Epilogue
‘T his is quite something,’ said Leo as they stood in the tiny foyer, having walked up the cobbled street to a pair of imposing double doors and through a smaller door set within them. From high in the wall a red light blinked at them and next to Leo was a set of airlock security doors. After their names had been checked they were invited through, one at a time. On the opposite side a young woman in a black suit and low court shoes met them.
‘Mr Knight and Miss Love, nice to meet you. I’m Adela, the private secretary to the ambassador. Welcome to the British Embassy. We’re very happy to be hosting this event.’
‘Thank you,’ said Leo with one of his charming smiles, giving Anna’s hand a quick squeeze.
‘Yes, thank you,’ she echoed, nerves rattling through her as the woman gestured to the staircase, which was festooned with evergreens and fairy lights. She and Leo had already decided to stay in Prague for Christmas and tonight they were meeting Jan and Michaela for their first visit to the Christmas Market in the Old Town Square, even though there was still a month until Christmas and two weeks until the week of the beer festival.
Leo squeezed her hand again when she hesitated on the first step, as if her courage had stalled.
‘We’ve got this,’ he whispered into her ear. ‘Remember Love-Knight.’ The suggestive tone of his voice made her want to giggle and chased the nerves away. She’d got this. Oval-shaped Anna was in the building.
The walls of the staircase were lined with museum-style paintings in heavy, ornate frames, portraits of severe-looking old men. Anna gave each one a cursory glance as they walked past, while Leo, nudging her, pulled faces imitating their stern expressions. By the time they reached their floor, she was struggling to keep her own face straight.
Jakub and Karel, standing side by side in solidarity, were waiting in a large lounge area dominated by a huge Christmas tree. Anna smiled at the pair, still amazed that they’d overcome their previous difficulties so quickly.
‘Morning, Karel; morning, Jakub. Is the beer here?’ asked Leo.
‘Of course the beer is here,’ said Jakub, a little testily. ‘It arrived yesterday, so that it was able to settle overnight and be kept at the optimum temperature.’
Anna gave him a reassuring smile.
‘The panel are already here,’ said Karel. ‘It’s quite a collective.’
‘Members of the Czech Beer and Malt Association,’ interjected Jakub. ‘As well as the ambassador, the trade attaché and the head of Sdílená Kultura .’
‘All very influential,’ added Karel.
Anna gulped, any confidence she’d had in her presentation quickly evaporating. Why had she thought she could do this? Her slides might be strong but talking in public wasn’t her thing at all. Someone had taken up macrame with her intestines, and everything was suddenly very knotted, including her larynx. Would she even be able to speak?
Leo took her hand and squeezed it.
‘You’ve got this, Anna Love. We’ve got this,’ said Leo in a forceful whisper. It was so at odds with his normal happy-go lucky-attitude, it startled her and gave her a much-needed injection of backbone.
At nine o’clock, as announced by the peal of a nearby church bell, a set of double doors opened and the four of them were invited in. The room was double the size of the previous one, with a fine view out over the city. At the front, next to a grand piano, was a table set up with a microphone and two chairs, next to which were the cool boxes containing the beer.
Ranged in front of the table was an audience, predominantly of men, although Anna noted a few women. Leo and Anna were invited to take seats in the front row.
‘Ladies and gentleman, I’d like to welcome you all to the British Embassy this morning. Thank you for coming to the inaugural judging of the results of our first industry Cultural Exchange Programme. We have two beers brewed by our contestants Miss Love and Mr Knight and they will each be doing a presentation to help us decide which beer has commercial merit and will be awarded our grand prize. I’d like to hand over to the Head of the Cultural Office for Europe, Jaroslav Lebeda.’
‘Can we all say a big thank you to His Excellency, the Ambassador, for hosting this prestigious event.’ Jaroslav waffled on for a good five minutes, interspersed with polite rounds of applause, during which Anna’s leg began to jump up and down. Please get on with it , she thought. Every word he spoke seemed to ratchet the tension in her neck and shoulders more tightly.
At last he invited ‘Miss Anna Love’ to the stage. She rose and gave Leo a nervous glance. He nodded and she went up to the table and opened up her laptop.
‘Good morning, everyone.’ Her voice quavered a little but she forced herself to sweep her gaze across the audience, making brief eye contact with some of them. ‘I have been lucky enough to work with Jakub ?ilhov, at the ?ilhov brewery, which, as you know has a tradition of brewing beer which stretches back several hundred years.’ Smiles and nods came from the audience
‘My colleague Mr Knight has been making beer with the Crystal brewery, in a more contemporary style, and I’d like to invite him to join me.’
A murmur of curiosity and surprise rippled through the audience as Leo made his way to stand beside her.
‘When we first arrived in Prague, it was obvious that we were going to very different breweries. The old and the new. What we’ve learned is that there is no wrong or right way to make beer. It is down to individual taste and it’s wrong to say one is better than another. They’re different.’ Leo finished and handed over to Anna.
