The Webs We Weave

By Charley Dee

having just acquired the tenancy on a busy london pub...annie brooks husband disappears without explanation leaving her engulfed in a whirlwind of sadness and confusion. to enable her to cope she must suppress her own feelings for the sake of the young son she adores. her cheery disposition and great sense of humour helps to conceal her own deep emotions. her closest friend jess tyler is the only person who really understands how she feels. after almost five years on her own jess encourages annie to move on with her life... she becomes captivated with the enchanting matt reeves and her life seems to be on an upward trend...
when without warning annie is dealt a devastating blow, leaving her embroiled in chaos and surrounded by turmoil and confusion...with a life changing decision to make...will she survive

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charley Dee
• Release date: Jul 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9780956319012

Book preview

Chapter 1

As I slowly surface from beneath my duvet, I catch a glimpse of my reflection Ouch! That is so not a good look! I wonder if e-bay sells airbrushed mirrors? Grabbing my discarded jeans from the floor I attempt to wriggle and squeeze my butt inside hoping the zip will close, pull a t-shirt roughly over my head and make a dash for the stairs. The sound of beer barrels rolling over concrete tells me the dray men are waiting for me to open the cellar doors.

The two guys say in unison ‘Morning Annie late one last night’? To which I reply ‘Mm sure feels that way’! OMG I realise I’m bra less! Thanks to New Look for baggy t-shirts!

Leaving the guys to unload I fill the kettle and switch on the grill, I’ve sussed out that the aroma of coffee and sizzling bacon works wonders with my dray men. While I prepare them a tasty sarnie they rack my real ale barrels ready for tapping!

By the way I’m Annie Brooks pushing fifty, in fact clinging onto forty nine for dear life! Landlady of The Fiddler pub in London. I’m in fairly good nick considering I’m banging on the door of fifty! Slim, no chance of piling on the pounds, as I’m always rushing around, shoulder length hair mixture of colours (bit like Josephs coat), not too much ‘slap’ (that’s make up to the more elite of you). Laughter lines, yes, some thing I thank my lovely ol’ dad for is my great sense of humour.

‘Sarnies ready guys’ I shout into the cellar.

As I clatter around in the kitchen the outer door opens with a creak, and the bright beautiful Jess Tyler appears, one of lifes natural beauties, blonde hair (not out of the bottle) gorgeous blue eyes, only slap is mascara! What more do you need at the grand old age of twenty seven! She perches her (hour glass figure) on a stool and helps herself to a freshly filled mug of coffee! Jess is my best mate and works here full time. She’s grinning like a Cheshire cat (you know the one that got the cream)! I’ll have to question her later maybe things to tell!

The guys come into the kitchen and Rick the head dray passes me the delivery notes. Todd, his assistant is already tucking into his sarnie, while keeping a lustful eye on Jess, I smile to myself if only I were God’s gift to man! Jess is staring at my t shirt, think she’s cottoned on I’m bra less, now knowing Jess if she was under the influence of wine, she would so enjoy sharing my embarrassing moment with anyone in earshot! Thanks be she’s sober!

‘Sorry you got the first call Annie, the governor changed the route again,’ says Rick.

‘No worries’ I reply the day has to start somewhere,’ the band were in last night so I didn’t hit the sack ‘til two ish!’

‘Later for me’ adds Jess ‘was fun though’ as she’s still wearing that smug little grin, pretty sure she’s been up to no good!

‘Sounds like you had a great night’ says Todd ‘any more coffee Annie?’ he’s still ogling Jess-although she’s grinning, she has a subtle way of not giving Todd eye contact, no encouragement going in that direction.

‘Help yourselves guys’, I take the delivery notes & skim through them and start stacking the wine & spirits in the lock up. Signing the notes I hand them to Rick.

‘We’re off Annie, catch you next week, have a good one’!

‘Cheers guys, take it easy’

‘Catch you later’ adds Jess.

