A lean girl with straight black hair was hovering behind the Mills and Boon carousel but on seeing Tom she made a beeline for him. Maggie was intrigued and also thrilled to be within listening distance.

‘Hi, Tom.’

Tom shut the Jilly Cooper with a snap and almost threw it at the shelf. It hit another book, pinged out and landed on the floor with a light thud. Tom had the look of someone pulled from another galaxy. The girl crouched and picked the book up. Crimson spread quickly up his neck and his mouth opened and closed rapidly before he managed to reply.

‘Farah. Hi.’

‘I don’t think this is on the GCSE reading list.’ She held out the book.

He took it from her, shoved it in a gap on the shelf and turned his back on it. ‘No, ha-ha.’ His fake laugh was pitiful and Maggie was fascinated by the effect this girl had on him. He had turned into a gibbering idiot.

‘I’ve not seen you in the library before,’ she said. ‘I sometimes do my homework here on a Tuesday instead of going back to an empty house. Mum and Dad are late home on Tuesdays and my brother has piano lessons.’

‘Right,’ said Tom.

‘What you doing here?’ She glanced at the pile of romance books stacked neatly next to his rucksack.

Tom followed her gaze. ‘I work here,’ said Tom. Farah’s expression was questioning. ‘Help out. Just sometimes. When it’s busy.’ They both looked around. There were far more people in the library than Maggie had seen there in a while.

‘Great. Mum says I have to stop downloading books to my Kindle. I’ve got a bit of a habit. So here I am.’ She almost curtseyed and Maggie thought Tom was going to faint.

‘Right. That’s good. The library is… um… full of books,’ he said. Maggie shook her head at his ineptitude.

‘What would you recommend?’ asked the girl.

‘For you?’ Tom pointed at her and she laughed.

‘Yes, for me.’

‘Err, yeah. Of course. Duh. What do you usually read?’

‘Teen stuff mainly but I’m struggling to find new authors.’

‘Okay… You like history, right?’

‘I do.’

‘Do you like romance?’

‘I liked The Fault in Our Stars by—’

‘John Green. Terrific. Stay there.’ He moved quickly and returned with a book and presented it to her. ‘Frederica by Georgette Heyer.’

She read the back and gave a thoughtful pout. ‘I’ll give it a go.’

‘Brilliant.’ Tom ran his fingers through his hair. They eyed each other awkwardly and Tom’s cheeks inched up the colour chart. ‘You need to take it to the lady over there. She’ll check it out for you.’

‘Right. Okay. I might sit here and have a quick read. You know to check if it’s my thing or not.’