Read Online The Pub Across the Pond by Mary Carter - Free Book Online Page A

for a large folding table on which sat a small white box. Beside the box was a poster of a little white house with a thatched roof. Six women in flashy low-cut dresses stood in front of the house, smiling seductively at the camera. W IN A P UB IN I RELAND , it said. Carlene was still studying the poster when she felt a huge stomach poke her in the back. Please don’t let it be a beer belly, she thought.
    â€œI was totally talking to myself for, like, ten minutes,” Becca said.
    â€œSorry,” Carlene said.
    â€œHow would you lovely ladies like to win a pub in Ireland?” the man said.
    â€œOh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” Becca said. “Win a pub in Ireland?” She bent down as far as her protruding stomach would allow and looked at the poster. “Is it a pub or a strip club?” she said.
    â€œIt’s a wee pub,” the man said. “In Ballybeog.”
    â€œOh my God,” Becca said. “I’m totally game.”
    â€œTwenty dollars,” the man said. Becca immediately dove into her purse and pulled out a twenty. The man handed her a slip of paper. “Name, digits, address,” he said. “The drawing will be held in a month’s time. Good luck to ye.”
    â€œOh my God,” Becca said. She began to fill out the slip of paper.
    â€œWhat about you, miss?” the man asked Carlene.
    â€œOh, she won’t enter,” Becca said without looking up. “She’s the unluckiest girl in the world.” Even though there wasn’t a mean bone in Becca’s body, and she was telling the truth—Carlene was severely lacking the luck gene—it still hurt to hear it announced with such gusto by her best friend. Carlene secretly wanted to tell Becca to shut up. But Becca had made it clear that she was not responsible for anything she said or did “in her condition.” Carlene couldn’t wait until the baby was born so she could stop biting her tongue. The man in the tent was staring at Carlene with watchful eyes.
    â€œYou look very lucky to me, miss, if you don’t mind me saying,” he said.
    â€œThank you,” Carlene said. “I really can’t complain.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” Becca said. “You complain all the time.”
    Carlene smiled, hoping to cancel out Becca’s declarations and show him that she was a gentle soul filled with nothing but gratitude for the good things in her life.
    â€œI have things pretty darn good,” Carlene said. She hated the sound of herself. Like an actress on an infomercial.
    â€œYou look good to me, miss,” the man said.
    â€œOh, she’s looks and brains lucky,” Becca said. “Just not lottery lucky.”
    â€œWell, this isn’t exactly the lottery,” the man said. “But you know what they say. You can’t win if you don’t play.”
    â€œYou’ve got to be in it to win it,” Carlene said. Becca threw her a look. Carlene wished she hadn’t spent the morning preaching about how she was going to start saving her money—how she only had thirty dollars on her, and she wasn’t even going to spend it all. Unfortunately, ten bucks had already been spent on a stomachache. “Are the proceeds going to a good cause?” Carlene said. She knew then, good cause or no, she was going to enter the raffle. Becca’s attitude was really getting to her, and she wanted to prove to this smiling Irishman that no matter how unlucky she was, she was still willing to get in the game.
    â€œWell, I’m sure if the family is raffling off the pub, there’s a good reason for it all right,” the man said. Carlene stepped closer and looked at the picture. Up close she could read the sign above the pub.
    â€œUncle Jimmy’s,” she said.
    â€œI believe he passed away,” the man said. “And times are tough, as you know yourself.” He quickly crossed himself. Becca did the