Page 35 of Best Summer Ever

I knew I would, but I was trying hard to play down how I felt about him. Given that I was only days out of one relationship, Iwas rather floored that I had already met someone who might make me consider another – even if it was only going to be brief.

‘Er,’ said Penny, ‘I think you might bump into him.’

She gave me another nudge and I looked up just as Josh came bowling through the door with a guitar slung over one shoulder and, with terrifying tale-telling George, and his dog, Skipper, hot on his heels.

‘Looks like you’ve got competition,’ Penny said in a singsong voice and with a nod to George. I dug her in the ribs with my elbow. ‘Ow,’ she protested.

‘I’d better get back to work,’ I said, standing up and readjusting my dress. ‘We must have been longer than the few minutes Sam said I could take.’

I wished I had a mirror to look in, but I wasn’t going to ask Penny if she had one in her bag, otherwise I’d never hear the end of it.

‘You look lovely,’ she said softly and I gave her a grateful smile.

‘Good evening, guys,’ I said to both Josh and George, ‘what can I get you?’

Josh was looking at George as I stepped behind the bar, so he didn’t get the benefit of seeing me in my darling dress, but I did note how good he looked in his jeans and a navy shirt. The colour was the perfect foil for his tan and he smelt wonderful too.

‘Hey Daisy,’ he said, looking rather flustered when he turned to me, ‘a word with Sam, if he’s not too busy.’

‘I’ve got a minute to talk,’ said Sam, appearing with perfect timing. ‘Have you pair made up your minds then?’

‘We have,’ George said decisively.

I didn’t get the opportunity to hear what they’d decided about, as the band outside finished their set to rapturous cheers and applause and the bar started to fill up again. I collected as many empty glasses as I could find, while Sam and Tess worked the bar seamlessly between them.

‘Nice,’ said Penny, giving a surreptitious thumbs-up behind Josh’s back when I reached the table closest to hers.

‘Who’s nice?’ asked Nick, who she hadn’t realised had crept up behind her.

She leapt as high as the low-beamed ceiling and I laughed.

‘Serves you right,’ I giggled.

‘Daisy!’ called Sam, sounding flustered. ‘Can you give us a hand?’

I quickly deposited the empty glasses and started serving. I hoped he hadn’t thought I’d gone over to Penny to have another chat.

‘And last, but by no means least, we have a very special final act for this evening,’ Sam announced over the speaker an hour or so later.

Given the calibre of a few of the local acts who had taken a turn at the mic, I thought thatspecialmight be a bit of a stretch, but then, who was I to judge? I’d never have had the courage to stand up and sing in front of a packed pub, even if I could hold a note. Which I couldn’t.

‘This is their debut duet,’ Sam carried on, ‘so please give a warm welcome to… George and Josh!’

I spun around and looked at the tiny raised platform where the brave participants had been performing and saw Josh step up, looking green around the gills, and George, appearing asconfident and poised as always. He stretched out his fingers in front of the keyboard, while Josh adjusted the strap of his guitar.

‘Did you know?’ Penny, who was sitting where she’d been all evening, only now with Nick, mouthed at me.

‘No,’ I mouthed back, shrugging my shoulders.

‘Hey,’ Josh said shakily into the microphone and I felt my heart swoop. ‘How you all doing this evening?’

There was a cheer from one of the women in the audience, which made a few of the other customers laugh and left me in no doubt of Josh’s popularity.

‘George and I thought we’d play a song you might already know,’ he said more confidently. ‘We hope you like it. Join in if you know the words.’

I was mesmerised as I watched him take a breath and swallow and when he started to play the opening bars of ‘Better Together’ by Jack Johnson, it was a struggle not to cry. I couldn’t risk looking at Penny again. She knew how much I loved the song, courtesy of a teacher we’d had at primary school who had introduced our class to theIn Between Dreamsalbum. This particular song was subsequently always played on Leavers’ Day and at various assemblies throughout the year and I’d loved it ever since.

Josh’s playing was perfect and his voice had a quality similar to Jack’s, while George’s accompaniment on the keyboard took the performance to an all-time emotional high. The pair of them, one older, one younger, performing so wonderfully together, was enchanting.

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