Chapter Four
CHAPTER FOUR
It had taken far too long to decide what to wear. Eden was used to having to go the extra mile in her appearance. Her circle of friends back in London had been good fun, but she was under no illusions about how superficial those relationships had been – in fact, she’d been as guilty of that as they were. It was all about image, about fitting in, about wearing the right brands and being seen at the right places. It was part and parcel of the life she’d built there. It was a world she was trying to leave behind, but she still didn’t really know how to.
And so, while her instinct was to dress the way she’d always dress for a night out, in a way that showed a successful woman, she realised that this was no longer the version of herself she wanted to present to the world. Not here in Sea Glass Bay, and certainly not going to the local pub in the hopes of getting a job behind the bar. She’d changed her outfit half a dozen times, alternately dressing up and feeling it was too much and then dressing down to worry it wasn’t enough.
In the end, she’d settled on the dress that little Nancy had been so enamoured of, reasoning that if Nancy had been taken enough to say so, it was probably something that spoke of the real her.
As she pulled a comb through freshly washed hair that was still a salon shade of blonde, she noticed the phone she’d tossed onto the bed vibrating with an incoming call. Her sister, Caitlin.
As she’d done all the times since she’d arrived in the bay, Eden watched for a moment, letting it ring out, afraid to pick up, not knowing what to say even if she did pluck up the courage.
Once it had stopped, she sniffed back her tears, put the radio on and tried not to think about it.
The wind had picked up since Eden had sat outside the ice-cream parlour with Livia, and the hair she’d carefully combed and smoothed was tangled and wild by the time she’d left the clifftop path. Eden did her best to tidy it before she got to the pub but eventually gave it up as a bad job.
As the pub came into view, she paused and drew in a deep breath. It looked welcoming enough: a rose-covered arbour shading a wide front door, yellow bulbs strung across the tables and chairs that dotted a pretty beer garden. She could see from the outside that it had changed since her dad had taken her there, but she supposed that was to be expected, even if it was a little disappointing. The dark wood of the bar that used to be visible from the sash windows had been painted a parchment colour so that it was far brighter and more modern, and chalkboards hung on the walls announcing food specials or drinks offers. The lights of the garden were new, as were the patio heaters hanging from outside walls. The signage had been repainted too – gone was the old-master-style seascape with a dolphin leaping from the waves that had once hung outside, to be replaced with something brighter and more cartoonish – a grinning dolphin standing on its tail and beckoning the customer in. Eden’s dad would have something to say about this as a sign of progress, and she guessed it wouldn’t be complimentary. She wondered what her mum might have said, and the thought made her immediately sad, so she tried to banish it.
Inside, the air was humid. Most of the tables were already full, but there were a couple next to the bar still available. Eden wondered whether it would be better to sit at one of those or simply stand at the bar. If she stood at the bar, would it seem as if she expected Livia to talk to her all night, even if she was busy? But if she sat at a table, would that give the impression she didn’t want anyone to talk to her at all?
‘Eden!’
Eden looked round to see Livia bringing in a large bottle of rum. She set it on the bar and waved her over.
‘I wasn’t sure if you were coming or not. I did mention to Ralph that you might. Hang on…’
She turned to a row of optics and slotted the new bottle of rum into one of them. When she seemed satisfied it was plumbed in, she turned to Eden again.
‘Sorry, just had to get that in – Elsie’s due in at eight, and she always wants a rum and cola, and it has to be that rum.’
‘That’s all right;, I don’t want to stop you working.’
‘I’m glad you came. Ralph’s keen to meet you. He says he might not have loads of shifts, but he’ll certainly have some spares until September if you want them.’
‘Doesn’t he want to interview me first?’
‘Oh, I expect so. Though his idea of an interview will be: what’s your name and when can you start? He’s pretty informal like that.’
‘He might not like the look of me.’
Livia blew a stray hair from her face and frowned with some humour. ‘Why not? You look normal enough. Or are you secretly a Doctor Who monster?’
‘Nothing as interesting as that,’ Eden said with a smile, at ease once again. Livia seemed to have a knack for putting her at ease with very little effort.
‘Although Levi would have been made up if you were. He’s nuts about that programme. You want a drink?’
‘Have you got a nice gin?’
‘I’ve got about twenty gins – any in particular?’ Livia stood back to let Eden see a row of colourful bottles lining the shelves behind the bar. ‘The orange one is nice – at least I think so. Or if your thing is more spicy, we have one with cardamon in it.’
‘I’ll have the orange one. With lemonade, please.’
‘Can’t go wrong with that. Double?’
‘I…’
‘Go on, have a double. Life’s too short for single measures, that’s what I say.’
‘Double then.’ Eden smiled. ‘No wonder Ralph wants you to work for him – you’re a good saleswoman.’
‘I know, that’s what I keep telling him, but he still doesn’t put my wages up.’
While Livia was busy making her drink, Eden took a moment to glance around the room. There were mostly couples and families at the tables. Some were eating casual bar-snack-type food, though there was a menu on the wall, it seemed the Darling Dolphin’s dining options were quite informal. It wasn’t a big menu either – Eden counted a choice of eight dishes, all traditional pub grub like steak and ale pie, lasagne, and fish and chips.
