Page 11 of Whispers from the Past

‘Come in,’ came an irritated reply.

But as Rose opened the door, she realised it hadn’t been come in she’d heard, but coming. Which was why she found Luke shirtless in his office.

‘Oh! I’m so sorry!’ Rose managed as she flushed cherry red and hurried out the door. She stood at the threshold to compose herself. Luke opened it a minute later, now fully dressed and she turned to see him looking a little out of breath.

‘What are you doing here?’

‘Have you been running?’ her question made him step back slightly.

‘I jogged back here as I was feeling the cold seeing as someone threw half a pint of coffee over me in the middle of winter. Hot coffee gets cold pretty fast.’ Luke’s glare chilled Rose as she stood in the threshold, wincing.

‘I did try to apologise. I didn’t bump into you on purpose. And I came to replace your coffee.’ She offered him the warm cup.

‘You didn’t need to do that,’ came his flat reply, but he reached out for the cup.

‘Right, well, I did. So. Here.’ She pushed the coffee into his hand and turned to leave. Those treacherous tears were so close again but she held it together and even managed a slight smile as she caught a begrudged ‘thank you’ as she closed the office door behind her.

When Rose returned to the sanctuary of The Book Nook, she found Eleanor sitting on her stool by the till with a notebook in hand. She was clearly feeling the cold today as she was wearing a fleece on top of a thick roll neck sweater. ‘Great, you’re back. So run me through your ideas again dear.’ Before her fateful trip to the cafe, Rose had used their shared breakfast time to discuss her ideas for the shop.

‘It would be great to get more children in, so I was thinking of school reading sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays and then Friday morning toddler time. I’ll ask Tony if he’ll supply some hot drinks for the parents to entice them in. What do you think?’

‘I love it, Rose.’ But Eleanor looked sad.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Susie kept nagging at me to hire help for the shop but I always resisted. I didn’t want to share my space with anyone. But I’ve been wrong. It really is lovely to have you for company, and bringing new ideas in.’

Rose smiled, ‘Well I’m here now. And if you’d advertised earlier, someone else would have snapped up this job and I wouldn’t be sitting here with you now. So selfishly, I’m pleased you resisted Susie’s nagging for so long. Really you deserve some kind of award…I mean Susie is relentless!’ Playfully, Rose nudged Eleanor with her shoulder.

‘I hadn’t thought of it like that. Thank you Rose, I don’t feel quite so guilty now. Right, well, back to your ideas; I’ll get in touch with the local school.’ As Eleanor started to ease herself up from the stool, Rose noticed the delicate yellow leather strap of her watch and the image of the flower she’d seen popped to the forefront of her mind.

‘Before you do that, can I show you a flower I noticed in the woods this morning? It really caught my eye and I’m terrible with names of plants and things.’

‘I can have a look.’

Rose opened up her photo app and quickly found the last photo she’d taken.

‘Ah that’s an easy one. It’s the Lesser Celandine. Very pretty, and quite common around here.’

‘I’ve never seen it before, but it is so cute. I thought I might try and pick some to decorate the window display with.’

‘Lovely idea. Fun fact about the Lesser Celandine is that it can predict the weather. Those tiny petals close in on themselves before it rains.’

‘I could have done with that kind of inside track when I arrived. Maybe I should carry some around with me at all times.’

‘Or you could use that mobile phone you’ve always got with you. Surely that can tell you the weather?’

‘Yes, but where’s the fun in that?’

Eleanor eased up from the stool, smiling to herself as she made her way to her small kitchenette. ‘You’re a funny one Rose! I’ll make us both a cup of tea.’

Rose spent the rest of the day rearranging the space in the shop to make a feature of the sofa and armchairs. By the end of the day, The Book Nook was ready for a new lease of life. And Rose was ready for something a little stronger than the cup of tea Eleanor had just offered to make her again before her catch up with Tony.

* * *

Holly greeted her warmly when she stepped into the pub an hour later. ‘Rose! Good day?’

‘Good - although Luke’s probably put another mark down against me.’ Holly looked confused so she continued, ‘I covered him in hot coffee this morning’