‘What time does Brooke start work?’ Hayden asked Janey as they watched the teams start to arrive for the weekly quiz. In the fortnight he’d been working at The Highwayman’s, he’d learnt that other than Fridays and Saturdays, the Sunday quiz night was the busiest of the week.
Still, the old place wasn’t like he remembered it when he’d lived in the village growing up. It looked the same – he doubted even the wallpaper had changed – but the atmosphere felt different, somehow. Perhaps it was because he’d only ever visited for family events, but he was sure it used to be packed out. Now, even the busy nights were barely full enough to need two of them on the bar. He could see why Brooke had been wary about taking on more staff.
Janey had let Fiona go half an hour early, and had already been behind the bar when Hayden arrived. She seemed to prefer pulling pints to working in the kitchen, and often found an excuse to sneak out. Like Brooke, she had that natural rapport with people. It was a shame the pub couldn’t hire a chef so she could be freed from cooking duty to do what she did best.
‘She’ll be down any minute.’ Janey lifted an eyebrow. ‘Why do you ask?’
He shrugged. ‘Just wondering. Not that you’re not scintillating company yourself, Mrs P.’
‘But I can’t compete with Brooke’s charms. That’s fair enough,’ she said, laughing. ‘You know what today is, Hayden?’
He smiled. ‘The last day of my trial period. Have I made it, do you think?’
‘I’ll certainly be voting for you,’ Janey said, patting him on the back. ‘I should warn you though, you’ll have double trouble tonight. I’ve recruited Rhianna to work a shift.’
‘Rhianna? I thought she didn’t have much to do with the business side of things.’
‘That’s why I’m making her do it.’ Janey nodded to Martin Brady as he came in with his team, and he winked at her. ‘Help cure that princess complex of hers.’
‘Huh. There was nothing princess-like about the way she shoved me into a puddle for putting frogspawn in Brooke’s pumps. Why do you say that, then?’
‘You’ll see for yourself,’ Janey said. ‘I’ve always been proud of what Rhia achieved at St Mary’s, but it hasn’t half made her an uppity little madam. I can see you having a tough shift with her and Brooke bickering all night.’
Hayden frowned. ‘What, St Mary’s for girls, the independent school? Was that where Rhianna went after Leyholme Primary?’
‘Yes, she was a scholarship girl.’ Janey inflated slightly, the way parents do when they talk about their children’s achievements. ‘She’s a clever cookie, our Rhianna. Aced her exams, got a place at Cambridge to study law. God knows where she got the brainy gene.’
‘What, she’s a lawyer?’
‘No.’ Janey turned to wipe under the spirit optics. ‘She always talked about qualifying as a barrister but she met her husband right after graduating and… well, that was that. She was married at twenty-one. He had enough money that she didn’t need to work, so Rhianna dedicated herself to the house and kids instead. Nothing wrong with that, if it’s what she wants.’
‘Still, it seems a shame she never got any use out of her degree.’
‘Three weeks ago, I’d have said all that mattered was that she was happy in life. Now we know what we know about her hubby, I’m tempted to agree with you.’
‘You know, my— um, a mate of mine has a daughter at St Mary’s,’ Hayden said. ‘She’s a scholarship kid too.’
‘Clever little thing, is she?’
‘Like you wouldn’t believe.’
‘How many children does he have?’
‘Two. Twin girls. The other’s at Ravenswood.’
‘Hmm. I’d advise him to keep an eye on them. The biggest tragedy that came from Rhianna’s scholarship was what it did to her relationship with her sister.’ Janey fixed on a warm smile as Martin Brady stepped up to the bar. ‘Now then, love. The usual, is it?’
‘Evening, beautiful,’ Martin said. ‘Yes please, pint of Boltmaker. Nice to see you back where you belong instead of shut up in that kitchen.’
‘Well, I have to keep growing lads like you fed as well as watered, don’t I?’ Janey said with an arch look at his beer belly. She nodded to the door, where more people were entering. ‘Family group, Hayden. Can you tell them they’re fine for a bit, but it’s no children after seven?’
Hayden’s eyes widened. ‘Shit!’
Janey cast him a surprised look. ‘What’s up, lad?’
