Edinburgh is for Lovers (l.s.)

xxv.

Louis had just walked in the door from his last day teaching at the university for the summer when the phone rang. Graham had called him to let him know that his books had arrived from London. And Louis had agreed to take the train to Glasgow the next day and help them set the books up.
He called Harry as soon as he hung up with Graham and they talked for hours. Harry told him how proud he was, and Louis told him he was thinking of starting to write another book now that summer term was over. They'd ended the conversation after the sun had set, both having put off dinner to talk instead.
After dinner, Louis settled in at his desk. He hadn't sat there in awhile, choosing instead to grade papers on the couch. But sitting there again felt right. He pulled out the notebook he'd bought himself at Christmas last year and opened it to a blank page, and began to write.

The next day, Louis took the noon train to Glasgow. He tucked his hands in his jacket pocket as he walked down the street from the station to city centre and to Waldron's Books. The bell over the door tinkled as he stepped inside. He took a deep breath and grinned at the sight of the cozy book shop.
He made his way through the rows of shelves until he reached the counter where he'd talked with Graham only a week ago.

"Louis!" Graham looked over as he approached the counter.

He and another man were stood behind the counter, sorting through books and paper labels. The other man was about as tall as Graham and had wavy brown hair and a strong jaw, but otherwise soft features.

"Connell, this is Louis."

Connell stood from where he was crouched sorting through a box of books and greeted Louis, holding his hand out to shake Louis'.
"So good to meet you. I'm Connell."

"Nice to meet you." Louis smiled.

Graham came up behind Connell and discreetly held his hand along the small of his waist as he talked.
"Good to see you again, mate. Harry's quick. Shipped the books out Monday, they got here yesterday morning."

"He's very good at his job." Louis said politely.

Connell chuckled and leaned down to grab one of the books from the box. He held it out to Louis.

"It's beautiful, by the way. Read a few chapters last night. Graham and I bought two copies once they were in the system, so you've officially sold copies of your first book, Louis. Congratulations."

Louis laughed and shook his head in amazement. "Thank you. That's-- I'm so grateful you wanted to sell my book here."

"Of course. It's brilliant. And we love helping out new authors. It's important." Graham added seriously.

"Want to help shelf them? We've got a whole open shelf in the back, I'm sure Graham told you about that. We've got a spot open up front too to feature it as a recommended book."

"I'd love to." Louis smiled and followed them behind the counter and helped carry a few books from the box they were unpacking.

"We'll probably put like eight or nine copies up front, plus the display. And another dozen in the back? Replace them as they sell of course."
Graham handed him a few more books before leading him back to the front of the store. The front shelf that Louis had passed when he walked in had a gap that they filled with copies of his own book, and they had Louis place one copy on the stand on top of the shelf next to little tag that read "Owner Recommendation".

"You're not--- worried?" Louis frowned slightly. "That uhm, people would react weirdly to this being an owner recommended book?"

"No." Graham said confidently.

"We try not to be terribly obvious about it, but we're the only book store in Glasgow that has an entire section devoted to gay literature. I'm sure people could figure it out if they tried hard enough." Connell joked.