Are You Ready? (6 page)

His mum looked like she had had a good few glasses of wine. ‘Well, the party only ended an hour ago, and then we were tidying away, and now we are just chatting. You know how we like to chat in bed,' she replied.

Joe winked at Ben. Joe was a big sleeper, but as Maura loved to chat in bed he ended up only sleeping half the amount he would have liked. But it kept her happy, and he napped in the afternoon instead.

‘So, the Andersons and the Whites are both going to be grandparents soon. Isn't that great, Ben? One of these days might we be grandparents, too? I can't wait until you have children of your own.'

Ben didn't bother replying, and just wished them
goodnight and headed for his own bedroom. His mum had gone mad. Far too much wine! Why did everyone want him to grow up so soon? As soon as his head hit the pillow his last thoughts were not of babies, but of Laura, lovely Laura.

‘I need those four reports written up and on my desk by tomorrow morning,' Mary, Ali's boss, announced to her at 5 p.m. ‘Owen wants to see them before we meet with the clients tomorrow.'

Ali had been swamped with work all week, and it just kept on building up. Mary had given her lots extra to do, obviously in the hope that Ali would have to cancel her holiday, but no way was that happening, Ali thought. Just because Mary was an old sad bossy spinster who never went anywhere, that did not mean Ali had to be the same. Hell would freeze over before she would cancel any time off. She didn't mind the extra work, but giving her so much at once, when she was getting ready to go on her holidays, just wasn't fair.

Ali had always been interested in law at college. She thought wistfully about the dreams she'd once had of being a barrister and standing up in court. But the training had been too expensive and, besides, you needed connections, and as her dad was a farmer and
her mum a local primary-school teacher, they were not any help. So instead she chose to work as a solicitor. And even though connections still helped you in the solicitor business, she was a good worker and had managed to get a job in a firm, and even though her boss rarely spoke to her, apart from barking work orders, it was fine. She still dreamt of fighting for the poor man's rights, but for now she had to settle for at least having a job in the legal world, even if she was just dealing with wealthy South Dublin fat cats and their boring property issues all day long.

She was trying to print a document and type an email at the same time when her computer froze for the tenth time that day.

‘God, why can't this stupid computer handle doing more than one thing at a time? It's like a man.'

She hadn't meant to say it out loud, but she had, and before she knew it she heard Mary laugh. But as she turned around to join in she saw Mary become poker-faced again, and grab her shapeless tweed coat to go home for the evening, leaving Ali to work late. Ali couldn't believe she had seen Mary's stern head-mistressy face smile for once. She couldn't ever recall seeing her laugh or smile before. Mary was always too busy looking cross, fixing her hair back into a bun, or just making Ali feel unwelcome. Well, at least I know she is not a complete robot, Ali laughed to herself.

Days later, Ali was literally sitting on her suitcase trying to make it close.

‘What is the story with all your luggage, Ali?' Robin asked in amazement, looking at the bikinis, skirts, T-shirts and sundresses thrown around their spare room.

‘I don't know what to say. I can't stop packing things. Help!'

Robin picked up a pair of cream beaded flip-flops. ‘Well, I've never seen you wearing these, so don't bring them.'

‘No. You don't understand.' Ali almost shouted as she grabbed the shoes back. ‘They go with the cream Zara dress I'm bringing. I need those shoes.'

‘OK, what about this handbag? It's just taking up space in your suitcase.'

‘No way, that's the only one that goes with the green linen sundress I got last year in Greece.'

‘Ali, for God's sake! No wonder you have too much. You can't be bringing items that you will only wear once. We are going on holiday to relax and enjoy
ourselves, not to have a fashion parade.' And with that he went back to watching football on TV.

Fashion parade? He doesn't understand, Ali thought, as she repacked the flip-flops and handbag. How did guys take so little on holiday? All Robin was bringing was one small suitcase and his Quiksilver backpack. Ali was so stressed. She had lots to do before flying to Cape Town tomorrow. She had intended to pack during the week, but what with all the extra work she hadn't had a chance to, and now was tired and anxious. Bring on the sun and cocktails, she thought, as she started packing make-up and sunscreens and trying to ram in her hairdryer. She opened Robin's backpack to sneakily stuff in the new Jodi Picoult book she had bought for the flight, as her bag was filled with the camcorder, camera, spare camera and more make-up, when suddenly Robin saw her and went mental.

