“There’s no discussion because it’s not happening.”
“Tell that to the hottest fucking kiss I’ve ever had the honor to witness,” I said. “You sound like you’re telling yourself how to feel, instead of acknowledging what’s between you and Morrie—“
“You sound like you been hanging out in the self-help section,” Heathcliff shot back. “There’s nothing between me and Morrie except a rapidly deteriorating friendship. Morrie didn’t mean it, he was just trying to distract us all from the fact that he’s a selfish tit. I don’t want to discuss it.”
“You can’t just shut down and ignore your feelings—”
“Thank fuck, we’re here,” Heathcliff muttered, slamming open a white wooden gate with such force I heard the wood splinter. He stormed up the path ahead of me, not waiting for me to catch up.
The house was a beautiful Victorian gothic with a white lattice porch and freshly painted weatherboards. I noticed a real estate sign on the front lawn with a giant SOLD sticker across it. Shame to leave such a beautiful house. I hoped it was because the owners were going on to a new opportunity and not because of… other reasons.
Heathcliff rapped on the door. A smiling old lady wrapped in a black shawl answered and ushered us inside. “The books are through here,” she said. “Both Edward and I are terribly fond of the collection, but of course we can’t fit them all on the houseboat.”
“Houseboat?”
“Yes!” She was practically bouncing with excitement. It was adorable. “Edward and I never had much money. This big old house took all our savings to maintain. But then along comes Grey Lachlan, offering four times the worth of the property. Well, it was too good a deal to resist.”
“Grey Lachlan?” My mouth dropped open in horror. “You know that he’s a big developer. He’s going to knock this beautiful old house down and build a bunch of modern townhouses.”
“Oh, heavens no! We would never have sold if that was the case. Grey has purchased the house for his wife. He said that she was interested in building a hospitality business, and since her Jane Austen Experience ended up blighted by those nasty murders, she thought she might run it out of here. Apparently, there will be themed teas and a ball and all sorts of fancies. It sounds wonderful, and it’s nice to know the house will be on proud display while we enjoy our retirement. Well, here are the books.” She gestured into a large room with a bay window overlooking the front garden. “I’ll bring through the tea things for you.”
I stared at the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves with dread. How did Heathcliff possibly imagine we’d carry all these back to the shop? There must’ve been at least two thousand books stacked on these shelves.
Seemingly undaunted, Heathcliff started removing books from the shelves. With just a glance at the covers, he sorted them into two piles.
“Which pile is the books we’re keeping?” I asked him.
“That one.” He pointed to the smaller pile, which mostly contained railway books. “Anything about planes, trains, local history, or whisky-tasting goes in this pile. Anything that you wouldn’t be caught dead reading on the bus goes in the trash pile. Start in that corner and work your way toward me.”
I grabbed books off the shelves and sorted them into three piles. Books to keep, books to leave behind (I couldn’t bear to think of any books as ‘trash’), books to ask Heathcliff about. The third pile was by far the largest.
By the time we’d finished, we had every book off the shelves, and two small cartons of books to bring back to the shop.
The woman looked disappointed. “Is that all?”
“Yes,” Heathcliff said. He opened his wallet and peeled out three twenty-quid notes, which he handed to the lady. “Call the charity shop in Barchester. They’ll come to pick up the rest.”
“Okay. But what’s their number—” But Heathcliff was already heading down the path with one carton of books.
“I’ll call them for you if you like.” I smiled at the lady. She beamed back. “Thank you so much for letting us take a look at your collection. Enjoy your houseboat!”
“I will. Thank you, dearie.” The woman slipped one of Heathcliff’s notes into my pocket. “You’re much more friendly than that horrid man.”
He’s not horrid. He’s just been kissed by his best friend and doesn’t know how to deal with it. But I smiled and accepted the money.
I wanted to try to talk to Heathcliff about Morrie again, but he was so far ahead of me and the books were so heavy that I had to focus all my energy on putting one foot in front of the other. With every step, the weight of everything dragged against my body.
Halfway there, I dropped my box on the side of the road and slumped down beside it. A moment later, Heathcliff was standing over me, frowning.
“Why are you doing? It’s freezing out here.”
“Yes, it is.” I rubbed my hands together under my hoodie. “I’ve decided I’m just going to sit here and wait for erosion to pull me safely back to the shop’s entrance.”
“Mina.”
“The box is heavy. I’m taking a break. I’ll be fine as soon as I can feel my fingers again.”
Heathcliff set down his own box, dragged mine on top of his, and hefted both of them into his arms. “Erosion waits for no one,” he called out as he took off toward the shop in a brisk pace.
