Page 27 of A Fresh Start on Crumcarey
‘What’s that?’
She jumped and turned to find Mr Harris waiting for her patiently.
‘Oh, nothing,’ she said with a little shake of her head.
‘Come on, lass. You’ve had a bit of a morning of it,’ he said.
‘I guess…’
‘Nothing a bit of hard work won’t cure,’ he added with a grin, opening the door of The Tallyaff for her. ‘I need that coffee!’
Maggie smiled at him and led the way inside.
‘Maggie lovely!’ said Olive, dashing towards her from behind the bar. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I’m so sorry,’ said Maggie. She was a good twenty minutes late for her shift. ‘I should have called!’
‘Don’t be daft,’ said Olive shaking her head. ‘I was just worried. I literally just got off the phone with Stella – she said she drove past your cottage just now, and you’ve lost most of your roof!’
Maggie nodded.
‘You’re not hurt?’ demanded Olive, grabbing her hands and looking her up and down, searching for injuries.
‘She was at Luke’s,’ said Mr Harris blandly, plonking himself down on his usual bar stool and throwing dirty looks around at the visitors who must have arrived on the early morning ferry.
‘Luke’s?’ echoed Olive, her eyes lighting up with the promise of impending gossip.
‘Yep. Caught her there myself,’ said Mr Harris. ‘In herunderpants!’
Olive’s jaw dropped dramatically, and Maggie started to laugh.
‘Want the really filthy bit of gossip?’ she said.
‘Um – YES!’ said Olive going wide-eyed in anticipation.
‘They weren’t evenmyunderpants… they were Luke’s!’
The pronouncement drew a gasp from both OliveandMr Harris… and then the pair of them dissolved into a fit of giggles.
Maggie caught the eye of a decidedly surprised-looking tourist who was waiting patiently at the bar to place an order. She smiled at the woman.
‘Don’t mind them,’ she said. ‘They’ve had a bit of a strange morning. How can I help?’
From that moment on, Maggie’s day didn’t let up. After serving Mr Harris, she’d filled Olive in on the details of what had happened the previous evening between serving late breakfasts to The Tallyaff’s guests. Then, she manned the bar while Olive changed over the vacant rooms in time for their new arrivals.
Maggie was just waving Mr Harris off when all the passengers from the morning plane turned up. To say she was run off her feet was an understatement, but it was exactly what she needed. She was so busy that she was able to completely forget about the disaster zone that was waiting for her back at the cottage.
Until home time, that was.
‘Erm… Olive… I don’t suppose either of the hire cars are free?’ she said, wiping down the bar for what felt like the millionth time that day.
Maggie could kick herself that she hadn’t even considered this problem until now. Not only had she not given a thought to how she was meant to survive in a cottage with no electricity and very little roof, but she also hadn’t considered how she was going to get back there without her car.
‘Nope, sorry love,’ said Olive. ‘They’re both out with visitors.’
‘Oh. Of course they are,’ she sighed. ‘And… do we have any empty rooms?’
Maggie didn’t even know why she was bothering to ask. She alreadyknewthe answer to that. No. The Tallyaff was full to the brim for the foreseeable.
