This Could Change Everything(35)
‘Well held,’ said Lucas, although she wouldn’t be able to hear him above all the screaming. The hen party had arrived in a convoy of taxis an hour ago and were due to depart at eight for a bar in Bristol. But if he wasn’t able to locate and remove the spider that was currently freaking them out, they’d be leaving a lot sooner, which wasn’t ideal under the—
‘Got it,’ shouted Essie, only her bottom visible as she knelt under one of the tables.
‘Aaaarrrgh,’ screeched one of the girls wavering on top of the nearest chair.
‘It’s OK, panic over. I’ve got him.’ Having wriggled out backwards with her hands cupped around the spider, Essie got carefully to her feet. ‘Ooh, his legs are all tickly! Can someone open the door for me so I can put him outside?’
Lucas led the way and she walked behind him, to a chorus of screams and groans of relief. One of the girls who’d originally seen the spider scuttling along the wall yelled out, ‘Oh God, how can you do that? Is it the biggest one you’ve ever seen in your life?’
‘It’s pretty huge.’ Essie nodded in agreement as Lucas held the door wide open for her.
Outside, as the wind whipped her blonde hair into her eyes, he said, ‘Well done. I’m impressed.’
Essie uncupped her hands to show him they’d been empty all along.
‘Now I’m even more impressed. What if it shows up again?’
‘After all the racket that lot have been making, I think the poor spider will probably stay out of sight for the rest of the night. If he does turn up again later, hopefully it’ll happen after they’ve left. Anyway, I’m off duty soon, so it’ll be your problem, not mine.’
Lucas smiled. It seemed like every time he saw Essie he encountered a new side to her. She had repartee, a quick mind, and an air of trustworthiness that meant the hen party wouldn’t doubt for a second that she’d caught and disposed of the monstrous galloping spider.
Whereas in reality she was probably as terrified of it as they were.
‘What?’ she said suspiciously, because he’d been looking at her without saying anything.
‘Nothing.’ Except there was something. Lucas said, ‘I’m glad you came to work here.’
For a second, Essie didn’t reply. She held his gaze and he couldn’t begin to work out what was going through her mind. Then she said, ‘I should think you are. I’m indispensable.’
At that moment an almighty crashing sound came from inside the bar. Lucas said drily, ‘The fun never stops. I suppose we’d better see what’s going on.’
There was a lot of shrieking, that was for sure.
Essie said, ‘Maybe the spider’s back.’
But when they headed inside once more, it was to a messy sight. The hen, whose name was Lauren, had attempted to clamber down from her table onto the padded velvet seat of a stool. Losing her balance, she’d grabbed hold of her friend’s arm and tumbled to the ground, taking her friend with her.
It might have been less disastrous if the friend hadn’t been holding a cocktail at the time, which from the look of it had been the one containing Chambord and cassis.
‘Oh noooo,’ Lauren wailed, scrambling to her feet and surveying the damage with dismay. ‘My skirt! What am I going to doooo? It’s completely wrecked.’
She wasn’t kidding. What a mess. Her hen-night outfit was a crystal-studded long-sleeved black top teamed with a short white skirt and black-and-white high heels. Up until a couple of minutes ago she’d looked fabulous. Now she was on the verge of tears and her friend was mortified, dabbing helplessly at the purple-stained skirt with a shredded tissue.
‘Well that’s it, we may as well cancel the taxis right now.’ Lauren welled up. ‘I can’t go to a club looking like this. No way, I just can’t.’
‘Hey, don’t panic, we can sort this out.’ Essie held Lauren’s forearms and twizzled her round, taking a good look at her waist and hips. ‘We’re the same size. I have a white skirt that’ll fit you and I live just across the square. Wait here, OK? I’m going to go and get it now.’
In no time she was back, wet and windswept, clutching a supermarket carrier bag. Two minutes later, when Lauren emerged from the ladies’ loo wearing Essie’s skirt, everyone in the bar applauded.
‘It fits me!’ Lauren did a triumphant twirl, then hugged Essie. ‘You saved my hen night. I’ll bring it back in the week, is that all right? And I’ll try my best not to spill anything on it!’
When Essie’s shift ended and she went to fetch her bag and coat, Lucas said, ‘That was a nice thing you did, with the skirt. What if it gets wrecked?’
‘Doesn’t matter. I bought it from a charity shop. Hi.’ Essie turned to greet Giselle, who’d just arrived.
‘Hey! What are you doing tonight? Out somewhere nice?’
‘Scarlett and I are off to a birthday party at a friend’s flat, down by the river. It’s going to be fun. Actually, you could do me a favour.’ Essie brightened. ‘Conor’s meant to be meeting a blind date here at eight. He swore he wasn’t going to turn up, but I bet he does. So if you see him in here with someone, don’t say anything, but if you could take a sneaky photo of the two of them together, that’d be brilliant. Then send it to me and I’ll have won my bet.’ Her eyes glinting with mischief, she added, ‘I’ll really be able to take the mickey out of him after that!’