Bella Osborne - Ottercombe Bay – Part Three - Raising the Bar

She stepped into the fresh November day, took in deep breaths of icy air and lengthened her stride, perhaps a little light exercise might wake her up before she got there?

She wasn’t surprised to see Max was already there. He was definitely a morning person, with or without a hangover. He was sitting on the platform nursing a takeaway coffee cup.

‘How’s your hangover?’ She tapped his head as she passed and started to unlock the doors. It was chilly on the platform.

‘What hangover?’ he asked brightly jumping to his feet and joining her at the door. She gave him a doubtful look, there was no way he was hangover free after the amount they had all put away but he just grinned back at her.

‘Go on then, let’s see.’ He pointed at the door. Daisy turned the handle and they both hurried inside.

The smell of freshly sawn timber hit her first. ‘Blimey,’ said Daisy her eyes darting around. It looked quite different. Losing half the wall made it seem much bigger. She ran her fingers along the smooth surface of the newly installed bar top. It was better than she had ever imagined. She turned to face Max. ‘What do you think?’

‘I think I want a job here.’

‘It’s yours,’ she said, her mouth moving faster than her brain.

‘Really?’

‘Yep. Any evenings you like.’ She didn’t want to think too much about her reasons why. She knew he had experience as a cocktail waiter, and she told herself she would need people she could trust and that someone like Max would be good for dealing with any unruly customers, unless of course they were hen parties.

The rest of the morning Max was sickeningly upbeat; she guessed it was an act because he had consumed just as much alcohol as she had. Uncharitably she hoped it was taxing him to keep up the pretence. Daisy felt she had learned a valuable lesson – gin was lethal stuff. And she was pleased she had learned it in someone else’s bar and away from the prying eyes of Ottercombe Bay residents. It had also been useful to meet Ross and pick up a number of contacts and tips about starting out in the gin trade and extending the list of gins she wanted to stock.

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