The Broken Hearts Book Club by Lynsey James Read Free Book Online Page A

worry. He heaved a sigh and looked at me, probably realising that my line of casual questioning wasn’t going to let up until he confessed.
    ‘Well it could have something to do with the fact that there are livelier morgues than this place! Take a look around, how many people do you see in here?’
    I cast a discreet glance around the main bar. There were around ten people, including George.
    ‘It’s not exactly buzzing, is it?’ I said with a grimace.
    ‘Exactly, and this is an evening – so it should be packed! If you’ve got any spare miracles lying around in your back pocket, toss ‘em my way. I need one!’
    ‘Oh, but there’s loads of things you could do,’ I replied, feeling the cogs in my brain starting to whirr. ‘Why not have a quiz night or something? Those are always popular, and I could help you organise one if you want.’ I blushed and hurried on, hoping he didn’t notice, ‘Or you could do an event that involves the whole community, show them how amazing this place is.’
    Looking back up at Jake I saw his face twisted into a grimace and watched as he concentrated even harder on wiping the bar down.
    ‘No offence, but it’s going to take a lot more than asking people what the capital of Slovakia is to pull this place out of the shit. You haven’t lived here for eight years; things have changed, love. There’s no such thing as a community banding together to save a local business any more. I think you need a reality check.’
    I narrowed my eyes. This was not what I’d been expecting after our easy banter and I couldn’t help but feel hurt. ‘I was just trying to help!’ I whispered.
    ‘Well unless you’ve got a magic wand in your back pocket that’ll stop this place from shutting down, you can’t.’ And with that he stalked off to serve a customer at the far end of the bar, leaving me shocked.
    I found George and we went over to an available table. While he chatted away happily, I stared into my glass and brooded.
    ‘OK, what’s up?’ he asked. ‘Either I’m boring you rigid about the audition I went to last month or there’s something bothering you.’
    I sighed and took a long sip of my drink. ‘Me and Jake didn’t exactly hit it off just then. Well we
did
before he decided to bite my head off for trying to help.’
    George frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘This place isn’t doing as well as it could be, so I suggested some things he could do to get people through the door and he wasn’t exactly grateful.’ I looked over at him as he served the few remaining customers at the bar. ‘It’s a shame because
look
at this place. It’s gorgeous, it should be full to the rafters every night.’
    George threw me one of his million-watt smiles. ‘You’re right; a place like this should be doing roaring business. A few events in here and there’d be a real buzz about it. If he doesn’t want to listen to you, that’s up to him, but for what it’s worth I think you’re right.’
    The cogs in my brain began to whirr again as more ideas formed. The pub was pretty inside, if a little dated with its mahogany wood and fraying carpets. All Jake needed was some promotional activities that would drive people through the door. My brain buzzed with excitement as I considered the possibilities: cocktail nights, quizzes, open days where the whole community could get involved. Not that he deserved any of my help or experience, especially after being so rude to me. Then again, the place had so much potential…
    Just you hold on a minute
, my brain said,
some insane part of you might be telling you to stay here, but you’ll have a cottage to renovate and a book club to lead. You’ll be plenty busy without launching a campaign to save the local pub and help its very delectable owner, who doesn’t seem to want your help anyway. And you don’t even know if you’re going to stick around yet. There’s no use getting attached to anyone or anything
.
    Yet I couldn’t deny that the old