Page 11 of In Just One Day

‘Brilliant, it’ll be good to see him.’ Johnny loved seeing Flora’s younger brother. Billy could always be relied upon to liven up proceedings, particularly a Sunday lunch with the in-laws.

‘You know they’ll ask what we plan to do next.’

‘I know, Flo.’ Johnny sighed. ‘We’ll think of something.’

‘OK, how about this…?’ Flora picked up the bottle on the table, one of her favourite Italian reds, and refilled their glasses. The scent of tar and roses hit her as she lifted the glass to her lips. ‘So, if you could do anything now, like change career completely, what would you do?’

Johnny sat back down opposite her, picking up his glass and looking thoughtful. He took a sip, without bothering to sniff, Flora noticed. ‘You forgot to smell it first! What have I been telling you all this time? Sipping without sniffing is like looking at a picture with one eye closed. You’re missing out on most of the fun.’

‘I happen to think the fun part is drinking it, but whatever.’ Johnny laughed. ‘OK, if it makes you happy.’ He lifted his glass and gave it a swirl. Wine went straight down the front of his shirt and he let out a laugh. ‘Well, at least I don’t need this one for work again anytime soon.’

But Flora was on a roll. ‘Gently, Johnny. Swirl it like this…’ She held the glass by the stem and moved her hand very slightly, making the wine in the glass move around in a small circular motion. ‘Come on, you’ve done this before.’

Johnny did the same with what was left in his glass.

‘Right, now sniff.’

Johnny took a long, loud sniff of his glass. His head shot up. ‘Oh, wow, that’s amazing. It smells of… what is that?’

‘Mack gave it to me today, said to enjoy it before we tackle the stock count next week. It’s a Barolo from a small family producer. Earthy but elegant with a whiff of roses, in my humble opinion.’

Johnny took another sip, this time taking a little longer over it. ‘That’s exactly it. You’re good at this.’ He grinned at her.

‘Why, thank you. Now, as I was saying, if you could do anything, anything at all, what would it be?’

‘Well, assuming you don’t mean watching films, uninterrupted, whilst sitting on my luxury yacht, I think what I’d really like is to be my own boss. I just don’t want to do the big company thing any more.’

‘Fine. And say you are your own boss, what does your company do?’

‘I don’t really know. Except I know I don’t want it to be software.’ Johnny laughed a little. ‘Definitely not software.’

‘So…’ Flora put her glass down on the table. ‘How about we run a wine shop?’

Johnny put his glass down too. ‘What, you mean Mack’s shop?’

‘Well, it’s not going to be Mack’s shop for much longer. Before we know it it’ll probably be another Starbucks or whatever. Unless, that is…’

‘We take on the lease?’

‘Exactly! What do you think?’

‘Well, for starters, I don’t know anything about wine.’

‘But that’s the point: you can leave that bit to me. Your job could be to make sure the shop runs profitably. And with your experience, we can move the business online, too. Come on, Johnny, what have we got to lose? I’ve been longing to do it for ages, but now we’re both out of a job, well, it’s the perfect time.’

Johnny picked up his glass again, swirling the wine slowly. ‘Hmm, I suppose you’re right. We really don’t have much to lose, although I’d have to look at Mack’s numbers.’

‘Actually, I’m not sure they’ll help. But his experience will. He’s so good at things like running tastings, and once I get my diploma I can start teaching wine courses.’

‘I think you’re on to something here. Hang on, I’ll get the laptop. Let’s have a look at what other online wine shops there are. Might pour myself a whisky for this bit. Want one?’

Flora shook her head. ‘I’ll stick with this.’ She raised the half-glass of red in her hand.

Hours later, having filled a notepad with thoughts and ideas, they fell into bed. Johnny was asleep within minutes. Looking across at him, Flora felt terrible for not seeing how unhappy he’d been in his work. He’d always gently pushed her to pursue her wish to make a living through her love of wine. Was she now talking him into doing something just to keep him busy? Then again, he did seem genuinely excited at the prospect of taking a failing business and turning it into something successful – profitable, even.

Flora looked at the clock by the bed, the illuminated numbers telling her she had about four hours until Tom, an early riser even by a six-year-old’s standards, would be by their bed asking if it was time for breakfast. An owl hooted in the woods, the sound clear in the quiet night. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her thoughts. Beside her, the numbers on the clock continued to climb.

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