‘Nothing.’ He grimaced. ‘Nothing. Just realised, um… I forgot to pay the milk bill. Yes, that’s fine; I’ll go let them know.’
He approached his mum and the girls, who were claiming themselves a table.
‘Hi Dad!’ Cara said. ‘We asked Nan if we could come see where you work. Isn’t it cool?’
‘Very cool,’ he said. ‘But we’re not really supposed to have kids in, sweetheart.’
Pam blinked. ‘Aren’t you? It said on the website families were welcome until seven.’
He glanced at the bar. Brooke had appeared and Janey was preparing to hand over to her.
‘Er, yes,’ he said. ‘Well, they are most days, but, um, it’s quiz night.’
Darcie looked interested. ‘Quizzes? I’m good at quizzes. Can I do the quiz, Dad?’
‘This is a grown-up quiz, Darce. Sorry.’
She looked put out. ‘I bet I could still do it. I get loads of answers when we watch quizzes on TV, don’t I, Nan? I could totally win.’
‘I could win if it’s about animals,’ Cara said. ‘I know everything about animals. More than Darce.’
‘Do not!’
‘Do so.’
‘Girls, please,’ Pam said. ‘We’ve just come to say hello to Dad, that’s all. We can do our own quiz at home.’
‘But then there’ll be nobody to beat,’ Darcie muttered.
‘Quizzes aren’t about winning. They’re about… learning.’
One of the quiz hounds at a neighbouring table snorted. ‘Not at this pub, love.’
‘Can I have a word, Mum?’ Hayden said from behind a fixed grin.
‘All right.’
Hayden took her elbow and guided her out of earshot of the girls.
‘Mum, you can’t bring them here!’ he hissed.
Pam frowned. ‘Why not? I thought you’d be dying to show your lovely daughters off to the people you work with.’
‘It’s the last day of my trial period. I can’t have family dropping in.’
‘They missed you, Hayden,’ she said quietly. ‘They’re not used to seeing so little of you.’
Hayden sighed. ‘I know, I feel awful not being around in the evenings. It won’t be forever. Just for a little while so the bank account’s shored up against any more unexpected expenses.’
‘Can’t we just stay for a little bit?’
‘It’s really not a good time, Mum.’ He nodded to Brooke, who was glaring at him while she pulled a pint. ‘That’s my boss. You see that face she’s got on? That’s the special face she saves just for me. It means “stop slacking and get back to work, Bailey”.’
‘Well, go back to work then. I’m sure she won’t mind us stopping in to have a drink. We’re paying customers.’
‘You don’t understand.’ He grimaced. ‘I kind of… fibbed to her a bit. About having kids.’
‘Eh? What for? Normally you can’t shut up about them.’
‘Because I wanted to impress her, didn’t I? I needed the job, she told me she hates kids, so… I conveniently forgot to mention I had a couple.’
‘Hates kids, does she?’ Pam looked at Brooke chatting to the customer she was serving. ‘You were at school with her, weren’t you? The tomboy with the David Hockney haircut. I can’t believe she doesn’t like kids. She looks so sweet.’
‘She is. Sometimes. And sometimes she’s an absolute bastard,’ Hayden said. ‘Brooke already thinks I’m an idiot; I wasn’t mad about her thinking I was also the sort of idiot who’d managed to get his girlfriend pregnant at eighteen.’
Pam narrowed one eye at him. ‘Aaaah. I see.’
‘What do you see?’
‘You’re keen on her, aren’t you?’
‘Keen on her not sacking me? Bloody right I am. I need to hang on to this job, Mum.’
‘Come on, Hayden, I wasn’t born yesterday. You like the girl.’
‘That’s… neither here nor there,’ Hayden said, flushing. ‘The girl doesn’t like me – not like that, anyway. I just want to keep my home and work lives separate.’
Pam winked. ‘All right, sunshine. Whatever you say.’
‘Seriously, Mum. Enough with the winking.’
‘Fine, fine.’ She nudged him in the ribs. ‘Your secret’s safe with me, our Hayden.’
‘Look, stop, can you? I told you, Brooke hates kids. Whereas I’ve got a couple of eleven-year-olds that, as you know, I’m pretty attached to. Even if I did like her, that’s a pretty big stumbling block to anything serious happening between us, wouldn’t you say?’
