Page 88 of Don't You Forget About Me

‘You say that like it’s a bad thing.’

‘Absolutely no way, Dev. Call them back to take it away. God almighty we’ve got “traditional” and “craft ale” everywhere. Why not run a place with a plastic leprechaun outside and have done? Serve cocktails the colour of Care Bears?’

‘Do you ever think hospitality was the wrong fit for you?’

‘It’s called taste, Dev, get some.’ Lucas seems rattier than usual.

He exits with Keith in tow and Devlin huffs and Kitty and I laugh.

‘You wouldn’t think someone as lush as Lucas would be single, would you?’ Kitty says, once Dev’s upstairs clattering about in the event room and it’s the two of us.

‘Perhaps he’s not,’ I say, mildly, sipping my water.

‘He is, his wife died and he doesn’t have a girlfriend.’

Jeez, Devlin. ‘His brother said that?’

‘No, Lucas did. I asked him if he has anyone back in Dublin and he said no and I said oh you’re not married then or anything I thought you would be and he said well I was but she died. I said what of and he said of cancer. I said are you seeing anyone now and he said no.’

‘Maybe he’s not ready yet, after losing his wife like that.’

‘No he said it wasn’t that at all, he’s well ready but he’d not met anyone he was into and that he had a jawbone view of human nature and that most people only let you down.’

‘A jawbone view?’

‘A long word like that. Def began with J.’

‘Ja … jaundiced?’

‘Yeah! I thought that was when you turn yellow.’

‘It is.’

‘He thinks most people turn yellow?’

‘No.’ Running at two speeds, with one of those speeds being ‘Kitty,’ is hard work. I isolate what’s bothering me:

‘I never thought Lucas was that chatty.’ I feel slightly put out that he’s opening up to Kitty and not to me.

‘He isn’t ’cos after that I asked him what his type was and he said he’d rather not talk about his personal life thank you and did I think the barrel of Pale Rider was on the tilt.’

‘Ah.’

‘Don’t you think the tragic wife thing makes him even fitter though?’ Kitty says, nipping her straw between rabbity front teeth.

‘Hahaha, what?’

‘You know, knowing he’s sad. You want to perk him up with a bit of sex, don’t you.’

I almost spit my water.

‘What’s wrong with that?’ Kitty says. ‘To be nice!’

‘Yeah but you don’t … people don’t say things like that,’ I say.

I wish I could simply find that funny.

What if she offers? What if he says yes? What if that happens with the next girl they hire? For the first time I contemplate Lucas sleeping with another member of staff and me having to hear lurid accounts of the boss from the night before and pretend to snigger along with it. I could tolerate the phone numbers on beer mats because they reliably hit a brick wall. But sooner or later, law of averages, when there’s women flying at him from all sides? Argh.

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