Trust me, Kitty

Chapter 26

Mikey

As I opened the backdoor to Ed's pub and stepped in the staff room the first thing I saw was a girl with a dirty apron and ginger hair. She had thrown herself across the old sofa and was scrolling through her phone. But as soon as I opened the door she quickly pushed her phone into her pocket and sat up, looking alarmed.

Oh yeah, that girl, I thought. She had been here on my first day performing in this pub and had probably been the only person in the whole pub to be even slightly interested in me and my performance. Though she had been much more than only slightly interested.

But I hadn't given her a thought after I had left that night. Actually I had pretty much forgotten about her with Kathryn and all our troubles filling my mind. What was her name even? I was sure she had told me. Maybe it was Rose. Or Ruth. No, Ruby, it was Ruby.

"Oh, thank God it was you," she said, clearly relaxing. "I thought it was Ed. He wouldn't like it if he found me hiding from the customers here and scrolling through Instagram when I'm supposed to be at work."

"Well, I'd probably be hiding in here too if I was in your shoes," I said.

She laughed. "Yeah, well this sure isn't a dream job, cleaning my uncle's pub."

"I'm sure it isn't," I said. If my position as the singer of this pub was a real low position in life, hers as the cleaner of this pub was an even lower one. Especially since she had apparently only got it because her uncle owned this pub. Or maybe her uncle was just as obsessive in getting her to take over as the owner of this pub as my dad was in having me take over his business.

"Are you performing here tonight?" Ruby asked. "I don't remember Ed telling me you are but it would be a nice surprise if you were."

"No, actually I'm not," I said, pulling the door shut behind me.

She looked surprised, raising her eyebrows curiously. "Then why did you come here?" she asked. I was pretty sure I saw a spark of hope suddenly appear in her eyes.

"Ed asked me to come here so that I could meet his friend," I explained.

Her mood dropped as soon as the words left my lips and the spark of hope disappeared just as suddenly as it had appeared. Had she been wishing I'd come here just to see her? It felt a bit silly. We had only met once and hadn't even exchanged that many words. So why would I come here for her and why should she wish me to?

But, on the other hand, I hadn't forgotten the admiration on her face the last time I was here. Or actually I had, since I had forgotten about her very existence. But now that I remembered she existed again, I remembered her admiration well. She had clearly been interested in me.

"Why does Ed want you to meet his friend?" Ruby asked, confused.

"His friend is looking for someone who could sing at his daughter's wedding."

"Oh, and he wants you? That's cool."

"Yeah. Anyway, I should probably go now," I said, glancing at the door leading to the pub. "They're waiting for me." I walked to the door and reached my hand towards the handle.

"You know what?" Ruby said suddenly, just as I was about to open the door. I turned around to look at her, my hand still on the handle. She had gotten up from the sofa and was looking at me from across the room. She seemed to hesitate for a while before she continued. "When I was a kid I always wanted to be a singer," she admitted quietly, looking unsure of whether she should tell me this or not. "But I just never had what it takes so eventually I had to give up on that dream. So, anyway, I just wanted to tell you... well, it's amazing that you have the talent."