Bess drove to the pub and Nadia was at the bar when she arrived. She was buying a round and Bess had asked for a Coke but changed her mind last minute and ordered a beer. After a few sips, Bess felt herself relax. And she knew then that she wouldn’t be driving home. She knew then that forgetting her troubles was going to take a lot more than a single beer.
The quiz wasn’t easy but they came a very respectable second. Bess had been able to answer the two medical questions that came up, leaving her team members glad she’d joined them. They won a fifty quid voucher for behind the bar and had all decided that there was no time like the present to enjoy their prize.
By the bottom of her fifth beer, Bess was unsteady on herfeet. Nadia had left and offered to take Bess home as she was driving, but the music had drawn Bess in to dance near the pool table with the rest of the town who’d come in here to escape the January blues. Just like her. Hudson showed up and he seemed to be in the mood for partying so they danced for a while before he was summoned home by his other half.
When unsteadiness hit, she found a stool at the bar. She ordered a shot of tequila, then a second, a third. She was usually sensible with her drink but tonight, obliteration was the name of the game.
‘Obliteration!’ she called out, holding up the little shot glass in the landlord’s direction before knocking it back in one. And then, because most people had peeled off, she’d pulled her phone from her rear pocket and called Marianne. ‘Get yourself down here! I need the company, please, don’t be a killjoy. Come on.’ For everyno,Bess put in another argument and when she still didn’t get anywhere, she started to sob. She couldn’t speak. In the end, she hung up the call.
What the hell was happening to her? She wasn’t this person.
Marianne came into the pub almost an hour later.
Bess brightened when she saw her and wiped her tears. ‘Marianne!’ She beckoned her over. ‘Everyone, meet Marianne! My lodger!’ She wasn’t talking to anyone in particular.
Bess looked to the landlord. ‘Drinks, please! Marianne, what’s it to be?’
‘I think you’ve had enough,’ Marianne said gently.
‘Oh, I’ve definitely had enough.’ She waved her card in the air. ‘But not of the drinks.’ She ordered another tequila but her card was rejected.
‘Well, that’s just great.’ Bess groaned and slumped her arms and upper chest onto the bar counter. And when she sat upagain, Marianne looked as though she’d rather be anywhere else than here.
Bess cringed. ‘I’m embarrassing you. And myself. I’m useless. I’m a waste of space.’
‘Why don’t I take you home?’ Marianne said so softly, she almost didn’t hear her. ‘We’ll have to walk, I’m afraid. I don’t have money to spend on a taxi.’
‘You walked here?’
‘Bus. But that was the last one tonight.’
Bess pulled her car keys from her small bag and handed them to Marianne. ‘Our chariot awaits,’ she slurred. ‘Out in the car park.’
‘I can’t drive you, Bess; I don’t have a licence.’
‘I could teach you!’ she gushed.
‘Not today. We need to get you home. Can you even walk?’ Marianne and the landlord exchanged a glance. ‘I’m going to call Gio.’
Marianne dialled a number and Bess got up to dance to another song.
But her foot got caught on the bottom of her stool and she fell forwards onto the carpet with a whack and she heard Marianne yell, ‘Oh my God!’
‘I’m fine,’ Bess giggled as Marianne scooped her up from the floor. ‘I think I bounced.’ But she lost the smile when she was upright because the landlord had taken the phone and as he talked into it, he looked even more unimpressed at her behaviour.
The next thing Bess knew, she was being led outside, the fresh air slapping her in the face. She stumbled down the kerb and reached out to save herself by grabbing Marianne, who she took down with her.
Marianne was up first and tried to haul Bess to her feet.
Bess gasped when she saw Marianne struggle to put her weight on one foot. ‘You’re hurt.’
‘It’s fine.’
‘No…’ And then she started to cry. ‘This is all my fault. I’m a terrible person. You should hate me. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.’
‘It’s all right, Bess. Come on, here’s our taxi.’ She waved an arm to flag it down.
‘Taxi? But we have no money,’ Bess groaned.
