Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
CHAPTER TWO: GIRL IS A GUN
■ ■ ■ ■ ■
WHEN, AS PROMISED, HELEN returned to the Garrison the next day, she knew almost immediately that something was amiss. The bar was crowded with men ready to attend the latest football game. Harry was at one end refilling a regular's glass while a pretty blonde woman Helen had never seen before was wiping down the counter as Helen forcefully stole one of the bar stools for herself. She seemed surprised to see someone like Helen Mavis — with her hair delicately curled and her lips painted red to match her dress — in a place like that, with the men giving her a wide berth all the while shouting about the Blues. A sentiment Helen shared seeing a woman working behind a bar, and excelling at it, no less. She tried to keep her face indifferent as she ordered her usual.
"That'll be two pounds."
Helen failed to hide her laugh. "You're new here, aren't you?"
It wasn't a question, but the woman nodded anyway. "I'm Grace..."
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Grace," Helen slid two coins across the counter. "I'm Helen."
Just as Grace accepted the money, Harry appeared by her side with wide, terrified eyes. "On the house, Grace," he not-so-subtly hissed in the startled woman's ear. Helen bit back a smile as he turned to her apologetically. "I am so sorry, Miss Mavis..."
"No need to be, Harry," she replied. "You know I'm more than happy to pay."
At that, Harry laughed and shook his head. Helen sighed at his stubbornness. Once he was out of earshot, Grace watched Helen sip her drink with evident curiosity in her eyes. Helen stared back, a precariously plucked eyebrow arched as she waited for what she assumed would come sooner or later.
"I don't mean to be rude, Miss Mavis," Grace said at long last. There it was. "But you don't happen to be related to the Shelbys, by any chance..."
"So Harry's given you the lay of the land already, eh?" Helen huffed out a laugh. Her lips tugged into a smirk as she lit one of her cigarettes. Grace, to give her credit, tried not to seem startled by the action. "To answer your question, Grace, I'm not. I only knew them once."
"Oh?"
But Helen wasn't about to pour her heart out to a stranger. She merely downed the rest of her drink, held her empty glass out to the barmaid and said, "Same as before please." When Grace returned with a new glass, Helen handed her four coins. Grace hesitated before accepting them. "You don't have to tell Harry, but my drinks have been free for long enough."
Grace went to respond, but was interrupted by the sudden creak of the snug window opening. Helen's face almost immediately dropped when she recognised it to be Tommy, a few of the Blinders heard laughing in the background. She hadn't even realised he was in there...
