‘Black bags under your eyes.’ Ivy peered at him like a doctor. ‘You look pale. That blue glow. Something is wrong.’
‘Noah hasn’t replied to me,’ Quinn whispered, aware that customers in the shop might be listening. ‘I don’t even know if he’s still coming.’
‘Diva!’ Ivy exclaimed. ‘No, I willnothave this.’
She rooted in her handbag and took out her phone.
‘What are you doing?’
She held up her hand. ‘Hermione, hello! How are you? Oh good, good. Yes, I’m just wondering if we are still on for today? You know … Noah?’
A pause, Ivy nodding, her expression so blank that Quinn wished he could read minds like she seemed to do. That familiar, twisting, horrible feeling inside him made him want to sit down, or drink some water, or get black-out drunk.
Then she said goodbye, turning to Quinn. ‘He left.’
‘Oh, thank god.’
The anxiety inside him melted like the snow outside. He looked at the shop again, trying to recall that feeling from yesterday, before Noah, of the smiling faces and the experience he provided for his customers.
‘No, Quinn,’ Ivy said. ‘He left for London this morning.’
ChapterThirty-Four
The customers disappeared, huffing and grumbling that something they’d been looking forward to was cancelled at such short notice. Deb and June fell to the floor with loud sobs, and refused to budge, despite getting their editions signed yesterday. But, of course, they’d shown up as promised with their other editions, forever unsigned. Quinn wondered if he’d been optimistic this whole time.
When Deb and June did move, because June needed to prepare supper, and crying too much was bad for Deb’s IBS, they left Quinn with his own thoughts. He sat on the floor in the middle of his shop, almost like he was meditating. The smell of burning incense, intermingled with pages of books, made him feel comfortable. The old pipes, pumping water through to create heat, made it feel like it was mid-spring.
‘Do you want to get a drink?’
‘No,’ Quinn said to Ivy, the last remaining person in the shop.
Ivy crossed her arms. ‘I will not have that tone from you, mister.’
‘Ivy, please.’ Quinn sighed. ‘I’m not in the mood.’
‘Want to talk about it?’
‘Not really.’
She headed to the front door, and Quinn hoped she would leave, as horrible as that might be. Right now, he wanted to understand what he was feeling, or get out of his own head. He didn’t need to be reminded of Noah, of the situation.
‘What happened?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Noah isn’t the type of guy to flake like that,’ Ivy said. ‘He doesn’t letanybodydown.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘Because I do.’
‘Oh,pleasedon’t give me something about his aura.’
Ivy turned the sign of the door to closed and knelt in front of Quinn. ‘If you must know, his aura is yellow. That means he is pleasant, confident, and a wonderful person. He’s safety and warmth bundled up in a package. I know from Hermione that he’s kind. And there isn’t one bad word said about him in the industry.’
‘Now, how would you knowthat?’
‘Friends of the festival,’ Ivy said, and then, with a slight hint of shame. ‘And Heatmagazine.’
