Read Chapter 13: THE CALL

Julian answered on the second ring.

“Maeve?”

“I’m sorry.”

There was a pause.

“All right.”

“No, not all right. I did the thing.”

“What thing?”

“The thing where somebody matters and I interpret that as a fire alarm.”

He was silent.

Maeve paced behind the counter.

“Evelyn came in today.”

“What?”

“She took the letters. She read them here. We found out what happened.”

Julian exhaled. “Is she okay?”

“I think so. Not okay as in untouched. Okay as in… herself.”

“That’s probably the best version.”

Maeve sat down.

“I wanted to call you the whole time.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because I told you not to bother.”

“You were allowed to change your mind.”

“I know that intellectually.”

“And otherwise?”

“Otherwise it feels like cheating.”

He laughed softly. “Changing your mind isn’t cheating.”

“I also accepted the offer on the shop.”

Another pause.

“When?”

“The night we argued.”

“Do you want to sell?”

Maeve looked around.

At Nora’s chair. The green ledger. Lucy’s badly lettered sign still taped under the counter: CHILDREN’S BOOKS THAT ARE NOT BORING.

“No.”

The answer came before analysis.

Maeve closed her eyes.

“No, I don’t.”

“Can you withdraw?”

“I don’t know. Nothing’s signed beyond the acceptance email. Fintan will call me irrational.”

“Fintan calls shelving a heritage retail opportunity.”

“True.”

Julian waited.

Maeve knew the next part could not be hidden inside the shop decision.

“I’m sorry for what I said to you. About making me responsible for your feelings.”

“Thank you.”

“I was scared.”

“I know.”

“Please don’t say that like it excuses me.”

“I wasn’t.”

Good.

She took a breath.

“I like you here too.”

The line went quiet.

Maeve continued before courage could reorganise itself into caution.

“I like you in the shop. I like you outside the shop. I like your ridiculous ethical rules. I like Lucy. I like that you tell me what you want and then let me decide what I want. It is deeply inconvenient.”

Julian made a sound that might have been a laugh.

“And I don’t know what I’m doing,” she said. “I might be bad at this for a while.”

“At what?”

“Staying.”

He was quiet for so long she checked the screen.

Then: “I’m not asking you for forever tonight.”

“I know.”

“I’m asking whether you want dinner tomorrow.”

Maeve laughed, and unexpectedly tears came with it.

“Yes.”

“And whether you want me to come to Bellwether now.”

She looked at the locked door.

Every instinct told her to say tomorrow was enough.

“Yes,” she said again.

Julian arrived twenty minutes later, rain on his shoulders.

Maeve unlocked the door.

For a moment they simply looked at each other.

Then she stepped forward and kissed him.

This kiss was not careful in the same way as the first. It was still chosen, still mutual, but Maeve allowed herself to want. Julian’s hands settled at her waist. She felt fear arrive and did not mistake it for instruction.

When they parted, he touched his forehead to hers.

“Hello,” he said.

“Very academic.”

“I had a better speech on the walk over.”

“Lost it?”

“Completely.”

Maeve smiled.

Outside, the city went on raining.

Inside, Bellwether stayed open after hours.