The Hobby Shop on Barnaby Street by Jillianne Hamilton

Author:Jillianne Hamilton [Hamilton, Jillianne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781775256076
Publisher: Tomfoolery Press

Maisie

“He kissed you!”

“Nora,” I warned, putting a finger to my lips as Mrs. Martin was in the kitchen nearby.

“Sorry,” Nora whispered, barely tamping down her giddiness. “What kind of kiss was it? Was it a peck or a proper grown-up kiss?”

“I’m not telling you that.” I adjusted my sitting position on the couch in the living room and smirked at Nora. “Especially when you’re not telling me what happened last night with you and Jack. The song ended and you were gone!”

The corner of Nora’s mouth curled up and her eyes appeared even more cat-like than usual. “I told you, we went for a walk—”

“In the dark,” I added.

“—and we took a wrong turn and ended up having to spend the night at the Blackfriars underground station shelter.”

“And how was that?”

“The shelter? Rotten. The bombs overhead? Loud.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “And you didn’t do any canoodling of your own?”

Nora pursed her lips. “We’re talking about you right now, not me.”

Sighing, I considered how much to share. “It was quite nice.”

She nodded in silent understanding and picked up her knitting from her lap.

Nora didn’t need to know how that passionate kiss made my entire body burn.

“When are you seeing him again? Outside of the shop, I mean.”

“That’s the thing,” I said, frowning. “He didn’t suggest we go on a date at all. We said goodnight and parted ways.”

I didn’t know if it was his shyness or if it was something else that stopped him.

Nora put her knitting down again and tented her fingers like some sort of professor, specializing in the mysteries of men. “I wonder if you should ask him instead of waiting for him to ask.”

I scoffed. “Don’t be absurd.”

“I’m not being absurd at all! It’s 1940, after all. Women are running the world while the boys are away.” She shrugged. “It’s a whole new dynamic.”

I sighed and watched the rain hitting the windows behind the couch.

“Cal obviously adores you.” She tapped a knitting needle against her cheek. “Is there a chance your brother told him he wasn’t allowed to date you?”

“Almost certainly,” I said. “However, Roy is missing so he wouldn’t even know about it anyway.”

But I knew Nora could be correct. Maybe Cal was just holding on to a promise from my needlessly overprotective brother.

I needed to know.

We lived in very uncertain times. Lives were lost every single night in London and you never knew if the next bomb might land on your neighbor’s flat or the shop across the street. A person never knew when the next bomb might come for them.

“I would feel so odd asking him while we were at the shop,” I said. “Maybe I should go to his flat and ask him.”

Nora’s eyes lit up. “Now?”

My stomach rolled at the thought. “I don’t know. Should I?”

She rushed to put her knitting aside, grabbed my hand, and pulled me from the couch. “We’re going to do your makeup and put you in something pretty.”

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