AllFreeNovel
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“I imagine we’d get plenty of customers if we started calling it that,” he says. “But perhaps that’s not the direction we ought to go.”
“Yeah, probably shouldn’t do any false advertising.” I pick at thecorner of one of the many Post-its haphazardly stuck to the edge of the desk. On it is a sketch of a girl beneath a string of random letters and numbers.
I hold up the Post-it for Jack to see. “This is cute,” I say.
A strange look passes over his face. “Oh, that’s just... that’s nothing. Just a password for something.”
“Speaking of passwords,” I say. “I need the usernames and passwords to the pub’s social media accounts.”
Jack doesn’t look at me when he plucks the Post-it from my hand and tucks it away into a drawer. “We don’t have any,” he says.
“You don’t have any...”
“Social media accounts.”
I stare at him. “How have you been advertising to potential customers?”
He winces. “We haven’t?”
“Well, then,” I say. “I knowexactlywhat I’ll be working on next.” I pull my phone from my pocket and shake my head. “No social media accounts... You’re lucky you found me. And speaking of lucky,TheLocalCobhis free for the taking. How’s that sound?”
—
After we finish going over my ideas for the pub, I’m buzzing with enthusiasm. Normally, I’d be overwhelmed after brain-dumping a bunch of half-baked ideas. I’m really great at coming up with them. But actuallydoingthings? Well, let’s just say that my lost laptop contains at least fifty half-finished songs I hyper-focused on making for a day or two before giving up and moving on to the next sparkly song idea.
Fortunately for me, Jack took notes during our conversation, and when I answered his question about what I wanted to post about first with a shrug, he suggested one of my ideas for a video series about the pub.
But as soon as I leave Jack’s office and take a seat at the bar, a little bit of that overwhelmed sensation finds me. It’s lunchtime and the pub is pretty much dead. The only customers are the Old Codgers, three white-haired old men who sit at the same corner of the bar every day. One of the Old Codgers—Dave, or maybe it’s Drew (I’m not sure which Old Codger is which yet)—hollers something about a horse race to Aoife, the bartender.
I’ve only been here a few days, but I already like my coworkers. Other than Jack and Ollie, there are two. Aoife, a gossipy middle-aged woman who started bartending to support her three teenage sons after her husband died, and Róisín, a quiet young chef with chin-length black hair and almost as many tattoos as Jack.
“There’s our Raine,” Aoife says when she looks up from the newspaper that’s open in front of her and catches sight of me. “You need a drink, love?”
“I’m... working right now.”
Aoife winks. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”
I can’t tell if she’s joking and decide I’d rather not know. “Actually, I was hoping you could help me with something. I’m making a Meet the Locals video series for our new social media accounts. Do you mind if I interview you real quick?”
Aoife rests a hand over her heart. “I’ve only been waiting for my time in the limelight for the last fifty-five years.”
“Great.” I pull out my phone. “Ready?” When she nods, I start recording and say, “This is Aoife, one of the bartenders here at the Local. Aoife, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself.”
“Name’s Aoife,” she begins. “Now, you may have been told that the Dunne boys own this place, and while that’s true, I’m the real one in charge around here. Isn’t that right, Róisín?”
“Dunno what you’re talking about,” Róisín, who has stepped out from the kitchen to deliver food to the Old Codgers, says.
“Oh, you know, Ro, you do.”
Róisín tries to step around Aoife and disappear into the kitchen again, but Aoife slings an arm around Róisín’s shoulders and turns them toward the camera. “And this is Róisín, most talented chef in Cobh, if you ask me.”
Róisín blushes. “Oh, I don’t know...”
“Don’t be humble, Ro,” Aoife says. “And if you’re watching this, Ollie Dunne, I meant exactly what I said.”
“That’s not true. He taught me everything I know.”
Aoife elbows Róisín in the side. “Don’t get all worked up, now, I’m just acting the maggot. Don’t think it’ll be long before you really are better than him, though.”
