‘That’s right, he’s a super guy,’ his wife agreed.
‘Why didn’t he come down with you?’ Aileen reached for a second helping of mashed potatoes.
‘Simon’s too busy. All work and no play.’
‘No harm,’ her mother said matter-of-factly. ‘Sure, wouldn’t it be worse to have him under your feet all day?’
Andrew, determined not to be ignored, gave a surprised shout from his baby chair.
‘Oh he’s so adorable,’ Aileen gushed. ‘I can’t wait to have a baby of my own.’
‘You’ll have to wait till you’re married first,’ her mother said firmly.
‘And where would I find a husband? There’s nothing but eejits around here. I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole.’
‘Ah Aileen, you’ve plenty of time yet,’ Claire said kindly.
‘Not really,’ her mother sniffed. ‘You were Aileen’s age when you met Simon.’
Feeling her pulse rising, Aileen made a swift exit from the room. Her father disappeared into the good room to watch the news. Claire and her mother tackled the washing-up.
‘My biggest mistake was not sending Aileen and Mickey to boarding school.’ Her mother scrubbed one of the big saucepans fiercely.
‘But I hated boarding school,’ Claire argued, ‘I
was so lonely.’
‘Well, look how well you’ve done. You met all the right people and moved in the best circles. And I mean I have to say you married one of the best catches around.’
‘I dunno about that.’
Claire gave a plate a half-
hearted wipe. ‘Simon is out a lot with his friends.’
‘George did that too at first. But look how settled he became. I turned a blind eye to it all. Just made sure I kept myself slim and attractive.’
Claire sighed. This conversation was getting her absolutely nowhere. Not a negative word was allowed to be heard about super Simon.
She’d have to go back to Dublin in the morning and try to sort things out herself.
Back at home, Claire found it hard to be civil to her husband. Although on the outside she put up a semblance of normality, inside she seemed to be constantly crying. At night she found it increasingly hard to sleep and spent most of the time staring vacantly out of the kitchen window where darkness stretched into infinity.
She felt trapped. She didn’t know what to do. One moment she was Claire and everything was normal and then she’d remember Shelley kissing her husband and her world would spin out of control again. She had to do something. But what?
Her own head did not have the answers. Anna had moved on to her new job in Galway. Nobody was around. Nobody seemed to be there for her. That’s why when Tom rang to innocently arrange another trip to the gallery, she broke down. It was as if all the torturous anxieties and strangled emotions she had been bottling up over the past few weeks had finally tumbled forth.
Concerned, he invited her to his apartment for tea the following Saturday. She accepted without hesitation.
Simon didn’t dare refuse to babysit, as his wife got herself ready in stony silence and left the house.
As she nervously took the lift to Tom’s Dalkey apartment, overlooking
the sea, Claire felt an inex
plicable wave of guil
t sweep over her. But she dis
missed it just as fast. After all it wasn’t like she was planning anything terrible. Everything was above board. She pressed the doorbell and Tom let her in.
His apartment was simply furnished with white cotton rugs, and flanking the fireplace was a pair of ornate mirrors, designed to give the impression of spaciousness.
Claire was drawn
to the view from the bay win
dow. The sea was sparkling like a thousand million diamonds. Magnificent.
‘Wow, this is huge
ly therapeutic,’ Claire mur
mured. ‘No wonder you’re always in a good mood.’
‘Not always.’ Tom joined her at the window and slipped a strong arm around her tiny waist. ‘Not always I’m afraid.’
‘Emma told me about the tragedy,’ Claire said softly. ‘I . . . I don’t know what to say.’
‘It’s not always easy to find the right words,’ Tom said delicately. ‘Sometimes it’s just best not to say anything.’
When she moved closer to him and felt the warmth of his body against hers it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
They stood in companionable silence, gazing at the breathtaking view. It had such a calming effect. She wondered what was going through his mind. Did he simply feel protective towards her or was it more than that?
She moved slightly towards him. He didn’t move away. But that’s where the physical contact ended and for some reason Claire was glad of it. Of course it wasn’t out of loyalty for Simon. No, definitely not. It’s just that somewhere deep deep down, Claire knew that two wrongs would never make a right.
‘So what are the fellas like up in Dublin?’ Aoife was dying to know. ‘Grainne says they’re all rides.’
‘Oh, I don’t know about that.’ Anna sipped a cool beer on the bright new yellow sofa. ‘I suppose city men make a bit more of an effort with their appearance. But there’s more choice in Dublin.’
‘More clothes shops?’
‘And more men.’
‘So are you going to contact that fella who was asking after you?’
‘You mean Mark?’
‘Yeah, that’s the one.’
‘Ah no, he’s just a friend.’ Anna lit a cigarette. Aoife wasn’t a smoker but insisted she didn’t mind other people smoking, which was great. There wasn’t anything much worse than a flatmate who was constantly opening windows to shoo away the smoke.
Aoife was really easy going and Anna just knew she was going to enjoy living with her.
Work was going well too. It was great not having
June breathing down her neck like a demented dragon. She wondered how Elaine was getting on. She’d be back from her holidays by now.
