The Book Lovers

by Victoria Connelly

  Chapter 23

  Monday mornings. What was it about them that made one want to crawl under the duvet, especially when it followed a particularly gruelling Sunday evening in which Callie had upset not just one man but two.

  She wasn’t sure how long it had taken her to fall asleep the night before, but she’d seen one o’clock, two o’clock and three o’clock glowing malevolently on her alarm clock.

  She was just hauling herself out of bed when her phone rang. Realising that it was now ten o’clock and the rest of the world must have been awake for hours, she rushed to answer it.

  It was her agent.

  ‘I hope you’re sitting down,’ Margot began

  ‘I’m almost lying down,’ Callie said.

  ‘Pardon?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Well, I’ve got some rather good news for you.’

  ‘Go on,’ Callie said, automatically crossing her fingers as she wondered which publisher might have made an offer for her book.

  But Margot didn’t give Callie the name of the publisher. She just gave her a figure. A very large figure.

  ‘Wow,’ Callie said. ‘That’s quite impressive.’

  ‘Quite impressive? It’s the best offer I’ve had in all year!’

  ‘And you’re sure that’s just for the one book?’

  ‘That’s the offer although they want to have an option on your next book.’ It was then that Margot revealed the name of the publisher.

  ‘Right,’ Callie said. It was the news she’d been dreading.

  ‘So? What should I say?’ Margot pressed.

  ‘Can I think about it?’

  ‘What’s there to think about other than how quickly you can get the contract signed? I could courier it over to you today.’

  ‘I’d really rather think about it,’ Callie said and she heard Margot groan.

  ‘Don’t make this deal about things it isn’t about,’ Margot said. ‘This is business, Callie. Remember that.’

  ‘It’s easy for you to say. You won’t be the one working with Piers.’ She took a deep breath. As much as she would welcome the money, this wasn’t the outcome she’d hoped for. ‘Did anyone else offer?’ she asked, keeping her fingers crossed.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Margot said, and she told her the three other offers that had been made by publishers – all were considerably lower than the one that had come in from Piers.

  ‘But you told me his offer would encourage the others to up their game,’ Callie said.

  ‘It did,’ Margot said. ‘You should have seen them before.’

  ‘This puts me in a very awkward position.’

  ‘I don’t see why,’ Margot said. ‘It’s not like he’ll actually be editing your work.’

  ‘Are you kidding? If we sign this deal, Piers will make it his sole mission in life to make sure he’s my editor.’

  ‘Well, take it or leave it,’ Margot said, ‘although, as your agent, I’d advise you to take it.’

  As her agent hung up, Callie thought about what the money would do for her – how she would have plenty to live off for the next year whilst she wrote more. Wasn’t that what she’d been hoping for with her new book? Wasn’t that what every writer dreamed of?

  When the phone rang a moment later, she nearly didn’t pick it up because she thought it might be Piers, but it wasn’t. It was Joe Nightingale – Sam’s grandfather.

  ‘Callie?’ he said.

  ‘Hello, Mr Nightingale. How are you?’

  ‘Can’t complain. Can’t complain.’

  ‘How’s Nell?’

  ‘You heard about Nell?’

  ‘Sam called round last night – briefly.’

  ‘I thought he might have,’ Grandpa Joe said. ‘I take it all didn’t go well between you two?’

  ‘You could say that.’

  ‘Ah. Well, that explains his mood today,’ Grandpa Joe whispered.

  ‘Oh, dear,’ Callie said, feeling absolutely awful. ‘Is he okay?’

  ‘I wish he’d talk to me so I could find out. But Nell is stronger this morning, thanks for asking.’

  ‘I’m glad to hear it.’

  ‘I wanted to stay with her today, but she threw her pillow at me and told me I had to go to work.’

  Callie laughed.

  ‘Listen,’ Grandpa Joe continued, ‘I had a feeling Sam wouldn’t ring you with this today, but I thought you’d want to know that your book’s in.’

  ‘Perdita’s Key? The first edition?’

