The week after the filing moved differently than the week before it.
Damian noticed the difference in small ways first.
The customers who came into the bookshop had changed slightly — not dramatically, not overwhelmingly, but measurably. There were regulars, the same familiar faces, the woman who came every Tuesday for something to read on her commute and always knew exactly what she wanted. There was the man who spent forty minutes with the crossword newspapers. There was the student who had been working through a reading list that Damian had helped her build over four months.
And there were new people.
Not many. But present.
People who came in with the particular quality of customers who had found the shop through something other than proximity or recommendation. Who lingered near the front window. Who sometimes asked questions about the designation case. Who sometimes bought books and sometimes just looked and left.
He served them all with the same efficiency.
