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The front door opens, and Ollie and Jake come in.

“Morning,” the guys say, coming over.

“Hey, boys,” I say.

“Morning.” Emma clears her throat. “Okay, I’m off. Have a great day.” She glances at Ollie, who winks at her. Her face flushes, and she dashes out of the door.

I lift an eyebrow at Ollie, who just grins. Hmm, I wonder what’s going on there?

Mitch shakes their hands. “Thanks so much for coming.”

“I can help out until twelve,” Jake tells us. “Then I’ve got to go to work.”

“And I’m on call at the surgery,” Ollie adds, “but hopefully they won’t need me.”

“Fantastic.” Mitch has a big swig of coffee. “Let’s get started.”

First, we take them up to the flat to show them the extent of the task. The expression on their faces says it all as they see the number of boxes piled up in all the rooms. Mitch looks around and blows out a shaky breath, hands on his hips, obviously upset again as he sees it through their eyes.

Part of me wonders if they’ll criticise John, which would be awfully upsetting for Mitch, but I’d forgotten they’re old friends, and they’re all nice guys.

Jake claps his hands together and says, “Right, let’s get to it,” and Ollie immediately picks up a box and starts downstairs.

Mitch meets my eyes and gives a small smile, then picks up a box, too. I do the same, and we take them down and start stacking them in the corner of the shop.

“There’s not enough room for everyone to keep going up and down,” I say, putting down my box. “So I’ll start the sorting and get everyone organised when they come in.”

Mitch nods and hesitates. “Thanks,” he says softly, and heads back upstairs.

The door opens and several more people come spilling in. Bear arrives, tall and bearded as his nickname suggests, and announces the skip is out the back, so I send him upstairs to sort out the damaged boxes.

Carter, who runs the museum next door, appears and offers to help. He’s a cool history professor with dark-blonde surfer hair, but wearing a shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a tie with dark trousers rather than shorts, which I’ve always thought is an interesting combination. Soon he’s standing at the bottom of the stairs receiving boxes from those in the flat and carrying them over to the sorting station.

Harri comes in with Cate, and I set them to unpacking the books from the boxes the guys are bringing down, while I put the labels onto the tables and start sorting the books into topics.

We soon form a well-oiled machine. Everyone’s carrying boxes or sorting through them, and the bookshop is full of conversation and laughter.

Bear brings all the damaged boxes down and takes them through the back door to the skip. Then he brings in a ladder and goes upstairs to take a look at the leaking water tank in the loft.

Dad arrives with Millie, and he goes upstairs to help sort through the boxes. I sit Millie in the corner on a beanbag and show her a box of children’s books I’d discovered. I ask her to sort through them and tell me which ones she thinks look interesting enough to sell, and she brightens at the thought that she’s being asked to help.

Blair turns up, and five minutes later, Darcey, Lettie, and Paisley all arrive together, and they immediately start helping to sort out the books.

Mid-morning, Emma comes in with trays of coffee and paper bags full of pastries and buns, so I call a break, and everyone comes into the shop and takes five while they drink their coffees and nibble on sweet and savoury snacks.

Cate goes over to where Mitch is rifling through a box of history books and says, “Hey, I found this in one of the boxes and thought you might want it.”

It’s a large photo in a frame. He holds it up, and we all peer at it. It shows John on his wedding day, with Mitch’s grandmother at his side. And they’re standing out the front of Evermore Books.

“Oh wow,” I say. “This must be just after he bought it.” I glance at Mitch, who’s studying it silently. “We should hang it on the wall,” I tell him softly.

Carter bends to look at it. “Hang on…” He takes the photo and peers at it. “Well, would you look at that.”

“What?” Mitch asks.

“There’s the original archway.” He points to the background.

Behind John and his bride, the inside of the old Maritime Exchange is clearly visible. And the archway between the bookshop and the museum is still open.