‘Must be the storm,’ said Kieran, valiantly suppressing a smile.
Beth froze in the doorway, horrified. She looked down at the basement. ‘Gigi!’ she hissed.
‘I didn’t do anything!’ came a distant, innocent voice.
‘Undo it!’
A reluctantpoof, and Lisa’s hair returned to its usual perfection.
Beth exhaled and returned to the bar, heart hammering. She caught Kieran’s eye. He gave her a questioning look, but she shook her head.
Outside, the rain intensified. The pub lights flickered. Then, with a sigh, the power went out.
Gasps filled the room.
‘Everyone keep calm!’ Beth said quickly, snatching up a box of matches. ‘Ed, let’s light the candles.’
‘I’ll help.’ Kieran took a proffered lighter from a customer clutching a packet of cigarettes and grumbling about being unable to smoke.
They moved around the bar together, striking matches and setting small circles of light on the tables. The glow softened the faces around them: tired, wet, but grateful.
‘You’re good in a crisis,’ Kieran said quietly.
Beth smiled without looking at him. ‘I work in a kitchen. Everything’s a crisis.’
He laughed, and for a moment the tension between them felt almost warm.
Lisa appeared beside them, holding a candle as if it might explode. ‘I can’tpossiblystay here all night!’
‘You can go outside if you prefer,’ Ed said. ‘Isn’t rainwater good for the skin?’
The villagers chuckled. Lisa glared and flounced off to a corner table, where she began scrolling uselessly on her dead phone.
Beth caught Kieran’s eye, and for a heartbeat, the storm outside seemed very far away.
Before she could speak, a faint rumble came from below. Not thunder this time, but something suspiciously like laughter.
‘No,’ she breathed. ‘Not now.’
‘What?’ Kieran asked.
‘Nothing! Just … the boiler. It’s temperamental.’
A moment later, bubbles of golden light drifted up through the floorboards, swirling around Lisa’s table like fireflies. The villagers gasped.
‘Oooh, look at that!’ cried Peggy. ‘It’s like fairy lights!’
Lisa blinked. ‘Finally, some ambience.’
Beth bolted for the basement. ‘Gigi, stop it right now!’ she whispered furiously.
‘It’s just a bit of mood lighting,’ he said sulkily. ‘It’s dark up there.’
‘People canseeit!’
‘Oh, right. Sorry.’ The lights vanished, leaving only the candles.
When Beth emerged again, everyone was talking about the strange glow.
