Free The Grand Reopening of Dandelion Café by Jenny Oliver Page B

day
.
    Matt (Dad)
    Annapurna, Nepal
    What that guy’s doing on the front, that’s what we did. Crazy fools
.
    It was fun. Maybe not quite as fun as I had thought
.
    Find myself missing you. Your mum sent me a pic. Walking ‒ well done! We’ll have you up a mountain before you know it
.
    Matt (Dad)
    Annie slipped it back into place, then, carefully so she didn’t disturb the dog, did a quick check over the counter to make sure that Matt was still outside and River was still busy with the frames. She felt like she was reading someone’s diary.
    Moving to the later ones she picked out a photo of cherry blossom in Tokyo.
    Here on promotional tour. Tenth time. Tired. Blossom reminded me of home. I know you probably don’t think I think of it as home, but there you go. Neither did I
.
    See you at home, kiddo. Well done on your end-of-year report, your mum seems really proud. Sorry you were too busy to come to the phone
.
    Dad
    ‘Annie, have you got—’
    At the sound of Matt’s voice, Annie rammed the lid back on the box and fumbled it back onto the shelf, hoiking herself up all flustered and guilty-looking. Buster jumped up, startled, and did one of his feeble barks.
    ‘OK?’ Matt asked, puzzled, scooping up the floundering pug.
    ‘Fine.’
    ‘What’s that?’ He pointed to the old shoebox, moving his head to stop the snuffling dog from licking his face.
    ‘Receipts.’ Annie rolled her eyes. ‘Enid kept
everything
!’
    Matt laughed, still distracted by Buster’s unwanted affections. ‘The hoarder next door.’
    ‘Bit like that, yeah.’
    ‘God this dog is insatiable. Do you want him?’
    ‘What? Permanently?’ Annie asked, shocked, as she went to lift the dog away from him.
    ‘Er no!’ Matt said without thinking, keeping hold of the fat little pug so he was dangling mid-air between them.
    Annie laughed, ‘Ah-ha, so you do like him!’
    Matt raised a disdainful brow as he let her take the dog. ‘Let’s just say he’s growing on me.’
    ‘And there I was thinking you had a heart of steel.’
    ‘Oh you did, did you?’ Matt asked, leaning back against the counter, folding his arms across his chest and waiting, amused, for her reply.
    Annie looked away, feeling herself get unexpectedly shy. She buried her head in the rolls of fur at the pug’s neck and mumbled something that sounded like it might be an answer but was actually just nonsense.
    Matt rolled his eyes and, pushing himself upright, said, ‘I need you to come and look at this door. See if you like it. And, I need a screwdriver.’
    ‘Oh there’s one on this shelf. I saw it earlier.’ Holding the dog with one hand, Annie bent down to find the screwdriver. ‘Oh and look at this,’ she held up a flyer for The River Rats, who were playing at The Black Rooms, a dingy club on the mainland, that night. ‘Hey, River.’
    River glanced up under a curtain of hair.
    ‘This your band?’ she asked.
    He looked suddenly like a rabbit caught in headlights. Like the last thing he wanted to do was admit that it was his band because there was a remote possibility that they might come and watch but also clearly quite proud of the fact that they had a gig. ‘Might be,’ he mumbled.
    ‘Interesting,’ said Annie, smirking a half-smile and glancing at Matt who was frowning at the flyer, his brain clearly whirring with images of underage drinking, sex, drugs and wild corruption.
    ‘Course it’s his bloody band!’ shouted Ludo from the kitchen.
    ‘Does your mother know you’re playing there?’ asked Matt, his voice stern.
    ‘Yes!’ snarled River.
    ‘Good one,’ said Annie to Matt under her breath.
    Matt frowned back at the flyer.
    ‘You can’t come,’ said River, his voice catching, clearly worried. ‘You’re too old.’
    ‘Ha!’ Annie guffawed. ‘I am a young, trendy person, I’ll have you know. I live in North London, River.’
    ‘So?’ he scowled.
    ‘I go to gigs,’ she added.
    Holly sniggered. ‘When was the last time you went