Page 69 of The Breakup Bookshop

He’s quiet. I search his eyes for a hint of understanding, but I’m not sure he gets it.

‘Look, in my mind, my granny is still there making scones and jam, fixing up the book nook outside with cushions and waiting for me to come home for the summer. I know it sounds stupid, but that’s just the way I feel.’

Tears spring into my eyes and he sighs, taking my hands in his.

‘I really want to go there, Rory. I’d love to see it now. But what if they’ve changed everything? What if the cottage is completely different or the book nook is gone? I love the idea of it just down the road, exactly as she left it.’

Rory pulls me towards him, wrapping his arms around me, and kisses the top of my head. My heart thumps in my chest, relieved to feel his warmth and comfort. ‘You don’t have to come to mine just yet. We can work up to it, okay?’

I nod. ‘I’m sorry. It sounds so stupid and childish.’

‘I’m sorry too,’ he murmurs. ‘I shouldn’t have pushed it.’

‘You weren’t to know.’

‘Our first official couple fight,’ he says with a smile, pulling back to look me in the eye.

I grin. ‘Is that what we are now?’

‘I think so,’ he nods. ‘Now let’s get that funding application finished, so you have no excuse to leave.’

I nod as he leans down to kiss me.

*

The next afternoon, Rory’s phone pings from its position on my shop counter. He immediately grabs it and stuffs it into his back pocket before kissing me lightly on the cheek and heading back to his shop.

I can’t help the prickly sensation that creeps up my spine.

The last time someone hid their phone from me it was Seb. I hadn’t even given it a second thought. Now I know I really should have. I wonder how many secret messages and clues I’d missed between Seb and Macy.

How long had it gone on for?

Had Macy been texting Seb behind my back when we’d been on nights out together, singing ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ on karaoke or watching Netflix crime documentaries together. It still stings. As much as I can’t admit it to Rory, it hurts. He’s right; my guard is up. I push it to the back of my mind, serving a handful of customers for the rest of the day. But by the time Rory returns at five o’clock, I’ve been spiralling for hours. I don’t want to be that girl who feels jealous and suspicious every time a text pops up on his phone. I’m not that girl. But I can’t help myself. In the aftermath of being let down so brutally, this appears to be what I’ve been left with.

Maybe he’s right. Maybe my reluctance to go to his house runs deeper than I’d thought.

He grins at me, unaware of my thoughts. ‘I have a surprise for you.’

‘A surprise?’

‘Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to wear a blindfold.’

‘Where are we going?’

‘I found out who lives in your granny’s house.’

My stomach tightens. I can’t. I don’t want to think about someone living there.

‘They’re out tonight. They’ve said I can take you round there to see it, if you’d like to go and have a look around. I just thought, well, maybe it would be easier to see it without anyone actually being there and breathing down your neck. But there’s no pressure, Ava.’

I exhale slowly. ‘Who? Who lives there?’

‘You want to know? You’re sure?’

I nod. ‘Yes, I do. Who is it?’

‘It’s Fiona.’