With a sigh, she stepped into the hallway, noting that Leo, who’d always been a last-minute, fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants merchant, must have already left. His bedroom door was wide open and he’d obviously already left the apartment, early. That was a shock. Spontaneity ran through him like the proverbial stick of rock. Routines were anathema. In the past he’d always left everything to the last minute.
Ensuring she had everything, she left the apartment and took the stairs slowly, a mix of fear, nerves and excitement rattling through her. ‘You’re doing this for you,’ she told herself. ‘It’s something you wanted to do.’ She’d stuck to her guns, despite everyone at home thinking that she was quite mad to move to another country to gain work experience, when she had a perfectly good job working in the office of the family brewery. Wondering with some satisfaction what their reaction would be if she won the equipment and put her plan into action, she turned the corner … and ran smack into Leo.
The hand he put out to steady her was gentle, as was the expression in his eyes. Both immediately exhumed fluttery feelings she’d thought long buried. Her heart softened in quick recognition as she remembered those bright, joy-filled days when she’d first got to know him.
‘What are you––?’ she blurted, taken aback to see him. She’d assumed he’d be aboard a tram already trundling along to the centre of Prague.
‘Hello, again.’ In his hand he held a bamboo reusable coffee cup. ‘Really good coffee here. You have to try it. I stopped for breakfast.’
‘Breakfast?’ she asked, still nonplussed at seeing him and shaken by the flutters.
‘Yes,kobliha– at least I think that’s what the girl called it. Bloody lovely. Like a doughnut but with a tangy marmalade. I might have to stop here for breakfast every day. You taking the tram toDelnická?’ He repeated the tram stop name, which she recognised from poring over Google Maps when planning her route last night. ‘I love saying these words out loud. Do you think we’re pronouncing them right? Did you know that “hello” isahojbut you pronounce it “ahoy”, like “ahoy, sailor”? I love that. And “thank you” isdekuji. And “please” isprosím.’ He grinned delightedly at her, like a small boy who’d gained full marks in a spelling test.
As always his wide smile was infectious. ‘Very good,’ she said, trying her best not to be sucked into his good humour. ‘You’ll be fluent in no time.’
Clearly what had been said earlier had not affected him but then he’d never been one to bear a grudge.
‘I’m not sure about that, the doohickeys and thingamabobs over the letters are quite tricky.’
‘Diacritics,’ said Anna, unable to help laughing at his worried frown. ‘That’s what they’re called.’
‘You see, you learn something new every day. Are you excited about meeting everyone today?’
Excited wasn’t the word she’d have chosen – curious rather than anything else – but with his positive outlook on life Leo tended to view anyone new as a potential friend. Anna, far more reserved, preferred to sit back and let others talk, so that she could weigh them up. Although one of his many superpowers had been to give her the confidence to push herself forward a little more and occasionally take charge of a conversation. He’d been like her very own social-power bank.
As soon as they arrived at the tram stop, Leo immediately got into conversation with an older woman who’d once lived in London. Before the tram had arrived he’d elicited vast chunks of her life story – okay, that was an exaggeration, but he did know exactly how many grandchildren she had.
When the tram arrived, it was so busy they were separated in the crowd of people hanging on to the poles. Like the world over, everyone was absorbed in their phones.
They arrived at the designated meeting spot,Vnitroblock, an old brick-built warehouse-type building which had been turned into a super-cool venue with a coffee bar, offices, a dance studio and a cinema as well as meeting areas and clothes shops. Exposed brick walls, shiny, industrial pipework and heavy, black-painted iron ladder-beams were lit by stylish black-framed windows high up in the walls and contemporary lighting. The spacious area was filled with funky furniture interspersed with lots of indoor greenery and arranged in different zones. People had already set up camp at some tables with their laptops, phones and cups of coffee.
‘Over there,’ said Leo, pointing to a sign on one of the tables in one of the alcoves.Sdílená Kulturawas printed in large red letters on a folded piece of card. Anna already knew that this meant ‘Shared Culture’, which was the rather appropriate name of the trade delegation scheme that had organised everything.
A young man with pipe-cleaner legs encased in jeans and a pale blue T-shirt stood at a table filled with an enticing selection of cakes and pastries.
‘Hi, I’m Leo Knight,’ said Leo, immediately extending a hand. Buoyed by his effortless approach, she followed suit. ‘And I’m Anna Love.’
‘Hi, guys. I’m Jirí, theSdílená Kulturaco-ordinator. We’ve corresponded by email. ’
‘Nice to meet you in real life,’ said Anna.
‘Great to meet you, too. I’m so excited, this is our first cultural exchange and I’m really hoping it’s going to be a big success. Someone from the British Embassy is joining us this morning, plus my boss and a couple of other people from our department, and of course the sponsor brewers and the brewery machinery manufacturers who are sponsoring the main prize.’
‘How many people are on the scheme?’ asked Leo looking round the room.
Jirí’s beam faltered a little. ‘Ah, well, erm … just the two of you, this time. Obviously this is a new scheme and things are growing all the time. And this is the pilot. It is all new. But,’ he said, brightening, ‘we have three very prestigious sponsors.’
Anna had assumed there’d be more people on the programme. That it was just her and Leo felt like a lot of pressure. Like they were guinea pigs. It would have been nice if there had been other people on the programme she could have got to know and share the experience with. She didn’t like it that the only other person on the scheme was Leo, or that they were in direct competition with one another.
‘Can I get you a coffee?’ Jirí asked them both.
When he turned to walk over to the counter, Anna, grasping the opportunity for a private chat, followed him, saying to Leo, ‘I’ll go and see if he needs a hand.’
Leo was too busy looking around, drinking in everything, to take much notice and he was already pulling out his phone and taking photos when she approached Jirí at the coffee counter.
‘Er, I wonder if I could ask you something,’ she said to him.
‘Sure.’ His bright smile encouraged her to continue.
