by Alix Kelso
Laura beamed. “This is perfect!”
“It is?”
“Of course! Here’s what we do. You tell your Uncle Keith that as Natalie’s getting ready to sell Valentino’s, maybe it’d be a nice gesture for him to take her out to dinner. Just one local businessperson to another, in honour of all the time they’ve both run their businesses here. And that he should do it now, rather than later, because ...”
She searched for an excuse and clicked her fingers when she found one. “Because once a sale starts to go through, Natalie might not have time.”
Bruce scratched his head. “He’s so annoyed after being dumped, I don’t see him wanting to do this any time soon. He’ll say that Natalie won’t be leaving for a while, the For Sale sign isn’t even up yet, so what’s the hurry?”
“Okay, tell him that you heard me mention how Natalie was finding it all a bit emotional, starting the sale process, and how she could use a friend right now.”
“But you’re still relying on him doing all the running and on me manipulating him into it. This is your set-up. What exactly are you contributing?”
“I’ll tell Natalie that Keith’s faith in women has been crushed ever since he got dumped and wouldn’t it be nice if she went out with him to show him that not all women are like that.”
“This all sounds really complicated,” Bruce said, glancing up at the golf tournament on the television.
She could see he was losing interest, for good reason. It was too complicated. If this was going to work, it had to be simpler.
Suddenly, the solution appeared and she grinned. “I’ve got it!”
He turned back from the big screen. “Spill it, then.”
“We set it up so they both think that the other one asked them out,” she said, moving closer. “They’ve known each other so long, neither will want to offend the other by not going. So you tell your Uncle Keith that Natalie dropped by while he was at his whisky lunch thing and said that she’d heard from me that it hadn’t worked out with this woman he was seeing, and she wanted to treat him to dinner to cheer him up. Meanwhile, I’ll tell Natalie that Keith did the same thing, popped into Valentino’s while she was elsewhere, said he’d heard that the place was going on sale, and that he wanted to take her out to dinner for old times’ sake.”
She paused and squinted as she considered. “Today’s Friday. We set it up for tomorrow night, which reduces the chances that they happen across each other in the meantime and rumble us. I heard Natalie say she was taking the day off to go shopping tomorrow and then spending the night at home. Is your Uncle Keith free tomorrow night?”
Bruce had a look on his face as he watched her, a look she couldn’t decipher. But a second later, he began nodding. “He normally enjoys working the Saturday night shift, but I’ll cover for him and ask Sophie to come in for a few extra hours.”
“Perfect!” Pleased that it seemed to be coming together, Laura rose to leave. “There’s a lovely steak restaurant in the city centre. I’ll book a table. And a taxi. Tell your Uncle Keith it’ll be there for him at seven. Here, give me your mobile number and I’ll give you mine, and we can text to confirm it’s all on.”
They swapped numbers and she headed for the door, Bruce following.
“Laura, aren’t you worried that once they’re out together, they’ll realise that neither of them were behind this and that we were?”
She gave a crafty smile. “Of course they’ll realise it. But by then, they’ll already be on the date, won’t they?”
He laughed and shook his head, but then looked at her with a serious expression. “Listen,” he said, his tone soft. “It’s a sweet idea, setting up the two of them. Maybe they’ll even have a good time together. But you don’t really think any of this is going to change Natalie’s mind about selling Valentino’s, do you?”
The smile slid from her face. “Maybe it won’t. But I have to try.” She had no idea if he understood what she was talking about. He probably thought she was crazy, running around like this, hatching foolish plans.
But then that warm smile returned to his face. “Okay,” he said. “You have to try. So let’s get them on this date and see what happens.”
Reaching out, she squeezed his arm. “Thanks, Bruce.” She left The Crooked Thistle, and headed out into the afternoon sunshine of Shaw Street and towards home. But Bruce’s words kept running through her head as she walked.
You don’t really think any of this is going to change Natalie’s mind about selling Valentino’s, do you?
