"...and because so many of them were begging to tell and tell again the story of his adventures on the peach, he thought it would be nice if one day, he sat down and wrote it as a book." He read from the book, adding a shrug just for effect.

It was something they had been doing ever since Seth had moved in with his sister. Every night after dinner, when his sister Valentine would put her daughter to bed, Bethany begged her mom to ask Uncle Seth to read her a story. At first, two months ago, Valentine would have to knock on his door and request him. Now it was different. Now, Bethany would just hand a book to him right after dinner, and he was to be present in her room in ten minutes.

Seth enjoyed the activity. He was reading books he hadn't read in ages.

"So he did. And that is what you have just finished reading." He closed the copy of James and the Giant Peach and set it on the night stand by the other children's books.

"Roald Dhal ends all his stories like that." Beth commented, as Seth dimmed the lamp. The usually bright pink-with-a-touch-of-blue room became dark. The glow in dark stars on the roof stared to glow, making it look like it was a night time sky from a children's colouring book.

He thought about the comment and laughed to himself. He remembered thinking that too, when he had read them.

"That's true." He nodded to his niece and got out from under the pink blankets. Just then, there was a light knock on the door, and it opened to let in Valentine Durand, with a glass of milk and a chocolate-chip-cookie.

"How's my little ange?" she asked, smiling as she closed the door with her foot, careful not to spill the milk.

"La mère" the little girl exclaimed. "Uncle Seth just read me a very nice story!"

"That's great!" Valentine smiled.

Seth got up from the bed and made space for his sister to sit down by her daughter.

"Merci." Valentine nodded to him, and then handed the glass to Beth, but made sure to remind her that should one drop be spilt on the sheets, she would make her wash it. It was a dry threat—they all knew that. Valentine loved her daughter more than anything else in the world. The five-year-old little girl was her angel, and so the nickname, Ange.

For a few minutes Seth just stood there, as Bethany repeated whatever she remembered of the story for her mother. There were many words he didn't understand because when he was finishing his degree in London, his sister was living in Paris with her husband, Noel Durand, who was attending culinary school with her. She had picked up on many French words and used them in daily life, and only realised she was using them when Seth would ask sorry, come again.

He imagined what it would feel like to be in Val's place. And that thought soon changed to what it would feel like to watch someone else in Val's place. He could bet that Lis would love her daughter just as much as Val did, if they had any. Seth felt an ache in his chest at that thought.

He and Lis had talked about that. They had planned to have two kids—Marcus and Blare—two years apart, and they would love them more than anything else in the whole universe. Together, the little family would live in London where they could buy a little house, just big enough to call home. They'd come back here to visit Lis's parents, and spend the summer maybe. And so, they'd live happily ever after.

Just that, it didn't happen.

Seth decided that it was time for bed. He couldn't stay up anymore, not with the aching memories in his head.

"Uncle Seth!" Bethany asked just as he decided to leave. "Can we read Danny the Champion of the World tomorrow?"

"Hmm." Seth thought and looked over at his sister for approval.

Can I?

Valentine nodded discreetly in approval.

Sure.

"Alright." Seth nodded and smiled to see the excitement on his niece's face.

Then he realised that they didn't have that book.

"Sorry." Not wanting to disappoint her, he didn't tell her of his realisation and excused himself and used his phone's torch light to inspect Bethany's book case. Then he left for his own room and checked in his stuff if he had it here. Just as he had expected, it was nowhere.

He sat down on his bed, the old wood creaking under his weight, and thought. He didn't want to tell Bethany that he couldn't find the book. He knew that Lis wouldn't let him to. Lis would look for a solution. Find a way to—Then it occurred to him, and he pulled out his wallet where he had put the Bookies card Roland had given him the other day.

At the third ring, a sleepy guy picked up from the other end.

"Hello mate." Seth greeted him, mentally crossing his fingers. "I was just calling to ask about a book."

"Man." Roland's slight groan was heard from the other side. "The store closed hours ago."

Seth checked his watch, and saw that it was almost eleven at night.

"I apologise for the inconvenience," he said, mentally cursing himself for not having considered that. "but I just need to know if you have a copy of Danny the Champion of the World, by Roald Dhal?"

Seth heard some shuffling from the other side, a sigh and then,

"Let me see, hold please."

Seth released a breath he didn't know he had been holding. For a few minutes, he just sat there on his bed, looking around at his room while he waited for Roland to come back on the line. He observed a slight crack on the otherwise great dresser mirror, a sleeve of one of his shirts sticking out of the closet, a dustless circle spot on his table from where he had moved a lamp to the other side in the morning, his deodorant laying on its side by the bottle of cologne, a pair of boxers sticking out from under his bed, and many other things.

At last, Roland came back, a bearer of an almost good news.

"We don't have it now," he said, "but I can have it arranged for you by tomorrow. You can pick it up from the store in the evening."

Seth smiled at the news. Now he wouldn't have to disappoint a little kid.

"Thanks a lot, mate." Seth nodded.

"Pleasure." Roland replied, and Seth imagined that with an eye roll.

After putting his phone on the night stand, Seth snuggled under the duvet, resting his head on the polyester filled pillow. He felt contended, having found the book for Bethany. He thought of Lis, and knew that she would've felt that too.

Once again, Seth thought about reading to his own children. They'd laugh at the silly parts, and gasp at the scary ones. Lis would've watched them with a smile etched on her face, and would give them snacks to eat while they were at it. Seth would've made it a little family tradition, reading books together in the evening. Lis was not much of a reader, but he knew she wouldn't have stopped him.

The ache from before engulfed him again, and Seth sighed. Everything had passed away with Lis, all his dreams, wishes, happiness. All that remained where memories. And then there were books which kept his mind busy.

The thought of books bought back another memory.

A petite brunette, with cognac eyes, who looked at books as if they were gems.

He had noticed that. That was the second thing he had noticed about the girl.

The first was that she had circles under her eyes, and a band on her nose which may have been because of excessive use of reading glasses. Seth had guessed reading glasses because she didn't wear a pair when he had met her. Then, he had seen the way she looked around her, at the books. He thought that she looked as if she was right at home. He could feel the way she inhaled the scent around her and smiled, for it was very less that he saw people who looked like they were in love with staring at marked slices of trees and hallucinating vividly for hours at end; people like himself.

Seth wondered, as he had been in the past days, what would Lis think of the girl. He knew that she wouldn't have been jealous. She knew that he loved her more than anything. Even more than the movie adaptation of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.

Lis would've liked June. Not like best friends, as Lis was a big time extrovert and preferred people who were like that, but at lease like good friends.

Seth rolled over to his other side.

The thought of Lis once again pushed a dagger into his heart. He reached over to the side table, not to reach for his phone but to grab the Zolpidem, the only way for him to sleep for the past several years.