‘Ah. Not far to stagger home then eh? Result.’ She gave the closed cubicle door a wry look. ‘Maybe Chloe should buy one.’
The toilet flushed and Chloe lurched out, cursing again. ‘Bollocks. I’ve caught me bleeding nail in the frigging door. I think it’s broken.’
Mia’s eyes widened as Chloe waved the offending nail at Donna. She had talons on the end of her fingers. Honest to God, talons.
‘Don’t panic.’ Donna gave the nail a quick glance. ‘It’s not that bad. We can fix it with glue and a teabag. But first, I’ve got to pee.’
A tea bag? Mia’s mind boggled.
‘Cool.’ Disaster seemingly averted, Chloe turned to wash her hands. ‘We’re staying for one more, yeah?’ She called over her shoulder.
‘Maybe.’ Donna pushed open the cubicle door. ‘As long as you’re still on your feet when I come back out.’
Chloe shrugged at Mia in the mirror. ‘She used to be a right laugh. But then she,’ Chloe raised her fingers and mimed quotation marks, ‘fell in love. Now she’s a party pooper.’
‘Up yours, Chlo’.’
Donna’s voice echoed from behind the door and Chloe giggled. ‘Don’t take notice of her, I’m not wasted. Just got my happy on.’
Mia watched as Chloe proceeded to take out her lipstick and draw a wonky line around her lips. ‘Err, you’ve kind of missed a bit.’
Chloe frowned, and rubbed her lips together, spreading some of the vivid pink lipstick even further from her lips. ‘Better?’
Mia winced and pulled out another paper towel. ‘Can I?’
‘Go for it. Make me look so gorgeous Luke’s gonna want to shag me.’
Ignoring the twist in her gut, Mia carefully rubbed off the smudges. ‘There you go.’
‘Fab, thanks sweetheart.’
Donna emerged from the loo and after washing her hands, she turned to Mia. ‘Are you here with anyone?’
‘Nope, just me.’
‘Then you have to come and join us.’ She nodded towards Chloe. ‘We’re not all as bad as this one.’
‘I’d love that, thanks.’
Wait till she told her mum, Mia thought a few minutes later as she was introduced to Michele and Tanya. She now knew the names of five more people. And so what if one of them had slept – or was it present tense? – with the guy who, for a few moments, had made her feel a little bit special?
‘Who’s for another drink?’ Michele looked like a model. She had shiny auburn hair, like they did in shampoo adverts, and though Mia wasn’t an expert on nails, unlike everyone else’s Michele’s perfectly varnished red nails actually looked like they could be real.
‘I’m gagging for one.’ Chloe winked. ‘But I’ll get them in. It’ll give me another shot with Luke.’
Tanya – tall, endless legs and long red hair she must have ironed flat, because no way did anyone have hair that straight – sighed. ‘Leave it, Chlo’. I know you’re just trying to wind me up.’
‘Maybe I am.’ She shrugged. ‘Or maybe I figure as you guys aren’t actually dating, I’ve got as much right to chat him up as you have.’
Mia watched as she sashayed off to the bar. When Luke turned to flash Chloe the same wide, sexy smile he’d given her, the tiny kernel of excitement she’d felt earlier, shrivelled.
She shrugged the disappointment off. The bar owner was clearly a major player. One of those men who flirted with anything in a skirt, and possibly slept with them all, too. She didn’t need a man like that in her life. What she did need, was friends. And maybe she didn’t have much in common with these girls with their high heels, fake tans and long, painted nails, maybe she’d found it easier talking to the guy behind the bar, but at least their company was real.
Luke kept the smile on his face as he served Chloe. It wasn’t that he didn’t like her, he did. Recently though, she seemed to have got it into her head that she fancied him. Wrong. Sure, he had a pretty solid ego, he knew to many women his smile and his muscles were attractive, but that wasn’t what Chloe saw in him. She only saw a chance to prove she wasn’t cut up over being dumped by her ex.
How did he know all this? He was a bartender, people talked to him, especially once they’d had a drink.
‘So, when do you get out of here?’ Chloe fluttered her long false eyelashes at him as he poured the house cocktail into the waiting glasses.
‘When the last customer has left, the rubbish cleared, glasses washed, bar wiped down and the floors mopped.’ He smiled. ‘Nobody said owning a bar was easy.’
Though her face fell a little, she gave him a valiant smile. ‘I can wait. Help you out, you know, if you like.’
Oh Christ. He ran a hand down his face, wondering if there was an easy way to do this that he hadn’t discovered yet. ‘That’s a great offer, Chloe, but you’ve got better things to do than hang out here.’
Her eyes dropped to the credit card she clutched. ‘What if I haven’t?’
He took the card from her, placing it on the bar before wrapping his hand around hers. ‘Chloe, don’t do this.’ Her gaze snapped to his and she tried to pull her hand away, but he held on. ‘You’re better than me, better than this.’ He indicated between them. ‘Clive was too dumb to realise what he had, but other guys won’t be. Give them a chance to realise you’re single again, and they’ll come running.’ He smiled. ‘You’ll be able to take your pick.’
‘Yeah, right.’ She sighed. ‘That’s just your way of turning me down.’
‘No. It’s my way of telling you that if we started anything, you’d regret it.’ He looked her straight in the eye. ‘I want you to keep coming to my bar, Chloe. I enjoy chatting with you, serving you. I don’t want that to stop because we got into something you regret and were too embarrassed, or too angry to come back.’
‘You sleep with Tanya.’
‘Sometimes, yes. But she’s different to you. She’s happy keeping things casual. You’re not that kind of girl, Chloe.’
She stuck out her bottom lip. ‘I could be.’
He dropped a kiss on her knuckles before letting her hand go. ‘No, don’t go changing. You stick out for what you really want. There are plenty of guys looking for a gorgeous woman to settle down with. Plenty who’d bend over backwards for a chance with you.’ He winked. ‘You never know, maybe you’ll meet him here. And if you do, you’ll thank your lucky stars you didn’t chuck away your principles and tumble into bed with the bartender.’
‘Chuffing Nora, Luke. You sure know how to turn a girl down.’ After a long exhale, she gave him a sly look from under her lashes. ‘Can’t promise I won’t stop flirting with you.’ Then she leant across the bar and flung her arms around his neck. ‘But ta for the ego massage.’
As he peeled Chloe off him, Luke caught sight of Mia, waiting behind her. A dart of satisfaction shot through him; she was still here. He smiled over. ‘I’ll be with you in a sec.’
To his disappointment, she shook her head. ‘I’m just here to give Chloe a hand carrying the drinks back.’