What she was attempting was absurd. Some half-baked set-up with the guy who ran the pub across the road would never make Natalie change her mind about the decision she’d already made, would it?
Of course not. It was ridiculous, and the more she thought about, the more ridiculous it sounded. Natalie was a smart woman, unlikely to be swayed by some silly meddling, even if that meddling was motivated by the best of intentions.
She pushed away the negative thoughts. Yes, her plan was silly. Yes, her plan was absurd.
But it was the only plan she had.
Bruce was refilling the bottle fridges beneath the bar when Keith rolled into The Crooked Thistle just after four o’clock that afternoon with a flushed grin on his face. As the doors swung closed behind him, Keith paused to look around the pub, swaying on his feet a little and nodding in satisfaction.
“Thanks for holding the fort, son.”
“No problem, Uncle Keith.”
“I see the Gruesome Twosome have vacated their usual places.” He indicated the bar stools normally occupied by Jimmy Pearson and Big Kev.
“It’s happy hour over at The Duchess. They’ll be back.”
Keith hoisted himself on to a stool, looked around at the scattering of customers nursing drinks and nodded again. “Good lunch shift?”
“Not too bad. How was your whisky junket?”
“Aye, it was good. It’s quite a function room they have in that hotel. And we must’ve tasted a dozen whiskies.”
“I’ll make you a coffee in that case,” Bruce said, and began fiddling with the automatic coffee machine behind the bar.
“I plan to buy in a few of the whiskies they let us try.” Keith fished a crumpled piece of notepaper from his pocket and squinted at what was written there. “Got the names here. I’d like to expand our range. We’ve got a good base stock, but people like to try new things and don’t mind paying a bit extra for something different.”
Bruce set a cup of black coffee down in front of his uncle. “No one around here knows their whiskies like you do. You should make it a feature, offer yourself as the expert who can guide customers to something they might enjoy. You could make up a little whisky menu, describing the single malts and the flavours. People like that kind of thing.”
Keith tapped his temple. “Good thinking, kid.”
Bruce cleared his throat and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Um, you know Natalie from Valentino’s? She came over while you were out.”
Keith slurped his coffee. “And?”
Bruce hated this. Technically this was lying, and he hated lying. He couldn’t lie to save himself. He’d rehearsed and tried to locate a breezy tone, but now that he was actually doing it, it just felt awkward, especially with Keith staring at him, waiting for him to continue.
“Well, she heard that things hadn’t worked out between you and Tracy, and—”
“How on earth did she hear about that?” Keith boomed, his good mood gone in a flash.
“You know how people talk. Probably Jimmy Pearson and Big Kev – their lips flap about anything and everything.”
Keith considered this. “Those two old fishwives, wait till I get a hold of them.”
“Anyway, listen. Natalie said ... well, she said she’d like to take you out to dinner, as a pal, to cheer you up.”
He scowled. “I don’t need cheering up.”
“Table’s already booked for tomorrow night. Taxi’s coming for you at seven.”
>
Keith almost exploded off the seat. “Tomorrow night! What if I had plans?”
“Do you?”
“Yes! I’m working here tomorrow night. I can’t just waltz off to some dinner.”
“We coped fine without you this afternoon. Look, Natalie’s an old friend of yours and she’s just trying to be nice. And once she sells her restaurant, you probably won’t see her much, maybe never. Maybe it’d be nice to get together while you’ve got the chance. You’re not going to tell her you don’t want to go, are you? That’d hurt her feelings.”
Keith’s expression softened. “Of course I wouldn’t hurt her feelings. No, I can see it’s a nice thing she’s suggesting.”
“So, you’ll go?”
“I suppose so.”
Bruce breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
“I’ll be sad to see her leave that restaurant,” Keith said. “I should’ve tried to spend more time with her after Angelo died. We were always on good terms, the three of us. It’s a brave thing she’s doing, moving on. She and Angelo devoted their lives to that place.”
