‘Anna. Take a seat,’ said Jakub inviting her into his office, which she still found fascinating with its huge wooden desk tucked under the very low sloping beamed ceiling. A big old-fashioned heater, tiled in green majolica, filled much of the opposite wall. She guessed it was needed in the winter, given the thickness of the stone walls of the old monastery building.
It took her quite a while to persuade Jakub of her ideas but once she’d promised him that she would maintain the same production standards, including the brewery’s triple decoction, he agreed to let her experiment with some batch brewing. Over the next few weeks, she would make a start. That was the easy bit. What was going to be harder was coming up with a concept to sell the beer. She needed a name, packaging design and marketing ideas that would stand out in a crowded market – and that was where she was completely stumped.
Despite those concerns she was bubbling with excitement about her beer ideas when she arrived to meet Michaela and the others at the DIY store.
‘You look happy,’ said Michaela, greeting her with a quick hug. ‘You have had a good day.’
‘Yeah. I’ve got the go-ahead from my boss to make my beer.’ She glanced over her friend’s shoulder, spotting Leo heading their way. ‘But I can’t talk about it in front of Leo. We’re in competition. I don’t want him to know the details.’ She didn’t think he’d copy them or anything but she was wary of exposing her ideas to daylight. They were like her babies and she wanted to hug them to her a while longer.
‘Ah, okay. So let’s go choose some paint.’
‘I’ve made a list of what I think I need.’ She’d spent the last couple of nights poring over Instagram and YouTube videos.
‘You’ll find everything here, I guarantee it,’ said Jan from behind her before he swept his girlfriend into an enthusiastic hug as if he hadn’t seen her for weeks. She giggled and smiled up at him as she kissed him on the mouth. Anna swallowed and sneaked a glance at Leo. He used to greet her like that. To her embarrassment, he caught her and gave her a tight smile. The sight of that small, hurt smile elicited a stab of guilt. For the first time, she asked herself if maybe she’d misjudged him. When he was with her, he’d always made her feel like she was bathed in the glow of his sunshine and the focus of his light.
Then she ducked her head, telling herself she was being foolish. Leo was charm personified; he could make anyone feel like that. It was his superpower. But he would have moved on if she hadn’t left him first. Savannah Aitken had been more than ready to step into Anna’s shoes, even if Leo refused to admit it. Steve had his faults, and he might not be as charming and exciting, but she always knew exactly where she was with him. She could guarantee he wouldn’t look at another woman. She ignored the voice that suggested her only real rival was a rugby ball.
Anna could have happily spent the whole evening prowling the aisles of the hardware store. She realised she had a kindred spirit in Jan. As they browsed, he translated and together they exclaimed over products, drooled over tools, and she told him what she wanted to achieve with the furniture. She needn’t have bothered with her research, because Jan was far more knowledgeable and made lots of helpful suggestions and recommendations. After half an hour, she realised Leo had wandered off. When she spotted him chatting away to one of the female shop assistants she felt a familiar flare of irritation.
‘He’s a friendly guy,’ said Jan, observing the direction of her gaze.
‘Too friendly,’ she said.
‘I think it’s his way.’
Anna, determined not to discuss it, pointed to a tin of matt paint that had caught her eye and they talked about its suitability before calling Michaela over for her opinion on colours for the bureau. Her eyes sparkled before she pronounced it dull. ‘Some colour would be nice. Have you thought about painting the walls of the lounge? It’s lovely and light and you could get away with colour. In the winter it’s going to look very stark but if you painted the cabinet a warm colour and the walls a dark contrasting colour, it would make it cosy, especially with the open fire. Ludmila has a spare sofa in storage, I’m sure you could borrow that, and we could find some nice throws and cushions. You could make the apartment look so homely.’
‘But we’re only here for six months,’ protested Anna, very half-heartedly. Suddenly she could see the apartment in the coming dark nights and had a vision of amber and dark teal.
‘Six months is still time to make a home,’ said Michaela.
Anna tilted her head, considering. It could look wonderful and suddenly she was consumed with an urge to make it happen. ‘But would Ludmila let us?’
‘Ludmila won’t mind.’ Michaela laughed. ‘She loves colour. You should see her apartment. It is full of bright, beautiful things, a treasure chest.’
‘I’ll think about it but in the meantime…’ Anna added a tin of wood paint to the basket along with sandpaper, sanding blocks, replacement sheets for Jan’s sanding machine, brushes and masking tape.
Once everything had been paid for, Michaela and Leo began lobbying for a trip to the pub.
‘Before we go we must take you around the corner to see the original U Rotta building,’ insisted Michaela. After barely a minute’s walk they rounded a corner and Anna smiled at the fresco-painted frontage of the elegant structure, which now housed a Hard Rock Café. It was decorated with elaborate leafy motifs as well as several large images of workers using the tools that would have been sold by the original incarnation of the store. The soft yellow paint made it look as if the sun perpetually shone on the building … which of course made her think of Leo.
‘We need to get a photo,’ said Leo, already taking out his phone and walking to the other side of the square so that he could also capture the extravagant tracery of the ironwork around the fountain in front of the building. ‘I can airdrop it to you, Anna.’
When he was satisfied with his pictures, Michaela linked her arm through Anna’s. ‘Now we can go for a drink. We’ll go to the Prague Beer Museum,’ she said with a decisive nod.
Jan pulled a face. ‘We should go to the Pivnice u Zlatého tygra, Golden Tiger, it’s more authentic.’
‘Yes but the Beer Museum does flights of beer. They can try more.’
Jan shrugged.
‘Sounds good to me,’ said Leo, amenable as usual.
As it was only across the street, it seemed an excellent idea, although Anna was worried it sounded a bit touristy. She was relieved to find that it was the sort of unpretentious pub she appreciated, where the focus was on the beer.
With over thirty beers on tap, it took a considerable amount of time and discussion before Anna and Leo opted to share a flight of five beers (rather than the ten that Leo had toyed with) so as to ‘maximise the taste opportunities’, as he put it.
‘I’m going to have the Lucky Bastard, from Brno, Moravia,’ said Michaela, ‘because it’s romantic. It’s run by a young married couple and she says the name comes because he has her.’
