All Mine Enemies by CC Gilmartin

Author:CC Gilmartin [Gilmartin, CC]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-08-21T22:00:00+00:00

40

'I made all this food hours ago. Do you think anyone will want to eat?' Georgie asked.

'Drink maybe,' Lee replied, pointing at the wine rack. 'No hint intended.'

Jim immediately grabbed a corkscrew and opened a bottle of red. Taking three clean glasses from the draining-board, he poured. 'Tell me when to stop.' He glanced up at them. ‘Or not.’

Lee and Georgie both took their brimming glasses and sat at the table. Around them, the empty champagne bottles and bowls of stale nibbles from the previous night’s party still haunted the surfaces. Jim joined them, and the three of them stared into space, sipping their wine in silence.

‘How did you two meet?' Lee had been eager to know since they’d got there.

Jim and Georgie cut each other off as they started. Georgie placed her hand over Jim’s and began. 'Drama school in London. The late 50s. For the first term, I thought he was gay.’

Jim laughed. 'I sort of was. I'd been brought up in the middle of nowhere, so any attention was welcome.'

'Oh Jim, you're a terrible tease! Everyone was after him, and I’ve never been the type to compete for people’s attention. God knows why I became an actor.'

'We were rehearsing a scene from Pinter.'

‘The Birthday Party. Lulu and Stanley. Totally miscast. There we were, two teenagers, barely knowing which way the wind blew, grappling with this awful world. But I do remember looking into his face properly for the first time and thinking this is the most beautiful boy I’ve ever met.’

Jim’s eyes twinkled and he grinned.

‘You wouldn’t know it now, but with his razor-sharp cheekbones and beatnik hair, he was incredibly androgynous. Kind of lost-looking, vulnerable, unsure of the world. I had to have him. I mean, I'd been around the block. A whole two boyfriends.'

'William.'

'Who had the most awful B.O.'

'And Hugh, wasn't it?'

'I called him Huge. He had the most enormous cock I’ve ever seen. It still gives me nightmares.'

Lee laughed out loud.

'When I saw it for the first time, I said, do you honestly think that's going in here?'

'And when a handsome knight in shining armour came riding into the picture, all competitors were swept aside.' Jim winked at Georgie. 'Well, more like jeans and a Breton T-shirt. I was a walking cliché.'

'Hugh definitely turned out to be gay and William went off to do officer training at Sandhurst, so slim pickings.' She stuck her tongue out at Jim.

'Yet, thirty years later, here we are.'

'Two limpets clinging to a rock.'

Georgie squeezed Jim’s hand as she wiped a tear from her eye. 'Look at me. Silly old cow.'

'Always were. Boom! Boom!'

'And where did Lawrence fit in?' Letting go of each other’s hand, Jim and Georgie both took a gulp of wine. 'Sorry. I didn't mean to pry.'

'Not at all,' Jim said. 'One of the happiest periods of my life. A dream job. We were just out of drama school, looking for a lucky break like every other young actor, and it fell into our laps. Eros. Incredible play.

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