He hands one to me with a smile. ‘I like you. Have you got a husband?’
That kind of question still manages to take the wind out of my sails. I expect everyone thinks I’d be happily settled down by now. ‘No,’ I smile. ‘Sadly not.’
‘I don’t know why. She’s nice, isn’t she, Joe?’
‘Yes, she’s lovely,’ Joe agrees. ‘Let me get you a drink. Remember to say hello to everyone who comes in, Billy. Don’t ask all the ladies if they’ve got a husband.’
‘OK.’ He grins at us both.
Joe steers me towards the bar. ‘Sorry about that. Billy’s great, but sometimes he’s a bit over-familiar. He wants to marry everyone he meets.’
‘Ah. And I thought it was just me.’
Joe laughs and slips behind the small bar in the corner to join a young barman standing stiffly with a tea towel over his arm. ‘What can we get for you, madam?’ Joe asks. ‘Wine? Red? White?’
‘I’d better not while I’m driving. A Coke will do.’
‘Happy to do that, Eamon?’ The barman nods enthusiastically. ‘Don’t forget to ask if your customer would like ice and a slice of lemon.’
‘Ice? Lemon?’
‘Yes, please.’
When it’s done, Eamon lifts the glass as if he has a nest of delicate bird’s eggs in his hands and places it in front of me with a satisfied beam.
‘Excellent,’ Joe says. ‘That’s great, mate. Well done.’
Eamon proudly smooths down the front of his shirt.
‘I’ll come back when you have your next customer.’ We walk towards the window which looks out onto the garden. ‘All our residents need assistance to be independent. This sort of thing helps with their confidence and interpersonal skills, but we’ve never attempted anything on this scale before. Everyone’s a bit over-excited. Except me,’ he adds. ‘I’m a bag of nerves.’
‘It looks like a lovely place.’
‘Yeah,’ Joe says. ‘On the whole, it is. We have our ups and downs like anywhere, but they’re a great bunch of people who live on the campus and we have a good team. It’s a privilege to work here. Which is just as well as the pay is shocking.’
‘Like any vocation.’
‘The only difficulty is that I can’t always swerve out of here on the dot of five or whenever my shift ends.’ He tries to keep his eye on all of his charges as he talks. ‘Juggling childcare is an art form. One I’ve not quite mastered. Still, the kids are getting older. It won’t be long before they can start to look after themselves a bit more.’
‘Where are they tonight?’
‘With Gina.’ He glances over his shoulder. ‘I’ve reserved seats for us on the front row, right by the aisle – just in case I need to pop out quickly. It’s a small audience tonight – only about thirty people. Mainly friends and family of the residents. We wanted to run this as a trial to see if it works out OK before we unleash it onto the general public.’
‘Everyone seems to be doing well.’ There’s a girl in her twenties selling sweets. Someone at the door taking tickets.
‘Two of the residents who are in a relationship have chosen the film tonight. We wanted to make sure as many of them as possible were involved.’
‘Sounds like a great idea.’
‘I can’t take any of the credit for it,’ he admits. ‘It was my colleague who came up with this one.’ Then he sighs. ‘All I’m doing is talking about myself. I haven’t asked you how your weekend in Paris was with your partner.’
‘He’s not really my partner. It’s more of a casual thing. I’m not even sure we’re friends as such.’ Joe raises an eyebrow and I realise that sounds wrong. ‘Paris was OK.’
‘You’re not bowling me over with your enthusiasm. Shall I cross it off my bucket list?’
‘It’s a long story, but it wasn’t quite what I expected.’ He looks as if he wants to ask me more, but I’m not really keen to reveal much more about my trip. To explain what Mason and I are to each other seems way too complicated. ‘It rained a lot.’
‘Oh.’
Then a couple head towards Eamon at the bar and I’m quite relieved when Joe says, ‘Mind if I leave you for five minutes to help out? Go through when you’re ready or you can chat to some of the residents.’
‘I’ll get us some sweets.’ The foyer is filling up now, so I go to the counter and buy a box of Maltesers and chat to the young girl about the film.
Over by the bar, Joe claps his hands. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, our film will be starting shortly, if you’d like to take your seats.’
Making my way to the door, I then linger until Joe is free to join me. I can tell that he’s torn between spending time with me and making sure that everything goes smoothly for the evening. I quite like that. It’s sort of cute. I can see that he’s a genuinely kind and caring person.
Eventually, he comes towards me and takes my arm. ‘Let’s go and see what Hugh Grant has to offer.’
‘This isn’t your kind of film?’
‘I don’t mind a rom-com. Years of being married has brainwashed me, but I’m feeling too cynical to buy into a happy ending at the moment. Plus I still prefer something with a car chase and Vin Diesel doing bad things,’ he says with a smile. ‘At least the kids have stopped watching wall-to-wall Disney and Pixar. There was a time when I knew more about The Little Mermaid than a man should.’
I laugh at that. Joe looks like a man who’d be comfortable watching Disney and Pixar films. Unbidden, I get a flashback to my … er … torrid time … in the hotel with Mason and think that, as men, they couldn’t be more different.
‘If you’re good,’ he says. ‘I’ll buy you an ice cream in the interval.’
‘I have snacks to keep us going until then.’ I hold up the Maltesers.
‘My kind of woman,’ he says and, for a moment, part of me hopes that I am.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Two of the residents sit at the front of the auditorium in front of the screen. They’re middle-aged and are holding hands tightly.
‘I’m Emily,’ the woman says, beaming shyly. ‘And this is my boyfriend, Graham.’
‘This is our favourite film,’ Graham says. ‘It’s the film we saw on our first date.’
‘Second date,’ Emily corrects. ‘On our first date we went bowling.’
‘That wasn’t really a date as there were other people there,’ Graham insists. ‘We watch it every week.’
‘Twice a week,’ she corrects.
‘My girlfriend likes Alan Rickman.’
‘I don’t,’ Emily chips in. ‘He cheats on his wife.’
‘Only in the film,’ Graham counters.
‘He buys a necklace, but it’s not actually for her,’ Emily tells us.
‘It’s a good job you’ve seen it,’ Joe whispers to me.
‘I thought you liked him.’ Graham is clearly piqued. ‘You said you did.’
‘I didn’t.’ She’s very affronted now. ‘I only like him in Robin Hood.’
‘You said this was your favourite film.’
‘I like Notting Hill better.’
‘Guys, guys,’ Joe says. ‘Not a good time for a domestic. Introduce the film.’
‘This is Love, Actually by Richard Curtis,’ Graham says. ‘We hope that you enjoy it.’