5
Excitement swirled in Ada’s stomach as soon as she woke the next morning. She tried to enjoy her breakfast, but found it hard to sit still. Today, she would see Mr. Gibbs again, perhaps for the very last time since his business with Between the Pages would be completed. He’d have no reason to stop by again. Unless he chose to. Which she supposed he might since he did like to read and might need a new book once he finished the one he was buying today and–
Oh, why was she getting wound up over this? He was just another customer.
A handsome one, to be sure, and one who’d happened to help her too. But it was ludicrous of her to make more of their brief encounter than that. It was certainly irrational of her to let his impending visit tangle her nerves.
“Is something the matter?” Uncle James inquired.
“Why do you ask?”
“Because we’re having kipfels and you always eat them with gusto, except you’ve barely eaten more than two bites this morning.”
Ada looked at her crescent shaped pastry, fresh from the bakery next door. She’d sliced it open and buttered the inside, just as she liked it. “I’m afraid I don’t have much appetite today.”
“Oh?”
“There’s still the embossing to be done on Mr. Gibbs’s order.”
“I thought you finished it yesterday.” Uncle James’s spoon clinked against his teacup as he added sugar and stirred. “It doesn’t usually take you this long to complete a binding.”
Ada groaned and sent him a helpless smile. “I couldn’t decide whether to make the spine simple or decorative. The floral motifs I designed would look pretty against the blue background, but what if he thinks it too feminine?”
Uncle James sipped his tea. “I believe Mr. Gibbs will appreciate a personal touch. Use the stamps you’ve designed, Ada.”
For some peculiar reason, doing so caused her heart to beat faster. She nodded and took another bite of her kipfel before excusing herself from the table. “I’d best get on with it then. The gold paint needs time to dry, and it’s already nearing eight o’clock.”
Leaving her uncle to finish his breakfast, she descended the stairs to the storage room and crossed to the heavy worktable she used. The books she’d bound the previous day were neatly positioned side by side. Ada checked the volumes to make sure they were ordered correctly then searched her collection of stamps until she found the right ones.
She opened the cover of the first book and placed it over a wooden block before cleaning the surface with a damp cloth. Using a ruler as a spacer, she heated the first stamp, positioned it, and gave it a few sharp hits with a hammer before checking the imprint. A lovely border had appeared with floral arrangements in each of the corners. They were joined by thin lines running the length of each side.
Satisfied, Ada repeated the stamping for the back of the book as well as for the other volume before stamping the spine with floral imprints to match. Once this was completed she went to work preparing the titles, complete with volume number and author name. Letters were carefully positioned in a tray and locked into place before being correctly aligned and stamped, both on the front and on the spine.
“How’s it coming along?” Uncle James inquired when he came downstairs.
Ada looked up from the bowl she’d just filled with some egg whites she meant to use as adhesive glair. She grabbed a brush. “Very well, thank you.”
“I’ll leave you to it then, shall I?” He unlocked the door leading into the shop and stepped through it, pausing only briefly to wish her good luck before shutting the door behind him.
Alone again, Ada painted on the glair with swift strokes then left it to dry while preparing the gold leaf.
She straightened briefly to rotate her shoulders and stretch her arms before bowing over the table once more. Moving with practiced ease, she laid the gold leaf over the areas she had prepared and brushed it with oil to secure it. Lining up the stamps she’d initially used with the marks already made, she took a deep breath and impressed the gold into those areas.
Please be perfect.
It was funny, in a way, how she always dreaded mistakes no matter how many times she completed a binding. But she prided herself on perfection – on completing exceptional work – and did not want to discover an offset between the initial indentation and the subsequent one, or a variance in the gold. Unable to accept such a thing or deliver it to a paying customer, she’d have to start over.
Lifting her hand, she removed the stamp and set it aside so she could brush the excess gold away. So far, so good. She expelled a slow breath and continued her work, imprinting the rest of the gold until she’d completed her task. A light dusting of French chalk was added to help remove the residue from the oil, and this was then wiped away with a clean cloth.
Ada took a slow breath and expelled it. Her lips quirked and she finally smiled.
Perfect.
The door to the shop opened and Uncle James popped his head into the room. “Are you almost finished?”
“Yes.” Ada stood and stepped back from the table so she could admire her work properly. “It’s all done.”
“Good.” He glanced at the books. “Those look beautiful, Ada. I dare say it’s some of your finest work yet. But I want you to eat. That’s why I came. To let you know it’s already noon.”
“Is it?” Ada glanced at the clock behind her. “Heavens, time certainly knows how to fly. Shall I bring some food down from upstairs so we can eat here?”
“How about we purchase a couple of mutton pies from next door instead?”
Ada grinned in response to the hopeful look in her uncle’s eyes. It was no secret that neither of them was a good cook, and whatever she offered to make would be boring at best, inedible at worst. She nodded. “An excellent suggestion. I’ll go and purchase them right away.”
It was convenient having a bakery next door, though possibly detrimental to one’s figure in the long term, Ada mused as she paid for the fresh pies. The paper in which they were packed was warm to the touch, and the scent filling her nostrils made her eager to taste the food.
She handed one to Uncle James as soon as she returned to the shop. Since they were the only two people present, they chose to eat at the counter instead of retreating to the back room. Ada bit into her pie and savored the hearty chunks of tender meat that spilled from beneath the flaky crust.
Delicious.
She ate the entire thing in less than ten minutes and was just dusting crumbs from her fingers when the front door opened and Mr. Gibbs entered to the bell’s happy chime. Ada took a sharp breath and slid off the stool on which she’d been sitting. Feeling incredibly stiff and awkward, she clutched her hands and tried to ignore the sudden onslaught of topsy-turviness in her stomach.
Impeccably dressed in a forest green jacket and slate gray trousers, Mr. Gibbs approached with a wide smile directed solely at her. “Good day, Miss Quinn. How delightful it is to see you again.”
“Welcome back, Mr. Gibbs.” Dear lord, she could feel her cheeks starting to burn. Sensing a need for stability, she reached for the stool.
Mr. Gibbs’s gaze slid toward her uncle. He tilted his head. “I say, aren’t you the same fellow I met in the street yesterday, in front of this very shop?”