Happily Ever After Read Online Free PDF Page B

out of you soon enough, but it’s a start. OK, so next—”
    “Hold on,” said Elle. “What’s your name?”
    “It’s Libby,” said the voice. “Libby Yates. What’s yours?”
    “Eleanor Bee,” said Elle. “But call me Elle, everyone does.”
    “Do they now.” The laconic tone was back, and you’d never have known she’d been so flustered. “Hello, Eleanor Bee. On with the tutorial. So…”

 
     
    JUST UNDER TWO weeks later, on Tuesday 6 May, Eleanor Bee stood at the bottom of the steps of a big house and stared at the blue enamel sign hanging above her.
     
    B LUEBIRD B OOKS
E ST . 1932
     
     
    “I have confidence,” she muttered to herself. She looked down at her smart charcoal gray trousers—new from Warehouse, on Saturday—and the raspberry pink short-sleeved jumper, at her beautiful soft black Mary Janes with the small heel from Pied a Terre which were only twenty pounds in the Christmas sale and which she was still unable to quite believe were hers. It was a beautiful spring day, and the newly green trees in Bedford Square swayed behind her. In the distance she could hear the clanging of a Routemaster bus bell, but otherwise it was completely quiet. Eleanor climbed the stairs and rang on the front door.
    She was so nervous, she felt her knees might give way underneath her. She’d been here before, for her interview the week before last, but it seemed ages ago. Perhaps the whole thing was a huge mistake. Elle couldn’t shake the feeling that she was an imposter—she was standing here only because no one else had applied, and because the terrifying Miss Sassoon, who’d briefly interviewed her, had been impressed that she’d heard of Forever Amber, because the only other person she’d seen had been some daughter of a friend of a friend, and she’d never heard of it. Well, Elle had thought, why were you interviewingthe daughter of a friend of a friend? That’s no way to find the best people, surely?
    “So you’ve read it?” Miss Sassoon had asked.
    “Oh, yes.” Elle was very fond of Forever Amber . She’d been reading it during the awful holiday in Skye all those years ago. “I couldn’t put it down. I—I enjoyed it even more than Gone with the Wind .”
    “That,” Miss Sassoon had said firmly, “is a subject for another day.” Elle thought she’d annoyed her, but Miss Sassoon had smiled and called for Libby to show her out, and then she’d been interviewed by Rory, who was very nice, in his early thirties, friendly and far less scary than his mother, so she’d relaxed and just chatted, and he’d teased her about liking the Spice Girls and then she’d left, and Libby had rung her at home that evening to say thanks. “I think they liked you. I know Rory’s bored of temps and the old lady just wants it sorted out, ASAP. You’re definitely in with a chance.”
    And for once that chance was hers. They’d given her the job, and she was here and now—she had no idea what came next. Elle rang the doorbell again, more firmly.
    “Helloooo?” an elderly voice said into the intercom.
    “Hello? It’s Eleanor… Eleanor Bee. It’s my first day, I’m Rory and Posy’s new secretary, they told me to get here for ten…?”
    “First floor. Please commme innnn….” the intercom said in querulous tones.
    Elle climbed the wide stairs to the first floor and at the top she pushed open a swinging door to be greeted by Elspeth MacReady, office manager, wiping her hands on her skirt, and bending double, her rheumy eyes darting unhappily about her.
    “Good morning, Eleanor,” she said formally. “Good to see you again. Welcome to Bluebird Books. Mr. Rory is in a meeting. He asked me to get you settled in. Here we are.”
    Elle looked around her, taking it all in once more. A real-life publishing house. Where people made books, all day. And she was here, she was one of them! What a magical place! Strung out across the oatmeal carpet on the huge first floor were a collection of