Vivien K. Wilk

Two days later, Grace left for Ireland. To her relief, things had been easy to sort out at the university. She had received a lot of understanding, almost so much that it made her uncomfortable. What should she say in response to the condolences and questions about how she was doing? She has been doing well so far. She had things to take care of.

If she was honest, she was now more concerned with the inheritance than the rest of it. Her mother's words had brought her to reality about inheriting the bookstore. The bookstore? She was not a retail salesperson, nor had she really been into books, with the exception of specialist books, in recent years. She had no idea what was trending or how to run a store like this. What kind of shop was it anyway? Had her aunt sold novels? Children's books? Youth books? Reference books? A bit of everything? She couldn't really remember it exactly. She had got books there herself, but maybe her great-aunt had ordered them especially for her.

Wasn't her mother right? To sell the shop was the easiest way. Maybe she could do a clearance sale and then have a realtor sell the house. Depending on whether Evellyn had hired salespeople, she could leave the sales to them and Mr. Steel as well. After all, she couldn't stay there forever. Her special leave was for a month and she was excused for the exams at the end of the semester, but maybe it wasn't a good idea to postpone everything into the next semester.

The questions circled in her head the entire trip. She couldn't make a right decision yet, so she had to look at everything on site, but at least she had a rough idea. The rest of the time she tried to distract herself with listening to music and reading the newspaper.

It was evening when she finally landed in Knock. As soon as she had the luggage, she went to the airport lobby. Mr. Steel had sent her a photo of himself so she could recognize him at the airport. But he had also promised to hold up a sign with her name on it. Grace looked around when she entered the hall. There wasn't much going on that evening, so her gaze soon fell on an elderly gentleman standing at the arrival gate. He wasn't particularly tall, maybe two inches taller than she was. He had blond hair that was long at the nape of the neck and curved slightly downwards. Here and there gray streaks showed. His face was friendly. It had a distinctive broad nose and he wore a blond full beard that had been neatly trimmed. He wore a long, dark brown cloth coat and leaned one hand on a walking stick. In the other hand he actually had a sign and as far as she could decipher it, on it was her name. He had quite a bad handwriting.

Grace gathered her courage and headed for the man. When he saw her, a big smile immediately appeared on his face. As soon as she was with him, he took her hand.

"Miss Lindmann. I really have to say that you look very similar to Evellyn. How nice to meet you personally. I'm Björn Steel. You can call me Björn."

"Grace", she managed, "Grace Lindmann. I'm glad."

He studied her for a brief moment before naturally taking her suitcase from her.

"It must have been a long journey. Please follow me. I'll get you to your aunt's apartment as soon as possible so you can rest."

"Thank you. That you pick me up too. That wouldn't have been necessary."

"Of course it is. I can't just let Evellyn's great-niece travel around here alone. If she'd noticed, I would be in for a ride."

Grace didn't really know what to answer, so she said nothing. Mr. Steel seemed really friendly at first. And his concern looked sincere. It struck her as strange, especially now that she was standing in front of him, that he kept calling her great-aunt by her first name. Had the two known each other longer? Had Evellyn seen her lawyer so often? Or was there ... Grace wasn't sure whether to keep thinking the thought. She had only just met Mr. Steel. Perhaps he established a friendly, open manner with each of his clients. Since she didn't want to think the thought any further, she followed him to his car. It was in the parking lot in front of the airport. The car was small, the trunk barely bigger than the narrow back seat. Mr. Steel put her suitcase in the back seat and then held the door open for her to get in. It was strange to sit on the left side as a passenger. No matter how normal it looked, it somehow felt wrong.

"There we go," mumbled Mr. Steel and started the engine.

 

They had been driven for twenty minutes and had only exchanged a sentence or two in the meantime. Ever since they left, Grace had noticed that the trip had exhausted her. She had leaned her head against the cool side window and stared aimlessly into the darkening surroundings. Since they were out of town, there were only a few cars coming towards them, therefore the headlights were the only light in the area.

"If you will allow me, Miss Lindmann, may I ask in which field of study you are active?"

Mr. Steel's question woke her from her light trance and Grace straightened up again.

"I'm studying economics, with a focus on market research."

"How interesting. What exactly will you do later in your job?"

"Well ... I will probably work for a company and determine the impact of their products on the market. Or make suggestions about which products are currently needed in the market."

"If I understand correctly, is your family very well represented in the economic sector in general?"

"Most of them yes. My mother and father run their own consulting company. They focus on human resource management and training. My brother works as a financial advisor in a pharmaceutical company."

"And your sister? You still have a sister, right?"

"Yes, Melody. She is a graphic artist. She has always had a talent for drawing and has therefore started her own business. She often designs websites or advertisements."

"It all sounds very impressive. Maybe you can show me one of her works while you're here."

"That will certainly be possible."

There was silence again. Except for the noise of the engine, nothing could be heard in the car because Mr. Steel hadn't turned on the radio. Grace noticed how she was starting to feel uncomfortable. She stopped herself from sliding back and forth in her seat and took a deep breath. Phrases kept popping up in her head to keep the conversation going, but they all sounded awkward somehow. In the end she managed to say one, as the silence became more and more uncomfortable.

"Have you been living in Glendare for a long time?"

"For about 30 years, if my memories don't deceive me."

"Oh, you weren't born there?"

"No, no", Mr. Steel laughed softly, "I moved in. That's why, I think, I got along so well with Evellyn. She was there for a long time, but she wasn't born there either. She has always kindly looked after me, you know. You always felt welcome with her. "

A smile appeared on Grace's face when she heard his words. She felt the warmth spread in her chest as Evellyn's face appeared before her inner eye. The words echoed what she had felt when she visited. And what Evellyn had done to her with her letters. As soon as she had finished the thought, a feeling of emptiness wrapped itself over her and swallowed the warmth within a second. Grace pressed her lips together. Mr. Steel did not seem to notice the sudden change, because he spoke after a short pause.

"It was a change to move to a smaller town, but now I feel very comfortable here. Fortunately, I had people from the start that I knew at least a little."

Grace nodded. She wondered if she could say anything else when houses appeared in the distance, out of the twilight. Soon there were more and more and Mr. Steel reduced the speed of the car. The streets became much narrower and it sometimes felt more like they were driving through narrow alleys than actually on a street.

"We'll be there in a moment. You will see that we've taken good care of the shop and the house."

At the mention of the house, Grace began to look for it. She couldn't tell exactly which part of town the shop had been in, but everything looked somehow familiar. In fact, it wasn't long before Mr. Steel pulled the car over and parked it. Just a few yards away, Grace spotted the house. An excited tingling sensation gripped her body. Her legs were soft and wobbly as she got out and walked slowly towards the front door. Behind her, Mr. Steel took the suitcase from the back seat and followed her.

The wide, glass front consisted of two displays and a wooden door in the middle. Books were laid out on small tables and dressers, next to a neatly handwritten price tag. Grace saw novels, illustrated books, and a few dictionaries. But there wasn't much to see in the light of the street lamp. The interior of the bookstore was dark and she could only take guess concerning the book shelves. Mr. Steel unlocked the door and then stepped aside. He waited patiently for Grace to go through before following.