Booklovers

She put her hand to her mouth, and Aaron saw her eyes welling with tears.

"Sell the letters and you can keep your house, buy your brother out," he said. "All of these books can stay here if you want them to.

"And if you sell the letters to a museum, everyone can read them and remember the woman who was the real Esme. Because you saved her books, she'll never be forgotten."

Emily nodded and wiped away a tear. "I'd like that, but there's someone else I want to help too."

* * *

Three months later, the neon sign flashed to life again. Aaron and Emily smiled when they saw the word Booklovers reflected in the glass.

Emily felt Molly brush against her leg, and reached down to pet her as Miriam came out from the back and walked across the new, spacious, brightly lit store.

"Are we ready to open?" she asked.

"We are," Emily said, and smiled as she looked around the store and saw all of the books she'd collected lining the walls, ready to be loved by a new generation of readers.

"Molly and I can't thank you enough for this, for letting us be part of your new bookstore," Miriam said.

Aaron stepped forward and hugged her, knowing she was about to start crying again. "Miriam, we keep telling you this store isn't ours, it's yours. Emily and I are part-owners, but this bookstore belongs to you, and Molly of course."

Before Miriam could protest, Emily said, "You wouldn't let us give you the letters back, but they belonged to you too. And that's why we used the money from them to buy this building and reopen the store, to give you your dream back."

"But you should have used the money to keep your house," Miriam said.

"I didn't need to. With this store the books have a new home, just like I have," Emily said, and squeezed Aaron tightly.

"And by working here, I can keep hunting for first editions in any collections we buy," he said.

Emily ran her hand lovingly across one of the glass display cases near the counter that contained all of the mementoes she'd found hidden between the pages of her books. Now they, and their memories, would be preserved forever.

Miriam unlocked the door and a small line of friends and old and new customers walked in to congratulate the three of them.

After a short time, their very first customer brought a book to the counter. As Miriam rang it up, he looked at the neon sign and said, "Booklovers? Did you name if after the store that burned down?"

She smiled and nodded at Aaron and Emily, who were hand in hand on the far side of the store as they chatted with Harold. "No," she said, "I named it after them."