"Hey!" Katy jogged a little to catch up with Peter on the Square, smiling at him as he paused to wait for her. "Sorry about bailing the other night and thanks; I hear you covered my shift at the R&R."

"Oh, yeah, no problem. When you couldn't make it for that drink, Gran asked if I fancied a shift."

"I appreciate it." She told him sincerely. "Jay really needed me and I couldn't just leave him in the state he was in. Him and Lola had an argument and you'd have thought the world was ending. Young love and all that."

"Right…" Peter nodded a little stiffly, his smile not meeting his eyes. "I'd better get going… got a personal training session with Habiba in five minutes."

"Sure… thanks, again."

Watching him jog away around the gardens, Katy resumed her walk to the R&R. Tina was dealing with the delivery and set up of the new air hockey table and the blonde was hoping that it would be all sorted without her needing to get involved at all.

She had, however, promised that she would let Jack know when it was all set up so that he and his cronies could try it out before anyone else got their hands on it. Katy was sure that he and Max were far more excited about the table than anyone else she'd spoken to about it.

'Lola's had the abortion. We've sorted things. We're all good now. X'

Reading the message from Jay several times, Katy couldn't help wondering whether everything really was as sorted as he had hoped. She'd seen how devastated he had been the night before and yet there had been no messages or phone calls from Lola in the whole time she'd been with him. She could appreciate that her cousin was probably just as upset, but it seemed strange to her that there had been absolutely no contact at all.

'I hope so. X'

Knowing that Jay would have something to say about her guarded, obviously suspicious response to his message, Katy pushed her phone back into her pocket and continued to the bar. Tina greeted her with far more excitement and energy than her friend thought she should possibly possess, almost leaping on her in a tight hug as she explained that the air hockey table was already up and running.

"Let's have a go before you call Jack, yeah?" Tina pleaded, holding out a paddle in Katy's direction with a hopeful expression on her face.

"OK… but I'm warning you now that I'm gonna be absolutely shit."

Laughing, Tina skipped around the end of the table and started the game up. They played for a while, Katy's prediction proving true, much to Tina's immense amusement. Finally, she threw up her hands and announced that enough was enough and that she had work to do.

"Don't forget to ring your dad!"

"Life wouldn't be worth living if I did!" Katy shouted back as she ascended the stairs, already pulling out her phone to make the call.

Jack and the others had turned up after about ten minutes and spent several hours messing around by the air hockey table. Katy had refused to join in, laughing and shaking her head as they'd done their best to change her mind. She suggested that Tina take them on instead, receiving very little argument from her friend.

"Oi!" Katy shouted a long while later, catching a few words of the heated conversation between Patrick and Isaac after the young man had reacted angrily to losing the game he was playing. "Show Patrick a bit of respect, yeah? I didn't pay for that thing so idiots could start mouthing off."

"Oh, whatever." Isaac snapped, pushing past and storming out of the bar.

"You alright?" Katy asked, already pouring Patrick a generous measure of rum. She shook her head when he put his hand in his pocket to pay. "That sounded pretty serious?"

"The boy needs to keep his temper under control."

"I'm guessing you didn't do anything to warrant being on the receiving end?"

Patrick chuckled. "He's just being protective of his mother."

"Yeah, well… still no need to act like a spoilt brat." Katy pointed out. "I saw how he reacted when Dad beat him earlier."

"You've been spending a lot of time with him recently." The man pointed out. When she opened her mouth to reply, he shook his head. "Isaac's not said anything, but I can tell he likes you."

Katy shrugged. "Yeah, well… I don't need another kid to look after; I've got enough on my plate at the moment."

Sending Patrick a wry smile, Katy moved further along the bar to serve several other customers. By the time she'd finished dealing with them, the older man was nowhere to be seen and she guessed that he'd headed home. With a sigh, she leant against the bar, surveying the room while her mind wandered.

She hadn't seen that side of Isaac before; the anger that had blossomed in him when he hadn't got his way. Tyler had had his moments when his temper had got the better of him, but she'd never actually worried that he might attack someone who would be incapable of defending themselves. She wasn't sure she could say the same for Isaac after seeing the way he'd been with Patrick.

"You alright, love?" Katy asked, momentarily taking pity on the slightly, uncomfortable looking older man leaning against the bar. "What can I get ya?"