  ‘The very one.’

  ‘That’s great!’ she said. ‘I didn’t think Sam would be able to track it down.’

  ‘He’s very tenacious when it comes to such things,’ Grandpa Joe said.

  ‘Is he around today?’ Callie asked.

  ‘Kind of,’ he said. ‘Why? Did you want to see him?’

  ‘I did,’ she said. ‘I do.’

  ‘Then I’ll make sure you do,’ Grandpa Joe said. ‘I’m sure he’ll want to see you.’

  ‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘I’ll pop by soon.’

  When Callie put the phone down, she found she was shaking which was ridiculous. What did she have to be nervous about? Apart from everything, that was. But the thought of seeing Sam again after what had happened the night before made her uneasy. Would he even want to see her again, she wondered? She wouldn’t be surprised if he refused and yet she knew he wasn’t the kind of person who would be awkward and never speak to her again, and she took comfort from Grandpa Joe’s kind words.

  ‘I’m sure he’ll want to see you.’

  ‘But does he?’ Callie said to herself, wishing she felt as certain as Grandpa Joe. Well, even if he didn’t want to see her and even if he didn’t want to speak to her ever again, Callie was jolly well going to speak to him and tell him how she felt.

  With a crazy kind of determination, Callie grabbed her satchel and left for Castle Clare immediately. There was no point putting these things off, she thought, washing and dressing quickly before leaving Owl Cottage and getting in her car.

  The country lanes were slick with rain from the night before, forcing Callie to take things slowly which made the short journey a kind of torture and, when she turned the corner by the wood, she was forced to stop completely as a gaggle of geese made their slow stately way across the road. Callie loved the country lanes, she really did, but they could be absolutely infuriating if you were in a hurry.

  Finally, she made it into town, the wheels and sides of her car splattered with mud and her nerves in tatters. She gave herself a few minutes to calm down, watching the people of Castle Clare going about their Monday morning business. It wouldn’t be long before the shops were stuffed full of glittering displays for Christmas, she thought. Callie had heard from her neighbours that lights would be strung up all across Market Square and an enormous tree would be erected at its centre. She couldn’t wait to see that.

  Getting out of the car, a leaf-littered wind blowing around her, Callie didn’t immediately make her way to Nightingale’s. Instead, she walked straight into a little shop on the other side of the square. There was something she had been putting off for far too long; something she needed to do before she saw Sam.

  Ten minutes later, her business complete, she crossed Market Square again and made her way to Sam’s bookshop, stopping to look at the beautiful shopfront before opening the door and hearing the familiar ring of the bell.

  ‘Callie!’ Grandpa Joe said, looking up from the newspaper he was reading as he stood on till duty.

  ‘Hello,’ she said with a bright smile which belied her nerves.

  ‘I have your book ready and waiting,’ he said, turning around and reaching down to a shelf behind the counter. ‘Here we are.’

  Callie smiled as he handed her the little paperback of Perdita’s Key. It was a modest volume, one which most people wouldn’t have looked twice at, but it had been part of a small print run at the very beginning of Callie’s career and she’d been so desperate to see it again having given away what
had turned out to be her last copy.

  ‘Thank you so much,’ she said, getting out her money to pay as Grandpa Joe took the book from her to pop into a brown paper bag.

  ‘Don’t thank me,’ Grandpa Joe said, handing her the bag. ‘You want to thank Sam, don’t you?’ he said, a bushy white eyebrow rising.

  ‘I do,’ she said.

  Grandpa Joe nodded. ‘He’s upstairs,’ he said. ‘Hiding out with a box of new acquisitions. He’s asked not to be disturbed, but I think we can make an exception, eh?’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Callie asked.

  ‘Get yourself up there,’ Grandpa Joe said with an encouraging smile.

  Callie took a deep breath, her nerves rising again as she walked through the shop to the back room and up the stairs which led up to Sam’s flat. She’d never been up there and she didn’t know what sort of welcome she was going to receive when she got to the top of the stairs, but she went up anyway, her tread slow and her feet managing to find every single squeak in the old floorboards.

