Free The Unexpected Consequences of Love by Jill Mansell Page A

way over on the other side of St. Carys, out on the road to Bodmin, and no one in their right mind goes there.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œBecause it’s an awful drug-infested drinking den for the troublemakers who’ve been kicked out of everywhere else.”
    Josh said, “If it’s that bad, why’s she working there?”
    â€œWhy do you think? Because Tula’s a grafter who always pays her own way, and anything’s better than no job at all. Plus,” Sophie concluded pointedly, “she wasn’t allowed to work here.”
    He looked at her. She looked back at him. He really did have incredible cheekbones. Okay, and a pretty amazing mouth too.
    â€œShe’s your friend,” said Josh. “You’re bound to defend her.”
    â€œI’m not defending her. You asked; I’m just telling you the truth. If you’d taken her on, you wouldn’t have regretted it.”
    â€œOoh, there you are.” Dot came rushing up to them. “Lovely! Have you asked her yet?”
    Josh shook his head. “I was just about to.”
    â€œAbout Tula?” Sophie feigned innocence. “I was just telling him, she’s working over at the Melnor.”
    â€œOh my goodness.” Unlike her grandson, Dot was entirely up to speed with the situation. “Oh dear .”
    â€œIn fact, I’m just on my way over there now to pick her up.”
    â€œI thought she had her own car,” said Josh.
    â€œShe does. But by the time she’d finished her shift last night, someone had smashed the passenger window and nicked the stereo out of it.”
    â€œPoor thing, how awful! But maybe that means she might…you know…” Dot looked meaningfully at Josh.
    Reading between the lines, Sophie said, “What happened?”
    â€œWe took on a French guy,” Josh began.
    â€œAhem, you took on a French guy,” Dot retorted. “And this morning he didn’t turn up to begin his shift. When I checked his room, he’d packed his belongings and left.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œWell, he was quite an intense young man,” Dot confided. “Took his wine knowledge very seriously. According to the other restaurant staff, he got rather upset last night when a couple customers pretended to be wine-tasting experts and started banging on about top notes of grilled hummingbird and base notes of panda’s armpit. It seems he felt they were being disrespectful. Anyway, he’s gone.” She didn’t look too distraught about it. Raising her eyebrows at Josh, she waited expectantly for him to speak.
    Sophie did too. This was fun.
    â€œFine,” Josh said at last. “So do you think your friend Tula might be interested in coming to work for us?”
    Yay!
    â€œShe told me she wouldn’t work for you if you begged her on your knees.”
    His face fell. “Really?”
    â€œNot really.” Ha, winding people up was brilliant, especially when they deserved it as much as he did. Watching him relax, Sophie said, “But it’s up to her, not me.”
    â€œWill you ask her?”
    â€œWhy don’t we drive over to the Melnor now?” She kept a straight face. “You can apologize first, grovel for a bit, then ask her yourself.”
    ***
    The Melnor Hotel, modern and unlovely, stood on its own outside St. Carys, like the outcast who hadn’t been invited to the party. Music was thudding from the building as they drove into the parking lot to join the scattering of motorbikes, vans, and vehicles with that uninsured look about them. Teenagers in hoodies were hunched along one wall, smoking and swigging out of cans.
    â€œPark over there, under the light,” said Sophie.
    â€œBloody hell.” As Josh switched off the engine, a fight spilled out of the bar. Scuffling men rolled over in the dirt, yelling and punching and swearing at each other. “Do you want to wait out here while I go in and