‘Leave my bag alone! Why can't I have any privacy? You have your own bags! God, you are impossible to travel with.' He grabbed the bag back and stuffed it under their bed.

Wow, what was wrong with him? Ali thought. It was only one book. His football team must be losing; they always lost. She laughed to herself as she reopened her flight bag and debated if her short blonde hair really could handle three weeks without a hair straightener.

Sarah was on a day off from the gallery, so herself and her mum had a visit to her father's grave in Shanganagh, followed by a lovely lunch of salad and apple tart in a café in Greystones, County Wicklow. Sarah loved Greystones, mainly because her mum had grown up there, so it made her feel even closer to her mum to spend time in the place she loved the most. Years ago people went to Greystones for their summer holidays, to enjoy the beach and quaint seaside village. Sarah couldn't imagine going on holiday to it now, as with the new roads it was only a twenty-minute drive or DART rail ride away, but it had still never lost that seaside-village feel, and had great galleries, shops and pubs. Her mum had only moved to Monkstown in Dublin when she married Sarah's dad, and even then she had only chosen Monkstown because it, too, was right on the water. Her mum always said she could not live far from the sight and sound of the water. But Monkstown had been the perfect place to raise a
family: close to the sea and nature, yet near all the best schools and the city for working. Sarah looked back fondly on her childhood, and could only wish her future children would grow up in as loving and happy a family as she had. Her mum was a ‘stay-at-home artist', as she always joked, and their house was full of paintings and sketches, and it was this that had inspired Sarah to be an artist herself. And even though she now worked more at selling art than painting it, she still had the passion for it, and her mum still encouraged her to draw as much as she could.

Her parents used to bring them all down to Greystones for a day at the beach. Her mother would bring her paints, and while Sarah's dad played with the children in the water she would sit on the beach looking so creative and exciting, as she drew and painted.

As they walked along the beach now, Sarah could see in her mum's eyes that she, too, was thinking back to those happy days.

‘You miss Dad, don't you, Mum?'

‘Of course I do, Sarah, but I'm lucky I've years of wonderful memories to relive over and over in my mind. I just wish you would find your soulmate soon, too, to create your own memories and dreams with.'

Sarah nodded, and for once knew her mum didn't mean to nag her about being single, but simply wanted the best for her. As they walked along the beach and talked about Sarah's date with Ross, her
mum's dinner with Mr Macken, and Mel's last few weeks of pregnancy Sarah realized that sometimes the best days were the days you just relaxed, slowed down, and listened to the water, the memories and your mum.

Today was Molly's thirtieth birthday. She could not believe she had reached the big 3-0! Where had time gone? It only seemed like yesterday herself and Sarah were sixteen and having to get fake IDs to get into the local rugby club discos on a Friday night.

When she looked back now on all the years she had spent studying business and numbers she felt it was such a waste; it annoyed her that she hadn't started working as a cook earlier. But then, as her mum said, everything happened for a reason, and if she hadn't studied business first, she would never have met Luke, so fate had worked out. She had put up with boring balance sheets in order to meet the man of her dreams. It was worth it, she laughed, as Luke walked into their bedroom with a cake and candles alight, singing ‘Happy Birthday' while trying to take a photo of her at the same time.

* * *

Luke got her a beautiful Dior watch and a Fendi handbag. So much money, she thought, and they were impractical for any average day for her – she could never wear them to work, as they would end up covered in batter and flour! She did appreciate the expensive treats though, and was glad they were not more cookbooks; she had received a lot of those recently!

Herself and Luke spent the day in Howth, walking, chatting and just being happy. He was in great form, and even though he had wanted to go away for the weekend to celebrate, Molly was happiest at home and with her family and friends. Like anyone else, she loved nights out, but her heart was with being close to people, making them happy, making them smile, and making them full! She loved nothing better than a night in making dinner for her friends; it gave her the greatest satisfaction. And though she would happily have made dinner at home for her whole family tonight, Luke had put his foot down, and instead they were all going to Peploes on St Stephen's Green for dinner, and then to meet some friends for drinks after.