By now I’ve realised Jess is bursting to tell me about last night! While she’s enjoying her breakfast, along with her thoughts, let me explain about the band, four guys known locally as ‘Zing,’ Joe Wallace is lead guitar (the charmer), Harry Lawson, Base guitar, lead vocals (DDG that’s drop dead gorgeous to you and me), Luke Austin, Keyboard (pretty laid back Mr nice guy) and James Parker; Drums (totally loved up with partner Louise). The guys have adopted the Fiddler as their local and as I have a function room at the back of the pub, they use it to rehearse. This makes for loads of noise, though equally loads of fun! Joe has been paying Jess lots of attention recently and, if my memory serves me well, they left together last night!

I’m happily musing, when Jess declares ‘He’s had his thingy pierced’!’

Didn’t see that one coming! ‘Did that come up in conversation?’ I grin.

‘No it just ‘popped up’ when he took his kit off!’ Jess informs laughing.

The pair of us are now in fits of giggles, ‘Well come on spill’ I coax.

Do I want the details, yes please, it’s been a while and I’ve never experienced one with a piercing! A thought crosses my mind, what happens if it comes out in the wrong place-you know what I mean! The pair of us are now in fits of giggles, 'Well come on spill' I coax.

Do I want the details, yes please, it's been a while and I've never experienced one with an 'ear ring'! A thought crosses my mind, what happens if it comes out in the wrong place- you know what I mean!

Was that a grunt? Oh yes my hood rat has appeared in the kitchen. William my sixteen year old adolescent son, being very biased I believe he’s handsome, not sure of others opinions, as you seldom see the ‘hood’ down! He does tend to favour my side of the family, although he has his dad’s dark

mop of hair, which is in the Justin Bieber style (that’s if you’re lucky enough to see it)!

Must say I prefer that style, than the one that looks like you’ve had your finger in the light socket!

He dresses like a three year old, learning how to dress, his Calvin Klein’s hiked up to the waist, and jeans (baggy of course) precariously balancing on his tiny arse! The temptation to yank them down IS going to happen! He’s known as Wills, though I do have a few other choice names for him. I point to the toaster and receive yet another grunt seems I got that one right!

Did I mention I’m a dab hand at mind reading! Jess will have to fill me in later with her bedroom banter!

Words appertaining to sex should never be uttered in front of Wills, as he thinks he is the only person to have discovered the meaning, in a ‘handy’ way I hasten to add! So less said the better as he broadcasts faster than Chris Evans on Radio Two!

Maybe this is a good time to explain our situation, Wills father is William Brooks, known as Bill, last seen almost five years ago, and he literally disappeared off the face of the earth! On reflection, he had been somewhat quiet, or some may say ‘off colour’ for a few weeks before he left, although I’d asked if all was OK he didn’t seem to want to talk about anything so I put it down to stress at work, Bill’s job in finance took him abroad on many occasions and I would class him as a ‘workaholic’ in fact we both are. About a month before Bills disappearance we had taken on the tenancy of The Fiddler, although in joint names, it was to be more ‘my baby’ with Bill hoping to eventually retire from the world of finance and join us here. My 45th birthday was on the 10th of August and we had a few drinks that evening with our friends in the pub, made love that night, next morning Bill left for his office and never returned! I was in contact with his parents in Liverpool, we

decided to leave it 24 hours before contacting the police, none of his mates had any answers, everyone seemed as shocked as we were. The police asked all the obvious questions, the last one being has his passport gone?

As I hadn’t thought to check I dashed off to look and was immediately shocked to find it was missing!

Although Bill was missing to us, he could not be classed as a ‘missing person’, I was advised that people vanish for various reasons and they were sorry for my plight. Suddenly, I realised I’d been sucked into a vortex of a black hole and didn’t know how I’d find the strength to fight my way out! Not just for me, more for my gorgeous boy who was only eleven years old, never knowing if he’d walk back in the door…if he was alive even……………..

Chapter 2

Jess is busy making a list of bottled drinks required to replenish the shelves in the bar. She’s great at this, as unlike the hood rat she actually checks the dates!

I can now hear Henry our reliable little hoover being pulled around by Dot, who is our slightly eccentric cleaner and general help, she has her own back door key as moi (that’s me in case you wondered), is often still in bed when she arrives. Dot is seventy two (ish) going on eighteen, or could be described as a geriatric teenager! (Although her morals are truly archaic)! She has oodles of energy and is so essential to the Fiddler and we all love her dearly. Dot does have one little problem though… her newly acquired bottom teeth, she hasn’t quite got the hang of them yet, and they have a habit of jumping out when unexpected! Which has us all in fits of giggles including Dot? She’s been working with me at the Fiddler since we took the tenancy; she also worked with me at my previous pub. Wills adores her and has taught her the art of ‘high fives’, comical yes, as she resembles a chimp grabbing a banana!

