Brew Books

Chapter 58

Cherry blossoms burst to life outside my window, and suddenly London is hit by a wave of spring. Kitty finds a supplier of fresh-pressed juice so we can serve it in the café, and Will has finally perfected his cold drip coffee in time for the summer crowds.

We set up tables on the street, so customers can read in the sun while they sip on their brew. I start an Instagram account for Brew Books, and post pictures of latte art and freshly baked cakes, as well as gorgeously styled photos of books that Charlotte directs and shoots.

Even Kitty and I are back to being as close as we were as children, and we make a habit of doing yoga together on the green in in the afternoons. She helps me bake croissants fresh for the café. I've never attempted them before, and we make a mess of the kitchen and cop a round of grumbling from Ed, but we produce delicious layers of pastry that sell out within minutes. I have a goal to create the entire menu of Brew Books fresh.

One afternoon, Kitty and I are the last in the café, while everyone is out enjoying the sunshine. There aren't any customers and Kitty and I hurry to clean everything up so we can go outside. I can't wait to go out and sit with them, and it's not because I want to put a photo up on Instagram of our picnic, but because I just want to enjoy their company. I've fallen in love with these six beautiful booklovers, and I want to spend every single magical second with them.

Finally, we've finished and we can head across the road to the green. Red buses make long shadows in the setting sun, and pedestrians rush past us towards the tube or the shopping centre. We keep our eyes peeled for the group sunning themselves on the grass. A mad cyclist wizzes past Kitty, making her jump, while I'm glaring into the sun, trying to spot the others.

'The final girls to make up our Sexy Seven!'

The voice disarms me, because it comes from behind us too fast, and then I turn to realise Harper is the mad cyclist, doing laps of the park. He skids to a halt behind us and jumps off his bike, long brown hair wild and unkempt. 'How was work?'

I stare at Harper's bike. 'Harper,' I say. 'We're literally a three minute walk from our house. Why have you brought your bike? And also, since when do you have a bike?'

'Well,' Harper says, with a grin blooming across his face. 'For your information, I just bought this bike today. Because as of September I'll be attending university at UCL. But since I'll be doing less shifts at the bar, I'm going to be a poor uni student, and I can't afford the tube fare. So, voilà, a bike!'

'You're going to get yourself killed,' I say.

'That's very environmentally-conscious of you,' Kitty says.

'Well, come on then,' Harper says. 'The others are over there.'

He swings back onto his bike and rides off madly, leaving Kitty and me to follow behind him. We walk across the grass and find the picnic blanket. Harper throws his bike to the ground and launches down beside Will, who's wearing a shirt that says "Space Oddity".

I place myself beside Sylvie, who has pages and pages of freshly printed stories in front of her. Since she put out a call for submissions for her zine, she's had an overwhelming response. We've spent over a week combing through it all, trying to find gems in the craziness. We've cut it down to about twenty stories now that are possibly publishable for our first issue, and Sylvie's going through them, any chance she has.

Charlotte has her camera in her lap, but at the moment she's sitting with her arms out behind her, supporting her weight, and her face stretched back towards the fading sunlight. Her cherry red hair has started to fade to a dirty reddish blonde, and she's got it pulled up into a messy bun, but I can't help but think she looks lovely, like this.