No Reservations (A Romantic Comedy)

Chapter 7

2016

"Yes," I confirm nervously. "I am Iona."

Before I can worry too much, the brunette breaks into a wide smile. "I thought so. You look exactly how he described you."

Who's he? I wonder. Angus . . . Or Ryan?

"So nice to meet you; I'm Alice!" She bustles around the side of the bar to greet me and that's when I realise she's heavily pregnant. "You're my maternity cover."

She throws her arms around me like I'm a long-lost friend, and I try not to stiffen. I've always struggled a bit with hugging. Especially virtual strangers. But the warmth practically emanating off her in waves is hard to resist.

As I briefly give in and return the hug, I realise that Alice is probably not Ryan's girlfriend after all. If he was about to be a father, I would definitely have heard about that through our mums.

"Let me get you a drink." She pops back behind the bar again. "What would you like?"

I glance at the bottles of white wine in the fridge, realising I haven't a clue what the drinks cost. "Just whatever your cheapest white is," I reply.

"Don't be daft; it's your first night here so it's on the house," she insists. "What kind of white?"

I laugh and give in. "Anything but chardonnay," I concede. Chardonnay is the devil, in my opinion. Tastes shite and always gives me a terrible hangover on the rare occasion I end up drinking it.

Alice pours me a glass of pinot grigio - much better. She sighs as she pushes it towards me. "I miss wine. I can't wait to indulge again once this bloody thing squeezes itself out of me." She glances down at her bump as she says this and, despite her words, her gaze and her tone are warm and affectionate. "It's torture for me when I have to cover in here."

"I can imagine," I giggle. "Well, actually I can't, I've never been pregnant. However, I did try to do Dry January once and I lasted about a week. I don't generally even drink alcohol that much but the second i told myself I couldn't have it, I immediately wanted it."

"That's exactly it," she mutters, leaning on the bar. "I didn't realise how many different things I couldn't have when I was pregnant . . . And of course I'm craving every single one. Oh great, you're back!"

Her eyes light up as she glances behind me, and I can feel my heartbeat ramping up, but it turns out it's only Angus.

He takes over on the bar and Alice leads me over to two comfy chairs at the fire. She's on the flavoured tonic water - "I can pretend it's a gin that way," she explains.

"So tell me all about yourself!" She says excitedly.

"Honestly, any time anyone says that to me I immediately forget everything about myself," I groan, taking a big swig from my glass.

She chuckles, blue eyes lighting up. "Okay, let me see. I know your name, that you're the same age as Ryan and you're from Glasgow. I'm going to assume you're single as you could drop pretty much everything at a moment's notice to come up here." She puts her hand over her mouth as soon as she says this. "God, sorry, that sounded terrible."

"You're not wrong though," I shrug.

"This seems to be the type of baby brain i have," she tuts, picking up her glass and sipping delicately from it. "Some folk forget stuff, I just end up sticking my foot in my mouth."

"I'm not offended," I assure her and she grins.

I can't help but like Alice. She's nice and straightforward and even if she had been Ryan's girlfriend I know I'd never be able to hate her in a million years.