The Game of Love and Losers

NINE

In the end, Dave decided to take up Mick's offer for the job. 

After speaking to Mikey on the phone a few days later, after Micks visit, he realised he couldn't just let all that had happened ruin his chances of getting to see his son again. His dark thoughts of ending it all, and imagining how Mikey would grow up being affected by such a decision, had made Dave grudgingly realise that was not what he wanted.

Mick had offered him this chance to make another go of it, and there weren't many other options, so Dave got in contact with his old friend at the end of the week, and told him he had a new barman. The small one-bedroom apartment above the pub would do him fine, at least he wouldn't have to worry about rent any more it came with a small kitchenette and a bathroom with a shower.

At least the area was just a little bit more upmarket than the grotty council estate he had been living in.

Emily, Micks wife, was delighted that he had accepted the job offer, she had very fond memories of Dave, and how he had helped her and Mick get together, so she always was grateful to him for that, and she had been as concerned as Mick when she had learned Dave had been having a rough time.

They had both helped him move his belongings into the apartment, then Emily insisted on cooking him a special meal to celebrate, were they sat around the table catching up on what had happened over the last three years or so. Dave was more interested in Mick and Emily's story, his own was too much full of doom and gloom.

But for the first time in a long while, he almost felt contented, and that life was worth living again. He could not believe how the turn of events had happened, just when he had been about to give up on everything. He was still feeling a little sad about his son being so far out of his reach, but with the opening of Mick and Emily's gastropub soon, and helping them get ready for it, kept his mind occupied enough, that he wasn't constantly dwelling on his own problems.

He had helped out by going around the town handing out flyers to the public on the streets, which advertised the opening, as well as helping Mick with getting the bar up and running and ready for the big day.

Much to their delight, when it opened that following weekend, they were pretty busy with customers. Despite his earlier reservations, Dave found himself caught up in his friends' enthusiasm, so that had lifted his recent depression a little. Suddenly life didn't seem so bad after all. Even if the pay wasn't great, the environment around him and the company of his old friends, had given him a sense of purpose and belonging again, which was enough for him to get by day by day for now.

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Emily, Mick's wife was occupied one morning in the small office behind the bar, doing inventory and the books, before they opened up for the afternoon, she was about to check with one of her chefs about future menu's when she heard a knock on the business entrance door that made her stop in her tracks to go to investigate who it was.

She found a young dark haired woman standing there dressed in a dark knee length coat looking rather anxious, "Er, hello I just noticed in your window the sign saying you have an apartment to let, I was just wondering if it is still available I-I could pay up to three months in advance if need be" she hurriedly offered

"Oh, my goodness, is that sign still up? I thought my husband had taken it down, he must have forgot in all the rush of getting the place opened" she realised in dismay.

The young woman's offer to pay three months in advance had sounded very generous, but they had let Dave move into the apartment they had once planned to let, to bring a little extra income in. They had decided Daves needs were more important, so had sacrificed that plan.