Bruce stacked clean glasses on to shelves as he eyed his uncle. “You think she’s doing the wrong thing, selling up?”
“No, she’s a smart woman, she knows what’s best. Anyway, where’s this restaurant she booked?”
“Some steak place in the city, I don’t have the details.”
“I’ll just run across the road and ask her.”
“No!” Bruce yelled, drawing looks from the scattering of drinkers and a raised eyebrow from Keith. “What I mean is that she said she wouldn’t be in the restaurant this afternoon.”
Keith watched him carefully and drained his coffee cup. “I suppose I’d be wearing my suit wherever we’re going. I’ll just go upstairs and make sure I’ve got a pressed shirt.” Moving off the bar stool, he narrowed his eyes. “You’re acting strange.”
“Me? No, I’m not.”
“Hmm,” Keith murmured and headed for the back stairs.
Pulling his phone from his jeans pocket, Bruce wasn’t surprised to find his palms sweaty and scolded himself for getting dragged into this nonsense. But he’d known he’d been hooked from the moment Laura had begun laying it out.
He sent her a message, confirming that Keith was signed up. Then, to distract himself from thinking about her any further, or the mad scheme into which she’d conscripted him, he began unloading clean glasses behind the bar and prepping for Friday night service.
It was torture, Laura thought, waiting until the last possible moment to go and speak to Natalie at Valentino’s. The hours dragged after she heard from Bruce, confirming he’d got his Uncle Keith to cooperate. By the time nine forty finally rolled around, she was almost losing her mind. The restaurant closed at ten and would’ve already stopped taking dinner orders at nine fifteen. Natalie would be front of house, overseeing the final few minutes of service and clean up.
It was time to strike.
She locked her flat and jogged down the street. Inside Valentino’s the last of the dinner customers were swirling what remained of the wine in their glasses, or finishing coffee and dessert, while the staff laid out settings for breakfast service the following morning.
“What are you doing here?” Natalie said from behind the till, peering over the top of her spectacles when Laura came through the door.
“Oh um, I forgot I left my scarf here earlier.”
“Well go and fetch it quickly, unless you want to be commandeered into some task or other.”
Laura made as if to head towards the small staff closet at the back, and then paused. Natalie looked back up from the till receipt she was examining. “What is it?”
Laura hadn’t realised it was going to be so difficult to tell her boss a lie. It was a little white lie, sure, and designed only with Natalie’s best interests in mind, but a lie was a lie. She wondered if Bruce had had the same trouble when he was setting up his Uncle Keith.
“Laura, are you quite alright?” Natalie said, now frowning at her.
“I’m fine. I just remembered something I forgot to tell you.”
Natalie stared. “And that something would be?”
“Oh. Well after you left this morning, Keith from The Crooked Thistle came over.”
“And what did he want?”
“He said he’s sorry you’re selling the restaurant and he wants to take you out to dinner, for old times’ sake, before you leave.”
Natalie frowned and looked back at the till receipt. “That’s very nice of him. I’ll pop over in the next week or so and see when he wants to do it.”
“But he’s already organised it for tomorrow night.”
Natalie’s head shot up. “What? Well, for goodness sake, that’s not much notice, is it?”
“He said he knows you’ll soon be busy getting ready to move on, and he doesn’t want to miss the chance to take you out.”
“Well he’ll have to reorganise it. I can’t make it tomorrow.”
“I already told him that you could make it.”
Natalie narrowed her eyes. “Laura Evans, what on earth would possess you to do a thing like that?”
Laura shuffled on the spot, trying to avoid Natalie’s thunderous expression. “You said you were taking tomorrow evening off at home.”
Balling her hand on her hip, Natalie’s eyes blazed. “Yes, that’s what I wanted. To be at home and have a little quiet time to myself.”