"Don't suppose you've got a Glenmorangie single malt?"

Chuckling, she shrugged. "I can offer you a Glenfiddich or a Highland Park. We don't really have much call for expensive single malts around here."

"I'll take the Glenfiddich, double," he replied with a theatrical sigh, "thank you. And whatever you're having, obviously."

"Thanks." Katy nodded, moving to the optics and pouring out the measures. "So… I ain't seen you around here before. I'd probably remember someone asking for Glenmorangie. Makes a bit of a change from lager and pina coladas."

"No… I'm here with my son and his friends." He glanced over his shoulder to the group of raucous young lads at a table on the opposite side of the bar. "It's his… coming out night? Is that a thing?"

"Not sure I've heard it given an official title before. But it's nice… always good to know there are some accepting, supportive parents out there."

"Why? Were yours not?"

Katy chuckled into her vodka, before shaking her head. "Wouldn't know; I'm not gay. But I imagine they probably would be fine with it."

"Oh… I'm sorry."

"Why? Wouldn't matter if I was; I'm just not." She shrugged. "Besides, people make that assumption about me all the time because I own this place."

"It was the assumption I was apologising for."

Katy shrugged again, moving along the bar to collect a few discarded glasses. "Like I said, doesn't bother me."

"So? You own this place?"

"I do." She agreed with a proud smile. "It's hard work, but it's worth it."

"Do you run it on your own?"

Pausing, Katy fixed the man with a suspicious frown. "Why? Who wants to know?"

"I'm just interested, honestly." He assured her, slipping his hand into his jacket pocket and handing her a business card. "Graham North, financial analyst."

"I don't need financially analysing, thanks."

He laughed. "I wouldn't dream of attempting to analyse or advise you. I can see you're doing very well on your own."

Cautiously, Katy reached out and took the card, keeping her eyes fixed on it as she spoke. "Katy Mitchell, bar owner, single mother, not interested in bullshit."

"Well, Katy Mitchell, that's good because I'm not interested in bullshit either." Graham told her, his head tilted to one side as he watched her with interest. "But I am interested in you."

Katy snorted in disbelief. "You've known me for, what, ten minutes tops? You know nothing about me."

"I put a lot of importance on gut feeling and my gut is telling me that you're someone I'd like to get to know... a lot better."

"Yeah? I think that's probably the Glenfiddich talking." She told him with a smirk, before nodding her head back to the group of lads on the other side of the room. "Besides, aren't you on supportive dad duty?"

Chuckling, Graham knocked back his whiskey and winked at her. Then he rejoined his son and his friends at their table. Interest thoroughly piqued, Katy watched them for a moment, wondering what the meeting could potentially mean.

"Who was that?" Tina asked, sidling up beside her friend and looking towards the group of men.

Katy resumed drying the glass in her hand for a moment, before answering. "Not entirely sure, T, but I think maybe it would be useful to find out."

"Katy? Can I have a word?" Denise requested, hovering in the doorway of the R&R the next day.

Slightly suspiciously, Katy nodded. "Sure."

"In your office?"

Wondering what was heading her way, the blonde led the way upstairs and out of earshot of everyone else, closing the door behind her. "Look… if this is about whatever you think is going on between Mum and Dad–"

"No." Denise held up her hand and shook her head. "No, it's not about that." She smiled weakly, before motioning towards the sofa. When Katy nodded, she sat down and smoothed down her coat. "It's about Isaac."

Huffing, the blonde dropped into her desk chair. "Look… me and Isaac, it ain't serious and after how he was yesterday…" She shook her head. "Like I told Patrick, I ain't got time to look after another kid."

"It's yesterday that I wanted to talk to you about. Yesterday was the anniversary of his dad's death. He told me he idolised him, which is why he's having trouble dealing with the fact that his mum has married Patrick."

Katy paused for a moment before shrugging. "I get that and I feel for him… I really do, Denise. But did you see me lashing out at you when I thought Mum was dead? I struggled to deal with you and Dad being together, I wasn't particularly happy about it, but I never made you feel like Isaac is making Patrick feel, did I? Or did I? Tell me, because I really don't think I did."

"No, you didn't." She acknowledged. "But–"

"It ain't an excuse, Denise and it ain't gonna wash."