‘He’s too old for a dad, though,’ Jack said. ‘He could play your grandpa, I suppose,’ he conceded with an air of great generosity.
Alex laughed. ‘Imagine having a granddad who could ride a motorbike off a cliff. That would besocool.’
‘Don’t give your poor granddad any ideas,’ Maria said with a laugh. ‘His hips are bad enough as it is.’
‘Do you guys want to order?’ Irene passed them a menu.
‘Oh, I’m not staying,’ Sive said.
‘And we don’t need to, do we, Jack? Let’s see what Chloe made you.’ Ciara put the parcel in front of Jack and he tore off the paper excitedly.
‘What’s that?’ Alex peered across the table as a tall shortcrust pie was revealed.
‘I dunno,’ Jack frowned dejectedly, looking at it in dismay.
Ciara appeared as puzzled as her son.
‘It’s an eel pie!’ Sive announced gaily.
‘Awhat?’ Jack’s face fell.
‘Eel pie.’
‘Eew!’
‘Gross!’
James and Alex were screwing up their faces and making gagging gestures.
‘Like, made out of … eels?’ Jack paled, almost turning green before their eyes.
‘Yes. I know how devoted you are to the Method, and I thought this would really help you get into character. It’s exactly what Tiny Tim would have eaten, back in the day,’ Sive explained.
‘Why?’
‘Because it was cheap and nourishing, and there were plenty of eels floating around in the Thames. Why don’t I ask for a knife and we can cut you a slice?’
Sive felt awful as Jack’s eyes welled with tears, but she pretended not to notice that he was struggling not to cry as she waved at a waitress.
‘That was really nice of Sive, wasn’t it?’ Ciara said to him, playing along. ‘And Chloe. She must have gone to a lot of trouble.’
‘Yeah, thanks a lot, mate,’ Jack said drily.
‘Are you not having pizza?’ James asked Jack in dismay.
‘Can I, Mum?’ He looked pleadingly at Ciara.
‘It’s not very Method, is it?’ Sive said. ‘Though personally, I think this job is much nicer if you can leave it behind at the end of the day and live your normal life.’
‘You can have some of mine,’ Alex said to Jack as two pizzas were delivered to the table and placed in front of him and James. The smell was mouth-watering.
James took a slice and shoved his plate to the centre of the table. ‘Mine too.’
‘Well, I’ll leave you to it,’ Sive said, sharing a conspiratorial smile with Ciara as she got up to leave. ‘I’ll see you all on Monday for opening night.’
23
‘Are you having fun yet?’Sive asked Sam as they skipped off stage together hand in hand at the end of Act One. She could see that he was. His face was flushed, his eyes sparkling. She knew just what he was feeling. This was the part that rehearsal couldn’t prepare you for – the exhilaration of performing in front of a live audience. An audience brought another dimension to a show, bringing it to life in new and sometimes unexpected ways. You could practice your lines until you could recite them in your sleep, but you couldn’t predict the audience’s reaction.
