Annie nodded. “And guess what the kicker is. They don’t want to turn it into just another Pages branch. They want to make it look like an actual independent bookshop, even though it won’t be, of course. They want to fool the customer because, according to them, the customer wants to be fooled.”

Mia shook her head. “What an utter disgrace.”

“They’ve even offered me an”—she curled her fingers into air quotes—“‘advisory position’. But you know me, Mia. You’ve been coming here for years. Even though their prime business is books, I can’t work for a big corporation like Pages. I’ve had this shop for almost twenty years. I’ve had no bosses and no upper management to report to. I’ve had control over what goes on the shelves and what doesn’t—nothing by Jeremy Clarkson, for instance. There’s just no way I will let some marketing department populated by twenty-somethings tell me what to put on the shelves of my bookshop. They probably don’t know their Jane Austen from their Charlotte Brontë.” Annie held up a copy of Wuthering Heights. “This, for example, is no Jane Austen.” Her voice broke a fraction, then she shrugged. “Oh well, I guess I’m ready for retirement, anyway.”

“You’re in the prime of your life, Annie.” Mia accepted the copy of Wuthering Heights Annie handed her. She glanced around the shop. Because Annie had owned it for as long as the shop had been open, it was a big space that had survived the trend of ever-smaller store spaces. She and her partner lived in the flat above. Annie’s entire life revolved around this shop.

Annie scoffed. “Hardly,” she said. “You are in the prime of your life. So let’s quickly change the subject. I don’t want to depress my most loyal customer with sad tales of my gloomy fate.” She gave Mia a crooked smile. “Have you found a girlfriend yet?”

Mia knew it was meant in jest, and that Annie, who was as sweet as they came, mostly asked the question out of habit. But today Mia didn’t feel like giving her usual answer. Instead she said, “You know these days it’s not every person in their twenties and thirties’ biggest dream to find a partner, have 2.4 babies and move to a house in the suburbs. Being single is a perfectly valid way to live your life, despite what the general perception of us might be.”