Times getting on, so I rush back upstairs to get the till drawers that I always keep under the bed, old habits die hard! I usually count the takings at night so the floats are ready for the next day. When I get back to the bar Jess is almost ready for opening, she’s busy slicing lemons and limes. Our lunch times during the week are very busy, as we’re surrounded by office blocks. We don’t serve hot meals, we make ‘Sumptuous Sarnies’, which have become extremely popular, all made by our own Ella Cassidy’s fair hands. Ella comes in at 11am to prep all the salads and fillings, we start serving at 12 noon until 2.30pm. I keep busy between the kitchen and the bar, and on this thought time for a quick shower and a ‘bit of slap’!

I’ve definitely reached the Botox age, now do I start having fillers or just not spend too long looking in the mirror? Me thinks the latter, as believe me in this trade you don’t get the time for titivating anyway! So growing old disgracefully seems the way to go!

My hood rat appears in the bedroom and sidles up to me giving me a hug, I only get hugs now when I’m on my own with him, as it’s so not cool to hug in front of mates at 16 years old!

‘Ma’ this appears to be my name ‘any chance of a sub on my allowance’? Asks Will.

That’s news to me I didn’t think he had an allowance, always thought he was a full time scrounger!

‘Being your on summer break from school, and if you take the bin bags out and empty the bottle trolley each day for Dot, plus unload the dishwasher at least once a day, there’s £25 a week in it for you.’ another hug, phew must be in favour! Though I’ll be checking with Dot.

‘Being as I don’t pay the rest of the crew in advance, you get a tenner today and the rest on Friday.’

‘Thanks Ma laters’ plus another high five!

How did we manage without the high fives when we were kids, the mind boggles!

Back in the bar Jess has opened the doors and our first customers of the day enter. Lets see how today goes, can’t wait to hear about the pierced willy! Things quieten down at 2.30pm and our rather short ‘graveyard’ shift begins. Jess comes off duty and Bas takes over, Barry Ingles our full time barman and joker of the pack!

‘How you doing Bas?’ I quip as he starts checking the barrels.

‘Good Annie thanks, starving though’ he lives alone, and just hasn’t got the hang of feeding himself! Probably because I usually cook too much, so there’s always plenty of left overs!

‘Bas you need pound coins in the main till’ Jess adds ‘catch u later’

Now me and Jess get to have a cup of coffee and the long awaited chat!

We settle down on the kitchen stalls, Ella’s just left, and so no distractions.

‘Did he pash and dash?’ I tease

‘No way Annie, what a tart he is! (Thought females were tarts, I’m learning)!

‘He’s hot! Started to snog me and within minutes he’s got my kit off and his own and that’s when I saw the willy piercing!’ ‘Romantic no! Raunchy you bet!’

‘Not the best time to ask about the piercing as things were pretty damned hot!’

‘What time did he go?’ I’m itching to know.

‘Oh Annie he didn’t go, he took me in his arms and in the sexiest voice ever said sorry Hun I took you so fast but I’ve wanted you for so long babe, now are you going to take me to bed so I can really make love to you?’

‘I bet you told him to take a hike,’ I mock.

‘Yeah right! I had him on the bed before he took his next breath!’

I gulp my coffee, well come on it’s been nearly five years, time I moved on I’m thinking. Jess is still in her reverie, I love to see her happy she’s been such a good friend to me.

‘So this ring Jess does it make a difference?’ I ask innocently

‘You bet Hun amazing! You should give it a try Annie!’

‘You are havin’ a laugh!’

‘Annie seriously it’s time you found yourself a fella, five years since Bill went, you don’t need me to remind you, I know. You’re such a great person Annie so full of love, time you found someone to share it with.’

‘I agree Jess I’ve been giving my life lots of thought recently, but I must consider Will’s feelings too, don’t know how he’d react if I was actually with someone else. He’s cool with the way I’m always larking around and harmless flirting but I wouldn’t want to hurt him any more!’

