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Back The Library Save as PDF
Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. THE LIBRARY
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
  40. 35
  41. 36
  42. 37
  43. 38
  44. 39
  45. 40
  46. 41
  47. 42
  48. 43
  49. 44
  50. 45
  51. 46
  52. 47
  53. EPILOGUE
  54. Questions for your Book Club
  55. Acknowledgements
  56. About the Author
  57. Become an Aria Addict

He soon latched on and guzzled it down. He was weak from the attack and he’d likely not eaten for a few hours either. Now that he had a full tummy she settled him back in the basket, put the oven on low with the door open and the basket set down in front. She needed to make sure he was properly dried out and warm. The last thing he needed was to catch hypothermia. If Tom had been there he would have made some joke about slow-roasted lamb and it upset her to think of it.

She was washing her hands when the phone rang. She hesitated for a moment but then answered. ‘Hello?’

‘Maggie, it’s Christine. Has something happened?’

‘Ah, no. I wasn’t feeling quite myself this morning. I thought I’d give book club a miss. That’s all,’ said Maggie.

‘But we were going to have a Save the Library meeting and it’s not just you. Tom and Farah are missing as well. There’s only me and Betty and she’s got a hair appointment at two.’ Maggie heard Betty whisper ‘ten past two’ in the background.

‘Right. Well, I don’t know about Tom and Farah but I’m sorry I couldn’t make it today. Hopefully next week.’

‘Hopefully?’ Christine’s voice sounded strained.

Maggie let out a sigh. She knew she was letting Christine down but she had more important things on her mind than the library. ‘I’ll be sure to let you know if I won’t be there, all right?’

There was a moment’s silence. Christine lowered her voice. ‘I didn’t get an interview for that other job, the administration assistant.’

‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ And she was sorry but she couldn’t solve everyone’s problems for them. It turned out she couldn’t even solve her own.

39

TOM

I’d made it through most of my exams and I’d surprised myself with how hard I’d worked. I’d got in a bit of a revision habit at Maggie’s, which had been easy to carry on at home. Dad seemed puzzled by me revising loads but there wasn’t a lot else to do on my own when he was out at work. There was the TV but I’d got picky with it since living away. I did watch it but only stuff I was really into. Before it was on all the time and I watched it constantly if I wasn’t playing on my Xbox but not anymore. Apart from when Dad was home when it was on permanently. It was like he couldn’t cope with silence.