Dublin seemed a million miles away with its constant stream of traffic and pollution. She loved the soft west-of-Ireland air and the fact that the Galwegians didn’t seem to suffer the same stress that Dubliners did. Nothing could beat walking the pier in Salthill in the evenings with the fierce Atlantic wind against your face. Living near the sea did one’s complexion no harm, that was for sure.
But she did miss Claire and Mark and sometimes in work, though she tried hard to concentrate on her sales figures, images of Mark’s smiling face floated past.
The following morning at work, one of the girls handed her a handwritten envelope. Anna was intrigued. It was always great to get something in the post other than company mail. She opened the envelope tentatively.
Inside was a card with a cute cartoon kitten on the front.
Best of luck in your new role, Elaine
Anna smiled. That was big of Elaine. Anna knew how much her colleague had wanted the job. Fair play to her for sending the card.
She was busy busy
busy. Being an assistant man
ager was a huge responsibility. Miss Browne was often out of town, leaving the day-to-day running of the store to Anna. The new position had given her enormous confidence, however, and looking back Anna often questioned how she’d ever doubted taking on the role.
But it left little free time. For men or anything else.
Often Anna barely had the energy to take off her make-up in the evenings before flopping into bed.
The date of the dreaded party was looming and the thought of it just would not go away.
Who the hell was she going to bring?
She didn’t know if she could face going alone. No matter how successful she’d become those
silly twits would still look down on her because she hadn’t nabbed a man for herself.
Aoife was very good to her. Insisted on dragging her to Central Park on a Friday night when Anna would have killed just to fall into bed instead. Aoife wouldn’t hear of it. She was Grainne’s sister after all. The nights were admittedly great craic and the music in Central Park was always brilliant but unfortunately most of the guys who chatted Anna up were younger than her and she wasn’t prepared to go down that road again. Oh God, what was she going to do about this blasted party? She couldn’t wait for it all to be over.
And then she met Darren. Totally out of the blue.
A last-minute meeting in Dublin meant that she had to take the early morning flight to the capital. A heavy fog meant a late departure. Anna sat in the airport and stared out of the window waiting for the incoming plane to land.
It felt like it was still the middle of the night.
At first she didn’t notice the tall, handsome man take a seat opposite her.
‘Is this Terminal One?’ he asked.
‘Excuse me?’ She looked up and locked eyes with him. He was good looking. Very good looking, in fact, with striking blue eyes and razor-sharp cheekbones. He showed her his ticket. Terminal One was clearly written on it.
They both laughed.
‘I presume you’re in the right place,’ she chuckled. Galway airport was tiny, definitely not enough room for a second terminal.
‘Must be a mistake then.’ He grinned, revealing film-star teeth. ‘So where are you off to? Is it business or pleasure?’
‘Business,’ Anna sai
d firmly. ‘Sure what is pleas
urable about getting up in the middle of the night?’
‘I know what you mean. I’m actually on my way to Manchester.’
‘Very good.’
‘You don’t sound terribly impressed.’
‘It’s hard to be impressed at this time of the morning,’ she laughed. ‘If you were going to
Ber
muda maybe . . .’
‘Are you from Dublin?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Me too.’
Because they were delayed and there was nothing else to do, the conversation lasted quite a while.
By take-off Anna had decided he was the one. They chatted easily as the plane whizzed across
Ireland.
She could barely steal her eyes away from him. She was sorry after only forty minutes when the
plane landed at Dublin airport.
They said goodbye.
Anna wondered if she’d ever see him again. She did.
At the baggage reclaim.
‘Sorry for bothering you again,’ he suddenly appeared at her side, ‘but I was wondering if by any chance you . . . ?’
‘Ye . . . es?’
‘Are you in Dublin tonight?’
‘Er . . .’ she hesitated.
‘Listen, if I’m annoying you I’ll bugger o
ff. Hon
estly.’
‘No you’re not er . . . annoying me at all.’
Far from it!
‘So would you be on for meeting up and doing something maybe?’
‘Sure,’ she said easily. Why wouldn’t she? He was divine. An opportunity like this knocked just once in a lifetime. If ever.
Although a city centre hotel had been booked for her she hadn’t had any intention of staying there anyway. She’d actually been planning on spending a bit of time at home with her folks. Now the room seemed like a much better idea.
The family could wait.
‘I’ll give you my mobile number just in case you change your mind . . .’
‘Good idea,’ Anna said quickly, knowing there’d need to be a bloody good reason to make her change her mind. ‘Well, see you later then.’
He was gone.
Was that a dream?
Anna made her way through the sliding doors and past the crowd of onlookers staring at her hopefully with their cardboard signs. She always felt almost guilty for not being the person they were looking to meet.
She queued at the taxi rank, no longer feeling the slightest bit tired. Sure wasn’t it great to be chatted up by such a god-like creature. Anna was totally flattered. What a change from the geeks who normally took a shine to her. She wondered what the hell his bloody name was? Wasn’t that just typical of her to get a number and no name.
The meeting droned on endlessly. Anna stared at the flip chart nodding every now and again, pretending to be interested. She took a look around the room at the haggard retail managers. God, they were a miserable-looking bunch, she concluded. Did nobody with decent looks choose retailing as a career? Oh well, it didn’t matter really. She was going to ring her sexy stranger once she escaped this dreary old meeting.