Page 45 of Whispers from the Past

‘When? How? When?’ Was all Holly could verbalise when Rose caught up with her a few minutes later.

‘Yesterday. I don’t know. And yesterday.’

‘You don’t know?!’

‘Well, I guess we’ve had a few moments since I moved here interspersed with direct indifference and hostility. But I just thought those moments were him being nice?’

‘Luke doesn’t do nice. Well not since Hannah.’

‘What was he like? Before Hannah?’

Holly took a second or two to reflect. ‘Fun and happy.’

‘Flirty?’

‘Are you asking me if my brother was flirty? I think I might be sick.’

Rose laughed.

‘Look, Rose. If he’s flirting with you and laughing like I heard him just now then you keep doing whatever it is you’re doing, because I just saw a glimmer of my old brother then. And I’d really like him back.’

‘No pressure then,’ she called after her as she stepped into the pub.

‘None whatsoever,’ she laughed back.

Holly has given us the green light.

Great. Because I was totally holding back until she said it was ok.

😃

Can I come round later? I’ve got a surprise.

Of course. I love surprises.

It’s a date

A date. A date with Luke. Her heart fluttered excitedly.

The day in the shop went quickly with a steady stream of customers keeping Rose occupied. She loved chatting to the new customers and trying to find them a book to take home and remind them of their visit. But today, she was more than happy to lock up at the end of the day. With half an hour to go, she started getting ready to close up the shop. A family had just been in and the children had excitedly run round the shop picking up different books and had left them in various piles around the small shop. Their mother had apologised profusely for the mess they’d made and had attempted to put the books back, but Rose had assured her that it was fine and it was no bother for her to tidy up. With a grateful look she let each child choose one book and then ushered them outside, chastising them under her breath for being so silly in there. It only took Rose a few minutes to tidy everything up and as she bent down to pick up the last book that had fallen behind the armchair, she heard the bells on the door tinkled again. And although Rose truly hadn’t minded tidying up all the books, she was hoping that it wasn’t the same family back again to create more havoc!

‘Hello, Rose?’ a voice called out softly.

Rose looked up to see Lucy standing in the doorway.

‘That’s me,’ she greeted Lucy awkwardly.

‘Hi, I’m Lucy. I thought it would be nice to meet you properly. Tony talked about you a lot recently.’

‘He talked about you a lot too,’ Rose felt the need to reassure her.

‘Yes, but probably to moan,’ she laughed.

‘Not all the time,’ Rose teased back.

‘I’m sorry if my return caused you any upset. I had been thinking about coming back for a while. I wasn’t enjoying things in Bristol and I missed Tony terribly. But I was so stubborn! And then he started mentioning you and I just felt so jealous.’

‘I’m glad you’re back, but you really didn’t have to be jealous of me. Tony and I really were just friends.’