Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
A nna’s phone rang as she peeled off her white wellies, having spent the morning in the mash room. She glanced at the screen, not intending to answer, but was surprised to see Steve’s name flash up. They usually spoke in the evenings after work. Guiltily she wondered if she was even thinking about him at the moment. Coming to Prague had given her the space to realise that a lot of what they shared was routine and regularity. There was nothing wrong between them but then again, it wasn’t … right? Perfect? Fun? She was loath to define her disquiet and stared down at her phone.
‘Steve?’ she answered.
‘Hi, Anna. I needed to call you. I’ve got good news and bad news.’
‘Aha.’ It wasn’t the first time he’d prefaced a call this way.
‘I’ve been selected for the Village Sevens.’
‘Congratulations, that’s brilliant,’ she said automatically, mentally thumbing through her memory bank to work out which tournament he was referring too.
‘Yeah! I’m so chuffed.’ His voice vibrated with delight.
Silence ensued as she realised that he was expecting her to join the missing dots. It took her a minute to pick out one of the files in said memory bank. Village Sevens. It was a local pub’s all-day rugby tournament that involved as much drinking as rugby playing, and she wasn’t sure ‘selected’ was quite the word.
‘It’s this weekend,’ he said in a sudden rush as if he were pulling a tooth out and the word dump would make the news less painful.
‘This weekend?’
‘Yeah, I know I was supposed to be coming over to see you but … of course, if you really want me to come, I will.’
If Steve didn’t come, she could go to Michaela and Jan’s and eat dumplings, was her first thought. Immediately, she felt disloyal, but then it did sound as if he really wanted to play, and, after all, she wouldn’t be pining at home for him.
She found herself telling him it was fine and that there’d be plenty of other weekends.
She slid her phone into her pocket and went to find Jakub. They had a meeting to discuss the beer that she was going to make for her presentation and she wanted to pick his brains about the malting process. Unlike many brewers that bought in malted grains, here at ?ilhov they malted their own barley. She wanted to propose using a low percentage of lighter caramel malt in her beer to give it a mild sweetness, a bready flavour and a light golden colour that she felt would have universal appeal. Here in the Czech Republic women often drank beer, but she wanted to create one that would appeal to women back in the UK.
‘Anna. Take a seat,’ said Jakub inviting her into his office, which she still found fascinating with its huge wooden desk tucked under the very low sloping beamed ceiling. A big old-fashioned heater, tiled in green majolica, filled much of the opposite wall. She guessed it was needed in the winter, given the thickness of the stone walls of the old monastery building.
It took her quite a while to persuade Jakub of her ideas but once she’d promised him that she would maintain the same production standards, including the brewery’s triple decoction, he agreed to let her experiment with some batch brewing. Over the next few weeks, she would make a start. That was the easy bit. What was going to be harder was coming up with a concept to sell the beer. She needed a name, packaging design and marketing ideas that would stand out in a crowded market – and that was where she was completely stumped.
Despite those concerns she was bubbling with excitement about her beer ideas when she arrived to meet Michaela and the others at the DIY store.
‘You look happy,’ said Michaela, greeting her with a quick hug. ‘You have had a good day.’
‘Yeah. I’ve got the go-ahead from my boss to make my beer.’ She glanced over her friend’s shoulder, spotting Leo heading their way. ‘But I can’t talk about it in front of Leo. We’re in competition. I don’t want him to know the details.’ She didn’t think he’d copy them or anything but she was wary of exposing her ideas to daylight. They were like her babies and she wanted to hug them to her a while longer.
‘Ah, okay. So let’s go choose some paint.’
‘I’ve made a list of what I think I need.’ She’d spent the last couple of nights poring over Instagram and YouTube videos.
‘You’ll find everything here, I guarantee it,’ said Jan from behind her before he swept his girlfriend into an enthusiastic hug as if he hadn’t seen her for weeks. She giggled and smiled up at him as she kissed him on the mouth. Anna swallowed and sneaked a glance at Leo. He used to greet her like that. To her embarrassment, he caught her and gave her a tight smile. The sight of that small, hurt smile elicited a stab of guilt. For the first time, she asked herself if maybe she’d misjudged him. When he was with her, he’d always made her feel like she was bathed in the glow of his sunshine and the focus of his light.
Then she ducked her head, telling herself she was being foolish. Leo was charm personified; he could make anyone feel like that. It was his superpower. But he would have moved on if she hadn’t left him first. Savannah Aitken had been more than ready to step into Anna’s shoes, even if Leo refused to admit it. Steve had his faults, and he might not be as charming and exciting, but she always knew exactly where she was with him. She could guarantee he wouldn’t look at another woman. She ignored the voice that suggested her only real rival was a rugby ball.
