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“Hey, Leo, nice to meet you.” I go over to him and shake his hand before finally looking back at Vix. Her face is flushed, but she smiles at him and says hello.

Then she says, “I’ll leave you two to it.” Her eyes meet mine briefly, and then she runs down the stairs, back into the shop.

“Bear said you wanted to choose some paint,” Leo says, producing a colour chart. “I can go and get it for you at trade prices.”

“Terrific, thanks. Let’s take a look.”

So I pore through the colour charts, trying to concentrate on glosses and mattes, while inside my head is spinning at the memory of Vix’s soft lips pressed to mine, and her low, sexy moan that sent the hairs rising on the back of my neck.

Chapter Fifteen

Vix

For the rest of the day, my mind is a whirl. Unfortunately, the bookshop is so busy that Mitch and I aren’t alone long enough to talk about the kiss.

Even though we’re officially closed, people are constantly coming and going. A guy called Ewan turns up with armfuls of tools and tubs and says Bear McGuire sent him to repair the plaster damaged by the water leak, and he heads up the stairs.

Darcey pops in to pick up a stack of new books she’s ordered for her younger students featuring ballet positions for them to practice, and we chat for a bit about the performance at the end of the year. Blair has named her Dancer, unsurprisingly, and Darcey is wondering whether we can coordinate our carol singing with a short performance by her young ballet students showcasing what they’ve learned this year. I think that sounds amazing—Millie will definitely want to take part—so we talk about how we might organise that, and Darcey heads off, saying she’ll tell her class tonight.

Then Carter comes in from next door to order a new book on the Treaty of Waitangi he fancies reading. While I’m making a note, he says, “Also, just wanted to say that I think you should buy the shop.”

I stare at him, surprised. “Oh. I’m thinking about it, but I’m not sure I’m experienced enough, and I don’t have millions to spend.”

“It might not be as much as you think,” he advises. “The building next door with the flat above was $480,000. I was lucky in that Mum left me some money when she died, so I had a good deposit, and I got a grant from the Evermore Historical Trust too, which helped.”

“What about Emma? How much did The Lantern Café cost, do you know?”

“Emma’s different because she bought the café business but took over the lease on the premises. I think she paid $175,000.”

“That would be a lot easier,” I admit.

“Yes, but you wouldn’t be throwing money away monthly on rent. You’d own the property. You’d be acquiring an asset.”

“I hadn’t thought about it like that,” I say honestly. “I’ve only been thinking of it as a risk.”

“It would be an investment in your and Millie’s future. You should talk to John. I doubt he’s going to push for a high price. You know what he’s like—it’s going to be more important to him that it goes to someone who’ll take care of it.” He smiles. “Better get back. Promise me you’ll think about it, though?”

“Oh, I definitely will,” I say with feeling.

He goes out, and the bell above the door falls quiet. Upstairs, I can hear Leo and Mitch talking, and one of them is playing music faintly on their phone, but otherwise, it’s relatively quiet.

I turn around, looking at the walls, imagining the archways through to the other shops, and how beautiful The Nook would be. How my friends would love to gather on the sofas on Book Club night. How the children would adore a bigger section.

I could have seasonal displays—pumpkins and ghosts for Halloween, strings of hearts for Valentine’s Day, and in December… oh, imagine how wonderful it would look at Christmas. John has always put up a small tree, and last year I added some homemade paper snowflakes to the windows, but I could really go to town and have a huge tree, a wrapping service, paper chains… Millie would love to help, and Lettie would get the other kids involved too.

Could I do it? Could I really own a bookshop, and make it a success?

I want this, so, so much. So what’s stopping me?

I wrap my arms around myself, trying to calm my racing heart. It’s such a huge step out of my comfort zone. I understand what Carter was saying about it being an investment, but it still feels like a huge risk. Its success would be completely down to me. Could I cope with that pressure? Or would I just be lying awake at night, counting dollars and panicking because I hadn’t made enough to pay the bills?

There are still a lot of books to sort through, so I force myself to open another box and get stuck in, but I continue to go around in circles, half of me saying I should just go for it, the other half insisting it’s the kind of dream that belongs to other people, and I should just put it out of my head.

Leo comes down the stairs and announces he’s off to buy more paint, just as Emma turns up with lunch—chicken salad rolls and some iced cupcakes. Minutes later, Cate arrives with a Mason jar full of wildflowers from her garden, which she places on the front desk. She declares her mum is working in the shop over lunch, and so she can help sort more books for an hour.

“I’ll just see if Mitch wants to join us,” Emma says, and she goes over to the stairs and yells up to him, “Wants some lunch, Mitch?”

His feet sound on the stairs and then he comes into the shop. Emma stares at him as he walks across to join us. “Holy shit,” she says.