As they walked the pier in Howth, and Luke chatted about possible summer holidays, Molly watched the fishermen come back to port with their day's fishing, and thought of all the great fish dishes she could make with just a few simple ingredients. God, she laughed to herself, when she had worked in a bank she never thought about funds and investments over a weekend, and yet here she was calculating how much fish there
was and how much she could buy it for. How life had changed.

The rest of the day flew by, and before she knew it she was at home drying her long dark hair and trying to decide what to wear for her big birthday dinner, but what did a thirty-year-old wear, anyway?

Peploes was the perfect place for a birthday dinner: it was lively, loud and there was a great buzz. They had been lucky to have gotten a reservation for a Saturday night, the restaurant was full of businessmen and wealthy tourists, due to its proximity to the best hotels and offices in Dublin.

Molly had a starter of crab claws, and a main of salmon and asparagus; the food and atmosphere were both great. She looked around the table at Luke, her mum, dad, brother Patrick and his girlfriend, all happy and chatting. It was a great night. After the main course she suddenly noticed a look of glee on Luke's face as he saw the birthday cake being brought out; it was way bigger than he or anyone else had thought! Molly's aunt had actually made it and sent it to the restaurant that morning. It was chocolate and praline, Molly's favourite! After having ‘Happy Birthday' sung to her by the whole restaurant and staff, Molly was finally able to taste the cake and wash it down with a glass of champagne.

Her dad said a few words about how they were all so proud she was following her dream, and how at thirty, she was still their little girl and that they all loved her so much. Molly welled up, she was lucky to have such a great family, but the tears stopped when her older brother started to remind everyone of the funny and embarrassing things Molly had done when she was younger.

‘Well, we all knew Molly was destined to be a great cook, but she got off to a rocky start that would have shut any restaurant down in a minute!'

Oh no, thought Molly, here comes the ‘garlic bread' story. Her brother began.

‘You see Mum and Dad loved having dinner parties, it was all very eighties, and along with baked Alaska and After Eights it was perfectly acceptable to just serve garlic bread for starters! Anyway, Molly was dying to help, so Mum gave me and her the job of mixing the crushed garlic into the softened butter and then spreading it on the fresh baguettes. So we did all this, and were chuffed with our chunky garlic and butter paste. After cooking the breads we served them out to cries of how great we were from all the guests. It wasn't until we had served the last batch that Molly announced to me and Mum that her loose baby tooth had fallen out. Now that wasn't too bad until she said she hadn't seen it come out, and thought it might have fallen into the garlic bread! Well, as you can imagine, it was anyone's dinner party worst nightmare, and we spent ages looking at everyone's bread trying to spot a baby tooth, but we never did, so God only knows
which one of the guests ate your tooth, Molly, but as long as it wasn't me I don't mind.'

Everyone cracked up laughing, even Molly. After dinner they met Molly's friends in The Shelbourne Bar for sparkling wine and more funny stories, but by 2 a.m. Molly was home in bed, exhausted but very happy. It had been a perfect birthday.

Ben was furiously typing up a review of the previous night's Bohemians versus Shamrock Rovers football match, while keeping his eye on the clock. He played rugby every Thursday in Blackrock Rugby Club, and did not want to be late. As he tried to concentrate on the report and remember who had made what pass and to whom, his mind kept thinking ahead to tonight's friendly against the first team. Ben had been a bit of a ‘rugby jock' in school. His parents had actually sent him to the private Blackrock College, as his dad had gone there; it was well known for its great academic results, and it was the best rugby school in Ireland. And even though he had played rugby all through college too, he hadn't made it any further than club rugby. And after he spent a year away in Australia, his fitness had fallen and he never quite got good enough again. So now he played for the second team, but he was still very very keen, and enjoyed the tough game and after-match banter with the lads. He had known many of them since he was little, and loved it that everyone
knew his name when he walked into the club. It was like living on the set of the hit TV show
Cheers!