Page 24 of The Gin Lover's Guide to Dating

‘Ah, Reyes. Good timing,’ Aaron calls across to a young woman who’s just entered the bar with a sack of ice. ‘Come and meet your new colleague.’

‘Hola, Mister Gardiner.’ She deposits the bag behind the bar and casually wanders round to join us.

She has silky, dark, shoulder-length hair, Mediterranean sun-kissed skin and pistachio green eyes: strikingly beautiful in a non-classic way.

‘And who is this?’ she asks in a thick Spanish accent, offering me a friendly wink.

‘This, Reyes, is an ex-employee of mine from several years ago.’ Aaron gestures towards me. ‘Meet Liv.’

‘Nice to meet you, Liv.’ Reyes offers me her hand, which I shake a bit too corporately, forgetting where I am. ‘You know he is slave diver, right?’

‘Yes, I guess I do.’ I smile, resisting the urge to correct her turn of phrase.

‘There’s nothing I do better.’ Aaron grins maniacally, as he towers over the two of us like a socially awkward pine tree.

Reyes and I simultaneously roll our eyes, then laugh.

‘When do you start?’ she asks me.

‘Monday, it seems.’ I look up at Aaron, who nods confirmation.

‘Fantastico! You will work with me. Great to have anotherchicaon the team; I have been outnumbering recently.’ She smiles in such an open and friendly way, the dread of my first day, that’s already been steadily building up, erodes ever so slightly.

‘Reyes, how about you give Liv a quick tour of the bar, show her how things work, so it’s not totally alien when she comes in on Monday?’ Aaron suggests.

‘Sure,’ she says. ‘Noproblemo, Mister Gardiner.’

With Reyes’s accent being so strong, she pronounces itmeester. It’s very endearing; I find myself warming to her immediately.

‘Come with me, Liv.’ She beckons me, similarly mispronouncing my name asLeev. ‘I can show you everything.’

‘Thanks, Aaron.’ I turn to him. ‘Ireallyappreciate this. I owe you one – once again. If it weren’t for you, I’d be in it knee-deep.’

‘You’re welcome. And no, you don’t.’ His tone is a bit stiff, betraying his discomfort in dealing with my gratitude. ‘I’ll leave you here then. Reyes can sort you out with a uniform and give you the details for the Responsible Service of Alcohol online learning, which you must complete before you start on Monday. We’ll reimburse you for the cost through your pay. Come in for 4 p.m. on Monday and Clara can do your induction before your shift starts at 5 p.m.’

‘Clara?’

‘The Bars Manager.’

‘OK, sure. Bye then.’

‘I’ll check on you next week.’ Aaron nods at me and sweeps out of the bar.

I start to follow Reyes, who hangs back and links arms with me companionably. I’m a bit shocked at first, but I can see that this is just her nature; she’s treating me as she would anyone, so I try to relax and just go with it.

‘He is funny one, Mister Gardiner.’ She chats away casually. ‘He is very caring, it is clear, but he does not know how to show it.’

‘Yes.’ I nod agreement. ‘He’s certainly a bit difficult to read at times.’

‘We’re going to havesomuch fun, you and me.’ She casts me a slightly wicked sideways look as we head behind the bar and into the bottle store at the back.

Despite all my misgivings about this being a step down, and my misery that this not at all what I should be doing at this point in my life, I actually almost believe her.

‘You took your time.’ Dylan barely glances at me as I join him in the almost empty sports bar, his eyes glued to the football. ‘Good news then, I assume?’

‘If you consider working behind a bar till all hours, instead of continuing to nurture my hard-earned career good news, then yes, I suppose it is.’ I slump down in the seat next to him and exhale theatrically.

Dylan tears his eyes away from the screen, scrutinises my downtrodden face and then shouts across to the barman.

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