Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
Beth had agreed to the Shadows of Auld Reekie escape room mostly because Diana had insisted it would be a laugh. Standing at the entrance to the vaults, though, with fog curling around her ankles and a faint wail of bagpipes echoing below, she was already questioning her life choices.
‘It’s all theatre,’ Diana said cheerfully, striding ahead with her torch like an intrepid explorer. ‘Burke and Hare, ghostly pipers, jump scares. It’s all part of the fun!’
Beth caught up and clung to her arm. ‘If it’s just theatre, why does it smell like something actually died down here?’
The narrow tunnel walls wept with damp; the lanterns flickered in a distinctly malevolent way. When a cold gust of air brushed her ear, Beth gave an undignified squeak and nearly bolted up the steps. Encountering a genie was one thing; this was something else entirely.
Diana, naturally, was having the time of her life.
She solved the first puzzle in record time, pressed every suspicious-looking brick in the wall, and even flirted with the projected ‘ghost guide’.
When a hidden door hissed open and a skeletal hand dropped from the ceiling, Diana howled with laughter.
Beth screamed so loudly that the next group applauded.
‘Never again!’ Back at Diana’s, Beth accepted a large glass of wine as they waited for a Chinese takeaway delivery.
‘Wuss,’ Diana teased, tipping prawn crackers into a bowl. ‘You choose next time, and you can pick something with fewer corpses. Maybe a trip to the cinema, to see a romcom with a torrid love triangle. Speaking of which…’
‘I’m not in a love triangle,’ Beth said quickly. ‘There’s no romance between me and Kieran, and as for Luke…’
She explained how Luke had turned up and she’d told him the truth – that he was chasing the woman she used to be, not the one standing in front of him now.
‘Good for you, hon.’ The doorbell chimed. ‘Hold that thought while I get the food.’
Minutes later, they were perched on opposite sofas with trays of steaming Singapore noodles, Szechuan spicy beef and fried rice between them.
‘Anyway,’ Beth said, chopsticks in hand, ‘Luke’s messaged a few times since, but I told him it’s over. And I mean it. No more what-ifs.’
‘Bravo,’ said Diana. ‘Now, on to the enigmatic Kieran. Because my love life is dead, I have to live vicariously through yours.’
Beth laughed. Diana, despite her endless admirers, was ruthless in disqualifying them. ‘It’s complicated.’
‘It’s only complicated if you make it so. Didn’t you say he was single after his girlfriend dumped him?’
Beth frowned. She couldn’t remember what she’d told Diana and didn’t know how things stood between Kieran and Lisa. ‘She’s still in Cranley, I think, sort of living with him. Well, not living with him – I don’t think he wants that – but she’s persistent.’
‘Reminds me of a client I once went out with,’ Diana said, splashing hot sauce onto her noodles. ‘Lovely muscles, terrible brain. After one date I knew it wouldn’t work.’
‘Because?’
‘Because the size of his muscles greatly exceeded the size of his intellect. And after trying to let him down gently, Shit-for-Brains messaged me multiple times a day saying how perfect we were together.’
‘Blocked?’
Diana shuddered. ‘Absolutely. Once I’d steered him towards another physio practice.’
They devoured the food, then Diana rooted through her freezer for dessert. ‘We need a sweet ending.’
She unearthed brownies, vanilla ice cream, and an alarming number of half-empty nut packets. ‘Work your culinary magic, girlfriend.’
Beth smiled and improvised a caramel sauce. The familiar rhythm of whisking and stirring soothed her.
‘So, Kieran,’ Diana said, spoon in hand. ‘What’s the hold-up?’
Beth tried to put words to the knot of feelings inside her. The attraction was there – was obvious – but acting on it? She’d only just closed the door on Luke. And Kieran still had Lisa’s shadow in his life.
‘Stop overthinking,’ Diana said firmly. ‘Ask him out. What’s the worst that could happen?’
