Beneath This Man (This Man 2)

‘Hi, Ruth.’

‘Ava, how are you?’

She’s so friendly – too friendly. ‘I’m good, and you?’

‘Lovely. I received your fee structure and designs. They’re wonderful!’

‘I’m glad you like them, Ruth.’ Her enthusiasm will be a pleasure to work with, I suppose

‘So, now you’ve shown me how amazing my dire downstairs can look, I’m eager to start.’

‘Okay, well if you could settle the consultation fee, I’m assuming you’ve received the invoice, then we can crack on.’

‘Yes, I did. I’ll sort a transfer. Do you have the company bank details?’ she asks.

‘I don’t, Ruth. Could I ask you to ring the office? It’s my day off so I can’t lay my hands on them at the moment.’

‘Oh? I’m sorry. I didn’t realise.’

‘It’s okay, Ruth. It was a last minute thing. It’s not a problem, really.’ I assure her.

‘Are you doing anything nice?’ she enquires.

I smile. ‘Yes, I am, actually. Just some quality time with my boyfriend.’ That sounds weird.

‘Oh.’

Silence falls down the phone. ‘Ruth? Are you there?’ I glance at my phone to see if my service has dropped. It hasn’t. ‘Hello?’

‘Yes, sorry. It’s just that you said there was no man.’ She laughs.

‘No man trouble. I meant to say there’s no man trouble.’

‘I see! Well, I’ll let you get back to your quality time.’

‘Thank you. I’ll call you next week and we can proceed.’

‘Great. Bye, Ava.’ She hangs up, and I instantly realise that I didn’t pull out of drinks. She didn’t confirm either, though.

I put my phone back in my bag and spot Mario on his way over with a box full of cocktail ingredients and fresh fruit. ‘Ava, are you well?’

‘I’m very well, Mario. And you?’

He heaves the big box onto the bar and I help him by pulling it towards me. ‘Very well too, would you be…’ He frowns. ‘How you say…guinea pig?’

‘Oh, yes!’ I sound way too eager. I love all that mixing, shaking and tasting business.

He chuckles and passes me a small chopping board and a paring knife. ‘You cut.’ he instructs, handing me a basket of various fruits from the box. I collect a strawberry, hull it and chop it in half. ‘Yes, this is good.’ Mario nods at me as he starts pouring various liquids into a large silver container.

I work my way through the whole pile of strawberries, popping them in a sealable container as I go, then start on the lemons. Mario sings some Italian opera style song softly as we sit at the bar, me watching with interest between my chopping duties as he measures, pours and generally faffs about with various cocktail equipment.

‘Now we do the good part.’ He smiles, slamming the lid on the silver container and proceeding to shake it. He flips it up and grabs it and then tosses it over his head, before spinning quickly to catch it. I’m stunned by his little demonstration of barman skills. I would never have thought it. He knocks the container on the side of the bar and pours the dark pink liquid into a long glass with some mint and a strawberry. ‘Voila!’ he sings, presenting me with the glass.

‘Wow!’ I gasp at the sugar coated rimmed glass. ‘What’s it called?’

‘This is Mario’s Most Marvelous!’ His voice gets higher towards the end of the name. He’s proud of it. ‘You try.’ He pushes the glass towards me, and I lean in to take a sniff.

It smells lovely, but I remember the last time Mario insisted I try one of his drinks; it burnt my throat. I pick up the glass tentatively as Mario nods eagerly at me. I shrug and take a little sip.

‘It is good, yes?’ He dazzles me with his happy face and starts putting the lids on all the tubs of fruit.

‘Yes!’ I take a longer sip. It’s delicious. ‘What’s in it?’

He starts laughing and shaking his head. ‘Ah, no, no. This, I tell no person.’

‘What have you got there?’ Jesse’s husky tone invades my ears from behind, and I swing around on my stool to see him stood behind me with his frown line firmly in place.

I hold the glass out and smile. ‘You should try. Oh my God!’ I glance up to the heavens to reinforce my point.

He recoils slightly, his frown deepening. ‘No thanks, I’ll take your word for it.’ He sits down next to me. ‘Don’t drink too much.’ He gives the glass a disapproving look.

My brain quickly kicks into gear, and I realise what I’ve just said. Oh, I’m an idiot. ‘I’m sorry!’ I blurt. ‘I wasn’t thinking.’ I mentally throw myself over the bar and into the waste disposal unit.

Mario must get a waft of the tension because he soon disappears, leaving me and Jesse alone. I put the drink down and turn back towards the bar. The delicious cocktail doesn’t taste so sweet now.

‘Hey,’ He pulls me off my stool and onto his lap, and I bury my face under his chin. I can’t look at him. I feel so stupid. ‘It’s fine. Unravel your knickers, lady.’ he laughs. His facial expression didn’t say it was fine. Or was the look because I was drinking it? He leans back to look down at me and pulls my chin up with his finger. His eyes soften. ‘Stop it and kiss me.’

I oblige immediately, feeling the back of his neck out to pull him down. I relax completely in his arms and soak him up, humming into his mouth. I feel him smile around my kiss. ‘I’m sorry.’ I repeat myself. I feel so stupid.