Under New Management by June Hopkins

an emotion that he hasn’t felt in years.
    Jack and Lou are getting on famously. An inebriated Lou can’t believe he is sitting with her and she is lapping up every minute.
    Jack is impressed. He didn’t expect to find a pretty available girl here tonight. He thought he’d be stuck chatting to boring old people all night.
    Lou is funny. Pretty drunk, but funny. He likes that.
    Given that he wasn’t looking forward to the evening it is turning out surprisingly well.
    Seeing Mollie again was great and it’s looking highly likely that he’s going to get a bloody good shag out of it into the bargain. Yes, a very satisfactory evening. He gives Lou a mega kilowatt smile and watches her melt, as expected. ‘Still got it’, Jack thinks smugly.
    Mollie is rotating between dancing as if her life depends on it, and rushing back to the table to help herself to the bottles of cheap champagne.
    Bloody typical, she can’t believe Jack is here.
    She hasn’t told the rest of the family. She can’t be doing with the inevitable excitement. Her dad and Dan especially got on really well with Jack. They didn’t need her help pointing him out. They would see him eventually; could hardly miss him in a barn.
    For now she wanted to forget he was here.
    What a shame about that Kieran bloke as well. He’s hot, but clearly has his head stuck up his own arse.
    Mollie hasn’t got time for more blokes with issues. Blokes full stop. Maybe she should just stay single for a while, have a few one night stands with no strings and enjoy it. Perhaps she should take that Andy bloke back to Lou’s and shag his brains out, why the hell not?
    Speaking of Lou, Mollie glances around the barn seeking out her friend. She spots her in the far corner laughing with Jack. Mollie smiles to herself; well at least Lou will be happy tonight. Mollie frowns, the only problem is that Jack was never the most reliable of blokes. From past knowledge, Mollie expects that he would make Lou feel like ‘the one’ during the evening, get her into bed and be gone in the morning.
    No point trying to tell Lou that though, and what did Mollie know anyway? That was years ago, maybe he’d changed.
    Either way Lou was old enough to make her own decisions, she was hardly looking for another wedding.
    Mollie sniggers drunkenly to herself. Lou had indulged in more one night stands than Mollie had had hot dinners. She was a professional. Lou knew exactly what she was doing and if you were going to indulge in a one nighter why not go for the best looking specimen available?
    Mollie mentally high fives her mate and puts it out of her mind. She concentrates on her dad as he grabs her arm to join him in a jive.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 9 
     
    The band make a meal out of the last bars of Jail House Rock and Kieran notices a troupe of waiters and waitresses, all wearing identical black and white uniforms, emerge from a back room bearing trays of food. In a perfectly formed line they march round the large dressed buffet tables and deposit their trays.
    Without breaking rank they return smoothly into the back room. By the time they have finished the tables are groaning under the weight. It appears dinner is served. The lead member of the band asks for a round of applause from the would-be diners. As the lighting is turned up he informs the audience that they are to please help themselves, and that the disco will be back on in an hour.
    The guests applaud loudly and start to form an orderly queue: the DJ flips a switch and music drifts out, but at a manageable level. Checking his watch, Kieran notices that it is already nine thirty. He is surprised at where the time has gone.
    Taking a large gulp of his lager he notices the noise level drop dramatically and searches for the cause. He finds it at the entrance.
    There, in garish Cowboy outfits complete with PVC black full length chaps, waistcoats, stetsons and bandanas, are Mollie’s husband, whom he recognises from the week