Page 48 of Ask Another Day

Lucy shrugged and Holly hated seeing the pain in her eyes.

‘You’re a good person, Lucy. That’s why it hurts so much.’

Holly could tell Lucy didn’t believe her. An idea took hold, and Holly used her crutches to hobble into her temporary bedroom. Her grey fortune teller was nestled under her pillow, and with it now carefully wedged under her arm, she made the now trickier journey back out to the bar.

‘What’s that?’ Lucy asked, nodding to the cube that was nestled between Holly’s elbow and the top of the crutch.

‘This… is a little cube of hope.’

When she made it back to the bar, she slid the Fortune Cube towards Lucy.

‘Oh, it’s one of those digital fortune tellers,’ Lucy said as she picked it up.

‘Ask it a question - something you want to know the answer to. Something that’s been bothering you. Sometimes, I think saying the question out loud helps you work out how you’re really feeling.’

Lucy huffed out a little laugh, but she did as she was told.

‘Am I making the right decision?’ she asked as she pressed the little rubber button and slid the cube between them so they could both read the answer.

‘See,’ Holly said as the words The Forecast is Bright glowed on the green LCD screen.

Even though Lucy’s smile was slight, Holly could see her shoulders had relaxed a little after reading those words.

‘Enough of my pity party. Onwards and upwards for you. I’m sure your next date will be miles better,’ Lucy said as she crossed her fingers and held them up to her lips.

‘It can’t get much worse,’ Holly scoffed and then downed the rest of her wine.

Chapter 15

The Answer is No

Holly had been monumentally wrong. Her next date could be, and was worse.

When Brian arrived at the pub for her August date, wearing what could only be described as an Elvis outfit, it was Luke who spotted him first.

‘Oh my God. Holly, please tell me he is your date?’ her brother had managed to say between bouts of laughter. Luke was helping out behind the bar today as Lucy was having a rare day off. Holly had secretly been enjoying having him around today. It brought back memories of how her dad had been behind the bar. There were similarities between her brother and her late father, but Holly often didn’t spot them. But when he was pulling a pint, if you looked quickly, it could be a young Mike Loxley standing there instead of her brother. It was nice having her brother behind the bar, but right now though, she really wished Luke was not witnessing this. He was never going to let her live this down.

‘I know you’re very fond of your girlfriend, Luke, but I might have to kill her.’

‘Kill me? What have I done–’ she stopped mid sentence as she joined them, and caught sight of Brian.

‘Oh. Right,’ she dragged out the words and unlike her brother, Rose had the good graces not to even smile at the sight before her. ‘Holly, I didn’t know. He said on his Tinder profile he’s a musician, but I assumed…’ she trailed off, not even bothering to try and finish defending herself.

‘You just assumed? After Shaun and the life modeling art class, you thought it was safe to assume?’ Holly hissed out, as Luke made a beeline for her date before she could stop him. She’d had the cast removed today, and even though she was now quicker on her feet, she still couldn’t weight bear yet. Using her crutches slowed her down enough for Luke to take advantage of this.

‘Hi, Brian is it? I’m Luke, Holly’s brother. So nice to meet you.’

‘Uh-huh, that’s me. I have to confess, I’m feeling a bit nervous. You might say I’m kind of shook up.’

Luke’s eyes brightened at the pun, his grin nearly splitting his face.

‘If I didn’t love you like a sister, Rose Brayling, I’d hate you right now,’ Holly said, resting on the bar so she could put her face in her hands.

Luke, who had excused himself from Brian, was now pissing himself with laughter from the closed kitchen - Holly hadn’t found a replacement for Seb, so the temporary Kitchen Closed sign, had become a more permanent fixture. Holly hobbled slowly over to Brian. Although she’d hated the cast, with a passion, part of her wanted it back now as an excuse to slow her down so she’d have less time to spend with an Elvis impersonator. She didn’t even like the real Elvis.

‘Hi, Brian. I’m Holly.’ She rested one elbow on the bar where he’d had chosen to sit, and offered a hand in greeting.

‘Hi, Holly - looking lovely,’ he shook her hand enthusiastically.