Eileen: I was going to have a bath but my flatmates used all the hot water Eileen: so I’m just lying on my bed looking at internet Eileen: why ?
On the television, the news had finished and the weather had come on. An illustrated yellow sun hovered over the Dublin region on the map. Simon started typing again.
Simon: Do you want to come over here?
Simon: Endless hot water
Simon: Ice cream in freezer
Simon: No flatmates
A few seconds passed. He rubbed at his jaw with his hand, watching the screen, which reflected on its surface the bulb of the ceiling light in its glass shade overhead.
Eileen: !!
Eileen: I was not fishing for an invite!!
Simon: I know that
Eileen: are you sure?
Simon: Yes
Eileen: it’s very nice of you
Simon: What can I say, I have a very nice personality Eileen: it sounds like fun....
Eileen: but I don’t want to intrude on you again!!
Simon: Eileen
Simon: Put your shoes on, I’ll call you a taxi
Eileen: hahaha
Eileen: yes daddy
Eileen: thank you
Looking gratified, he closed out of the messages, opened a taxi app and ordered a driver to Eileen’s address. He rose from the sofa then, muted the television and went to the sink with his empty cup of tea. After washing up and wiping down the kitchen surfaces, he went into his room and made his bed. Several times while he carried out these tasks, he took his phone from his pocket and checked the taxi app, where a small icon representing Eileen’s cab moved slowly and hesitatingly along the quays and southward, and then, closing the app, he pocketed his phone again and returned to what he had been doing before.
When he answered the door twenty minutes later, Eileen was standing in the hallway wearing a cropped grey sweatshirt and a pleated cotton skirt, carrying a tote bag printed with the logo of a London literary magazine. She looked as if she had earlier been wearing dark lipstick but it had faded. He stood still in front of her for a moment before putting his hand to her waist and kissing her on the cheek. Good to see you, he said. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he let her hold on to him in the doorway. Thank you for inviting me, she replied. They went inside. He closed the door behind them and she produced from her bag a bottle of red wine. I brought you this, she said. We don’t have to drink it, I just have a horror of coming over to someone’s house and not bringing anything. Especially your house. Imagine what my mother would say. Not that I brought anything last time I dropped by, ha ha. She put the bottle on the table and took her bag off her shoulder. Catching sight of the television, she said: Oh, are you watching Clare Byrne? I won’t interrupt. I’ll just sit quietly on the sofa. He was smiling, his eyes following Eileen as she hung her bag on the back of a kitchen chair and started
to refix her hair, loosening the elastic tie that held it up in a bun. No, I’m not watching it, he said. You look nice. Would you like a cup of tea or something? Or a glass of wine if you’d rather. She went to sit on the couch, pulling off the flat leather shoes she had been wearing and tucking up her feet in their white socks on the cushions. I’ll have tea, she said. I don’t actually feel like wine. Is this a puzzle? He glanced over from the kitchen and saw her pointing at the chessboard. No, he said, it’s a game. Peter was here last night, but he had to head off before we finished. Just as well for me. She went on looking at the board while he boiled the kettle and took a cup down from the press. Did you have the black pieces? she asked. With his back turned to her, he answered no, the white. You’re up two pawns, then, she said. And you can check him with your bishop.
He was taking a spoon out of the cutlery drawer, amused. Think about it again, he said.
She frowned at the board a little longer, while he made the tea and brought it over to the coffee table. Well, I won’t mess with it, she said. He sat down at the other end of the sofa and turned off the television. Work away, he said. It’s white to move. She picked up the white bishop and checked the black king. Leaning forward, he moved a black pawn to block the attack and threaten her bishop, and she used the bishop to take the pawn. He brought the black knight forward to take the bishop then and fork the white queen and rook. She made a face and said: I’m an idiot. He said it was his fault anyway for leaving himself in such a weak position. She picked up her cup of tea and sat back against the armrest of the sofa. Did I tell you my family are at war with each other about Lola’s wedding invites? she said. I really don’t know why I got involved, she’s just such a nightmare. Do you want to see the texts she’s been sending me? He said yes, and she took her phone out and showed him the message Lola had sent her on Saturday night.
Lola: Hmmm do I really want to hear about how immature I am from someone who’s stuck in a shitty job making no money and living in a kip at age 30......
His eyes moved over the screen and then he took the device from her hand to read it again, frowning. Jesus, the hostility, he murmured.
Eileen took her phone back from his hand and looked down at it. I only brought up the wedding thing because Mary asked me to, she said. But then when I complained to her about these horrible text messages, she was like, well, that’s between the two of you, that’s nothing to do with me.
But if you had sent a message like that to Lola—
Right? Exactly. Mammy would be on the phone to me saying, how dare you speak to your sister like that?
I suppose there’s no point talking to your dad, he said.
She locked the phone and left it down on the floorboards. No, she answered. He’s the only one who’s not crazy, obviously. But he knows that we’re all crazy, so he’s too scared to get involved.
He lifted her feet into his lap. You’re not crazy, he said. The other two, yes, but not you.
Smiling, she settled back against the armrest. Thank God there is one person in the world who can see that, she said.
Happy to help.