On Sunday, Rey negotiated with Luke at the bookshop for the whole of the next weekend off, made easier by his admittance that he was planning to close for the long weekend anyway. The following Sunday was the town founder's birthday, and what with the public holiday and the expected hot summer weather, everyone else would be down at the river for the celebrations and fireworks. Rey had every intention of spending the day in bed with painkillers, tea and something indulgent.
Monday was spent looking over her options for her last year of study, and trying to concentrate on what she needed. Finally, unable to get her brain to work, she fired off an email to the Head of Engineering, asking for an appointment to discuss things. Professor Organa must have been taking advantage of the lack of lessons too, because ten minutes later Rey had an appointment with her for one hour's time.
She arrived with five minutes to spare, and waited on the chairs outside the Professor's rooms as patiently as she could. Right now, and for the last three days, her mind was working on two different levels. One was the calm, calculating and rational brain that had got her through to near the end of her engineering course with high marks and a good possibility of a job in the industry and some stability in her life. She could see the years ahead marked with blueprints, hard hats and occasional welding torches. The other was a short span, bracketed by being dumped by her boyfriend four weeks before; a wild encounter with a tall, dark haired man who had made her feel wonderful through her post-breakup hook-up at the Cantina, and dealing with the consequences the next weekend. She would take the clinic up on their offer to implant an IUD while she was there. Pills were just too risky.
The door beside her opened, and she leapt to her feet as the Professor came out, handing an envelope to someone behind her.
"Rey! Glad you could make it today. Won't you come in? Ben, I'll see you next Monday." Professor Organa's voice was professional as she moved aside and Rey looked up at an unexpectly familiar face.
They both stood motionless for a moment until the Professor ushered Rey into her office, closing the door behind her and leaving Ben standing there.
"Don't mind him." The Professor sat down and opened a folder on her desk.
"He's a student? I've not seen him on the campus." Rey put her bag on her lap and tried to look innocent as she rummaged out her papers.
"No, he's my son."
Rey dropped her bag.
"I had no idea …" She scrabbled the papers together and put them on the desk.
"He's been away for a long time. He came back a month or so ago, but had to return to Naboo to pack up his things. But he's not why you wanted to see me today. And please – now that you're nearly finished, you can call me Leia."
"Right. Um … I've got all the electives sorted, bar one." Rey handed over her transcript. "It's the must take at least a second year subject in a discipline that is not STEM that has me confused. I don't want to take something that won't count, but I have no idea where to start. The only thing that looked half interesting was Professor Solo's Archaeology and Modern Culture, but it clashes with Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics."
Leia looked down the list, and checked them against her computer. "You've excelled in every subject you've taken so far, Rey. You've covered the prerequisites for any of the literature subjects, or even something like sculpture. Do you know why we make our students take these non-engineering subjects?"
"No idea."
"Because we need them to graduate with a rounded education, and interests outside making numbers bounce and rocks bang together. I admit that's mainly because we have a large number of hyper-fixated male students who would do nothing but stay in the lab all weekend trying to make a light run up and down a plastic tube, but it works for all our students. So, Rey, what takes your interest?"
"Books." Rey's response was immediate. "I adore reading, especially when the book is well-bound and has that heft to it. The smell of old leather bindings. That slightly dusty aura … I work in a bookshop and it's wonderful. Except that I want to keep buying all the books and take them home."
"We have similar problems in our family." Leia grinned. "I think the biggest problem Ben's going to have packing up is fitting all his books in his car, and my brother hoards books like you wouldn't believe. Speaking of not believing, did you know there's a subject here on exactly that?"
"Hoarding books? I'd be the top student immediately." Rey looked over the summary sheet Leia handed her. "Oh – Book making? So printing, binding, that sort of thing?"
"Exactly. You learn about the history of books from the earliest tablets to today, and you have to produce a book as part of your final assessment. You don't have to write it – but you have a choice of formats. Maybe apply something in your engineering to the book itself – the binding, or a clasp of some sort. This subject might be what you need."
"I think it is, thanks." Rey took a deep breath, unaware until that moment exactly how much stress she had been holding onto over just this worry. "So is your son going to be studying here?"
"He finished his degree last year. No, he's trying to work out what he wants to do next. He was an intern to a rather nasty piece of work, and it took months but he managed to get away from all that. Making a fresh start." Leia stared down at her hands, which she had folded on the desk. "He's made some mistakes, but I think he's going to be all right. I hope so. It's not easy being a mother, Rey."
"I can imagine." And I don't want to find out just yet. Later, perhaps, but not yet. "Thank you, Leia. When do you need me to enrol in that subject?"
"By Friday, please. And let me know if you have any problems." Leia stood to indicate that the interview was over, and Rey let herself out the door, hoping that perhaps Ben had waited for her.
The corridor was empty.
Tuesdays in the Dagobar bookshop were often quiet, but this Tuesday was more so than usual. Luke had Rey clean out the back of the storeroom, particularly any boxes that looked as if they might not have been opened in twenty years, and by lunchtime she was hot and dusty and very glad Rose had insisted on giving her a box of herbal teas and a loaf of wholemeal bread on Saturday. At least now she was keeping some food down in the morning. Rey scowled at the last box, one that was slightly water stained and looked at least as old as she was, when the bell over the shop's door rang.
"Hello?" A deep male voice.
Bother. Luke must have gone out for lunch early. Rey vaguely remembered hearing him yell something, but she'd been arms-deep in second-hand copies of 50 Shades of Grey and The Da Vinci Code at the time, and hadn't thought to respond.
