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I look around, embarrassed that people might think it’s a ridiculous thing for someone to consider when they have no experience or knowledge of business.

“It would be a big undertaking,” Blair says slowly. “But very rewarding, I would think.”

“You have years of accounts to show the bank,” Emma says.

“Would John sell to you?” Carter asks.

“He asked her yesterday whether she’d buy it,” Mitch announces.

“He was just joking,” I say awkwardly. “I couldn’t do it. I don’t know anything about business.”

“Nobody knows more about books than you,” Harri says enthusiastically.

“I’d show you everything I know,” Emma states.

“Should take all of five minutes,” Ollie teases.

She throws him a sarcastic glare as everyone laughs and turns her back on him. “I meant about running a business,” she says to me. “I do it all for the café. Honestly, it’s not rocket science.”

“I could help with the legal side of things,” Blair says. “I’m going to see John on Tuesday morning. Maybe you should come along and talk to him about it.”

“Goodness.” My heart’s thundering. “I need to think about it.”

Emma chuckles. “Okay, I’m going back to the café.”

“Yep, and we’d better get on,” Harri says, gesturing at the sorting tables, and she and the other girls head back to their task.

Jake’s already left, but Ollie and Carter return upstairs to continue moving boxes, while Bear stops to talk to Mitch about the damaged water tank.

I start rifling through a box of books, but I can barely breathe.

I don’t have enough money to buy the shop. I don’t know how much it would be, but everyone keeps talking about the rising property market. I have a little savings. But I’d need that if I was ever to buy another house for me and Millie.

Although of course the shop has a flat above it…

It’s an established business, with years of accounts to prove it breaks even, at least. And I’m convinced it would make much more if it was renovated and laid out differently. But where would I get the rest of the money to buy it, let alone for renovations?

I’m just a housewife. I don’t have a degree, and I don’t have any business experience. If I get excited, I’m just going to end up disappointed.

Best to forget about the idea, and concentrate on the task at hand.

Chapter Twelve

Mitch

By the end of the day, all the boxes have been brought down and stacked in the shop. We’ve taken the damaged ones to the skip, and they’ve also helped me get rid of a lot of the other big stuff, like the sofa and chair, the old TV, and the stained mattress.

The guys are exhausted, but happy to have helped.

There’s a lot to do in the flat. It needs to be cleaned from top to bottom, the water damage has to be repaired, and then it’s desperate for a fresh coat of paint all the way through. But that’s for next week.

I go downstairs to see everyone browsing through the boxes. The sorters have got through maybe a third of them, and people are picking books up and flicking through them, laughing and talking about what they’ve found.

Then I see a very animated Vix gesturing to a few of the girls. I walk over and say, “What’s going on?”

Vix turns and holds up a book. It’s an old copy of The Hobbit, bound in light-green cloth.

“Nice,” I say. “That’ll fetch quite a bit, I’d think.” The fact that it and The Lord of the Rings were all filmed in New Zealand has made it super popular over here.