She wasn’t really, but she thought that Will could do with something to soak up all that beer.
‘Yes, please get whatever you want.’
Grace left Will staring out to sea, while she wandered over to the barman.
‘Can we please have some fried calamari over there, a Greek salad, some bread, and a big bottle of water with two glasses.’
‘Of course.’
‘I’ll take the water now.’
The barman reached behind him to get the bottle of water out of the fridge.
‘Is Will OK?’
Grace couldn’t pretend to know Will well, but one thing she did know was how private he was. He’d hate to think that people were gossiping about him. She could see why he hadn’t wanted to meet in town. It was all too easy to bump into someone you knew.
‘Yeah, he’s fine. Just a bit of a rough day.’
‘Ah, we all have those.’
Grace smiled her polite smile and headed back to the table with the water. She poured out two glasses and put one in front of Will. She wouldn’t force him to drink it. He wasn’t a child, and if he didn’t want it, it was up to him.
Will ignored the water and reached for his beer.
‘Barney struggled when he left the army… he never settled to anything. Got a bit too fond of the drink.’
Grace tried not to look at the bottles mounting up on the table.
‘His wife eventually left him, and he rarely saw his kids. But in the last couple of years, he seemed to be doing better. He got sober and was working as a night security guard. Sent me pictures of himself every week at the football with his sons.’
Will drained the dregs of his beer.
‘I offered him a job out here at the villa in the early days. But he told me he could never leave Manchester again. If only he’d taken it…’
Will raised his hand yet again for the barman. Grace had barely touched her second beer.
‘Not for me, thanks.’
The man was on a mission. It wasn’t her place to stop him drinking, but she just hoped the food would arrive soon.
Will stared at the bottle of beer as if he’d find the answer to his problems in the contents of its green glass.
‘The landlord found him. No one had heard from him for a couple of days.’
Grace heard the break in his voice.
‘He’d hung himself in his room…’
Will turned to her and Grace saw that pain again in his eyes. The pain that was in hers every time she looked in the mirror. His eyes were full of unshed tears, and Grace welled up too. A couple of her tears escaped onto the tablecloth, and she dried them with a serviette before speaking.
‘Poor guy. To die all alone like that.’
Will wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
‘Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I didn’t think…’
Grace didn’t want to bring Phil into it. This wasn’t about him.
