Brew Books

Chapter 25

'Jane, what the hell?'

Ed's been in the worst mood all morning, after arriving back from his parents' house last night, and nothing I do today is making him happy. Now he's holding up the green cloth, which, even from here where I'm standing across the bookshop, I can see has brown coffee stains on it. The green cloth is meant to be purely for wiping the steam nozzle on the coffee machine, and isn't allowed to be contaminated with anything else.

'Oh, sorry,' I say, walking over and grabbing the cloth from him. 'I must have been in another world.'

I wash up the cloth, wring it dry and place it back where it's supposed to be. When I turn around Ed has his arms crossed over his barista apron. His red hair matches his fiery expression.

'Ed, I'm sorry, honestly!' I say.

'I thought I'd trained you better than that,' Ed says. 'How hard is it not to fuck up for once?'

'For once?' I cry. 'I've been doing fine.'

'You're mediocre,' Ed snaps.

'Where's this coming from?'

'Where's what coming from? I'm your manager, it's my job to assess your work and give you feedback.'

'You're being a dick.'

'Yeah well, get used to it.'

I grit my teeth, feeling delicate and on the verge of tears, and walk back over to the bookshelves, where I was arranging the new fiction we've just received.

After my shift, I head upstairs for a shower, to get the smell of hot milk out of my skin, and then go to my room, closing my door behind me. I collapse into bed, wanting to block out the world, and everyone who lives in this building. But my bedroom has never felt so welcoming, even after weeks of living here, and I feel tense and sad, and icy from some cold draft that I still can't locate.

I scroll through Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and feel frustrated and empty, and in a huff I throw my phone across my bed. I open my bedside drawer and pull out the letter.

It's addressed to Matthew Lyndon-Reed, and the return address is a boutique London publishing agency.

Dear Matthew,

Unfortunately we've had no correspondence from you since December, despite previous letters and emails to your address. As we have not been able to get into contact with you, sadly we will have to withdraw our offer of publication of your memoir. The team here is disappointed and we sincerely hope you'll contact us soon and we can possibly work something out. Please do let us know if you've been offered publication elsewhere.

Sincerely,

Felix Shipman

Editor

I've googled the publishing house, and from my research I've discovered it's a boutique London publishing house specialising in LGBT fiction and memoirs. I recognise one of their top authors - a gay comedian, who has written a funny book for teens about growing up gay.

This letter has forced me to reassess everything I know about Matthew Lyndon-Reed. From the photos I've seen of him, he's shorter than Ed, but solidly built, with a strong jawline and dark brown hair. In the photos of the group, he often has his arm around Kitty, and I'd thought that maybe there was something there, which would explain how emotional she got when they brought up his name. And it might explain why he left.

But if Matt was offered publication from an LGBT house, then I can only assume that he's gay.

I pull up Kitty's Instagram and flick through the photos of the group. In December they went skiing together, and I examine the dynamics. There's Charlotte and Sylvie, both shrieking with laughter, clutching at each other, as if they're about to fall into the snow. Charlotte's ski suit looks designer.

Harper has a snowboard, and he's wearing his neon goggles, but I can still see his big, goofy grin. Kitty's holding her gloved hand up into a peace sign. Matt's beside her, his arm around her, but he's looking over at Charlotte and Sylvie, and laughing. Ed's lying on his side, in front of everyone, with a lurid orange and yellow ski jacket that looks straight from the 70s. And there's Will, in a silver ski jacket, with a grey wool hat, standing beside Matt.

What if it was Will and Matt that had something going on? And maybe that's why Matt left? Maybe that's why no one wants to talk about it?

But why hasn't Ed forwarded these letters onto his brother? He's going to lose this chance at publication if he doesn't contact the publishing house soon.

I want to get into contact with Matt, in case he has no idea this house wants to publish him.

I have no idea how to do it, but Ed has Matt's laptop, and maybe that's a start.

• Author's Note •

Thanks for reading! What are your thoughts on the story so far? Are you excited to read more? And you know I always have a question of the chapter for you, so here it is...

Do you hope one day to see your own writing published?

Thanks for reading, voting, commenting, and all that!

elle xx