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A week had gone by since Florence and Grace had arrived in Birmingham. As the days went by Florence had grown more accustomed to the town and the way things worked there. No, she would probably never get rid of the feeling of danger anytime she was out alone at night, but she would just have to deal with it. She had also gotten used to working at The Garrison and the crowds they often received.
Most of the men were kind, but she learned eventually that it was all for show. In reality, the men in Birmingham didn't know how to treat Florence or Grace with respect. They often cat-called them, or said inappropriate things about them when the men didn't think they could hear. There wasn't much she could do to stop them. If she tried, they would just laugh in her pretty little face. So she did the only thing she could do: ignore it. And it worked most of the time, though sometimes she would have to snap at some of the men who took things further than a one-off disrespectful comment.
Florence had not realized they had been in Birmingham for a week until Grace had mentioned it in the early morning while they were having breakfast. Florence would not have said she was fond of the town when they first arrived, but she had grown to like it just a bit more.
That groggy Friday morning, Florence was the one working on cleaning while Grace and Harry worked at the bar. She was making her afternoon rounds where she would go around and clean up any messes that had been left behind by the drunken men. She liked to do chores just as much as she liked bartending. As long as it kept her busy, she didn't mind.
She passed by a few men and overheard them talking about the Peaky Blinders. Florence had seen Arthur and John quite frequently throughout the week, but it hadn't dawned on her that she hadn't seen Thomas since the night of the bonfire until he came to mind. She found herself hoping to run into him soon; She wanted to ask him about his friendship with William. Since the night she found out that Thomas knew him, questions constantly came to her mind. She wanted to know how well he knew William, and she most certainly wanted to know how well he knew her.
She made her way to the back of the pub with a bucket of dirty water in her hands. The routine was to clean the pub, and then toss the water outside so she could start over again later in the evening. That was when work really started, the pub was usually busiest at night because of all the men who wanted to have a drink after a long day of working. Florence enjoyed when it was busy in the evenings, and she had also come to enjoy talking to lots of the men who passed through. Though some of them could behave like animals, many of them always had an interesting story to tell.
Florence stepped out into the cool air and tossed the bucket of water into the gravel below her feet. She didn't realize that a man was approaching her until she nearly splashed his neatly polished shoes. Panicked, she looked up to see Thomas standing in front of her, staring down at the ground now soaked with water and alcohol.