‘Take it slowly’ Jess coaxed, Wills is going to his grandparents in Liverpool for a couple of weeks, maybe a good time for you to start living a bit! He loves you Annie he’d be cool with it I’m sure!’

‘How about that stranger who came in last week, the fit guy I called a tart bloke, I saw the twinkle in your eyes and he gave you the once over a few times!’

‘Tall dark and handsome usually equals bastard! He was fit though Hun, Jess Tyler your encourageable, leading me astray!’

‘Have you got anything going on this afternoon Jess?’

‘No, what’s on your mind?’

‘My devious little mind is thinking if I make Bas a sarnie and a coffee, me and you can hot foot it up to Oxford Street for a bit of retail therapy’! Neither of us are back in the bar until six’!

‘I hate Oxford Street, but if it means you’ll get a new outfit I’m with you!’ Jess agrees.

Actually Jess hates shopping altogether, unbelievable, young and gorgeous prefers to dress in black, tad Gothic. Still, if I had her looks I wouldn’t worry about colours and fashion, she’d look good in a bin bag!

‘Take that into Bas please Jess, while I grab my bag.’

Let’s see what this evening brings.

Chapter 3

Well, that was worth the cab fare, an hour in Oxford Street and I return with a ‘classy’ little number for Friday night! Plus time to treat Jess to a chunk of choccy cake from M&S Marble Arch, for trailing around after me, what a diamond! May have to mention to Joe she’s a chocoholic!

Now, sitting on my bed, in my own little world of dreams. How many times have I done this since Bill left, racked my brains for answers, why did he go, another woman…mid life crisis…something I’d done…another man? OMG that’s a new thought! Nothing makes sense and why leave just weeks after we’d signed the tenancy for this place? I’ve cried a sea of tears into my pillow at night, the one thing I’ve always been grateful for was having this pub to run, as I’m always busy and rarely alone. Could Bill have thought me and Wills would be fine financially, also knowing how much I would love to run The Fiddler?! My head buzzes as I don’t know the answers, could Jess be right is it time I moved on?

Speaking of which my hood rat is going to Liverpool on Friday for a week with Bill’s mum and dad. They are so fond of Wills and have been incredibly supportive of us both, let’s face it Bills disappearance has made their lives painful too. I’ll put Wills on the train here and Mary and Jack Brooks will meet him at Liverpool Lime Street station. We will text throughout his journey, I’ll miss him so much, although I feel it’s good for him to spend time with his Grandparents, and the rest of Bill’s family. Week off his jobs, bet I’ll still have to pay him, and some! Having said that I’m the first to admit he does willingly help around the pub, OK he likes a few bob in his pocket, though he doesn’t ask for other stuff! He has the infamous Blackberry and a PS3, plus we share a laptop, truthfully Wills uses it more for school study, as the pub has a computer for accounts.

He never goes out alone while he’s away, as he gets older I know it will become inevitable so I’ve prepared him well (I hope) he knows all about the birds and the bees and every other living reptile or specimen known to man! I realise how much he misses his dad, although he seldom mentions him these days. He handles it all so well on the surface and gets loads of support from Bas, the guys in the band and lots of the regular punters, not daring to forget all we doting ladies (which he thinks is awesome)! He also has a circle of close mates that hang out together. I’m immensely proud of him. He went through an episode of bullying a few years ago, after Bill first went and I dealt with that straight away and I’m always alert to problems. The sound of my mobile drags me out of my dream world.

‘Hi Ma, is it OK if I eat at Sam’s tonight?’

‘Has his mum invited you Wills?’

‘Rents! ( my hood rats name for parents) of course, take a chill pill Ma!’

‘OK Hun be back before dark’

‘All sorted, Sam’s dads going to drop me off, love you.’

‘Love you too take care.’

Having a teenage son I’ve had to learn a second language, only way to understand them, still I’m not complaining it helps to keep me young!

As there’s curry left over from last night, me and Jess have a small portion each (that choccy cake sure was filling)! Then we head for the bar to relieve Bas, so the poor guy can eat. Busy again now as the Fiddler seems to draw a lot of ‘suits’ on their way home (that’s office workers to the rest