career. They'd been talking for the better part of an hour, but Emmy suspected Nick still had no idea what she did for a living, although he'd made a perfunctory inquiry early on.
At seven thirty, she made her excuses — early start, nice to meet you, very busy at the moment — and headed off into the street with a feeling of relief and a promise to herself never to do this again. Life was too short.
Later on, over a hot chocolate sprinkled with marshmallows, she dutifully deleted her profile and sent Nat a brief text to say she was home safe, and swearing off the dating game for now. Nat sent her back a picture of a pair of slippers, to which Emmy replied with one of her steaming mug, tagged #whoneedsguys.
Thursday morning, there was still no reply from Oswell, and Emmy stared long and hard at her mirror, torn between a favorite pair of faded jeans, soft and thin with use, and a taupe wool dress that flattered her figure, even if the cowl neck was a little too warm. He was no likelier to turn up that day, but on the other hand she felt she owed the store the effort of dressing up, just in case. Oswell was likely the kind of man who'd notice, if not the effort she might have made, certainly the lack of it if she hadn't.
She huffed and pulled the dress on over her head, the static sending her red curls haywire before she attempted to spray them into submission. A slick of lipgloss on her wide mouth and a quick brush of black mascara onto her thankfully lush lashes, and she was ready to face the world, even if said world included Eric Oswell.
Natalie nodded her approval at the dress when she walked into the store with bags of coffee and sugar half an hour after Emmy. Every morning they'd been discussing strategies and options, but they hadn't yet hit on anything that looked like it might work. Josh, the part-timer who usually covered evenings and weekends, and chaperoned the students who helped out during the semester, had been summoned to the store to help. Natalie plied him with whipped cream cappuccinos and pestered him for creative angles.
"You're the poli-sci major, Josh, any useful ideas you can bring to the table? Isn't politics all about bending people to your will?"
Josh snorted.
"Yeah, and I play chess, Natalie, but this isn't a context where I can apply the Sicilian defense. Besides, until we meet the guy, it's hard to tell what he'll be like. I mean, how does he feel about public opinion?"
"What, you mean if we started a campaign to save the bookstore?" Emmy asked.
"For instance. Although I know it doesn't always work, and if your guy is hell-bent on making money he won't care."
"Well, he is making a name for himself as a patron of the arts, so that might be a way in..." Emmy said, just as the door chimed to announce the arrival of a new customer.
It was a good thing she'd gone for the dress — Eric Oswell walked in, looking like a fashion plate, charcoal gray suit over a pale blue shirt and a purple silk tie. He flashed a cautious smile when she came over.
"You must be Emily Flanagan? Eric Oswell. I was in the neighborhood so I thought I'd take up your offer — I hope this isn't inconvenient."
His voice was deep, his accent soft — almost British in intonation, and she remembered his English mother.
"Not at all. I was, uh, hoping you would," she said, flustered. He was taller than she'd expected, well over six foot, and looked even better than on the few pictures she'd seen online. "Welcome to Open Book. This is Natalie, who runs the store with me and looks after the cafe part, and Josh, our assistant."
She turned to them as she made the introductions. Josh looked vaguely normal but Natalie was staring and Emmy had to stop herself from shaking her out of it. Oswell, thankfully, didn't seem to notice, or if he did, was polite enough to ignore it. He was still smiling as he looked around, tracking the titles of books along the shelves, head tilted, and the look on his face gave Emmy some hope.
"Can I offer you a coffee?"
"Cappuccino, dry, extra hot," he said without looking at her, before catching himself. "Please. I like your monthly selection, you have some unexpected things."