This Could Change Everything(38)

Of course that had also been the night they’d drunk far too much, with disastrous consequences for her . . .

Jude, next to her, raised an eyebrow. ‘He’s new.’

‘Actually, he isn’t. He’s old,’ said Essie as Jay approached them.

‘I am.’ Jay grinned. ‘I’m ancient. Just very well preserved for seventy-five.’

‘He’s my brother,’ Essie told her, ‘and he’s twenty-nine.’

‘That’s not my name, by the way.’ Having given Essie a hug, he said, ‘I’m Jay.’

‘Jude,’ said Jude.

‘Ah, yes.’ Jay nodded sagely. ‘Essie’s told me all about you.’

This was a lie. She hadn’t. But Jude was smiling at him. ‘Really? What’s she said?’

‘She told me you were a fantastic person, and I think she’s right. Hi.’ He reached for Jude’s hand and gave it a formal shake, which always intrigued the girls he encountered. ‘It’s so good to meet you at last.’

Essie rolled her eyes slightly. Over the years she’d heard her brother’s chat-up lines a thousand times. Then again, they generally had the desired effect, so why wouldn’t he carry on using them?

‘Nice to meet you too.’ Jude sounded amused. ‘You’re very smooth, aren’t you?’

Jay’s shrug was self-deprecating. ‘I try my best, then more often than not I muck it up. If I do that tonight, just pretend you haven’t noticed, OK? Humour me.’

Then the door opened behind him and Jude, distracted by the new arrivals, called out, ‘Wait, what are you two doing here?’

Essie glimpsed the unamused expression in Jay’s eyes as he turned and recognised Lucas, who was heading towards them with Giselle at his side. She hoped he wasn’t about to do his protective-older-brother thing and make some scathing comment about the round robin. Not because Lucas didn’t deserve it, but because it was simply easier all round if Jude and the rest of the staff didn’t know. Essie liked working here too much to want to create an awkward atmosphere.

‘The lead singer fell off the stage,’ said Lucas. ‘Broke his leg.’

They’d gone to Moles, a local club, to see a band who’d played a dazzling set at Glastonbury last summer. Everyone had promptly become enthralled by them in general and the handsome lead singer in particular, and the tickets for tonight’s show had sold out in record time.

‘Oh no.’ Jude was sympathetic. ‘You were so looking forward to seeing them.’

‘We were. Hi.’ Lucas nodded at Jay, then briefly introduced him to Giselle. ‘But they’ll reschedule. And Gi got her chance to rush to the rescue, which made her day. She looked after him until the paramedics turned up.’

‘It was brilliant.’ Giselle grinned broadly. ‘I was up for giving him mouth-to-mouth, but he said he didn’t need it. I got to hold his hand, though. And use my soothing voice. I’m pretty sure he won’t forget me now.’

Lucas said, ‘There was a bit of brow-soothing, too. You pretty much saved his life.’

Which made everyone else laugh, although Essie did her usual trick of pretending to be otherwise occupied with putting away glasses, because relaxing too much in Lucas’s presence might make him think she’d forgiven him.

And there was no way that was going to happen.

The rest of the evening went well, though. One of the regulars, a friend of Lucas’s, was a magician who specialised in close-up magic tricks that enthralled everyone who witnessed them. Rounds of drinks were bought. Between serving customers, Jude continued to chat to Jay. Someone else produced a guitar and began to play songs, with others enthusiastically joining in. To Essie’s surprise, Lucas turned out to have a really good singing voice. Pretending not to have noticed, she carried on working, keeping the place running smoothly.

A few minutes later, Giselle joined her at the bar, leaning across and saying in a conspiratorial whisper, ‘Looks like your brother’s weaving a magic spell of his own on Jude.’

Essie nodded. ‘He’s woven quite a few in his time.’

‘Ah. Bit of a player, is he?’

‘He doesn’t mean to be. He just likes women, and they like him back. He’s nearly thirty,’ she said. ‘I keep waiting for him to meet the right girl and settle down, but it hasn’t happened yet.’

‘Who knows? Maybe we’re watching it happen right now.’ Giselle did mystical movements with her hands as they observed Jude and Jay together. ‘I mean, look at them. This could be the night everything changes!’

Lucas, coming up behind her, slid an arm around her waist and said easily, ‘Why’s this the night everything could change?’

Essie swallowed. What was it that caused her to feel that little twist of unwanted emotion inside her chest? Was it the casual way his fingers were resting on Giselle’s hip? Or the smile they exchanged as she leaned against him?

Shutting down both her own feelings and the conversation, she said, ‘I need to serve those guys over there from the rugby club,’ and moved away to the far end of the bar.

As Essie slowly woke from sleep, time appeared to have slipped into reverse. She was lying in bed with her eyes closed, breathing in the scent of freshly ground coffee, which made no sense at all. It was something that had happened last year whenever she’d stayed over at Paul’s cottage. As the proud owner of a top-of-the-range coffee machine, he had always brought her a perfectly made cappuccino in bed before leaving for work. Even if, secretly, she would have preferred a mug of tea.