“Yes.” She gives a martyr-like sigh. “I’ll help you win Jamie over. It’s the least I can do.”
“Er, it’s really not,” I assure her. “Seriously, I’m fine. I don’t need any help.”
“But ofcourseyou do,” says Chloe firmly. “You couldn’t even decide what to wear without me, Summer, so, honestly, it’s a good job I’m here. I’ll be taking over as ‘Fairy Godmother’ now, don’t you worry. We’ll soon sort you out.”
“Wh… what? No!”
The last thing I need right out — or ever, really — is yet another self-proclaimed ‘Fairy Godmother’ trying to stick her nose into my business; especially one like Chloe. But it’s too late.
Chloe flips her hair over her shoulder and turns back towards the door, letting out a shriek of excitement when she spots a familiar figure standing inside the doorway, holding a bunch of cocktail menus.
“Jamie! Surprise!”
Chloe goes bounding towards him, but stops short of throwing her arms around him, like she usually does when she meets someone she even vaguely knows.
“Chloe!” Jamie manages, looking horrified. “And Summer, again! Wow. But I thought you were here with friends, Summer? Different ones, I mean?”
He looks at me accusingly.
“I was,” I tell him brightly. “But Chloe flew over to surprise me. Isn’t that great?”
“Amazing.”
He smiles in a way that makes the phrase ‘putting a brave face on it’ pop into my mind.
“This place is fantastic,” Chloe’s saying, looking around the bar, which is much larger than it looks from the outside, and packed with customers. “Did you choose all this stuff yourself?”
She nods at the walls of the place, which are decorated with various pieces of music memorabilia: there’s a bright red Fender guitar hanging above the bar, framed vinyl above each table, and a bit of a “Hard Rock on a budget” vibe that has Jamie’s name written all over it — figuratively speaking.
“Most of it,” he says, grinning with pride as he looks around him. “You should’ve seen the place to start with; it was a right dive. Like an old man’s pub back home.”
Gerald suddenly appears at my shoulder, as if summoned by the words “old man’s pub”.
“Is this young Jamie, then?” he says delightedly. “Well, I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s like meetin’ a celebrity.”
“Is it?”
Jamie shakes the hand Gerald offers him, looking nonplussed.
“This is Gerald,” Chloe tells him, helpfully stepping in before he can bring up the diaries. “Summer’s friend.”
“Summer’s—? Right. I didn’t realize the friends you were with were…”
He trails off before he can ask me what I’m doing hanging out with pensioners, but I don’t miss the smirk of amusement he exchanges with Chloe, and even thoughIdidn’t particularly want Gerald here either, I find myself feeling offended on his behalf.
So what if Gerald’s a bit… older? He’s still aperson.
“Right, then, are we getting drinks or not?” says Chloe. “Can you join us, Jamie, or do you have to work? Wait, what am I saying? You’re the boss! Of course you can!”
Jamie shifts from one foot to the other uncomfortably.
“Look,” he says, glancing over at the bar again, “Why don’t we go somewhere else? There’s a new place just opened not far from here; we could go and check it out?”
“But we wanted to seethisplace,” says Chloe, who’s obviously angling for some free drinks. “Yourplace.”
“And you’ve seen it,” replies Jamie lightly. “But come on, Chloe, take pity on a guy, would you? I’ve been here all day! The last thing I want is to spend the evening at work.”
“I suppose so,” she says, seeing the steady stream of free cocktails she’s been imagining slip away from her. “I guess we could always come here another time.”