Beth went to bed replaying those words. Ask him out. What’s the worst that could happen?
The next morning, the journey back to Cranley was crisp and sunlit. Diana’s advice looped through her head like a mantra.
He could say no, said her inner pessimist.
Or he could say yes, another voice countered. Definitely Gigi.
Beth walked into the pub and stopped dead.
There, gleaming beside the bar, was the pinball machine.
Her pinball machine.
For a moment, she could only stare. Torn between bolting and giving Ed a piece of her mind, she watched him crouched by the power cable, screwdriver in hand. Two other newcomers had joined it: a vintage jukebox and an ancient fruit machine with a lever like a pirate’s prosthetic.
‘That’s a one-armed bandit,’ said Jimmy, appearing at her elbow in a fog of whisky fumes. ‘They don’t make ’em like that anymore.’
‘Fascinating,’ Beth managed.
Angela swooped in and steered Jimmy to safety. ‘What do you think, Beth?’
What did she think? That the universe had gone utterly rogue. With Gigi loose in the main bar, anything could happen. He’d caused enough chaos in the basement.
‘Beth, how did you get this thing to work before?’ Ed called, tightening a screw.
‘I … well … I just plugged it in.’
‘Let’s see. Moment of truth.’ Ed plugged in all three machines. ‘Bingo!’
The pub lights dimmed. The jukebox roared to life with Coldplay’s ‘Arabesque’, while the pinball machine flared gold and hummed like an orchestra tuning up.
‘That is so cool!’ Rose bounded in, followed by a wide-eyed Mags.
‘It’s all very noisy,’ Mags said primly. ‘Can we make it quieter?’
Beth’s heart thudded. Mags edged closer to the machine, eyes bright with curiosity. Jinnie, Jo and Sam hovered at the edge of the crowd, watchful.
The jukebox switched track mid-song, Phil Collins’s ‘In the Air Tonight’ thundering through the room. The air crackled.
Oh, God, he’s showing off, Beth thought.
‘Can I play?’ Mags asked, turning to her with childlike wonder.
‘Of course you can.’ Beth dug into her pocket, fingers brushing cool metal – a handful of Gigi’s gold tokens. She passed them to Mags, who turned them over reverently.
‘They’re so beautiful. What do I do?’
Beth swallowed, aware of the silence pressing around them. She slotted a token into the machine and guided Mags’s hands to the flipper buttons. ‘Ready?’
‘I think so.’
Lights flared, chimes cascaded, the music swelled – and the crowd gasped as Mags took off, her reflexes sharp and sure, eyes alive with focus. The ball danced; the score soared.
‘You go, girl!’ Ken shouted, pride and disbelief mingling in his grin.
Three hundred thousand. Four. The machine sang; the crowd clapped in rhythm. And then, finally, the last ball slipped away.
Mags stood, breathing hard, face shining. ‘That was the best moment of my life!’
Beth stepped back. Across the room, Jinnie caught her eye, an unspoken understanding passing between them. Cranley wasn’t normal. It had magic stitched into its seams.
‘Hey,’ Ken said, taking his wife’s hand, eyes glassy. ‘I thought our wedding day was the best!’
She laughed, leaning against him, still glowing. Ken’s quick glance towards Beth said everything. You’re a star.
Beth blinked hard, turning back to the bar as chatter resumed and the world righted itself.
I’m here to serve, murmured Gigi’s voice, oddly gentle, oddly proud.
‘Does this bloody jukebox play The Beatles?’ Jo called.
She dropped a few coins into the slot, and ‘All You Need Is Love’ filled the air.
Ken and Mags swayed into a slow dance, the pub crowd smiling, glasses raised.
Beth leaned against the bar, the warmth of it all soaking into her bones. For once, she didn’t overthink or analyse. She simply watched, smiled, and let herself believe – if only for tonight – that maybe Gigi was right.
Maybe love really was all you needed.