The Reading List(96)

‘And, I thought, this first one … maybe it would be nice to be held in memory of Aidan. Even if he didn’t have the time to come here to sit and read in recent years, this place meant a lot to him. He wanted you to work here, didn’t he? And it has helped you too. Didn’t it? I think it helped you. Maybe this is how to help his memory live on, beyond those Instagrab posts.’

Aleisha nodded, a smile hiding in there somewhere.

At that moment, Crime Thriller Chris walked in, wearing a hoodie and jeans as usual.

‘Chris!’ Mukesh called over, his body zinging with excitement. ‘What do you think about a drop-in morning on Wednesdays at the library?’

Chris looked slightly taken aback – it was the most Mukesh had said to him in a long time; normally he just got a smile and a wave. ‘Errr, yeah, they’re quite good those kinds of things. My mum likes them. Coffee mornings.’

‘See!’ Mukesh pointed at Chris, looking at Aleisha. ‘So, you ask? Chris will bring his mother. This will be fantastic. I am excited.’ Mukesh was smiling from ear to ear, and Aleisha started to laugh. Chris shrugged, not sure what had just happened, and continued on his way to his usual spot.

‘Naina would love this! She loved this kind of thing – and now I’m the one doing it. And not even at the temple.’

Mukesh hopped up from his chair and gave Aleisha a tap on the shoulder, bending down to her at her desk very slowly because his back was much stiffer than he remembered. Because for a moment, he’d forgotten that now he was an old man with aching joints. For a moment, he had felt completely and utterly brand new.





Chapter 36


ALEISHA


NOW SHE’D SEEN THOSE flowers on the train platform through someone else’s eyes, shared on social media, with forty-five likes. The petals were browning, they were dying. They weren’t for ever. Aidan was in these people’s minds now, but like those flowers, he would one day be gone.

A drop-in morning in honour of Aidan … he would have laughed at the idea. He would have hated all the attention. But he had loved the library – he’d been so adamant she should take this job in the first place. The library had been his place for so many years. Maybe Mr P was right. And it was some small thing she could do, something she could control, to keep his memory alive – and to prove to him that the library had come to be important to her too. She knew that’s what he wanted. He wanted her to find peace here as well.

There was no time to waste – Mr P wouldn’t let this rest until it had been sorted. There had been that thing in his eyes: determination. He’d almost run out of the library, clutching Beloved to his chest, waving with one hand to her and to Call-Me-Chris Crime Thriller with the other.

She gave Kyle a ring, asked when he would next be in, if he was going to come for his shift later.

‘Yeah, I’ll be there.’

‘Great. Mr P has had some thoughts about what we can do to spice this place up a bit.’

‘The library?’

‘Yes, the library.’

‘Are you sure you’re okay, Aleisha?’ Kyle said.

‘Yeah, I’m okay. Distraction is helpful. This,’ she pointed to the screen, her makeshift flyer, ‘is strangely helpful.’

Kyle nodded. ‘Sounds like Mr P knows what he’s doing. They do say with age comes wisdom … So how many shifts do you have left before you go back to school?’

Aleisha shrugged. ‘Just one more week, so five or six maybe.’

‘God, that’s so soon. We’ll miss you.’

Aleisha shrugged, ‘Yeah, I think I’ve liked it here. Aidan said this would happen. That I’d surprise myself.’

‘What happened to “this is just a shitty summer job”? You were so reluctant to actually do anything on your first day.’

‘I was. It is just a shitty summer job. But you know, it’s grown on me,’ she said, the small hint of a smile on her lips.

It wasn’t long before Thermos Flask Dev turned up. Aleisha felt a rush of adrenaline. She was grateful when Kyle set the stage for her, opening with, ‘Aleisha’s got a great idea.’

Aleisha felt all the attention in the room turn to her. Her mouth became dry, as if she was preparing to give a speech, and then Atticus came to her mind. Atticus, in the courtroom. He’d shown no signs of weakness.

She took a deep breath, and the words tumbled out. ‘We want to propose,’ the word felt weird, but it was the right approach, Thermos was standing to attention. ‘We want to propose an open morning. We want to get more people in through the door. This place, it’s got friendly family vibes – we should use that. Help people get in the spirit of things, help this library become the centre of the community, y’know? A place to get people meeting, get them talking, opening up, discovering something new …’

‘Look, Aleisha, should you be here? I told you, please take as much time as you need,’ Thermos Flask said.

‘Distraction is good,’ she muttered under her breath, and then more loudly, she continued: ‘Anyway, so the open morning will be free for anyone to come along – they can meet new people, enjoy the peace and quiet, chat with friends. This place has always been a community hub – but it’s been a little quiet lately. Let’s change that.’