A Pocketful of Dreams

Chapter Eleven

The next morning, Annie arrived at the shop earlier than usual. Despite the fact that Dan hadn't left her flat until nearly one o'clock in the morning, she'd slept lightly and woken early and – for the first time in her life – sung in the shower.

Her lips curved into an unavoidable smile as she picked up the pile of post on the shop doormat. She deposited the letters on the counter along with her keys and a carton of milk, and went about her usual pre-opening procedure. Once the lights were on, the answering machine checked, and the kettle on to boil, Annie propped open the front door and went to open the post.

Uppermost on the pile was a sophisticated-looking thick cream envelope without a stamp. Her eyebrows rose in curiosity and she slid her thumb under the flap.

Less than a minute later, the kettle reached boiling point and clicked off. Annie remained still. Her smile was a distant memory.

The letter before her was a thinly veiled portent of doom for the Pocketful of Dreams, and the worst part of it was the last name in a list of three at the end:

George Appleby

Edward Harper

Dante Collins

Her shaking fingers released the thick cream paper. It floated on to the counter, skimmed across the smooth surface, and drifted down to the floor somewhere over by the iron candlesticks.

Annie blinked, then turned her gaze to the window. She looked at the vacant unit across the courtyard. The unit that had been empty since Bumblebee Books had closed down.

The unit Dan had been trying to allocate.

A large 'LET BY' placard had been propped in the window.

She moved over to the window display and trailed a finger along one of the strands of fairy lights, wondering at what point she'd got it all so wrong – and then her stomach pitched as she heard running footsteps coming down the passageway to the courtyard.

Annie grabbed her keys, darted to the front door and locked it fast. She slammed her palm against the light-switch, blanketing the shop in darkness, and just before she sat down on the floor behind the counter where she wouldn't be seen, she caught a glimpse of a familiar, dark-coated figure.

Seconds later, a fist hammered on the door.

'Annie! Are you there?'

Hot tears began to prickle inside her eyelids at the sound of Dan's voice. She thought she'd known him well, thought he was one of the good guys, but once again her vision had been blinkered. Once again she thought she'd found the perfect man, but her dream had been shattered.

For the second time.

For the last time.

'Annie! Please, if you're there, you have to listen to me. I've just found out about the new contract. This wasn't supposed to happen! Annie, please!'

She pressed her hands to her ears and willed him to go away. Sure enough, after a few minutes, the hammering ceased. A slight lean forward enabled her to see that Dan had moved back from the shop. He was standing in the courtyard and, as she watched, he speared one hand through his hair and threw a glance at the empty unit. Then he strode away down the passageway.

Annie sat back against the counter, put her head in her hands, and let the tears fall.

*

'You're in there, I know you are,' Dan muttered as he turned back for one last look at Annie's shop.

He'd seen the open letter lying on the floor, the fresh carton of milk on the side, the corner of her bag poking out from behind the counter.

Yet he couldn't blame her for hiding. What would anyone in her place be thinking right now?

That he'd orchestrated the whole thing. That this had been planned from the start and – Heaven forbid – that he'd got close to her only in the name of furthering his business deals.

Dan bit out a curse as he slammed his way out of the shopping arcade and made for his car. Despite the rush-hour traffic, he reached the office across town in record time, only vaguely aware of the horn-blarings he'd received from his fellow commuters. His car roared into the underground car park and he pulled it to a screeching halt across two parking spaces. Within seconds he was in the elevator. Staff and colleagues scattered from his path as he strode across the office floor.

'Collins! I've got good news, my friend. We closed— Hey!'

'What the hell happened?' Dan demanded. His fingers closed over Ed Harper's silk shirt and he pushed the man up against the wall.

'What do you mean? Appleby had a last-minute change of mind, but we closed the deal. Or should I say, I closed the deal. Jesus, watch my shirt!' Ed squirmed, trying to loosen Dan's fingers.

'It was meant to be a shoe shop, not a branch of Salutations, goddamn it!' Dan released his grip on Ed and stormed over to the window.

'What's the big deal? The contract's finalized, who cares which company moves in?'

'The problem is, Annie—'

Dan halted mid-sentence. There was no point trying to explain it to Ed. All he could do was try his best to reverse this terrible situation. To try and make Annie understand that this new development had nothing to do with him.

'Annie what?' Ed said, adjusting his tie. 'Who's Annie?'

'Doesn't matter,' Dan muttered, heading back out the door.

All he had on his mind was damage control, and there was a hell of a lot of work to be done. With the vague strands of a plan forming in his mind, he pulled his mobile phone from his pocket and punched in a number. 

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