“It has never really been my goal in life,” Annie said. “I know I’m a bit of a dreamer, and it’s coming to catch up with me now, but I’ve always run the shop on expertise and careful curation. Up to five years ago, people actually came in to see what I had selected as book of the week, and they bought it. Books are my pride and joy. Fancy hot beverages not so much. And it’s not as though I don’t want to adapt to save the business, it’s just that we’ve had to ask ourselves whether it would really be worth it, at our age, you know? I think we’ve come to the conclusion that it wouldn’t. Not really.”

“What if someone else took care of all of that for you?” Mia asked.

“How do you mean?” Annie asked.

“The coffee shop where I work in Darlinghurst, the Pink Bean, is looking to open a branch in Newtown. We thought about your shop. It could become a very appealing mixture of coffee shop and independent, curated bookshop. A destination, where one business feeds off the other.”

Jane narrowed her eyes, but didn’t immediately say anything. Annie straightened her posture, cocked her head, examined Mia’s face. “Are you pulling our leg? Why would you make us such an offer? What’s really in it for you?” She seemed to have her hackles up—perhaps because she had been made to listen to similar offers one time too many.

“What Mia is saying,” Lou said, “is that we all want for this bookshop to stay in business.”

“We? Who is this we you’re talking about?” Jane’s tone was milder, yet very inquisitive.

“All of us at the Pink Bean,” Mia said.

“And me. And Mom and Dad. All your friends,” Lou was quick to add.

“As for what’s in it for the Pink Bean: a wonderful location that can be much more than just a coffee shop. Which is exactly what we’re trying to make of the first Pink Bean as well. We’re already doing evening events in that one. But this place offers a whole other set of possibilities. And, well, I probably don’t need to tell you this.” Mia held up her coffee cup. “Coffee sells. It’s black gold. People spend much more on coffee than on books these days. In fact, they’d happily buy a latte with all the trimmings that is gone from their lives in a matter of minutes, than a book that will give them hours of reading pleasure. That’s what the world is like these days.”

“Don’t I know it. Some of my e-books cost less than a cup of coffee, and people still have the audacity to complain that prices are too high,” Jane said.