She dusted her hands off and walked out of the storeroom to the counter, trying to blink the dust out of her eyes.
"Rey."
"Hang on a second." She grabbed a tissue from under the counter, wet it from her bottle, and wiped her eyes. "Right – oh! Ben!"
"You said you worked in a bookshop. I just didn't realise it was this one." He was there, in front of her, looking as gorgeous as he had the previous day and three weeks before. So that night hadn't just been the alcohol.
"I … yes. This one. For over a year." She looked around the old wooden bookshelves piled high with old hardbacks, early-edition textbooks and classical children's literature of dubious current validity. "What are you doing here?"
"I've got a message for Luke. Is he in today?"
At that, the doorbell rang and Luke walked back in. He scowled at Ben, who wordlessly handed over an envelope, then glared at Rey.
"Go and get some lunch."
"Right." Rey reached around the storeroom door for her bag. "You've got at least a hundred paperbacks there that are never going to sell. Do we dump them, or make a fort?"
"Out." Something must have riled the old man. Rey headed outside, followed by Ben.
"Would you like to get lunch? I mean, I'll buy you lunch, if you'd like."
She was starving, and funds were tight. Even with the insurance from the shop, she had to get $300 by Saturday for the medical abortion if she wanted to have the extra sedation. Although she had no intention of asking Ben for the money. But him buying lunch? "Yes. Yes, that would be lovely."
They hit the strange little restaurant around the corner, weaving their way through the labyrinthian corridor to the entrance then ducking under the palm fronds and peering at the layout. It looked like someone's grandmother's antique shop had provided all the furniture and décor, and each table was named by its guardian statue rather than numbered. The owner escorted them to the Falcon table and left them with the menus.
"Ever been here before?" Rey looked down the menu as Ben's gaze wandered around.
"No. I feel like I should be being served by house elves or Icelandic trolls."
"It's a bit like that. I've always loved it, and it's not expensive or anything, in case you're worried." They ordered, and she looked him up and down.
"No, no, it's not that. I just … I've never felt so at home in a restaurant before." He brought his gaze back to her. "But you. How are you?"
"Fine."
"You look tired."
"That storeroom was horridly stuffy and warm." Rey took a long drink of water. "And you do not want to know some of the books I found there."
"Surely not Little Black Sambo?"
"That book is about a very brave boy in India, standing up to tigers. I just wish the name hadn't been taken over by creeps ever since." Rey crossed her arms. "But it pains me to see so many books so cheaply printed. They just don't survive being read, being loved …"
"I know. I adore my books as well. I have to organise a truck to bring mine back from Naboo."
"Yeah, your mother said." Shaking her head, Rey reached for the breadsticks. "That explains why all your bookshelves were empty. I couldn't understand why someone would rent an apartment with bookshelves if you weren't going to use them."
"Um … yeah … about the other night." Ben looked awkward. "Why did you leave? I would have made you breakfast."
"Oh." Rey blushed. "I … wasn't sure. I've never done that before. I was … I panicked." She looked away, and jumped when she felt his hand on hers.
"Gone home with someone you've just met and shagged like bunnies?"
"Yeah." She laughed, and looked back at him, squeezing his hand. "You were my first ever one-night-stand. I'm sorry. I'd do things differently if I had the chance."
"Would you like to?"
"What?"
"Have the chance. To do it again."
"What? Shag like bunnies?"
"If you want."
She thought for a moment. "Are you asking me out? Or for a hookup? Or …"
"I'd like to see more of you than just one night. And lunch. And running into you in the corridor outside my mother's office." Their food arrived, and Ben started in. "It's probably a good thing we already know we're compatible in one area, but I'd like to know you better. I just couldn't get in touch."
"I'm sorry. I'm really bad at making sensible decisions, and the amount I had to drink that night … I'm surprised I managed to get home in one piece, to be honest." Rey took a mouthful of the pasta, and moaned. "Oh but that is good. I'm starving."
"Then eat up." Ben laughed. "Sorry, that's my Italian grandmother coming through. She always piles on the food. It's a surprise none of us ended up like balloons, not that there would be anything wrong with that."
"She sounds lovely."
"She is. I want to be a grandfather, so I can spoil the grandkids rotten." Ben applied himself to his own plate, but Rey felt her stomach drop. Grandfather. He wants kids. And grandkids. I can't tell him. He'd want me to have it. She made herself eat the rest of the food, but now it tasted like gravel, and she was glad to see that her lunch hour was almost gone and she needed to get back to the shop.
"No dessert?"
"Not today, no." Rey stood and picked up her bag. "Ben, I have to go. And I would like to see more of you."
He stood as well, and hugged her, apparently not realising she was only responding half-heartedly. "Would you like me to walk you back to Uncle Luke's?"
"Your uncle? But of course – your mother mentioned he owned a shop. I just didn't realise." She shook her head. "You finish your lunch."
He pulled a pen out and scribbled a number on a piece of paper. "Call me. We can go out on Friday night."
"I have a gig on Friday."
"At the Cantina?" He grinned. "I'll take you out to supper afterwards."
"Nothing too late. I have an appointment on Saturday." And I'm not allowed to eat after midnight, according to the clinic.
"Deal. What time do you start?"
"Nine." She took the paper, then, on an impulse, kissed his cheek. "Thank you for lunch. It was lovely. I'll see you then."
"See you, Rey." He stayed standing as she walked out, she knew, because she looked back from the door and waved and he waved back.
Then she headed out into the sunshine and reality.
