
‘Oh, wow! How did it go?’
‘Father said he was proud of me, and Mother gave me a nod of approval.’
‘Teddy, you must have impressed the hell out of them to warrant such high praise!’
‘Right? And I got invited for a week in Ibiza with my gang of unruly mates and I turned them down. It was easy enough to do – the work here, it galvanises me somehow. I feel alive, compared to before when I had nothing to do all day, and nothing to focus on.’
This is a huge milestone for Teddy and a turning point in his life – I can feel it. I only hope they don’t pull the rug from under him by changing their minds. ‘I’m so happy for you, Teddy. I knew you could do it. It’s in your blood!’
‘Well, long may it last.’
‘How’s Dad doing? Any better?’
‘If I didn’t know better, I’d say he visited one of your ashrams and got enlightened. While he’s still visiting the cardiologist every few days, he looks as fit as a fiddle. It’s bloody weird, to tell you the truth. Maybe it’s that he’s lost a fair chunk of weight and taken up yoga. Catching him doing the downward dog is a sight I’ll never unsee.’
I laugh, picturing such a thing. ‘He’s taken up yoga! Our father?’ While Mum subsists on green tea and thin air, Dad is a purveyor of the good life. There’s not an oozy stinky French cheese he hasn’t tried.As far as exercise goes, he subscribes more to the 10,000 steps a day policy and that’s as far as it goes. A bit like myself, really.
‘Yep. Yoga and meditation.’
‘Just … wow. I’m truly lost for words.’ Is this genuine though, or is it a sick man trying hard to right the wrongs of living a frivolous lifestyle for too long? Something irks me about the whole situation. Dad finally taking his body into account, with diet and exercise, sounds like a man whose heart is in trouble.
‘You and me both. Hey.’ He lowers his voice. ‘They read about the People Library experiment. They thought it was genius. They seemed almost … like they wereproudof you.’
I take a moment to process it all. ‘Huh,’ I manage. ‘They’re really softening in their old age.’
‘I know, I know. It’s hard to believe. But thingsaresuddenly different. They want me to attend a few more social events with the promise I won’t drink. They told me they knew I hadn’t touched a drop in over six months. Did you tell them, Elodie?’
‘I did.’
‘Well, that seemed to sway them, and I promised them I could be trusted with their baby and most of all I want this to be my future.’
My heart swells with hope. ‘What did Mum say to that?’
‘You’ll do until Ellie returns.’ And the hope bursts like a balloon.
‘You can do this, Teddy. Go out and wow them! Get me off the hook.’ It feels like they’re teetering on the edge of trusting him. He needs to continue to show them how suited he is to corporate life.