‘Mmhmm. That’s your story and you’re sticking to it, eh?’ Pam looked back at the twins, who were playing some sort of clapping game. ‘OK, if it’s what you want I’ll take them back home. They’ll be happy they’ve seen inside the place.’
He exhaled with relief. ‘Right, great.’
‘I promised them a Fruit Shoot each though. And a bag of crisps.’
‘All right, all right. Just a sec.’
He darted to the bar and grabbed a couple of blackcurrant Fruit Shoots and two bags of cheese and onion crisps while Brooke watched him curiously.
‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I’ll pay for these. Back in a sec.’
He dashed back and bundled the drinks and crisps into his mum’s arms. ‘There.’
He was about to kiss the girls goodbye when he noticed Brooke watching him.
‘See you, girls. See you, Mum,’ he said, keeping his distance while he waved them off. ‘Have a good night.’
He headed back behind the bar, breathing a sigh of relief as he watched his family leave.
‘OK, Bailey, what was that all about?’ Brooke asked.
‘Er, customer who didn’t know the rule about no families. I was just filling her in.’
‘Families are fine till seven, you didn’t need to hurry them out. That was your mum, wasn’t it?’
‘Yeah.’ He laughed nervously. ‘But, you know, can’t have any nepotism in the ranks. Rules are rules, right?’
Brooke blinked. ‘OK. Whose are the kids, then?’
‘No one’s.’
‘What, so your mum just kidnapped them from the nearest orphanage for an evening at the pub?’
‘Well, obviously they’re someone’s. Just not right now.’ He grimaced. ‘Er, what I mean is, she’s babysitting them for a mate.’
‘Someone in the village?’
‘No, no one you know. They live miles away. Miles and miles and miles.’
‘Why’re you being strange?’
‘I’m just a bit wired. Overdosed on coffee.’ He forced himself to relax, letting the hands that had tightened into fists unclench along with his buttocks. ‘Sorry, Brooke.’
She smiled. ‘Well, for the first time I’m glad I’ll have you here tonight. Did my mum tell you we’ll have the Sloane Ranger sharing our shift?’
‘Your sister, you mean? Yeah, she mentioned it. As long as she’s got no plans to shove me face-first into a puddle again.’
‘You had that coming, to be fair,’ Brooke said, laughing. ‘Who was it dared you to put frogspawn in my pumps in the first place? They deserved a dunking just as much as you.’
‘Oh. No one.’
‘Eh? When I grassed you up, you told Mrs Rhodes another boy put you up to it.’
‘Yeah, that was a fib. It was all my own work.’
‘So why did you do it?’
Hayden shrugged. ‘Because you were sort of cool, I guess.’
She snorted. ‘Come on. You’re not going to tell me you were mean to me because you secretly liked me; that old chestnut?’
‘No,’ he said, smiling. ‘I didn’t know girls were something to like in that way at eight. If you really want to know, I was jealous of you.’
‘Jealous? Why?’
‘Well, you were so good at everything.’
She shook her head. ‘Are you confusing me with my sister? I wasn’t good at anything. The only talent I’ve ever had is pouring a good pint, and it was another ten years until I discovered that.’
‘You were good at all the things I thought counted at eight years old,’ Hayden told her. ‘You could kick my arse at everything. Climbing, footie, tig, conkers. I thought you were awesome, and consequently was jealous as hell of you. I think I kind of wanted to be you.’
For the first time since he’d met her again, Brooke seemed to be speechless.
‘You know, Hayden,’ she said after a minute, ‘that’s the single sweetest, creepiest thing a lad’s ever said to me.’
‘It did come out a bit more Buffalo Bill than I was aiming for.’ He met her eye. ‘So your sister working in the pub – is that going to be a regular thing?’
‘Huh. Not if I have anything to do with it. Pub brawls aren’t supposed to happen this side of the bar.’
‘Only, if it is then I guess you won’t need me any more, will you?’
‘What, swap you for Rhianna? I think that’s just about my worst nightmare.’
He smiled. ‘Brooke Padgett, you’re making me blush.’
‘If you saw me and Rhianna together, you’d be a bit less flattered.’ She nodded towards Rhianna coming down the stairs. ‘Speaking of the Queen Mum, here she comes. Now we just need to try and not murder her for the next couple of hours.’