‘Does your food do well?’ Eden asked.
‘Oh yes.’ Livia put the drink down in front of her. Eden got her card out, and Livia fetched the machine. ‘Especially in peak season. There’s a dining room out back – Ralph’s got separate staff for that. I don’t have much to do with it unless he’s really up against it; I prefer to work the bar. Quite honestly, I think Ralph wishes he didn’t have to mess around with that bit of the business, but it brings too much money in for him to get rid of it.’
Eden was about to reply when Livia nodded at a man coming into the bar from a door at the side of the room. He was large in every way – tall and broad with the biggest, fullest beard Eden had ever seen. His cheeks were flushed and his movements confident, but there was a gentleness about him, despite his size.
‘Here he is,’ Livia said. She beckoned him over. ‘Ralph…this is Eden come about the job.’
Ralph came over and offered a huge hand. Eden shook it, suddenly feeling like a child visiting Santa’s grotto.
‘Livia tells me you’ve taken Four Winds.’
‘For the next six months, yes.’
‘God help you in the winter up there. Pleasant enough now, I expect.’
‘I can’t say I thought as far ahead as winter,’ Eden said, feeling foolish that it hadn’t even occurred to her what winter might be like in her remote outcrop.
‘You’re looking for work then?’
‘If you’ve got some. I don’t have any bar experience – does that matter?’
‘Won’t take you long to pick up. How do you feel about waiting tables? Not that I need anyone on there just now, but from time to time, Livia picks up the slack in the dining room for me.’
‘I haven’t done that before either, but I’m a fast learner.’
‘What did you do before?’
Eden hesitated. She could have told the truth: she’d come from a job where she’d sold luxury properties in the city dealing with clients with bank balances that dwarfed the economies of many small countries, and she’d made a lot of money doing it. She’d also spent a lot of that money too, on things she’d never needed. She’d spent so much of it she was constantly trying to find it from other places. Now that she considered it, she realised it was quite ridiculous. But this didn’t seem the moment for that kind of honesty.
‘I was in admin,’ she said, seizing on something that was a half-truth. ‘A bit different to this, I suppose. But I’m a hard worker, and I’ll have a go at most things.’
Ralph nodded thoughtfully. ‘Could you start this weekend? It wouldn’t be guaranteed shifts, but there’s usually plenty over the summer, so you won’t go short.’
‘I’m not doing anything at all really; I can start whenever you like.’
‘The weekend will do just fine.’
‘Brilliant! Thank you! So are there rules…I mean, like a uniform or anything?’
‘God, no!’ Ralph threw back his head and laughed. ‘Just wear whatever you don’t mind ruining with spilled beer. Don’t dip your fingers in where they’re not meant to be, get here on time, don’t complain when you have to clean sick from the toilet walls and we’ll get on just fine.’ He looked at Livia. ‘Have I covered everything?’
‘More or less,’ Livia said, beaming at Eden. ‘What do you think?’
‘That’s all good with me,’ Eden said.
Ralph nodded and started to make his way round to the serving side of the bar. ‘Welcome aboard. Let’s have a tot to celebrate – what are you drinking? On the house, this one.’
‘Oh, well…I just got this gin, so…’
‘Another gin then.’
Eden watched as Ralph discarded the measure and poured some gin into a glass. There had to be a treble or even quadruple in there.
He turned to Eden. ‘What’s your mixer?’
‘Lemonade,’ Eden said. ‘Thank you.’
With a broad, beardy grin, he plonked the finished drink onto the bar in front of her before helping himself to a neat measure of the rum Livia had fixed into the optic earlier. Knocking it straight back, he nodded at Eden and Livia before heading towards the door he’d come in through not ten minutes before.
‘I’m going to be plastered after this lot,’ Eden said, looking with some bewilderment at the two glasses of gin in front of her.
‘He might look a bit scary, but Ralph’s a sweetheart,’ Livia said. ‘He’d do anything for anyone, and if you work for him, he looks after you.’
‘I got that impression. I only hope I don’t let him down – I wasn’t joking when I said I’d never done any work like this before.’
‘Not even when you were a teenager?’
‘Unfortunately not. You don’t think it will be a problem, do you?’
‘Like Ralph said, it won’t take long to get the hang of it. Actually’ – she nodded towards the entrance – ‘here’s little Elsie. You could have a go at doing her rum and Coke for her if you wanted to pop your bar cherry.’
‘Would I be allowed? I haven’t officially started yet.’
‘Ralph wouldn’t let a little thing like that bother him. I reckon if you’d said so, he’d have set you on tonight – he was just being polite.’
Eden took a swig of her gin and coughed. She’d picked up Ralph’s nuclear measure and it was just as strong as she’d feared. ‘Maybe I won’t just yet,’ she said as her eyes watered.
Livia laughed. ‘Chicken! Don’t worry – come the weekend, we’ll make a proper barmaid of you.’