Breaking the Ice Read Online Free PDF Page B

could advertise the after affects of Pearl Drops .
    ‘ Well, you’re very welcome to have a coffee, but I have to admit the machine is temperamental and they had the training course for the temperamental machine when I was on holiday so…’ Samantha began to babble.
    ‘ Instant coffee will be fine, or tea. Black, no sugar,’ Jimmy responded, again smiling at her.
    He had a small scar, no more than half an inch long, leading from his bottom lip. It was barely noticeable, probably because of the beautiful teeth.
    ‘ Which would you prefer? Coffee or tea? I mean we have a choice of teas. There’s fruit tea, green tea, Earl Grey,’ Samantha spoke, digging into the box of bags under the bar and producing several different packets.
    ‘ Which would you recommend?’ Jimmy enquired, resting one elbow on the bar and looking directly at her, a smile still on his lips.
    ‘ Well, I wouldn’t say I was a tea connoisseur or anything but I quite like the blackberry. Although the mint tea is our best seller,’ Samantha responded, holding up the appropriate bags.
    ‘ Then I’ll go with your recommendation and have the blackberry,’ Jimmy answered.
    ‘ OK,’ Samantha replied and she hurried along the bar to where the kettle was kept.
    ‘ So you were expecting it to be busy tonight,’ Jimmy commented as he watched her prepare a cup and saucer.
    ‘ No, no, not really,’ Samantha answered.
    ‘ So you were going to fill up the temperamental coffee machine and risk using it just for yourself? You should’ve said, if you were going to take a chance I night have been persuaded to try it,’ Jimmy told her.
    Samantha felt her cheeks turning crimson and she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. She saw a grin play on his lips. She wished she had paid attention to more than the agony aunt columns of Star Life magazine, perhaps there would have been an article about his cosmetic teeth whitening.
    ‘ Pigeon fanciers,’ Samantha blurted out, the words tumbling forth before she had gained control of her mouth.
    ‘ I’m sorry?’
    ‘ The Woolston Pigeon Fanciers Association meets here on a monthly basis. We were expecting them to want some drinks after their meeting,’ Samantha elaborated.
    ‘ I see. So you don’t work the bar every night?’ Jimmy enquired.
    ‘ No! Goodness no! I mean I do have a life you know! I wouldn’t want to spend all day and all night here,’ Samantha exclaimed with a nervous laugh.
    What was the matter with her? She was starting to perspire and she had goose bumps on her arms. She didn’t feel at all well. Could you catch viruses from Brylcream?
    ‘ Well, that’s what I’ll be doing for the next few weeks,’ Jimmy replied.
    The kettle came to the boil and Samantha was able to hide her blushes in the steam. She poured in the water and put the tea bag into the cup to infuse.
    ‘ I didn’t mean that spending all day and night here was awful, just that it isn’t for me,’ Samantha told him as she came back along the bar and placed the tea in front of him.
    ‘ I’m glad for you. I was beginning to think you didn’t have a home, seeing that you eat your lunch in the sound booth,’ Jimmy spoke, toying with the tea bag and looking up at her.
    Samantha let out a loud nervous laugh. It was something she always did when she felt backed into a corner. It was an affliction she had had since childhood when Mary Kennedy once suggested in maths class that Samantha didn’t know how to do long division. Of course Samantha had no idea how to do long division at the time but she couldn’t let Mary Kennedy know that. So she had done the only thing she could do, she had let out the loudest laugh she could manage and shook her head at Mary Kennedy as if the very idea of her being unable to accomplish anything was utterly ridiculous.
    Jimmy was just looking at her, watching her laugh, seeing her hold her sides and bend forward onto the bar in a fit of hysterics. After what seemed like an age Samantha