AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She placed the plate in front of Joseph.
“You’re not so bad after all, Goldilocks,” he said, raising his glass.
“Try the quiche,” she suggested. “It looks delicious.”
Iris turned her attention to her neighbor, and left his wife Nicola to talk to Joseph. At one point, when Nicola turned her head to talk to the person on her other side, Joseph reached surreptitiously for her glass of wine, drained it, then refilled it from a nearby bottle.
“I saw that,” Iris hissed.
He picked up the glass and drained it again, then reached for the bottle, daring her to stop him. Annoyed, she leaned over and snatched the wine from him. Joseph grinned, refilled his glass with water and drank it down.
She glanced at her neighbor, both engaged in conversation with other people, as were Joseph’s. The room was filled with the sounds of chattering and laughing, interspersed now and then with pattering feet as children left their places and began to play together. Iris smiled.
There was a soft thud, Joseph’s head hitting the table. People were looking toward him, so Iris stood up and moved quickly around the table to his side.
“Come on,” she said.
He raised his head and gave her a lopsided smile. “Where are we going?”
“I’m taking you home before you disgrace yourself,” she said, relieved that he wasn’t being aggressive.
“Fine by me.”
He pushed up, knocking over Iris’s glass of water, and made his way to the door, stumbling as he went. Hugh looked over at her.
“Need help?” he mouthed.
She looked for Gabriel. He was deep in conversation with Esme’s mum so she nodded at Hugh.
“Sorry,” she said, when he came over. “Joseph’s drunk, he needs to go home. I’ll go with him to make sure he gets there.”
Hugh glanced at Joseph’s departing back. “I’ll come with you.”
“No, you need to be here. Gabriel can help, or Marcus.”
He looked around for them, then shook his head. “It’s fine, we won’t be long. I’ll tell Esme.”
Iris watched as he went to Esme and whispered to her. Esme looked over, and placed her hands together.Thank you. Iris gave her a quick smile.
“You don’t have to come,” Hugh said as they hurried after Joseph. “I can manage.”
“It’s fine, I could do with some fresh air. I’m sorry about Joseph. Esme asked me to keep an eye on him, and I tried, but he kept drinking out of Nicola’s glass. He was already drunk when Gabriel went to fetch him,” she added, in case Hugh didn’t know.
“Between you and me, I’m delighted he’s leaving,” he growled.
They caught up with Joseph and got him to his cottage, Hugh helping him when he stumbled, and settled him at his table with a jug of water and a glass. He slumped forward onto the table, mumbling about Charlie and how everything had been his fault.
“Do you think it’s all right to leave him?” Iris asked Hugh, talking over Joseph’s mumbles.
“We need to get back to the christening,” he said curtly, his annoyance with Joseph obvious. “I’ll get Marcus to come and check on him later.”
“He needs something to eat,” Iris said, opening the cupboards. “He didn’t have anything at the christening.” She found a can of beans and a pan. “Could you open them, please, while I look for a couple of slices of bread?”
Hugh opened the can, tipped the beans into the pan and put it on the stove. “He can heat them himself,” he said.
“Okay.” Iris looked at Joseph. His head was on the table. “Joseph!” He opened his eyes. “There are some beans for you, and some bread. Make sure you eat them before Esme gets back. You owe it to her not to be drunk. Do you hear me?”
“Yes.”