Anna could have happily spent the whole evening prowling the aisles of the hardware store. She realised she had a kindred spirit in Jan. As they browsed, he translated and together they exclaimed over products, drooled over tools, and she told him what she wanted to achieve with the furniture. She needn’t have bothered with her research, because Jan was far more knowledgeable and made lots of helpful suggestions and recommendations. After half an hour, she realised Leo had wandered off. When she spotted him chatting away to one of the female shop assistants she felt a familiar flare of irritation.
‘He’s a friendly guy,’ said Jan, observing the direction of her gaze.
‘Too friendly,’ she said.
‘I think it’s his way.’
Anna, determined not to discuss it, pointed to a tin of matt paint that had caught her eye and they talked about its suitability before calling Michaela over for her opinion on colours for the bureau. Her eyes sparkled before she pronounced it dull. ‘Some colour would be nice. Have you thought about painting the walls of the lounge? It’s lovely and light and you could get away with colour. In the winter it’s going to look very stark but if you painted the cabinet a warm colour and the walls a dark contrasting colour, it would make it cosy, especially with the open fire. Ludmila has a spare sofa in storage, I’m sure you could borrow that, and we could find some nice throws and cushions. You could make the apartment look so homely.’
‘But we’re only here for six months,’ protested Anna, very half-heartedly. Suddenly she could see the apartment in the coming dark nights and had a vision of amber and dark teal.
‘Six months is still time to make a home,’ said Michaela.
Anna tilted her head, considering. It could look wonderful and suddenly she was consumed with an urge to make it happen. ‘But would Ludmila let us?’
‘Ludmila won’t mind.’ Michaela laughed. ‘She loves colour. You should see her apartment. It is full of bright, beautiful things, a treasure chest.’
‘I’ll think about it but in the meantime…’ Anna added a tin of wood paint to the basket along with sandpaper, sanding blocks, replacement sheets for Jan’s sanding machine, brushes and masking tape.
Once everything had been paid for, Michaela and Leo began lobbying for a trip to the pub.
‘Before we go we must take you around the corner to see the original U Rotta building,’ insisted Michaela. After barely a minute’s walk they rounded a corner and Anna smiled at the fresco-painted frontage of the elegant structure, which now housed a Hard Rock Café. It was decorated with elaborate leafy motifs as well as several large images of workers using the tools that would have been sold by the original incarnation of the store. The soft yellow paint made it look as if the sun perpetually shone on the building … which of course made her think of Leo.
‘We need to get a photo,’ said Leo, already taking out his phone and walking to the other side of the square so that he could also capture the extravagant tracery of the ironwork around the fountain in front of the building. ‘I can airdrop it to you, Anna.’
When he was satisfied with his pictures, Michaela linked her arm through Anna’s. ‘Now we can go for a drink. We’ll go to the Prague Beer Museum,’ she said with a decisive nod.
Jan pulled a face. ‘We should go to the Pivnice u Zlatého tygra, Golden Tiger, it’s more authentic.’
‘Yes but the Beer Museum does flights of beer. They can try more.’
Jan shrugged.
‘Sounds good to me,’ said Leo, amenable as usual.
As it was only across the street, it seemed an excellent idea, although Anna was worried it sounded a bit touristy. She was relieved to find that it was the sort of unpretentious pub she appreciated, where the focus was on the beer.
With over thirty beers on tap, it took a considerable amount of time and discussion before Anna and Leo opted to share a flight of five beers (rather than the ten that Leo had toyed with) so as to ‘maximise the taste opportunities’, as he put it.
‘I’m going to have the Lucky Bastard, from Brno, Moravia,’ said Michaela, ‘because it’s romantic. It’s run by a young married couple and she says the name comes because he has her.’
‘Nice,’ said Leo.
‘I’m going to have the Bernard, which comes from Bohemia,’ announced Jan after his careful perusal of the menu.
‘You know we’re going to want to have a taste of both,’ said Leo with one of his cheeky smiles.
Anna sighed and gave Michaela a consoling look. ‘Sorry, he’s right.’
‘We know you now. We wouldn’t expect anything else,’ teased Michaela, giving her a quick hug.
When the beer arrived, the four of them spent several minutes trying each other’s, discussing the merits, laughing and joking.
‘It’s so nice to have people that appreciate our culture,’ said Michaela.
‘I could happily live in Prague,’ said Leo. ‘It’s a great city.’
