the sight soothing her. The pub, despite its ownership, was one of her favourite places. Perched on the edge of the wide green, the sturdy brick-and-timber construction had been in situ for several hundred years, standing guard over the inhabitants with imposing presence.
‘You can go in, if you like.’ Will had raised the car up. ‘Siena’s nearly finished her shift.’
Despite being here to see Siena, it didn’t seem right to abandon Will in the damp car park when he was doing her a favour, even though he was the last person on the planet that she wanted to spend any time with.
‘Do you need any help?’ she asked, with a barely concealed sigh. It was difficult to overcome a lifetime’s training of good manners.
He gave her an amused look.
Then again …
She turned her back on him and surveyed the quiet car park. In less than an hour, the pub would be buzzing. Whatever other faults he had, and there were a gazillion, Will certainly knew how to run a successful business. People came from miles around to eat here.
‘I hear you’re opening a new restaurant. That’ll be nice.’
With one raised eyebrow, he managed to make her regret opening her mouth.
‘I’m just making small talk. It feels a bit bad to abandon you when you’re being all chivalrous and fixing my car for me.’ She shivered, conscious of a light bite to the air. Summer was taking its time to arrive this year.
‘I’ve been waiting for the right location.’
‘Location, location, location,’ she said, not that she had any idea about suitable locations. The street where her tiny terraced house was located in the nearby town wasn’t about to make it onto any television programmes in the des res stakes.
‘It’s important, but I finally found the sweetest spot. The old post-office building on the High Street.’
‘Really? It looks a bit grot.’
‘It won’t by the time I’ve finished.’ Will’s quiet, confident declaration was no idle boast. When they’d lived in the village as teenagers, the pub had been the haunt of elderly men who nursed one pint over endless dominoes marathons. He’d transformed this place.
‘Hmm.’ She didn’t have the imagination for that sort of thing. ‘What sort of food are you going to do?’
‘Authentic Italian. Want to come and work for me?’
‘No thanks …’ Although there was no point cutting her nose off; the extra money would come in handy – as a teaching assistant she was only paid for term-time. ‘Well, maybe in the holidays, but I’m only half Italian, so probably not authentic enough,’ she added.
‘I’m not that fussy.’ He gave a careless shrug. ‘A waitress is a waitress.’
‘Don’t we know it,’ snapped Lisa. With a sniff she flounced off into the pub. He could bloody well get on with it, then.
‘Hey, Lisa.’ Siena tossed down her tea towel and stepped out from behind the bar to give Lisa a swift hug. ‘You looked seriously pissed off.’
‘Flat tyre.’ Lisa rolled her eyes. ‘I got it on the way here.’ And a run-in with her least-favourite person on the planet.
‘Bummer. Do you need to call someone?’ Siena shrugged, with her usual Gallic charm. Although English, she’d spent most of her life in France and had been born with a silver spoon in her red-lipped little bouche. Lisa smiled. She couldn’t imagine Siena even attempting to change a tyre.
‘Will’s changing it for me.’ Lisa flashed her friend a wicked grin.
‘Is he now?’ Siena raised one of her elegantly arched eyebrows, managing to combine surprise and feline amusement with a mere shapely lift.
‘He might as well make himself useful for a change.’ Lisa put down her bag on one of the bar stools and hopped up on the other one. ‘We could be here for a while. I could murder a drink. You don’t mind staying here for a bit, do you?’
‘No, suits me.’ Siena wiped her hands on a tea towel. ‘Might even get a few on the house, if Will’s feeling in a good mood.’
Lisa doubted that even Pollyanna would be hard pressed to maintain a sunny disposition after having changed a tyre.
‘Give me five minutes to finish tidying up in the kitchen and I’ll join you out here. Marcus will get you a drink, won’t you?’ Siena called over to the shaggy bear of a barman, busy replenishing the glass racks from the under-counter dishwasher. ‘Be a sweetie and pour me my usual.’
‘Hey Lisa, babe. How you doing? What’s it to be?’ Marcus spoke with a lovely Edinburgh burr, which Lisa could never get enough of. His accent brought back a vague memory of her mother, who’d been brought up in Scotland. She had a singular recollection of being very young and visiting there and being very put out that she never saw a single man in a kilt. Wasn’t it supposed to be the national costume?
Half-Scottish and half-Italian, she’d barely left Bedfordshire in years. She ought to remedy that one of these days.
‘G&T, please.’
‘I see Siena’s been educating you. What sort of gin do you want? Dorothy Parker, Bombay Sapphire, Hendricks?’
‘Hendricks, with cucumber.’ Lisa grinned at him. ‘I’m getting a taste for it, see, although I’d better stick to one as there’ll be Prosecco at Siena’s and I’m driving in the morning. Can’t overdo it. I’ve got to take Nan for a hospital appointment.’
‘How is the wee battle-axe?’
‘Battling. She’s so rude to the consultant.’
‘At her age, she’s allowed to be.’
‘No, at her age she should know better. Dr Gupta speaks perfectly good English and Nan insists she can’t understand a word he’s saying.’
‘Is he English?’
‘No,’ Lisa giggled. ‘He’s got the strongest Northern Irish accent I’ve ever heard: born and bred in Belfast. She’s being contrary because he’s clearly British despite his name and the colour of his skin.’
‘She’s from a different generation, I guess.’
‘My mum married an Italian; you’d have thought she might have got used to it. There’s no excuse. She’s just being rude.’
Will walked into the pub, wiping his black hands, about half an hour later. ‘All done. I’ve put the spare on. You’ll need to take the other one to the garage, see if it can be repaired or buy a new one.’
‘Thank you. Very much.’ She grimaced. Yeah, she knew about the tyres, but buying a new spare was going to wipe out the pathetic little rainy-day fund she’d scrimped and saved for.
When Siena’s lips twitched, Lisa realised how it had looked. ‘I am … very grateful. Er … can I buy you a drink?’
Will
