Page 15 of Love in the Air at The Cornish Bakery

‘You mean the only pub quiz in the bay?’ Someone heckled him from the back of the pub.

‘Preciously what I said, the best pub quiz in the bay.’ Gerald gave a thumbs-up to the person who had called out. ‘And whilst he’s doing that, it is my honour to inform you we have a special prize to give away today. I am pleased to announce that we have a hot air balloon ride to give away to one of you lucky things.’

‘Oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ filled the pub, along with a round of applause.

‘That’s right, one of you will join me tomorrow for a ride in the skies above our beautiful bay in a hot air balloon.’ Lowering his voice, he spoke quickly into the microphone. ‘At this point, I am contracted to make you aware that this opportunity has been donated to us by Bales’ Farm Brewery in a bid to raise their profile and advertise their drinks.’

‘Woohoo, how do we win it?’ A woman sitting at the other end of the bar called across to him.

‘Okay, to win the balloon ride, I’ll ask a question and the first person to call out the correct answer will win. Simple as that. If two people happen to call out the correct answer at the exact same time, then I’ll ask those two people another question and we’ll continue until we have a single winner. Any questions?’

‘I’m definitely not going to answer. I can’t think of anything worse than being hundreds of feet above the ground in a wonky basket, only being held up by some ropes holding a balloon.’ Diane shuddered. ‘No chance you’d catch me trusting some balloon with my life, particularly one made by a bunch of people at the brewery.’

‘The people from the brewery won’t have made it, and besides, I don’t think they’d let their employees drink on the job.’ Harry chuckled.

‘Even so. No thank you, I am not winning that.’ Diane shook her head.

‘Are you ready?’ Gerald’s voice boomed around the pub.

‘Yes!’

‘Just get on with it!’

‘We haven’t got all night.’

‘Okay, okay.’ Gerald held his hand up, palm forward. ‘I can sense the excitement in the room, so I will just get on with it.’ Looking down at the slip of paper in his hand, he cleared his throat. ‘In which European language does ‘bom dia’ mean ‘good morning’?’

‘What?’

‘How are we supposed to know that?’

Nina shifted in her seat.

‘You know the answer, don’t you?’ Wendy whispered to her. ‘If you do, call it out.’

Nina grimaced. If there was one thing she hated, it was having all eyes on her and if she called the answer out, whether she was right or wrong, everyone would be looking at her. ‘What if I tell you and you call it out?’

‘No! Go on, don’t you want to win a balloon ride?’

‘Well, yes. I’ve always wanted to go up in a balloon.’ Nina swallowed. She was being silly. This was her chance to actually win something. Apart from winning a bar of chocolate in a drawing competition when she was five, she never won.

‘Come on, someone must know. ‘Bom dia’, in which European language does it mean ‘good morning’?’ Gerald looked around the pub. ‘Anyone?’

Clearing her throat, Nina raised her hand. ‘Portuguese.’ Lowering her hand, she looked into her glass as everyone in the pub hushed and looked across at her.

Grinning, Gerald began clapping his hands, the echo of the microphone banging against his palm, breaking the silence. ‘And we have a winner!’

A round of applause erupted around the pub and shouts of ‘well done’ and ‘congratulations’ filled the air.

‘Well done! You’ve got a good memory. I can’t even remember what good morning is in German and I have a GCSE in it.’ Brooke laughed.

‘My gran loves travelling and used to take us to Portugal at least once a year.’ Nina smiled.

‘Come on down and claim your prize!’ Gerald’s voice boomed across the applause.

And this was why she’d been so reluctant to say the answer. Swallowing, Nina stood up and shifted her chair out of the way. The sooner she went to get the ticket, the sooner she’d be back amongst her newfound friends. Focusing on Gerald behind the bar, she tried to block out the feeling of being watched.

‘Well done!’ After shaking her hand, Gerald passed her an envelope. ‘Ah, I recognise you. You brought us the pies! Tell us what your name is?’

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