Chapter 48
Chapter Forty-Eight
Kieran hadn’t planned on going to the pub. He’d planned on making lunch, staring at his laptop and pretending the dream hadn’t unsettled him in a way that felt far too real to be shrugged off with a cup of coffee and a cheese and ham toastie.
Snippets of the dream looped through his mind like a poorly edited film. He groaned, and Prom, unhelpful as ever, gave a disgruntled miaow.
It had started innocuously enough. A faraway land, exotic and unfamiliar. Then, the voices. Not loud. Not frightening. Just … recognisable.
Jinnie’s practical tone, Jo’s quiet sarcasm, Wilma’s murmured asides, Sam’s calm, thoughtful cadence. All talking about something he couldn’t see. Except … he had seen something. Something close. Something connected with Beth. A pinball machine, that was it.
And he had heard another voice. Achingly familiar, yet also beyond his mental reach.
By the time Kieran reached the pub, his thoughts were a jumble of contradictions.
It was just a dream.
But what about the pinball machine?
Beth’s behaviour is odd at times.
Strange things have happened in the pub.
You need a holiday.
The Jekyll and Hyde smelled of coconut milk and spices. A comforting, safe smell. The specials board promised Thai Green Curry with aromatic rice. No quirky name.
Beth appeared from the kitchen carrying plates, her hair pinned back loosely. She looked tired.
She looked gorgeous.
‘Hi,’ she said, when she spotted him.
‘Hi yourself,’ Kieran replied. ‘Can a starving man get a plateful of Tantalising Thai Curry with a side of torture?’
Beth laughed. ‘We’re over the daft descriptions, in case you hadn’t noticed. Simple is best.’
‘Then I’m your man. Simple runs through me like water through a pipe. Which is a completely rubbish analogy.’
Beth nodded. ‘Stick to what you’re good at.’
‘Have you got … a minute?’
She glanced towards the kitchen. ‘I can steal one.’
They moved into a small room to the side – half pantry, half breathing space for staff. Its shelves were crammed with dried ingredients and jars containing unknown substances. A smell of paprika and washing-up liquid permeated the air.
Kieran ran a hand through his hair. In a film, it would look sexy. Right now, he suspected he resembled a well-used pot scourer. ‘This might sound stupid.’
Her mouth curved faintly. ‘Try me.’
‘I fell asleep at my laptop last night. I was working on the app, trying to make it better.’ He huffed out a breath. ‘Trying to make me better.’
She didn’t interrupt, just nodded for him to carry on. He liked that.
‘I dreamed,’ he said. ‘But not like normal dreams. It felt … completely bonkers. As if a theatre group were improvising inside my head.’
‘Didn’t you once tell me that Kate Bush broke your sunglasses, and something else off the wall about Black Sabbath?’
Kieran shrugged sheepishly. ‘I might have made that up. But this dream… It felt so real.’
Beth’s shoulders stiffened.
‘I could hear people. Conversations. Voices I don’t even know how I recognised. People I barely know. Jinnie. Jo. Wilma. Sam.’
Beth said nothing, but her eyes widened.
‘They were talking about Cranley. About something … old, I think. Or powerful. That’s all I can remember. Not details, just the feeling of it.’
Kieran waited. Beth stayed silent.
‘It made me feel like I’d walked into a story halfway through. Like I’m a bit-part player who doesn’t know their lines or what they’re supposed to do.’
Beth wrapped her hands around her mug. ‘Strange things do happen here,’ she said quietly.
‘Like what?’
She paused. Her face was inscrutable: a bit like Yoda. Hard to understand, in a deliberately annoying way.
She glanced towards the stairs, then back at him. ‘Electrical quirks. Machines not behaving normally.’ A beat. ‘That pinball table Ed dragged upstairs … it’s temperamental.’
‘Temperamental how?’ Kieran felt lost, as if he’d been tossed into a turbulent river and forced to swim against the tide.
Her mouth tightened. ‘Old wiring. Old parts.’
Not quite an answer, but he didn’t push. Something in her eyes told him not today.
He rocked slightly on his heels. ‘I just … needed to tell someone. It felt daft keeping it in.’
Her gaze lifted to his. ‘You can always tell me.’
He felt that land somewhere deep. He moved a fraction closer. ‘I don’t feel daft when I talk to you.’
Beth brushed his cheek with her hand. ‘I’ll take that as a massive compliment, but I need to crack on now. There’s a table of ten arriving in half an hour.’
Kieran took her hand and kissed it lightly. ‘Go forth and feed the masses,’ he said. ‘If you’re free later, do you fancy coming to my place?’
Beth bit her lip. Kieran’s heart sank. Too much, too soon.
‘Actually,’ she said, ‘it’s looking quieter this evening. Let me have a word with Rose and see if she’ll hold the fort.’
A minute later, Beth returned. ‘All good. What time, and should I bring leftovers?’
Kieran grinned. ‘Believe it or not, I can cook. Is seven OK?’
Beth nodded.
And Kieran practically skipped home, all thoughts of crazy dreams banished for now.