The Green Hedgehog was a rambling building. Once a turn of the last century house, it had a significant addition that stretched over an entire block.
Inside, the foyer was decorated for the holidays.
A waitress passed by as Kerry paused at thewait to be seatedsign. “Take a seat anywhere, hun,” she called out.
There was an empty seat at the end of the bar that had her name on it, right next to a coat hook on a pillar. She took her coat off and hung it up, then hopped up on to the seat and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the bar top.
The bartender on tonight was a young white woman, pale and gothic, with a choppy hair cut, buzzed underneath. “Hey,” she said, sliding a coaster in front of Kerry. “What can I get you?”
“Do you have anything special for Christmas?”
The bartender pointed to a standup sign further down the bar. “Mulled wine?”
“Sold, I’ll take a mug of that.”
When she set it front of Kerry a minute later, the bartender stuck around to be chatty. “Haven’t seen you in here before. Are you visiting for the holidays?”
Kerry shook her head. “I’m moving here next month. Just signed a lease on an apartment.”
“Here in town?”
“Across the highway, over in Pine Harbour. But I heard this was the closest place to get a drink, so…here I am.”
“Welcome. I’m Lore. As in, my parents named me Lauren.”
“Kerry.” She lifted her mug. “Cheers.”
“Who sent you our way?”
“Do you know Jenna Foster?”
Lore shook her head.
Kerry shrugged. “Well, that’s who.”
Lore laughed. “She’s got good taste. What else did she recommend?”
“Bonfires, and the women’s soccer league,” Kerry said dryly.
“Hey! I’m on the soccer team.” Lore jumped in the air. “Hey! Bailey!”
Kerry hadn’t seen that coming. Laughing, she pivoted on her stool just in time to see a south Asian woman bounce up and slide onto the stool next to her.
“Did I hear someone mention the soccer league?” She stuck her hand out. “I’m Bailey Patel. Nice to meet you. Do you play?”
“I…” Kerry shrugged. “I run. Slowly. And my co-worker suggested soccer as an alternative to…” She trailed off, not wanting to insult the locals. “Other things.”
Bailey and Lore didn’t seem offended, though. “Fun things? We get it. But your co-worker is right. Pretty much the soccer team is where it’s at for those of us in our twenties, caught between the two generations of people who have bonfire parties.”
“Uh…” Kerry took a long swallow of her mulled wine. “I might be in the next bracket up, age-wise.”
“We won’t tell anyone,” Bailey whispered. “Not if you’re willing to play defence.”
Kerry had her first Pine Harbour social calendar booking. The women filled her in on the soccer team’s website, which listed the season dates. “But we also practice in an ad hoc way before the season begins. Next year we might even rent space over the winter.”
Kerry had just finished taking down their contact information when there was a decent-sized thud as the front door of the bar swung open and bounced against the doorstop. In walked a tall monster of a man, wearing a dark parka, a snow-covered toque, and a grim scowl.
He lifted a hand at Lore. She wordlessly acknowledged him right back as he kept going past the bar and through an archway into a back room. Kerry didn’t stare—she had better self-control than that—but she couldn’t stop herself from surreptitiously tracking him until he disappeared. She had a thing for big guys, always had. There was something magnetic about the way this one stalked right past her, his strides powerful, his presence commanding. The bartender immediately grabbed a glass from beneath the counter and poured a perfect pint of stout. She looked around, maybe for the waitress, before ducking out from behind the bar and disappearing after the man herself.
