Ludmila, who was only slightly taller than Michaela, drew herself up, her fine eyebrows arching in haughty disdain. ‘Of course I do. Now I’d like to leave the building. I have a date at the ballet and I shall be late.’
‘Sorry,’ said Anna, grabbing one of the bags blocking the doorway.
‘Have fun,’ said Michaela as the woman slipped out.
Jan went to pick up the mattress, but as it was packaged like an outsized Swiss roll in slippery plastic, he was unable to get much purchase on it.
‘Two men for this job,’ he said.
‘Oh, I’ll get my boyfriend to help. He’s upstairs,’ said Anna.
Michaela had already set off up the first flight of stairs, so Anna followed her.
Steve was less than impressed, ten minutes later, when he and Jan lugged the vacuum-packed mattress up the last flight of stairs.
‘Would have served him right if we’d left it there,’ he grumbled as they dumped it in the other bedroom alongside the blue bags now lined up against the wall.
‘Thank you so much for helping us,’ said Anna to Michaela, who despite her size had cheerfully carried one of the big bags up all three flights of stairs without pausing for breath.
‘It’s not a problem. I wanted an excuse to have a look in here for ages. Can I see the roof terrace?’
‘Michaela.’ Jan nudged her.
‘You don’t mind, do you?’ She beamed at Anna, who found herself smiling back.
‘No, come up.’ Anna hesitated for a moment. She didn’t really do spontaneous invites but on this occasion it sort of felt like the right thing to do. After all, the couple had dropped everything to help. They’d probably say no. ‘Would you … would you like to stay for a drink?’
‘That would be lovely,’ said Michaela. ‘Can we sit outside? It must be great to have that space.’
Anna smiled. ‘I wouldn’t know … yet.’ She turned to lead Michaela up the stairs and caught Steve’s quick glare as he mouthed, ‘What are you doing?’
Ignoring him, she ploughed on up. ‘I’ve only got beer.’
‘And what is wrong with that?’ asked Jan, a lilt of amusement in his voice. ‘It’s our national drink.’
Anna relaxed a little, grateful that she could offer them something suitable. ‘That’s why I’m here. To learn all I can while I’m at the brewery.’
‘Which one?’ Jan sounded genuinely interested.
‘I’m not sure yet. I find out on Monday. There’s an induction meeting where we meet our brewery sponsors.’
‘There’s plenty of choice in Prague, the old traditional brewers and the young craft beer makers.’
‘I know, that’s what makes it so exciting.’ Anna let some of her enthusiasm spill out even though she heard Steve’s barely audible harrumph from the back of their little procession trooping up the stairs. Poor thing, he really didn’t understand her passion for beer, even though she’d tried to explain. It was a last link to her parents, who had died in a car accident when she was fourteen and she’d gone to live with her aunt and uncle. Her father had been the head brewer at Talbot’s – the family-owned brewery set up by her great-great-grandfather. Although she worked there in the office for her Uncle Henry and her cousins who ran the company, she was desperate to make beer. Not that anyone would listen to her.
Michaela rushed to the French doors and beckoned Jan, speaking in rapid-fire Czech.
‘I’ll get the beer,’ said Anna. ‘You go out.’ They stepped out and even though she didn’t speak the language she could tell they were impressed.
‘What did you invite them to stay for?’ Steve hissed, following her into the kitchen.
‘To say thank you for helping,’ she whispered back, suddenly regretting her impulse. It would have been so much easier if Leo were here. He knew what to say to new people. It was his superpower.
‘They didn’t help you, they helped that idiot flatmate of yours.’
Anna acknowledged the truth of this with a nod. ‘They’re also neighbours, and it’s not going to be that easy making friends here. I don’t know anyone apart from the idiot flatmate.’ And she definitely wouldn’t be spending much time with him.
After opening a couple of cupboards, Anna found some glasses and took the beers from the fridge.
