‘Lucky you,’ says Bertie. ‘Well must be going. Countdown is on and I need to have my lunch first. Got to stick to my routine. Lovely to meet you, Sophia, and keep smiling, mate.’ He nods to us both and walks on steadily, head bowed again and vanishes from sight as he leaves the courtyard.
‘What a lovely guy,’ I say.
‘Yeah he’s the best,’ replies Jack.
‘He must be very lonely on his own.’
‘I think so. His wife died a year ago and this lockdown on top of everything else – it’s terrible really. He was always down at Soho, him and a lot of other great people.’ He sighs and I realise how much Jack must miss his old life. It must be really tough for him staying in all the time.
‘I didn’t know you play the guitar?’ I ask.
‘I’m a bit rusty.’
‘I genuinely loved listening. You should play more often.’ I pause for a moment. ‘Didn’t hear you playing last night.’ In fact it had been unusually silent, as he hadn’t come out at all.
‘No I just got an early night. I was tired.’
‘Oh.’
‘Yeah sometimes it’s tiring doing nothing.’ There’s an awkward pause. ‘How did your virtual date go?’
‘Best not to talk about it.’
‘Oh … it went well then?’ He sounds flat, disheartened even, or am I imagining it?
‘Well it was very funny.’
‘It’s important he makes you laugh,’ Jack says, misunderstanding.
‘Yes although it would have been better if I could have laughed with him rather than at him.’
‘Oh. You mean it wasn’t in a good way.’ I could swear he suddenly sounds more cheerful.
‘Not at all. He was a complete loser. Rivalled the last two guys to be honest if that’s even possible.’
‘Surely not – they sounded bad enough!’ He laughs.
‘Yep, put them totally in the shade. Whilst he was talking to me his current girlfriend walked in.’
‘Oh no – classic! What did he say?’
‘At first he pretended it was the Indian takeaway.’
Jack snorts. ‘You’ve got to give him points for trying.’
‘Yeah right.’ I tell him the rest.
‘So will you be seeing him again?’ Jack asks when I’m done.
We both laugh hysterically and somehow the bad date doesn’t really matter any more. I really missed our chat last night. Jack always helps put stuff in perspective.
‘Are you busy?’ I ask.
‘Well I’m waiting for the latest instalment of The Little Red Hen, but other than that I’m all yours for the evening.’
‘I could do with some fashion advice. How is little Carrie anyway?’
‘Doing just fine. Even though I’m her uncle and a little bit biased, she’s really cute. What do you mean, fashion advice?’
‘Well I just need to run some outfit ideas for this wedding past you. Not visually of course, but I could put them on and describe them to you. I know that’s a bit weird, but I’ve really messed up – I ordered the bridesmaid’s dress Jess wanted and it’s arrived but is far too small.’
‘Oops, don’t you just hate it when they undersize stuff.’
‘Happens all the time.’ I laugh.
‘Can’t you order the size up and whilst you’re doing that I can whip you up a Margarita? The fresh limes you bought are perfect for it.’
‘Well it’s a definite yes to the Margarita but you don’t get out of the fashion decisions I’m afraid – a bigger size won’t come in time.’
‘Okay, I’ll make the cocktails and send one down. Let’s get this over with.’ I can tell by his tone he’s laughing and doesn’t really mind, so I pop inside to grab the few dresses I’ve already discarded.
Having sent up some crisps and pretty much devoured the cocktail, which was a very generous measure, we are still no further ahead in the bridesmaid dress situation. I have just been describing my turquoise cocktail dress with a large purple flower at the top.
‘No good – you might outshine the bride and that’s never a good thing,’ Jack says matter-of-factly.
‘Fair point. Her dress is very delicate; I’m not sure I should wear anything too bright. It’s no good.’ I slump down on the corner seat on my balcony. ‘I give up.’
‘Wait a minute,’ says Jack. ‘What about your flatmate Erica? Hasn’t she got any dresses you could borrow?’
‘Maybe,’ I say doubtfully. ‘She isn’t really into going out much, but I could ask her. She might be asleep, but I guess I could sneak in and have a quick look in her wardrobe.’
‘Does she sleep heavily? I don’t want to hear any screaming and