After Hours - Chapter Four

It was the end of Max’s first week at the Red Lion. It had gone a lot better than he thought it would, and by the end of Friday night he had even started enjoying himself. He was a quick learner, and was surprised to find that he was able to talk with the customers as ‘one of them’ rather than as the hired help.
Max worked the afternoon shift for the first five days, and was grateful to be broken in gently, although by the Thursday he realised why Barry called it the graveyard shift. Once the lunchtime rush ended and the suits had scuttled back to work, the next few hours dragged. Max had used the time to become acquainted with the products, and had studied the evening menu until he could recite it to Kate.
By Friday evening, he felt sufficiently competent to cope with the after work rush, with Barry’s help. Then who should walk in but Tim, with a handful of others he vaguely remembered from work.
‘Well would you believe it?’ he snorted to his colleagues ‘I see you finally found your niche.’
Max, for once was unruffled. Having just enjoyed a steak sandwich and coffee (perks of the job) while browsing over a discarded newspaper, he was ready for anything. Barry, who remembered Tim from numerous occasions, and had taken an instant dislike to him, whispered to Max,
‘Right, let’s sort him.’
Max nodded and watched the master at work.
‘What can I get you?’ Barry appeared from the back room, pint glass already in his hand.
‘Five pints of lager please barman,’ Tim smirked over at Max, who lurked by the till. Max stepped forward,
‘I’ll help you with those.’ What ever this was, it was going to be good.
Tim made a big deal of downing half of his drink before remarking loudly,
‘I was ready for that. Tough day at the office.’
Max calmly took his money, watching Barry at the vodka optic out of the corner of his eye. The penny dropped when Barry said,
‘His next glass is ready beside the pump.’
After a couple of hours the effects were clearly visible. Tim gradually got louder and more offensive. Two of his colleagues broke away from the group and moved to the other end of the bar.
‘Christ, I’d forgotten he was such a prat,’ the tall one muttered.
‘Can’t take his drink,’ the fat one agreed. ‘We’ll finish off and head down the White Bear.’ Tall nodded, and Max moved back down the other end of the bar, trying to conceal his amusement. It would be a while before they came for a drink with him again.
For Max, the best part was when he eventually fell off his barstool while trying to impress a group of nurses from Bart’s hospital who were totally ignoring him.
‘What?’ Tim tried to climb back onto the stool, which might as well have been the north face of the Eiger for all the luck he was having. ‘What are you staring at?’ he glared through glazed eyes at his audience. ‘Gimme another drink.’
‘I think you’ve had enough,’ Barry took away the empties, remaining straight faced while Max laughed his socks off in the back room.
The only two of his remaining colleagues had to virtually carry him out the door, leaving Max floating on an ocean of happiness.
‘Nothing to do with us,’ Barry said as they settled the vodka bill. ‘And not a word to John or Helen.’

oOo

The evening session was over. The doors locked and the cleaning up done. Now it was time to relax over a couple of drinks. The other live-in couple, Glyn and Shelly had come down from cleaning the upstairs bar, and Barry and Max pulled everyone a drink. Helen came up from the cellar office, with Sam, the mad Battersea Dogs Home mongrel charging up the stairs in front of her. He made a running jump onto the long wooden bench where John sat, skidding to a halt just in time to avoid a collision with the pint of bitter in his hand.
Friday night was pay night, and Max was surprised when he opened his envelope to find cash. He hadn’t been paid in cash since his days on the fruit and veg stall. It was also a smaller amount than he was used to. John saw his face drop and asked if there was a problem.
‘Only in that I have more outgoings than incomings at the moment,’ Max took a swig of his drink, and then, to lighten things, added, ‘so how did I do? Are you ready to sack me yet?’
‘You’re doing well for a suit,’ Helen looked up from opening Sam’s crisps. ‘You might even last another week.’
‘I’m enjoying it,’ Max ducked to avoid being whipped to death by Sam’s wildly wagging tail. ‘I didn’t think I would. It beats insurance any day.’
‘Best thing that ever happened, losing your job, eh Max?’ Barry stretched out on the bench with his head on Sam’s back.
At this moment, it was. The only hurdle now was his parents. He had managed to avoid telling them up to now.
Right, I’ll call them tomorrow. I’m old enough to decide what I do. You only get one shot at life, and it’s good at the moment. He felt a great release of tension and sat back on the bench with an absent expression on his face.
He suddenly became aware that everyone was watching him.
‘What? Why’s everyone looking at me?’
‘I’ve asked you the same question twice now,’ Helen said, ‘but it seems you’ve either gone stone deaf or you’re totally ignoring me .’
‘Sorry.’
‘I was trying to say that we have a spare staff room upstairs if you want to live in. It would probably save you quite a bit of money. We can also exploit you wickedly when you can’t make up excuses not to work! It’s up to you. I know you’re still looking for another job, but it might help in the short term.’
Max thought about his Visa bill and the rent, and felt the huge weight being lifted from him. Then he thought about Kate and how he would feel he was letting her down. How he would miss her even. The idea of moving on never occurred to him while he was in his last job. The future was always so far away.
‘You don’t have to tell us now,’ John got up to refill the glasses. ‘Have a think about it.’
‘Yeah, I will,’ Max said, ‘and thanks.’

