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‘I promise to work hard and make sure the library is a success now and always. And I promise it’llalwaysbe a town with books. Because without books, without that escape, the world is a lonely place. Well, that’s what I thought until I moved to Willow Grove and met a very special man called Finn Ford. And now I get to live like a romance novel come to life. None of this would have happened without you all.’
The crowd in the library cheer. I’m overwhelmed with hugs before everyone heads to the lounge area for refreshments.
‘So you’re staying?’ Maisie asks with a smile.
‘If you’ll have me?’
‘No question! Alfie and his friend Levi have talked my ear off and that old computer went on the blink and there was another lot of problems that are above my pay grade.’
‘We can work on them together.’
She scratches the back of her neck. ‘I’m really sorry I went digging into your life like that. I could just tell you weren’t who you said you were and I was curious to know why. When I found out you weretheEllie Astor, I saw red. I saw someone with more power taking over again. It reminded me of Gran, being forced into retirement after working here so long. I was never going to tell anyone. OK maybe I was until we had that chat the day you left. You were so nice, even then when you didn’t need to be. I guess I was jealous too. There’s me having barely enough money at the end of every week to survive, not enough to buy Alfie’s fancy biscuits for him, and you swan in here for what I thought was some kind of experiment to see how the other half live before you go back to your fancy life.’
I give her a hug. ‘I suppose it was like that in way, Maisie, but it wasn’t to see how the other half lived; it was because I yearned for that life too. I wanted to meet people and get to know them under my own steam, not because of my parents’ accomplishments. And trust me, that so-called fancy life is over-rated. I’m so much happier here.’
‘I can see that now. And I’m sorry that I made your life so hard. I promise to do better.’
‘We both will. Did you get the funding paperwork in OK?’
She grins. ‘Not only that but they’ve approved it already. They’ve been following Finn’s articles about the People Library and want to discuss you potentially doing the experiment in other libraries too.’
‘If it helps save them, I’m all for it, but perhaps we can make them a dossier on how to go about it. I’ve found my place and I’m not leaving.’
‘Glad to hear it!’ Maisie says with a warm smile. ‘Now I better help Sofia with the refreshments, or we’ll have anarchy on our hands. Harry’s daughters have travelled hours to get here for this and if everything isn’t perfect with the set-up Sofia will never forgive me.’ Harry’s daughters are visiting? My heart expands with happiness for my friend.
It’s wonderful to see such a change in Maisie. I know how hard it is to own up to mistakes. She’s still so young and having lost her gran in the midst of it all added to her burden. I’ve got a feeling we might just make a successful duo, after all.
‘So, I feel like the general consensus is that you’ve worked wonders here,’ Finn says, wrapping his arms around me.
‘Without the bravery of the human books sharing their stories, I’d never have been able to share mine. And what a waste that would have been for the man who stole my heart never to have known just how much I adore him.’
‘Is this the part where we kiss?’
I laugh.
‘I thought books were all I needed but it turns out romance is a lot better off the pages,’ I say and kiss him hard like I mean it. I kiss him with every ounce of love I feel for the guy, knowing how lucky I am that a jumble of twenty-six letters led me here to him.