Anna stared at him. Of course, he’d lived in the States and in Italy as well as in London. He was used to travelling and moving around. It had never occurred to her that she could live in another country. For the first time she realised that she felt at home in the city. At home with the people. Despite only being at the brewery for a short time, she’d become fond of the slightly taciturn Jakub and the other workers there, who were all always very keen to help her and educate her. Michaela and Jan had been so welcoming, and, for a change, she felt she belonged. As for Leo…well, having him around was much more of a blessing than she’d ever have thought. At home she’d often been lonely, even in the middle of the pub surrounded by her cousins, Steve and their friends. She was always the outlier, the one that didn’t quite fit. Leo, she thought with sudden insight, never allowed her not to fit; he had the ability to scoop her up into the conversation and make sure that she was included. If she was quiet he would check in with a look, a nod and, in the old days, a quick touch of her hand or a gentle nudge, always aware of her. The recollection touched her and she had to fight the urge to lean over and squeeze his hand to say thank you for all the times that he’d done that for her.
‘The city is great but you must see some of the countryside while you are here,’ said Michaela. ‘And some of the other cities. It is the most beautiful country in the world.’
‘I think you might be biased,’ said Jan, toying with her hair.
‘I don’t think so. You have to come to the chata , don’t they, Jan?’
He nodded. ‘We’re going down in a few weeks. There won’t be many more times before the winter but there is work we want to do before the spring. Anna definitely should come. I think she could be very useful.’ He winked at her.
Leo pretended to look outraged. ‘I could be very useful, too.’
‘He could,’ said Anna with a straight face, before she added with a teasing smile, ‘as long as you don’t ask him to put a shelf up or drill a hole in a straight line.’
‘She’s right,’ said Leo with a doleful sniff. ‘But –’ his irrepressible smile reappeared ‘– I’m very good at supporting the workers with endless cups of tea and coffee and biscuits. And I’m excellent at sweeping, hoovering and team-building.’
‘To be fair,’ Anna said, ‘he is.’
‘In that case you can be on my team,’ said Michaela. ‘We’ll leave Anna and Jan to do the DIY things and we will be the support crew.’ She sat up straighter, clearly enthused by the idea. ‘Maybe we should cancel our guests and go to the chata after all.’
‘But then Anna wouldn’t be able to come,’ Leo pointed out. ‘When does the boyfriend arrive?’
Anna’s jaw tightened. ‘He’s not coming now.’
‘Oh, no,’ said Michaela. ‘I’m sorry. Is there a problem?’
‘No,’ said Anna, trying to sound airy and unaffected, but in the face of the couple’s obvious affection for each other, tears pricked her eyes and she felt a little sorry for herself. ‘Something came up, so he’s had to cancel.’
She deliberately avoided Leo’s piercing gaze. She didn’t want or need any sympathy. It was fine. Everything was fine.
‘Well, I’m sorry for you that he’s not coming,’ said Michaela, ‘but it does mean you can come to dinner on Saturday and meet some people and help me make dumplings.’
‘Be careful, Anna,’ warned Jan, giving his girlfriend a squeeze. ‘It’ll be more than dumplings. She’ll make you work.’
‘I won’t…’ Michaela pouted a little before saying with a twinkle in her eyes ‘…maybe I will.’
‘I don’t mind.’ Anna liked being busy and useful and it would stop her worrying about the fact that she wasn’t as disappointed as she should be about Steve not coming. They’d been together a while. They were well over the honeymoon period. But it still was a little bit of a kick to her ego that he’d rather play rugby than come and see her. She needed to remind herself that what they had was solid. She never needed to worry that he might look elsewhere. He adored her … and okay, so perhaps he was a bit selfish sometimes but that didn’t mean he didn’t care about her.
Next to them a group of rowdy lads burst into song, reminding them that it was getting late and they all had work the next day, plus all the DIY purchases to carry home.
As they walked to the metro, Leo fell into step with Anna.
‘You okay?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ she said, not wanting to talk about it.
‘I’m sorry about Steve, not coming, I mean. Sorry that I … I was a bit crass.’
‘It’s fine.’
He nudged her. ‘I know you, Anna Love. You always say it’s fine when it isn’t.’
‘Okay, it’s not fine but there’s nothing I can do about it now.’ Her throat was tight but something in Leo’s quiet support made her blurt it out. ‘He’d rather play rugby than come and see me.’
‘Bastard,’ said Leo so equably that she burst out laughing.
‘I know. I’m being a princess, aren’t I?’
‘God, no, Anna. Not at all. I was trying to slag him off … but in a nice way because … well, he is your boyfriend.’
With a sigh, Anna turned to him. ‘At this moment, feel free. I’m pissed off … more that I’m such a bloody pushover. And this is the beer talking, so don’t read too much into it. He’s normally very reliable. ’
Was it wrong to be talking to Leo like this? Disloyal? She wasn’t sure, but he was very good at listening and making her feel that perhaps she deserved a little better.