Page 31

‘I’ll take one of these,’ Noémi’s mouth said, before her logical brain could catch up. ‘For Daniel, I mean. A surprise. Don’t mention it.’ She gave a nervous laugh. There was no shame in buying cookies or wanting to devour them. She had nothing to hide. Yet she’d barely admitted to herself that these were not for Daniel, even if she might only stash them in a drawer and feel guilty. Just having them was a brave first step. She might even get wild and sniff them at some point.

After Noémi had selected items for her boxes, she went to the till so Catherine could make a note.

‘How are things with that lovely Shay next door to you?’ asked Catherine, her gaze thankfully busy on her notepad. ‘We’ve definitely had more passing trade thanks to his antics, and it’s nice to have that empty shop occupied at last.’

‘I’m glad you’ve had more customers,’ Noémi said diplomatically, because it was more polite than saying she wished he’d shove his real-life adventures up his angel tutu. And perhaps today’s customers had been inspired to visit her shop after poring over Shay’s escapades – but she wasn’t ready to concede that. ‘Though I don’t think he’ll be staying.’

‘You never know,’ said Catherine. ‘He might find something irresistible to stick around for. Or someone.’

What on earth did that mean? ‘He’s too adventurous to settle here,’ Noémi said hastily.

Catherine lowered her voice. ‘Barbara next door says her Brian is her biggest adventure. Isn’t that romantic? I wouldn’t mind getting a bit venturesome with Texan Jim. I’d climb him like the Chinati Mountains.’

‘Catherine!’ Noémi giggled. ‘Don’t talk about Jim like that.’

‘I saw him first,’ Carrie shouted from the back room.

‘You can have Mr Ham,’ Catherine hollered back.

‘I’d eat him for breakfast,’ Carrie replied. ‘And I’d still need tattie scones and a square sausage.’

‘His nephew’s meant to be a dish.’ Catherine winked at Noémi. ‘Just returned from New York. Looks all Nineties Keanu Reeves, like he belongs in a hipster band. They say he makes a mean pecan pie.’

‘I’m happy without adventures: romantic, pie related, or otherwise,’ said Noémi, packing the items into her empty box, being sure to hide her cookies in case Daniel saw them and made a thing of it. Or worse still, scoffed them. ‘We don’t need to be paired off to find contentment. Look at Chai. She’s an independent, free soul. And Spirit is so strident about being left to fondle her plants in peace that she called her shop Leaf Me Alone.’

‘She’d get more customers if she changed that,’ said Catherine, shaking her head. ‘I’ve tried telling her. Though I enjoyed her latest mystery blackboard message: She’s thorny. (Thorny, thorny, thorny.) Like the song! Maybe somebody’s got the thorn for her.’

Noémi nodded.

‘And let’s hope Daniel feels ready to get thorny again one day too. He’s been through a lot, but he’s still young. And handsome. Maybe if more of these adventurous sorts are attracted to the village …’

‘There’s nothing wrong with a quiet life,’ Noémi jumped in. She did want her best friend to be happy, more than anything. But if he chose to dabble in love again, she secretly prayed it was with someone keen on staying inside with a good book and matching PJs.

‘Whatever you say, dear,’ said Catherine.

Which was what people said when they didn’t believe a word of it.

As she was leaving, Noémi reminded Catherine about the bookshop’s first book club planning meeting tomorrow, and asked if she’d mention it to passing customers. She half wondered whether Catherine seemed a bit shifty when she’d said it, but maybe she was worried about losing trade if everyone was buying books. Not that anyone in the avenue was usually territorial – other than the great Noémi and Shay debacle.

‘I’ll send people your way too,’ Noémi promised. ‘Always happy to share.’ Well, nearly always.

Now all she needed to do was get past Shay’s shop for the second time that morning, without being pestered.

Chapter 18

Just as she was all but tiptoeing past Real-Life Adventures, eyeing its controversial new A-board with disdain, he pranced into the street, antlers bopping. The guy should learn to chill out.

‘Good to see you again,’ Shay said cheerfully.

He was clutching more of his fliers, though she had no interest in taking one.

She still couldn’t work out why he was always so nice, when he was clearly setting himself up as her rival. Talking of which …

‘I saw you steering my potential customers into your shop earlier. That is not playing fair.’

He scratched his head, his angelic caramel curls bouncing. Even his enviable hair couldn’t keep still. ‘They were just people, walking down the street. I didn’t realize you had dibs on them. And after we chatted about my trips, they were keen to come to you for real-life adventure books.’

He gave her a playful nudge which made her box of trinkets wobble. How had he sneaked so close without her internal alarm system going off? She took a step backwards.