  The door to Sam’s flat was ajar and she caught sight of him sitting in the middle of the floor completely surrounded by books.

  ‘Grandpa – there’ some really interesting volumes here. Come and see.’ He looked up. ‘Callie!’

  ‘Hi,’ she said.

  ‘I thought you were Grandpa.’

  ‘He said it was all right if I came up,’ she said. ‘Is it?’

  Sam got up from the floor and brushed himself down. ‘Of course,’ he said.

  Callie entered the room and looked around, noticing the numerous book cases and shelves stuffed to overflowing with hardbacks and paperbacks. It was the sort of room she could instantly feel at home in, but then, she wasn’t there to feel at home and so she cleared her throat.

  ‘I wanted to thank you for the book,’ she said.

  ‘I’m glad we finally tracked down a copy for you,’ he said, running a hand through his dark hair and straightening his glasses. ‘It’s really nice condition too. I don’t think it’s been read.’

  ‘I know. Although that’s a mixed blessing for an author, isn’t it?’ she said with a stab at humour.

  ‘I guess so,’ he said.

  ‘Anyway, I can’t thank you enough. I thought I’d never see it again.’

  ‘All part of the service,’ he said, and there was one of those dreadful, silence-drenched pauses when neither knew what to say.

  Callie swallowed hard, knowing that it should be her who spoke first.

  ‘Sam,’ she said, ‘I wanted to explain about last night.’

  He shook his head. ‘You don’t owe me an explanation.’

  ‘But will you let me explain anyway?’ she asked.

  ‘Callie, what goes on between you and Leo Wildman is none of my business.’

  ‘But there is no me and Leo,’ she all but cried.

  ‘But I thought–’

  She shook her head. ‘I like Leo. I really do. But he’s just a friend and – well, he’s probably not even that after what happened when you left.’

  ‘What happened?’ Sam asked and then shook his head. ‘Sorry. Not my business.’

  ‘It is your business,’ she said, ‘because it very much involved you.’ She held his gaze. ‘Do you think I could sit down?’ she asked.

  ‘Of course,’ he said, motioning to the small sofa and quickly moving a couple of large hardbacks to make room for them both.

  ‘I told him,’ she began, ‘I told Leo that I never planned to get involved with anyone again, that I wouldn’t allow myself to have feelings for anyone. Not after what I went through with Piers. Not ever.’ She twisted her hands into knots in her lap. ‘That’s what I thought, anyway. I came to Suffolk to start again. To be just me. I needed to get back to that most basic of things – learning to live by myself. But then...’

  ‘What?’ Sam asked after a moment’s silence.

  ‘But then I met you,’ she said in a half-whisper, looking anxiously up at him. His gentle brown eyes looked straight back at her. ‘I wish you’d say something,’ she said.

  ‘Callie,’ he said, ‘I’ve been trying to say something to you for ages.’ He gave a tiny smile. ‘I was trying last night and that night in the pub, and the time I wanted to take you out to dinner and you said no. Remember?’

  ‘Please don’t remind me,’ she said. ‘I wanted to say yes and I really should have, but I was scared.’

  ‘But I’m scared too,’ he confessed with a little laugh. ‘You’re not the only one to have just come out of a bad relationship and you’re certainly not the only one to have sworn off falling in love again because I did that too.’

  ‘You did?’

  He nodded. ‘I’m terrified, absolutely terrified, of history repeating itself and I’m sure you are too, but here’s the thing: I’m not Piers and you’re certainly not Emma.’

  He held her gaze and she nodded. ‘No,’ she said. ‘You’re right.’

  ‘So,’ he asked with a grin, ‘what do you think about us being scared... together? About giving things a go even though we’re both absolutely terrified and have promised ourselves that we’d never get involved again. What do you think, Callie? Do you want to give it a go?’

  She smiled. ‘You really want to be with me?’

  ‘I really do,’ he said.

  ‘But I feel I have absolutely nothing to give you,’ she said.

