Page 20 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

As it happened, the first person he came across was Mick.

‘All right, mate?’ said the landlord, giving him a cheery smile as they stood in the narrow hallway. ‘You want another glass of punch?’

‘No, thanks,’ said Pete quickly, hearing his words slur slightly.

‘Awww, that’s a shame,’ said Mick. ‘It’s my best recipe. Don’t suppose you’ve got 350 grand on you either, eh?’

As Mick turned away, laughing at his own joke, Pete suddenly had a brilliant idea.

‘Actually I do,’ Pete found himself saying. ‘How about I buy the inn?’

Mick laughed over his shoulder. ‘Yeah, good one, mate,’ he replied.

Pete shook his head to try and cure the muzziness that his brain felt. ‘Actually, I’m serious, Mick,’ he said.

Mick’s laughter faded as he turned around to stare at Pete in shock. ‘You are?’ he asked, his eyes wide.

Pete nodded. ‘Absolutely.’

Mick’s face suddenly lit up. ‘Oh my God, this is amazing!’ he cried. ‘Angie! Angie! You gotta come here, love!’

The couple were overjoyed and Pete found that he was swept into Angie’s considerable bosom as she hugged him and sobbed out her grateful thanks.

Meanwhile, Pete tried to make sense of what had just happened. What had he done? And why?

But as the news spread like wildfire throughout the bar, he realised that he couldn’t take it back now.

It appeared that he had just bought The Black Swan inn.

10

Pete woke up with the dull sensation that he had done something really stupid.

That and an enormous hangover, which could only be contributed to the disgusting punch that Mick had been serving the previous evening.

Pete then immediately sat up as the realisation hit. He had offered to buy The Black Swan inn!

He groaned out loud at the two-way tie between a raging headache and his own utter stupidity.

What on earth had he been thinking? Except he hadn’t been thinking. Well, certainly not thinking straight after all that punch. After all, what on earth did he know about running a country inn?

He flopped back against the pillows with a sigh, rubbing his aching head before turning over to check the time. It was just after 10 a.m. The inn normally opened at midday. Perhaps there was still time to apologise and retract his offer. He just hoped Mick and Angie would be willing to listen and understand.

He quickly got dressed, trying to ignore his thumping head all the while. What had been in that punch? He had heard people talk about it beforehand, but it was only now that he understood the full horrible effects of that wicked drink.

He wondered what he was going to say to his family as well. They hadn’t had much chance to talk whilst he had still been surrounded by well-wishers. In fact, they had left him to it at some point in the celebrations, but had definitely looked thrilled about the news.

He groaned to himself. What a mess that he had got himself into.

But he knew that he would have to face the family first so he headed downstairs into the shop after grabbing some toast and coffee.

‘Morning,’ he said, walking onto the shop floor. There were a couple of customers inside the shop browsing the shelves, but there was no sign of Amber. Just his brother.

‘Almost afternoon, I reckon,’ said Josh, glancing at his watch.

‘Food poisoning,’ lied Pete. Although having tasted Angie’s pizza slices, he couldn’t be certain that it wasn’t that.

‘More like a roaring hangover, I should think, based on the amount of punch you consumed last night.’ Josh looked up as Amber came inside, holding punnets of strawberries in her arms. ‘If you’re not too weary, can you give me a hand shifting some boxes out the back?’