The barmaid stole a glance at my wedding ring as I picked up the two pints then gave me an enigmatic smile. She was a looker for sure, no pun intended.
"It was Alice suggested the Canny Man," I told my friend Jimmy as we turned to look for a free table. "She's got her sister and some friends coming round for a girlie night in and wanted me out of the house."
Jimmy laughed. "Of all the people, Ross," he said, "I never reckoned you to be one for getting hitched and settling down."
"No, me neither," I said, fingering the shiny silver band gracing my third finger, still light-headed after the recent event.
"Alice is a nice lady, you're a lucky man," he said. I believed him.
We went on to discuss other topics, such as the state of the world, updates on what mutual friends were up to, memories from our time together at college, the usual. Beer and conversation both flowed freely.
But each time I went up to the bar to buy another round, the barmaid would smile her enigmatic smile - maintaining eye contact, stealing another peek at my hands whenever I turned to take the drinks back to my table.
At one point I heard another customer call her by her name - Isla.
Enchantress Isla, I thought.
Towards closing time the clientele drifted out of the pub and homewards. Isla gave each group and every individual a friendly Cheerio while she made ready to shut the place down before herself going home.
I put on my coat and waited for Jimmy to return from the gents. Isla's body language had by now become unmistakably open, her wishes seemingly clear.
Oh my ...
😎
Back home, Alice was hanging up a call, right at the moment I walked in. Her girlie night over, her sister and friends had gone.
"How was your night?" she asked.
"Your idea of the Canny's was a good one," I said, careful not to slur my words. "How was yours?"
"Yeah, it was good"
"Who were you on the phone with when I came in?" I asked, planting myself heavily on the couch.
"Isla," she said, "an old friend from school."
Hebrews 13:4 (KJV)
4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
