"I wasn't expecting you to come back." Becca rinsed a beer soaked mop in a bucket while the rest of her bar was littered with shards of glass.
"I figured you could use some help cleaning up." Rev. Paul Coates looked around at the mess.
"Thanks." Becca smiled. "You're too sweet." She took out a towel and started scrubbing the floor behind the bar. "I've got the beer all mopped up already."
"I'll take care of the glass then." Paul took the broom standing by the archway leading into the bar.
Becca took a break from cleaning and sat down at a table while Paul began to sweep up the broken bits of glass. "I'm surprised you're here after having talked with her. I bet she had some terrible things to say about me. I deserved them all, I'm sure."
"She had a few choice words." Paul replied without looking up from his sweeping.
"I'm an idiot. I hadn't even thought about her. It's not like I did it with the purpose of spiting her, hurting her was the last thing on my mind. I was just caught up in the excitement of having a forbidden secret night, you know?" Becca explained as she stood up the grab a heavy duty garbage bag. She held it open for Paul as he put in the broken glass he'd scooped up into the dust bin.
"I guess I understand how the taboo aspect of a secret affair might seem attractive." Paul watched Becca as she walked to the archway and dropped the garbage bag in the corner. She was so tall and sleek and her dress was so tight.
Her heels clicked as she slowly walked back towards him "I know you're being kind because that's just the sort of person you are, but I wouldn't blame you for judging me." She fiddled with her hands somewhat nervously. "If you don't want to meet with me anymore, I'd understand."
They were an odd pair of friends but they both shared one thing in common, they were outsiders. They didn't grow up in Broadchurch so they didn't have friends they'd grown up all their lives with, the way others in the small town did. Paul moved to take his new post at St. Bede's and Becca, to help her partner run the hotel he'd purchased. Now an ex-partner, he split and left Becca to run The Traders all on her own. Financial matters weren't her strong suit and the hotel was on the edge of foreclosure. Luckily, her unlikely friend had a background in accounting. Paul had studied accounting before he decided on seminary school.
Paul smiled and eased her worry. "You of all people should know that I'm in no place to judge." He hadn't told anyone in Broadchurch about his alcoholic past, except for Becca.
"They say alcohol dependency's hereditary. You can't compare your shortcomings to mine, that wouldn't be fair." Becca looked down at the ground as she spoke. "I'm just kind of a whore, honestly I almost enjoy playing the part. There's something exhilarating about it, it's dangerous. But it wasn't even that much about danger with Mark. I had sex with Mark simply because I was bored. Who has sex just because they're kind of bored? I'm a whore and I don't even like I have the stereotypical daddy issues to blame for my sexual misconduct."
"I do." Paul replied with a smile as he leaned up against the bar.
Becca chuckled. "For your drinking problem or your sexual misconduct?"
"Both, you should have seen how I made my way around seminary school." Paul answered in the seriously sarcastic tone with which he delivered most of his jokes.
Becca laughed out loud. "I can never tell if you're joking or being serious with me." She nudged him as she leaned up next to him on the bar.
"I might have exaggerated a little for dramatic effect." He replied.
"You're honestly too funny to be a vicar." Becca chuckled.
"When I left accounting, it was either seminary or clown college. But the little red nose didn't fit right and the clown make-up made my skin break out so, seminary it was." The vicar joked.
"You do have very clear skin and you look good in black. So I think you made the right choice." Becca replied. Her fingers grazed Paul's, making Paul look down at the ground with a shy grin on his face. Becca noticed his sudden shyness at her touch and she smiled mischievously. "Have you got a girlfriend, Paul?" She asked.
"Oh, goodness. I haven't had a girlfriend in... 4 years" Paul looked up at the ceiling. "And I haven't had a boyfriend since seminary."
"Are you still joking?!" Becca gasped.
"You may never know." Paul had the courage to look her in the eye again. "But I seriously haven't had a girlfriend in 4 years, that wasn't a joke."
"That's a long time to be alone." Becca looked surprised. "How do you do it?"
"Well, it's easy to keep women off you when you're wearing this." Paul fiddled with his clerical collar. "Scares most people off."
"In those 4 years did you ever wish sometimes that you could have one secret night, like I did." Becca asked. "Maybe you wouldn't actually got through with it but... just maybe thought about it." Becca grazed her fingers over Paul's again.
"I'm not really the sort that can do something only once, what with my addictive personality and all." Paul's fingers became laced with Becca's as he spoke. The sun was setting and the bar had grown dimmer. It seemed the darkness made Paul a bit less self conscious.
"Are you saying you can get addicted to people?" Becca turned to face Paul without letting go of his hand. He now stood leaning up against the bar, trapped between the liquor and Becca's smile.
"I've been called the clingy boyfriend before." Paul looked down at the ground again. Paul had thought about secret nights before, he'd thought about Becca. But he could never do what she did. "I just couldn't live with only one night. I wouldn't be able to let it go." He explained.
Becca's hand traveled up his arm. "I could be good for more than just one night if I really wanted to, if I had the right person..." She replied as her hand moved up his bicep. She was surprised by how he felt, stronger than she had expected. They exchanged a quick look into each other's eyes until Paul cleared his throat and broke eye contact. She then promptly removed her hand from his arm and chuckled at the awkward moment.
"I.. umm... I'll throw the broken glass in the bin outside for you." Paul removed himself from between Becca and the bar. He walked over to the corner with the trash bag and picked it up. "I'll see you tomorrow then." He quickly walked out with the trash.
Becca stood by the bar biting her lip in frustration. "You idiot" She covered her face in her hands. "It's like I can't go a day without asking for trouble." She placed her forehead up against the wall and whispered. "Stupid, stupid, stupid...". A rustling sound spun her back around.
"Sorry..." Paul whispered. "I didn't mean to disturb you... I forgot this." He picked up his laptop case from a table at the bar. "You're going to be ok, right?" His genuine concern for her shown through his eyes. They were so kind, Becca felt like she might melt.
"Yeah.. I think I'll be fine, all thanks to you of course." Becca smiled "I'll see you tomorrow."