“Bugger me,” I exclaim when I read the dessert options.
“This menu is fucken class,” I say in conclusion.
A perfect blend of Greek and Cretan dishes mixed with modern Mediterranean cuisine, it's fun and playful but it still has the power to impress without being too pretentious. And from a chef's perspective, I can imagine it's a challenging but satisfying mix of technically advanced innovation combined with classic cooking.
“Well, order away, son,” Da says leaning back and catching a server's eye. He's no doubt going to ask for that shot of rum. “It's on me tonight.”
Maeve grunts. “This whole week is on you,” she says, fingers tapping on her phone. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here.”
“Thank you, Maeve, for always humbling me back down to Earth with a bump,” Dad says, and I see him catch Mum’s eye and wink. I don’t know why but that also helps melt some of the tension inside me.
A hurried-looking member of the service team rushes over and indeed is given an additional drinks order by my father with input from everyone else. Me, I'm more than happy to savour my Marty Party and drink water so I can focus on the flavours in the food. When I say this the server barely conceals her sigh of relief as she stashes her pad and pen in her apron just before her attention is pulled to a neighbouring table who are calling her. When she looks torn about what to do, Jenna stands and waves the waitress away to deal with other tables, saying she will take our food order, which she proceeds to do, using her phone and then walkingover to her brother who is on the phone by the bar. I watch them for a while and then find my eyes turn the other way towards the kitchen.
“You're missing being in the kitchen, aren't you?” Ma says to me, and I realise it's the first time tonight she's said something to me that doesn't feel like an argument.
“I am,” I say to her with an easy smile.
I am already enjoying tonight more than I expected, despite some foot-in-mouth moments by Mum, and admittedly myself too. I knew I'd enjoy spending the evening with Jenna and I can't help but recall the countless times Arnie joined my parents and I for dinner. I always liked the idea of having a boyfriend or girlfriend for the obvious things - good sex, good fun, good companionship - but I never imagined how grounding and affirming it would be to thenbe with that person and your family. Before the last year, I'd always gotten on great with my parents, and would consider our relationship a relatively good one. Arguably it was at its peak when Arnie and I were together before he got sick. We'd all drink together, eat together, laugh together, and they would all spend far too long taking the piss out of me together. The love I would feel in the room when this happened always floored me. And now, fraught conversations and tense moments aside, I'm getting a glimpse of it again.
When Jenna is back sitting by my side, she smiles at me and gives me the quickest wink. I return it but then feel Dad's stare on us. I'm about to give him a questioning look, but he quickly starts talking to Jenna.
“So, aside from work, tell us a bit about yourself? How do you like to spend your time?”
Jenna takes in a deep breath that I suspect only I can hear because her reply is flawless. “You mean aside from picking up younger men in holiday resorts?”
There is barely a beat of silence before Maeve bursts into laughter and Dad and I are not far behind. I risk a look at Mum and while her eyes are wide and unable to focus, the corners of her mouth hold a slight curl.
“Sorry,” Jenna says. “I lean on my often-inappropriate sense of humour to diffuse potentially awkward social situations.”
“Why does that sound familiar?” Maeve says under her breath.
“But seriously... how do I spend my time?” Jenna turns back to Dad. “Well, I read a lot. It’s partly because of my work, yes, but also, I love books. Always have, always will. Fiction, non-fiction, I'll read anything and everything.”
“Like Arnie,” Mum says and when I look over at her, I see her remembering him with a soft smile.
“Yes, you said he studied English Lit.” Jenna turns to me and her fingers land on my forearm which she strokes as she keeps talking. “I secretly wish I'd done English Lit too. But anyway. No regrets. My other hobbies include lifting weights, the theatre, seeing friends for park walks and pub lunches, and board games. Gosh, I love a good board game.”
“You do?” I twist to look at her. “How did I not know this?”
“Well, we only met a few days ago, Marty, I think there are still a few things we don't know about each other.”
I ignore the noise my mother makes when she hears this.
“Which board games?” I ask.
“Oh, anything and everything. But my brother and I have been known to take Cluedo far too seriously, complete with costumes and character accents. You should hear his Professor Plum.”
“Ha! I can imagine,” I say, and I almost forget my parents are there as I drift away into memories I haven't thought about in months but now suddenly want to share with Jenna, even though they still threaten to slice up my insides as I do. “I love board games. Arnie and I... we used to play a lot. When he was on a chemo cycle or towards the end... in palliative care. Board games were like a manageable distraction he could almost lose himself in.”
“Oh God!” Maeve exclaims, leaning in. “Do you remember that marathon Monopoly game you had?”
“That's right!” Da says. “That was madness! How long did it last? Like two weeks or something?”
“Eighteen days,” I say without thinking about it.
“I thought it would never end,” says Maeve. “You were both so serious and invested in it. Didn't you create like bank loans for it as well? Just to keep it going.”
“Yeah,” I say, rubbing my chin as it all rushes back to me. “We even printed off contracts that we both signed. After about a week we also added a new player each and pretended they were our partners. Then our couples would have kids, so we’d add a few more players, and hand over streets and properties as gifts for birthdays and the like. God, it got really complicated. I had a spreadsheet to keep track of it all.”