Laura sensed she was losing control of things, if she’d ever been in control in the first place. What had made her think she could trick this woman – who, in all honesty, did scare her just a little – into going on a date with a man she’d most likely never have thought twice about otherwise?
Be brave, she told herself. This whole idea is crazy, yes, but you started it so now you have to finish it.
And Bruce had already talked his Uncle Keith into this thing. Was she just going to back out and leave Bruce to untangle the mess she’d made? Force him to come up with some excuse to feed to his uncle? How would it make the man feel to be told Natalie had set up a dinner date for them, only for it to be cancelled a few hours later?
Laura cleared her throat. “Once you’ve sold the restaurant, you’ll have all the quiet time you want. And it’d be a shame to postpone this dinner when Keith has already gone to the trouble to organise it.”
Natalie’s expression changed. “Well, Keith is a strange old goat, but essentially harmless. I suppose he’s being very thoughtful, surprising me with a dinner treat like this.”
“Exactly! So, you’ll go?”
Natalie sighed. “I really was looking forward to an evening at home on my own, Laura. Do you know how many hours I work in this place?”
“Yes, too many. Which is why you need to get out and do something fun.”
She waved a hand in the air. “Fine, I’ll go, if it means you’ll stop badgering me.”
“Terrific!”
“I’ll pop by the pub tomorrow to check the details.”
“You can’t!” Laura shouted. “What I mean is that Keith said he won’t be in the pub tomorrow, he’s got errands to run.”
Natalie peered over the top of her spectacles. “Errands?”
“Yes, errands. Which is why he wanted me to give you the details. The taxi will collect you at seven. He’s booked a table at some fancy steak house.”
Natalie gave an exasperated sigh. “Fine. Now, I’ve got work to do if it’s all the same to you.”
“No problem,” Laura said, and turned for the door.
“Haven’t you forgotten something?” Natalie called out.
“What?”
“Your scarf? Isn’t that why you came back here in the first place?”
“Oh, of course.”
Shaking her head again, Natalie looked back down at her paperwork. Laura walked to the staff cupboard, but inside her peg was empty, as she knew it would be. Muttering under her breath, she tried to leave without her boss noticing she was empty-h
anded.
“No scarf?” Natalie said, arching an eyebrow as she passed.
“I must have left it somewhere else.”
“Mmm.”
“Have fun tomorrow night!” Laura shouted as she headed for the door.
But she could feel Natalie’s eyes burning into her back all the way out onto the street.
Chapter 5
The two taxis arrived outside the restaurant at the same time, and when Keith and Natalie got out and looked at one another, they laughed.
“Don’t we scrub up well?” Natalie said, taking in Keith’s smart suit, glinting cuff links, and perfectly chosen tie in deep blue. Even his hair, normally a mad fountain of wild tufts, had been wrangled under control.
Keith walked over and kissed her cheek. “You look beautiful Natalie, as always.”
She was glad she’d made the effort, now that she’d seen that Keith had too. She wore a green silk summer dress, simple silver jewellery, and a pair of heeled sandals that would in all likelihood have her ankles screaming within the hour, but which made her feel glamorous and young. It had been a long time since she’d got dressed up for a night out, and she’d enjoyed the ritual.
“This was a nice idea, Natalie,” Keith said, looking up at the grand building in which the restaurant was located.
Glancing his way, she realised he remained apparently clueless about the machinations that had brought them together. Laughing quietly to herself, she decided there was no harm in him remaining in the dark until they were comfortably seated. It would be fun comparing notes on how the two of them had ended up together on this date.
“How about a drink before dinner?” Keith said, opening the door of the restaurant.
“I like the sound of that. I went shopping this afternoon and could use a nice glass of something to recover.”
The bar was tucked below the steak restaurant, which was located on the first floor. A waitress showed them to a small table by a window overlooking the city streets. Tall palms in glazed pots and enormous mirrors on the walls added art deco glamour to the space. Natalie chose white wine, while Keith studied the drinks menu before opting for a single malt.