Ellie paused at the door and shrugged. “I don’t know, but I know I’m not coming back here.”
“Then I hope you find whatever you’re looking for,” her former manager said, saluting her away with two fingers at his temple. “I’ve thought this since your first day, but I don’t think you have a clue who you are right now.”
As she closed the door to his office behind her, Ellie wasn’t sure what she hated more: that Derek had been the one to speak her recent fears out loud, or she was almost certain he was right.
Chapter 2Penny for Your Thoughts
Ellie’s small locker was as neat as she could make it. She’d tried peeling off the Cardiff City FC stickers from the previous occupant, but she hadn’t cared enough to go at it with a cloth. It was somewhere to put her bag, which held the only important thing she brought to work with her. She reached in, and her fingers brushed against the worn spine of a Jane Austen novel—Pride and Prejudice, her favourite, given to her by Granny Maggie for her fifteenth birthday. She’d been reading it again the past few months, trying to find that same comfort she found in it as that teenager half her life ago. Sometimes it whisked her away on her lunch breaks, but most times the reality of the coffee shop dragged her back.
No more.
She’d have all the time in the world to read, as long as she figured something out. She could afford this month’s rent, and maybe next month’s, but past that? She supposed she was about to find out. She pulled her bag from the locker, along with a small potted succulent someone had left and never returned for, a spare cardigan, and her old ID badge from the studio. She hadn’t needed it for a while, but she still carried it around out of habit.
As she reached for her umbrella, Derek’s voice cut through the quiet.
“Swan?” Derek beckoned. Ellie turned, half-expecting him to ask her to reconsider. Instead, he glanced at his watch with exaggerated precision. “You’ve got six minutes to vacate the premises. You’re no longer an employee, so, can you...” He mimed brushing her away with his fingers.
Ellie raised an eyebrow. “I don’t even need one minute,” she replied, snapping her locker shut with a satisfying click. “Thank you for the opportunity.”
Without another word, she slipped out through the back door, her trusty brown leather backpack slung over her shoulder. The cool air hit her face as she stepped into the back street behind Happy Bean, and she could finally breathe for the first time all morning.
She waited for the instant regret to hit.
Only relief came.
She walked to the front of the shop, where the bright July sun beat down on Cardiff Bay, stinging her eyes. The earlier clouds had cleared, and the TV crew was packing up, their enthusiasm replaced by the mundane task of coiling cables and dismantling equipment. The weather presenter's megawatt smile had vanished, replaced by a look of weary professionalism as she checked her phone.
Ellie’s gaze lingered on the scene, drinking in the details. The way the cameraman carefully wiped down his lens, the sound technician methodically winding up cables. It stirred something in her, memories of countless hours spent poring over behind-the-scenes DVD extras as a child. She still remembered the day her mother had burst into their living room, arms laden with a shiny new DVD player and a stack of bootleg discs, their titles written in black pen.
“Dodgy Steve’s best,” Carolyn had proclaimed with a wink. “We’ll be all set for my big comeback, love. You’ll see mummy in high definition!”
Ellie’s lips quirked in a bittersweet smile. They were still waiting for that comeback after that particular indie film fell apart during pre-production—and still waiting for Carolyn Swan to grace any DVD cover, for that matter.
As Ellie meandered past the stainless steel Cardiff Bay water tower, a flash of colour caught her eye. She blinked, sure she was seeing things since she already had her mother on her mind. But no, there by the railing overlooking the bay was a familiar figure in a riot of mismatched hues. Ellie squinted, taking in the clashing patterns that coalesced into a look so garish it almost hurt to look at. But it was the shock of auburn curls that confirmed it.
“Auntie Penny?” Ellie murmured, bewildered.
Her aunt turned, scanning the bay with an expectant look. Ellie’s brow furrowed. What on earth was Penny doing in Cardiff? She lived with the rest of Ellie’s family in Wiltshire, a good hour and a half across the Second Severn Bridge.
Ellie’s fingers trembled as she fished her phone from her pocket. The screen lit up, revealing a flurry of missed calls and messages from Auntie Penny.
PENNY
I’ve been trying to get in touch all morning. Family worried sick. Why aren’t you picking up? xxx
On that long bridge on my way 2 Wales. I hope you’re okay, love xx
At the studio. Can’t find you. Call ASAP! xx
Where’s your flat? I’ve forgotten! x
ELLIE! Pick up!
Good thing Ellie didn’t live there anymore, though she did miss the view of the bay from her old waterside apartment on the second floor just past the docks. Her current dingy flat above the tanning salon couldn’t quite compete with its neon blue view of King Kebabs across the street. The lingering scent of coconut had permeated everything in the flat she shared with three students. Like working at the coffee shop until something better came along, the smell hadn’t seemed so bad at first.
Across the bay, Auntie Penny had spotted the TV crew and was making a beeline for them, her peculiar gait drawing curious glances. Head down, she walked at considerable speed, lurched forward as if in danger of toppling over at any moment. Despite her eye-watering ensemble, she seemed desperate to blend in, a Carmen Miranda fruit basket trying to masquerade as a potted plant.
Ellie’s thumb hovered over the voicemail icon on her phone. With a deep breath, she pressed play, and Penny’s breathless voice filled her ear.
“Ellie, darling! I’ve been to the studio, but no one seems to know you. It’s like you’ve vanished into thin air! Please... I’m getting worried... and I have a taxi waiting...”
Ellie’s jaw clenched. The studio didn’t even remember her. If there was anyone left to remember.
Lost in the merger.
Mousy Ellie, they’d called her.
Perhaps that’s why they’d thought she’d take the redundancy easiest.
Out of sight, out of mind.
As Auntie Penny hopped from side to side behind the camera crew, she waited for her moment to interrupt and ask if they knew where she could find her niece. Meanwhile, Penny’s voice on the phone dropped to a deep rumble.
“Listen, love. Your mother sent me to find you,” Penny said in the voicemail. “It’s about your Granny Maggie, sweetheart. She’s... she’s broken her hip. The left hip. There was... an incident, and she’s being stubborn as an ox about resting properly. We need you back in Meadowfield. Carolyn won’t take no for an answer about me coming home without you, and well... this isn’t something for the phone. You need to come home, Ellie. We need you.”
Granny Maggie had broken her hip? She was seventy-four, but still—she was so active. She was the last person seventy-something in Meadowfield who would have broken her hip, and Granny Maggie would be carrying on as such. Auntie Penny didn’t need to say more to conjure the image of Maggie charging around her busy bookshop, knowing where to find every book and author like the back of her hand for a sea of happy customers.
The mere thought of Meadowfield Books made Ellie’s heart glow.