oOo

‘Live in?’ Kate’s eyes seemed to take over her whole face. ‘When did this happen?’
‘Last night’ Max was making coffee in a kitchen darkened by grey sky and rain lashing at the window. ‘It would save me loads of money. I didn’t know how to tell you,’ he plonked a cup in front of her.
‘Don’t be so daft. It would make a lot of sense financially.’
‘Why don’t you live in?’ Max asked.
‘I was offered a room, but it suits me better living out. I like to keep my private life private. There’s a lot to be said for living on the job, but while I can afford to, I prefer it this way.’ Changing the subject she asked ‘Have you rung your parents yet?’
‘That was a job I was putting off, but I’ve decided to do it today,’ Max dropped some bread into the toaster. ‘At least if I tell them now, I haven’t moved as well. That can be another bombshell to drop later, if I decide to do it.’
‘I would miss you.’ Kate brushed her hair back from her eyes. He’d never realised until this moment how pretty she was.
‘But I would understand if you did,’ she added. ‘Anyway, we’d still see each other.’ As she crossed her legs, Max was surprised to find himself looking far too long at the expanse of thigh that her dressing gown had uncovered. What the hell was happening? He quickly looked away, embarrassed. As the toast popped, Max jumped nervously, knocking over the last of the milk.
‘I’ll go and get some more.’ It was an excuse to escape for a few minutes. He had become aware of Kate watching him expectantly, and wasn’t sure what she was expecting. Grabbing his wallet he left her buttering toast.
This is Kate! Kate, your friend. What happened back there? He ran between the parked cars, narrowly avoiding a puddle the size of Lake Ontario. You and her are totally platonic. Always have been. The shop door always stuck when it rained, something about the wood swelling, according to the ancient shopkeeper who spent so much time behind the counter. Max often wondered if she actually did possess legs. He homed in on the glass fronted fridge and grabbed a pint of milk. I really would miss her though. She’s always there. He grunted his thanks as he thrust a pile of coins in her hand. Go back in there and act as if nothing happened. After all, nothing did happen. Just a moment of, well of what? Max wasn’t sure. He just hoped that it had all been in his head, and Kate was still Kate.
When he arrived back she was still sitting at the table, working her way through a slice of toast. Max sat down, making a point of positioning his chair so that he couldn’t see any of Kate below the tabletop.
‘That was incredibly lucky,’ she said.
Oh my God. She noticed me looking at her. She’s glad I knocked the milk over. If I hadn’t gone out I would probably have ended up with some explaining to do.
‘You’d only been out the door two seconds when the phone rang,’ Kate continued, reaching for the new bottle of milk. ‘It was your mum. I said you’d ring her back.’
Flustered, but relieved that the status quo had been resumed, Max moved on to worrying about the phone call.

oOo

‘I’m not sure how to tell you this,’ Max took a deep breath. ‘I’ve been made redundant.’ He waited for the proverbial brown stuff to hit the fan. When it didn’t he added, ‘It was a case of last in, first out.’
‘That’s terrible news,’ Caroline said. ‘You poor thing. You’ve worked so hard too.’
If only she knew. I was just going through the motions.
‘Good news is I’ve found something to keep me going for now.’
‘Something similar is it?’ Only in so much as it’s a job.
‘Not exactly,’ Max grimaced. ‘It’s in a pub, and before you say anything, Mum, it’s paying the bills.’
‘I’m not saying anything,’ she said. ‘I think it’s very resourceful of you to find something until you get another job.’ If I get another job. ‘I’m sure something will come along.’
She was being so calm about it, but it wasn’t just that. Max thought she seemed distracted. So much so that he asked if everything was all right.
‘No, not really,’ she said.
‘What’s happened?’ Max felt the anxiety creeping down the phone line.
‘I was going to ask if you could come home for a few days, but you probably wont be able to get away now that you’ve just started a new job.’
‘Why what’s happened?’ Why didn’t she just get to the point?
‘Rob’s been having an affair.’
‘Oh Christ!’ Rob was his brother-in-law. Married to his older sister Eva for just over two years. Max felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
‘How long has it been going on? Does Eva know?’ he started gabbling.
‘Oh Max,’ Caroline broke down. What is she going to tell me? There’s something she’s not telling me. ‘It’s Maddy. He’s having an affair with Maddy.’
‘Calm down Mum,’ Max was having trouble taking it all in. Madeline was his other sister. His younger sister was having an affair with his older sister’s husband.
‘Are you sure?’ Christ that was a stupid thing to say. She’s hardly going to make that one up is she? ‘I mean, how d’you know? Who told you?’
‘Eva caught them,’ she was having trouble getting the words out now. It un-nerved Max. ‘They were in their bed. She came home early from work and they were there. She just walked in and found them.’
Very slowly the full story came out. The affair had been going on for months. According to Madeline they’d always been attracted to each other, and even though they knew how wrong it was, couldn’t walk away. Eva was devastated and had immediately thrown Rob out. She didn’t know where he was now. They didn’t know where Maddy was either, but they could guess.
‘I’ll try and get a couple of days off and come down,’ Max promised. ‘Although I don’t know what I can do.’
‘Oh Max, I’d like that. Nobody can do anything really, but it would be good to have you close,’ she sounded so relieved it was as though he had ended the affair and put the marriage back together single handed.
‘I can’t promise anything though, Mum,’ he said. ‘I’ll let you know.’
Do I really dare ask? Maybe I should give it a few hours and ring back and say I couldn’t get the time off. I’ll learn to live with my conscience.