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‘No worries.’ Carmen laughed as Elsie rushed after them.
Pausing in the open doorway, Elsie looked back and chuckled. ‘Wish me luck!’
‘Good luck!’ Stepping into the bakery, Carmen closed the door behind her. ‘Hi, Rob.’
‘Hi. These two are trying to get me to tag along to the pub quiz. What do you reckon?’ He smiled at her.
She shrugged. ‘It sounds fun.’
‘Yes, come on, Rob. I can’t believe you’ve lived in Penworth Bay all this time and never been to one of Gerald’s pub quizzes.’ Wendy laughed as she opened the bakery door, waiting for Connor, Rob and Carmen to file through.
Rob held up his hands, palms forward, and chuckled. ‘And I guess with Ava staying at Elsie’s, I have no excuse not to come.’
‘Exactly. You’ll enjoy it.’
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CARMEN LOOKED AROUNDthe large wooden table by the window of the pub. Well, two tables, strictly speaking. Someone had dragged the two together to make room for the whole team to sit together. Rob was sitting on one side of her, Wendy and Connor next to him. On her other side were Roxie and her partner, Mitch, who she’d met when she’d first arrived in the bay. Besides them, she knew a few others, Diane and Harry, and, of course, Brooke and her partner, Max. Plus the people Diane had introduced her to at the summer fete. There were others though, others Wendy had introduced her to when they’d arrived.
‘Are you okay?’ Rob leaned in close to her.
‘Yes. Good, thanks. I’m just wondering if everyone really came down to Elsie’s bakery to volunteer and ended up staying?’ She leaned into him, lowering her voice.
Rob chuckled. ‘Yep. It looks as though people volunteered, and after finding love and falling in love with the bay, decided to stay.’
‘So many, though?’
‘Penworth Bay is a special kind of place, I guess. I know when I moved down here to meet Ava, I had every intention of returning to Huddersfield or maybe some small town or village nearby.’ He shrugged. ‘All I’ll say is, I’ve never lived in such a friendly place before.’
‘You’ve got her grandmother here too, haven’t you?’
‘That’s right, and that was definitely a factor in making the decision to stay, but there was something else, too. I feel at home in the bay more than I ever have done elsewhere.’
Carmen nodded. ‘I can understand why. There have been many times I’ve forgotten I’m only volunteering for a few short weeks. I feel so accepted, so welcome.’ It was true. Not only had Elsie and the bakery team made her feel welcome, but the customers, too. Everyone really.
A loud hissing noise interrupted their conversation, and everyone turned towards the bar where a man was fiddling with the wires of a microphone.
‘Sorry, sorry.’ Another loud hiss vibrated through the pub, followed by a moment of silence before he spoke again. ‘I think that’s fixed it, folks. Welcome to Penworth Bay’s weekly pub quiz!’
The sound of applause filled the room, punctuated by a series of ‘whoop-whoops.’
‘Without any further ado, we’ll begin. You all know the rules. Answer the questions as a team, phones off. Yep, we have no option to phone a friend here, I’m afraid. And let’s begin.’ The man dropped the microphone with a loud resounding bang before dropping to his knees behind the bar.
‘Hey, Gerald, you okay?’ A man sitting on a bar stool leaned over the wooden bar.
‘Fine, fine. Just looking for the quiz sheet.’ Gerald’s voice, still rather loud despite not speaking into the microphone, wafted from behind the bar.
‘That’s Gerald for you. Full of character.’ Roxie grinned. ‘It’s worth coming to the quizzes just to listen to him.’
Carmen smiled. She could imagine.
‘Here they are.’ The microphone hissed again as Gerald rose from behind the bar, waving a sheet of paper in his hand. ‘Question number one; what is a group of pandas called? Spoiler alert, there are three possible answers, and being as I’m feeling generous tonight, you can have a point for each correct answer you get.’
‘A group of pandas? It’s got to be a pack, right?’ Brooke whispered loudly.
‘I don’t know. I think that would be too obvious of an answer.’ Connor leaned his elbows on the table.
‘Yes, you’re probably right. It would be. Heidi, Gus, do either of you know?’ Brooke looked across at a man refilling glasses and a woman at the opposite end of the table.
