Chapter 38
38
Daisy stepped into the building and glanced around her. The space was separated into two distinct areas: the bar, which stretched out in a narrow room towards her right in which a couple of people were sitting on stools sipping on drinks, and the restaurant part, which arced around to her left and, from what she could tell, was completely packed. It was a far classier establishment than she had expected from outside.
‘Have you got a booking?’ A woman dressed entirely in black and holding a tablet appeared from nowhere as Daisy loitered in the doorway.
‘Uh, no,’ Daisy said.
‘Well, I’m afraid we’re fully booked. Unless you want to wait for half an hour? Is it a table for two?’
‘I actually just wanted a drink,’ Daisy said, gesturing to the bar to her right, at which point, the woman crinkled her nose.
‘Oh, right? The bar entrance is at the other end, but no worries. Take a seat wherever you like up there.’
With that, the woman turned around and scurried back to the restaurant.
With her pace substantially slower than it had been, Daisy moved over to the bar. There were over half a dozen barstools along the length of the marble counter, though only two were occupied. Still, she took one at the farthest end, as far away from the other patrons as she could and had barely taken her seat when the barman appeared on the other side.
‘What can I get you?’ he said.
‘A large glass of your house white,’ Daisy replied instantly. ‘A very large glass.’
He tilted his head to the side and eyed her with curiosity. ‘Well, two of our large glasses only cost five pounds less than the entire bottle, if you’d rather go down that route.’
‘Are you encouraging me to drink an entire bottle of wine by myself?’ Daisy said, gesturing to the sign at the side of the bar that said:
We encourage responsible drinking only and have the right to refuse service.
The barman snorted a brief chuckle of laughter.
‘No, I was just trying to save you a bit of money, that’s all. You’ve got the face of someone who looks like they plan on staying here a while.’
‘Is that right?’ Daisy said.
‘Perhaps the face of someone that’s got a man on her mind? Or maybe a woman.’
Daisy felt her breath quivering as she held the air in her lungs. Part of her wanted to tell the barman to go and shove his pop psychology and get her the glass of wine she had asked for. But at the same time, he had been spot on. It would probably take her at least two glasses before she felt anywhere near ready enough to deal with Theo. So with a long sigh and not a hint of a smile on her face, she said, ‘Fine, then. Make it a bottle.’