‘Hello?’ Jess answered gingerly, not recognising the number that had flashed up on her phone.
‘Jess, it's me, Libby. I need your help.’
‘What’s up? I’ve been hanging for news from you all day,’ Jess said. ‘Are you at the shop? Do you have your landline up and running already? When can I come over for a nosy?’
‘As it happens, you can come over right now,’ Libby said and pulled the phone away from her ear while her best friend squealed with delight. ‘But I need you to do me a favour first. Can you call round to Mum and Dad's – see if they’re home yet? I’ve tried the landline, but no answer. But you know them, they never hear the blasted thing anyway. I’ve managed to lock my phone and my purse inside the shop and I’m standing here soaked to the skin. Mum and Dad have the only spare pair of keys,’ she explained, regretting that she had handed them over just a short time before. ‘Oh, and Jess, can you bring me a change of clothes too – my skinny jeans and a sweatshirt maybe? I’m in The Ivy Inn – you know the pub just across the street?’
‘Ah, that explains the strange phone number then,’ she said.
‘It does,’ Libby replied, peeking out of the door just in time to catch a strange woman, red hair tied up in a messy bun on her head with a pencil stuck through, staring right at her. She jumped back and felt herself step on something. Something furry – and now very upset, it seemed. A loud yelp, followed by a volley of barks, made Libby drop the phone and yelp in surprise herself.
‘Oh God, I’m sorry. I’m sorry,’ she muttered at the big border collie, who was now jumping on her. Was this how it would end? Mauled by a rabid dog in the back room of a bar?
‘Paddy! Down, boy! You can’t eat the neighbours – we’ve talked about this!’ a female voice called out – presumably belonging to the redhead who had frightened her so much in the first place.
The dog stilled immediately and backed away from Libby as the woman walked into the room, before sitting at his owner’s feet and looking suitably ashamed of himself for his outburst.
‘I’m sorry,’ Libby said, scrambling to reach the phone but daring not to break eye contact with Paddy, who had now adopted the look of a very docile and friendly dog and not the wild beast she’d been terrified of. ‘I stood on his tail. I didn’t know there was a dog here.’
‘Did Noah not tell you about him? I could swing for him!’ the woman said, crouching down and ruffling the fur around Paddy’s neck, which was adorned with a red bandana, not dissimilar to the one Libby wore in her hair. ‘Most people around here know Paddy. He’s part of the furniture and, honestly, you might not believe this, but he wouldn’t hurt a fly.’
Libby stared at them both, her heart only just returning to its normal rate, before the sound of Jess’s distant voice cut through her thoughts. ‘Libby? Libby! Are you okay?’
She lifted the phone to her ear. ‘I’m fine. I… Can you just get here as soon as possible? Thanks,’ she finished, before ending the call.
Of course, by fine she meant absolutely and completely mortified, but she wasn’t going to say that on the phone, or in front of her new neighbour who probably already thought she was a few sandwiches short of a picnic.
‘I haven’t hurt him, have I?’ she asked, her face blazing.
‘He seems fine,’ the woman replied, as Paddy wagged his tail playfully as if to prove the point. ‘Say hello to the lady, Paddy.’
At that, the dog plodded over towards Libby, plonking himself at her feet and raising his front paw for her to shake it.
Libby couldn’t help but smile. ‘Well, hi Paddy. I’m Libby. Nice to meet you.’ She looked up at the woman. ‘I’ve just bought the shop across the street,’ she said, ‘but locked myself out.’
‘Yeah. Noah was telling me. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Jo and, for my sins, I’m assistant manager of this place.’
‘Nice to meet you,’ Libby said, before she shivered once again. ‘I don’t suppose you have a towel or something I can dry off a bit with? My friend is coming, but she’ll be a while.’
‘Oh God, of course. I’ll get something for you now. Did Noah not offer? Honestly, that man!’ Jo smiled, a broad smile that lit up her face, and went to fetch a towel.
4
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Libby had done the best she could in the ladies’ toilets with the towel Jo had given her. She still looked like a drowned rat, but her mascara was no longer running in rivulets down her face and her hair was no longer dripping. She was assessing the damage in the mirror when Jo walked in, a T-shirt in her hand.
‘Why not change into this, for now? It’s one of the ones we normally keep for the quiz winners. It won’t win any fashion awards and, I’m afraid, we’ve only a size XXL left, but it’s dry and warm.’
Libby could’ve cried. ‘Thank you so much,’ she said, before walking into one of the cubicles and peeling off her T-shirt, as well as her sodden bra. She slipped the supersized T-shirt on and felt instantly better as she walked back into the warmth of the bar.
‘You can wait over by the fire if you want?’ she heard a male voice say. She looked around to find Noah nodding towards the far-left corner of the pub. ‘The table’s free, if you’re quick.’
Her sodden T-shirt and bra folded into a tight bundle in her hands, Libby weaved her way through the tables to where a small open fire had recently been lit in the hearth. It was just warm enough not to be overwhelming but to compensate for the falling temperature.
Libby lifted a copy of a newspaper that had been left on the table. It would be a good way to pass the time, and indeed to hide from any prying eyes.
This was definitely not how she imagined making her first impression on her neighbours. If she’d had it her way, she wouldn't have met them until the shop was looking shipshape – with its own hanging baskets of flowers outside, its quirky little writing nooks set up and ready to go, and the freshly ground coffee she was planning on serving filling the place with a delicious, welcoming smell.
She'd planned to drop handwritten invitations to all the nearby shops, bars and restaurants and invite them in for a launch with wine and cheese and maybe a little music or poetry reading. She'd even planned to wear the gorgeous Pinko strappy maxi dress she had splurged on with her redundancy money before ploughing everything else into the business.
Mucked to the eyeballs and with not even enough money on her for a cup of tea, or even a phone call to her best friend, had most definitely not been part of her plan.
To distract herself, Libby faked an interest in whatever celebrity scandal was masquerading as news and hoped the traffic gods would be kind and Jess would get there quicker than expected.
She was surprised when, just a couple of minutes later, she heard a soft cough. When she looked up, she saw that Noah was stood beside her table, a large cup of coffee in his hand and Paddy dutifully at his feet.
‘Jo asked me to drop this over to you,’ he said, and Libby could see the redhead give a thumbs up from behind the bar. ‘She says it’s on the house. And Paddy here wants to know if he can sit with you?’