  ‘And I feel I’ve absolutely nothing to give you too!’ he said.

  She laughed and he joined in.

  ‘But maybe we have,’ he said, taking her hands in his. ‘Maybe this second chance is the one that’s meant to be – the one we were both working towards.’ He paused.

  ‘What is it?’ she asked

  ‘You’re not wearing your wedding ring anymore.’

  ‘I’ve just had it cut off at the jewellers in Market Square,’ she said. ‘It wouldn’t shift and I’ve been desperate to get rid of it.’

  Sam’s fingers gently stroked hers and she watched as he closed the space between the two of them and kissed her lips so gently and so sweetly that Callie knew she was lost forever and that this second chance Sam had spoken of could be the very best thing to have ever happened to her.

  ‘Sammy?’ Grandpa Joe’s voice came from the top of the stairs.

  Callie and Sam leapt up from the sofa as if they’d been ejected from it.

  ‘Grandpa – have you been eavesdropping?’ Sam said, walking towards the landing. Callie followed and saw Grandpa Joe standing there with a great big smile on his face.

  ‘Eavesdropping? Wherever do you get these notions from?’ Grandpa Joe asked. ‘I was just wondering if I should ring your mum and tell her to set an extra place for Sunday lunch from now on.’

  Sam sighed and shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, Callie,’ he said. ‘I should have warned you. If you have anything to do with me, you’re going to have to get used to this sort of thing.’

  She smiled and laughed. ‘I’d love to get used to this sort of thing!’ she said and she wasn’t a bit surprised when Grandpa Joe walked towards her and wrapped her up in a big warm hug.

  Rules for a Successful Book Club is the second in The Book Lovers series.

  Also by Victoria Connelly

  Rules for a Successful Book Club

  The Rose Girls

  The Secret of You

  Christmas at The Cove

  Christmas at the Castle

  A Summer to Remember

  Wish You Were Here

  The Runaway Actress

  Molly’s Millions

  Flights of Angels

  Irresistible You

  Three Graces

  It's Magic (A compilation volume)

  A Weekend with Mr Darcy

  The Perfect Hero (Dreaming of Mr Darcy)

  Mr Darcy Forever

  Christmas With Mr Darcy

  Happy Birthday Mr Darcy

  At Home with Mr Darcy

  One Perfect Week and Other Stories

  The Retreat and
Other Stories

  Postcard from Venice and Other Stories

  A Dog Called Hope

  Escape to Mulberry Cottage (non-fiction)

  A Year at Mulberry Cottage (non-fiction)

  Summer at Mulberry Cottage (non-fiction)

  Secret Pyramid (children’s adventure)

  The Audacious Auditions of Jimmy Catesby (children’s adventure)

  Acknowledgements

  My thanks to Roy, Caroline Fardell, Kate Harris of the fabulous Harris & Harris Books in Clare, and Dave Charleston of The Open Road Bookshop in Stoke by Nayland.

  To Anne Holden, Ellie Mead and Judy Bourner for inviting me to visit their book clubs with my note pad and pen. Thank you all for making me so welcome and for answering all my questions.

  To Susan O'Shea for the wonderful name for Castle Clare's bakery – 'Well Bread'.

  And, as ever, to my lovely readers who constantly make me smile with their kind messages. I really hope you love this new series.

  About the Author

  Victoria Connelly was brought up in Norfolk and studied English literature at Worcester University before becoming a teacher. After getting married in a medieval castle in the Yorkshire Dales and living in London for eleven years, she moved to rural Suffolk where she lives with her artist husband, a Springer spaniel and ex-battery hens.

  Her first novel, Flights of Angels, was published in Germany and made into a film. Victoria and her husband flew out to Berlin to see it being filmed and got to be extras in it. Many of her novels have been Kindle bestsellers.

  To get a free ebook and hear about future releases sign up for Victoria’s newsletter.

  Or, visit her website at victoriaconnelly.com

  She’s also on Facebook and Twitter @VictoriaDarcy

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