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‘I think we’re OK for tonight, thank you. I can’t promise that we won’t need you tomorrow, though.’
‘That’s fine. I’m always happy to help, you know that.’
‘Aww, bless you. Hopefully we’ll be over the worst by around nine-thirty, and then we can have a bit of a catch-up, if my son has deigned to make an appearance by then.’ With that, she disappears back into the maelstrom of Friday night service.
I’m about two-thirds of the way down my glass when Lee appears and settles himself on the bar stool next to mine.
‘All OK?’ I ask him.
‘Yes, sorry about that. I’ve just found out I’ve got to go away next week and my laptop’s playing up, so I needed to sort that out.’ He sounds a little distracted, but that’s nothing new.
‘Where are you off to?’
‘Potential new client. I’ll be there for the whole week. Listen, would you mind very much dropping my laptop off with the IT guy on Monday?’
‘How are you going to manage without a laptop for the week?’
‘They’re going to courier another one over, don’t worry. Hey, Nathan,’ he raises his voice. ‘What does a guy have to do to get a drink around here?’
‘Ha ha,’ Nathan replies, placing a pint of Lee’s favourite bitter in front of him. ‘Tell me, do you have a book of bar-related clichés that you’re working through? When are we going to get to “a pint of your finest ale, Landlord, and be damned quick about it”?’
‘I don’t know. When you’re the landlord, I guess,’ Lee quips. Lee and Nathan get on fine on the surface, but there’s always a subtle undercurrent of competition between them, and it seems this weekend will be no different.
‘Do you want more time to look at the menu, or do you know what you want?’ Rosie, one of the servers, has appeared by Lee’s side. In typical gastropub style, the menu is chalked up on various blackboards around the place. I decided what I wanted while I was waiting for Lee, but I’m fairly certain he hasn’t even glanced at the options yet.
‘Oh, I don’t know. What would you recommend, Rosie?’ he asks, flashing her a megawatt smile. Rosie blushes scarlet and mumbles that the crab and avocado starter is proving popular, as is the chicken and ham pie.
‘Then that’s what I’ll have. What about you, Els?’
I give Rosie my order for calamari and grilled seabass, and she scuttles off towards the kitchen.
‘You’re very bad,’ I say to Lee. ‘You know she’s got a massive crush on you, and it only makes it worse when you flirt with her like that.’
‘Nonsense, I’ve just made her day. Her week, probably. Not feeling insecure, are you?’
‘Behave, or I’ll set your mother on you.’
He feigns horror before laughing and taking a big mouthful of his beer.
It’s not something I would ever want to do full-time, but I do enjoy my visits here. Not only do Lee’s parents seem to like me, but the pub is like a whole little world in itself. Lee’s dad is in charge in the kitchen and, although his is the name above the door, he’s almost never seen front of house. Lee’s mum runs the restaurant like a well-oiled machine and Nathan looks after everything to do with the bar and drink side of things. I didn’t know anything about pubs when I first started going out with Lee, but I’ve learned that the Farmer’s Arms is what is known as a ‘free house’, meaning that they aren’t tied to any particular brewery and can therefore have a constantly changing rota of beers. Some are permanent fixtures, like the bitter that Lee loves, but most of them come in for a few weeks before being replaced with something else. I’ve tried a few, but I really can’t get into beer in the way that Lee and Nathan do, so I generally tune them out when they’re having what I refer to as one of their ‘beardy’ discussions about real ales and stuff like that. I sometimes wonder why Lee didn’t go into the family business. I get the impression that his parents try to be supportive of his decision to make his own way, but there is definitely a bit of disappointment there. I raised it with him once and he told me he’d rather cut his own throat than go into the pub trade, so it looks like Nathan has nothing to worry about, inheritance wise.
After our ‘freebie’ dinner on Friday night, Lee’s mum is true to her word and gets us both working on the Saturday and Sunday lunchtime services. We do get downtime to catch up, but I always get the impression that they’re not fully engaged because they’re already thinking about the next round of service. Much as I love his family, we’re both a little relieved when we climb into the car to start our journey home on Sunday afternoon.
‘Duty done for another month,’ Lee says to me as we pull out of the car park.
‘They do love seeing you, though,’ I counter.
‘Do you think? I sometimes wonder whether they’d notice if we didn’t turn up one month. I love them, but their world is very small and insular, isn’t it?’
‘Thinking of the world,’ I venture, ‘if we close the trust, how do you fancy a trip to the Caribbean? White, sandy beaches, warm sea to swim in, rum on tap. What’s not to love?’
‘Yeah, maybe,’ he says, suddenly distant. ‘Let’s see, shall we?’
His sudden change of tone rattles me, and I glance across in concern. His face is a mask, though and, for the first time, I wonder if there’s something he’s not telling me.
4
One of the downsides to spending the weekend with Lee’s family is that it’s hardly restful, so it’s a bit more of a struggle than normal to drag myself out of bed on Monday morning. Lee is long gone; I vaguely remember him getting up at around four-thirty to head off to see his new client. It’s only when I’ve had a shower and a cup of coffee to wake me up properly that I realise he hasn’t told me anything about them; I don’t even know where they are. I pull out my phone and type out a WhatsApp message to him.
