Fresh Start: A contemporary romance by Encarnita Round

Author:Encarnita Round [Round, Encarnita]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pink Tea Books
Published: 2020-05-11T22:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Three

Jennifer stood behind the bar and although she heard someone say her name, she refused to give the word any relevance. “Jennifer,” someone said again. Instead, she stared at the glass fronted bottle fridge. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember why she had looked there in the first place, but her eyes settled on a bottle with a label same shade of blue/grey as Sera’s eyes and she lost herself in grey eyes tinted with blue, or were they actually blue? They seemed to change colour and she couldn’t decide.

“Jennifer,” the voice called out again, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away.

“Jennifer! For god’s sake pay attention.”

The words registered eventually, and she turned around. “Sorry, Uncle Jim.”

“Buck up lass, you haven’t been the same this last week or so, don’t let the wife see you daydreaming.”

“Sorry.” She felt the heat of a blush cross her cheeks.

“Anyway, let’s stop dawdling and get on with preparations.”

“Yes, Uncle.”

Jennifer clumped down the old wooden steps into the cellar and the sound of their footsteps echoed around the small room. The whitewashed brick walls needed re-painting, and spider webs filled every corner. The cold, damp room might have been good for barrels and bottles of beer, but she shivered and goose bumps appeared on her arms.

“Everything looks ready,” she told her uncle.

“Have you checked the beer barrels?” he asked.

“No, because you always do it,” she responded. “You check every night before we close up.”

“And what if I hadn’t? What if I assumed you’d done it, or something had happened during the night when we weren’t here to check?”

Jennifer shrugged. “But you’ve never forgotten and you never assume.”

“It only takes a few minutes to check and it is better to be prepared when we have the time.”

“But someone does check. You do.”

“Jennifer!” he admonished. “As a publican, you can never assume anything, and it is up to the person opening up to make sure everything is ready.”

There, her future lay all mapped out, like a rollercoaster with no way off. No one asked what she wanted, and when anyone did ask, they ignored her answer.

“I’ll never be a publican.” Her voice filled with determination.

“You will, one day, because this is what we do. Now check everything and leave nothing out, my girl.”

Jennifer stiffened and anger blossomed in her gut. “I’m not a girl and I have no intention of being a publican.”

Her uncle grinned. “There’s no need to shout, I didn’t know you had such a temper.”

“Neither did I.” Jennifer shook her head. No point shouting or getting upset, it would change nothing

“Jennifer, I know you don’t like being in the trade, but this is a decent business. You can earn enough money to make a good life if you put your mind to it.”

“Yes, but it’s not what I want.”

“What do you want?”

Jennifer lifted her shoulders. “I’ve no idea.”

“Perhaps you need to make up your mind and get on with it.”

He was right. Moaning about it didn’t change things and didn’t get anything done.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.