There was a sudden spontaneous round of applause, which started with a few people on the back row but quickly engulfed the whole audience. Buoyed up by this, Anna stepped forward, suddenly excited to be here.
‘Today, ladies and gentlemen, we’re going to celebrate the old and new, the traditional and contemporary. We decided that there was more strength in working together than against each other. So Mr Knight and I would like to present our concept: Love Knight beer. Two beers, two processes, which we will sell side by side, leaving drinkers to make up their own minds and compare the two.’
Leo winked at her and she smiled, noticing quite a few members of the audience nodding approvingly. Suddenly she was flying – they could do this. ‘Leo will take you through the marketing plan.’
Leo captivated the audience with his well-rehearsed presentation and Anna watched him, her heart filled with pride as he charmed each and every one of them. And then at last it was time to finish and present their final message, rounding off with the slogan – Neither Wrong Nor Right, Love Beer, Love Knight . There was another spontaneous round of applause, while Jakub and Karel poured glasses of beer and put them on the silver trays handed round by waiting staff.
The Ambassador came over to them.
‘Very nicely done. I think the two of you could have a future in the diplomatic corps if the beer-making gig doesn’t work out.’ His mouth twisted in a discreet smile as he glanced over at the two brewers. ‘I’m not sure Jaroslav could have come up with a better political solution if he’d tried. You do know he only secured the two of them to sponsor the programme because of their bitter rivalry. He set them up, telling each the other had signed up, when neither of them had. But I think you’ve outdone him. Smart move. I guess we’d better try the beer now. Ladies first.’
One of the waiters served up three glasses of Anna’s beer and she held her breath as the ambassador and Leo lifted their glasses. She couldn’t care less what His Excellency thought, but her insides squirmed as Leo took his first sip
‘Congratulations, Anna Love. Sunshine in a glass. Bloody lovely. I’m so proud of you, Anna. This is seriously good beer. Light, floral but with a smooth, smooth depth of flavour.’
‘Thank you.’ She turned quite pink with pleasure. ‘
A server approached and Anna took a glass of Leo’s beer. She sniffed and then tasted. He watched her and only she would have known from the carefully indifferent expression on his face how much her opinion meant to him. She took a second sip, keeping a straight face and didn’t say a word. Sometimes it was fun to tease. She took a third sip, raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to one side.
‘What? You don’t like?’ Leo’s face scrunched and he glanced around the room, trying to gauge the reactions of the judges.
Her face broke into a smile. ‘Well done, Leo Knight. You’ve nailed it. What an amazing depth of flavour. That is … woody, hoppy, smoky. It’s like being beside a warmth hearth in winter. I love it.’
‘Seriously?’
She heard the need for reassurance in the doubtful pitch of his voice.
‘Seriously. It’s good. I couldn’t choose between the two.’ She smiled up at him. ‘Glad I’m not one of the judges.’ Over Leo’s shoulder, she could see them sidling out of the room with their clipboards.
‘Oh, God, this is it,’ she said, her head swimming a little. She had to clutch Leo’s arm. ‘They’re off to make their judgement.’
‘I feel a bit like the Pope,’ said Leo, with a jaunty smile. ‘With all the cardinal fellows going off to vote.’
This irreverence bought a grateful burst of laughter from Anna and the ambassador’s wife, who said dryly, ‘I think the prize is somewhat different.’
‘You do know it doesn’t matter,’ said Anna. ‘Now we’re an official team, it’s a win-win.’
‘I know,’ said Leo, ‘but I want that official, industry endorsement. If these guys like it, we’re okay. Otherwise two Brits making beer in the Czech Republic … I don’t know. If one of them is award-winning…’
‘Stop fretting, Leo,’ she told him. ‘It doesn’t matter. One of our beers will be at the Beer Festival. Lots of people will be drinking it. You said yourself it will be great publicity for Our Place.’
They decided that Love Knight would sound far too much like a sex shop and had settled on Our Place as the name of their joint venture.
After half an hour, during which Leo, much to Anna’s amusement and the ambassador’s wife’s exasperation, had rearranged most of the eye-level Christmas decorations on the tree, the double doors opened and the judges trooped back in, handing a sealed envelope to Jaroslav, who promptly handed it to the ambassador.
Leo gripped Anna’s hand as the ambassador strolled to his podium. ‘I think, without more ado, I’ll announce the winner. Everyone has been waiting long enough.’
He slit open the envelope and read the contents, a broad smile breaking out on his face.
‘I’m pleased to announce that it is … a tie. Both beers win and will both feature at this year’s Christmas Beer Festival. Congratulations, Miss Love and Mr Knight.’ He lifted his glass of beer. ‘To a wonderful collaboration, a marriage of the old and the new.’
Leo scooped Anna into a hug and kissed her soundly. ‘Congratulations, Anna, love.’
‘Congratulations, Leo.’
‘Told you we could do it,’ he said with a cocky wink that made her burst out laughing at the outrageous lie. Irrepressible as ever – and she wouldn’t change it for anything. They were in this together and the future in Prague looked very bright.