The Heartbreak Cafe (22 page)

‘
Well, Ella is great of course, and Trish and …oh, I’m sure you
know Ruth … Seymour, the actress? She’s back for the
summer.’

‘
The Ruth Seymour? Of course I’d almost forgotten she was from
Lakeview. So you’re friends with her now too?’

‘
Well, we’ve met up for coffee a couple of times, I’m not
saying we’re best friends or anything,’ Nina insisted. ‘But working
on Trish’s book is good fun. We’ve been going through the archives
at the library and found a lot of great stuff – some of it about
you actually.’

‘
Really, like what?’

‘
Just old newspapers articles about various school events and
suchlike. You were quite the social butterfly, Mum.’

‘
I suppose so, back in my younger days,’ Cathy said and Nina
heard a smile in her voice. Actually, her mother was still the
social butterfly.

‘
I didn’t see much about Patrick though.’

‘
Well, you know he’s always liked to do his own
thing.’

‘
I know, and don’t get me wrong but I still can’t understand
how you two ever got together. It looked like you could have had
the pick of the lads in Lakeview.’

‘
Ah, Nina stop.’

‘
No really; I mean he’s such a loner now, I can’t help
wondering if he was like that when he was younger. And you and he
are just so different; I really hope I didn’t get his weird
genes.’

‘
Look, as I’ve said before, your father is who he is and he
played a very special role in my life. He gave me you after all.
OK, so he might not be typical, but he has his own charm and he’s
done the best by me – by us. And now he’s obviously been kind
enough to give you a place to live. Really, you shouldn’t be so
hard on him.’

Nina
sighed heavily, feeling guilty and unkind for her criticism, after
all Patrick was allowing her to stay here without asking questions,
he let her do her own thing and didn’t ask for any rent.

‘
I know, I’m sorry. It’s just well you know how he can
be.’

‘
Still having cabbage on Wednesdays?’ Cathy joked. ‘I know how
much you used to love that.’

Nina
laughed. ‘Yes, but like you say, he has been good to
me.’

‘
Exactly. So how long are you planning on staying
there?’

‘
I’m not sure really. It was a kind of a spur of the moment
thing, but I suppose I’m sort of …settled here now.’

‘
Well that’s good to know. I worry about you a lot you know.
And really, I’m kicking myself that I’m not there for you at such a
tough time. Have you heard anything from Steve?’

‘
No Mum and I really don’t want to. That’s definitely over and
done with.’

‘
You’re sure?’

‘
Definitely.’ Suddenly, Nina found herself eager to get off the
phone. ‘Anyway, I’m going to have to run, have a fantastic time in
China and give my love to Tony, OK? We’ll talk again
soon.’

‘
OK honey, be good.’

Nina put
the handset back in the receiver and stared at the
ceiling.

That had
gone reasonably well, hadn’t it? Cathy didn’t seem unduly
suspicious about her whereabouts, which was great, as she’d been so
sure her mother would guess something. Not that she could have
guessed this of course. Nina subconsciously ran a hand over her
stomach.

She
almost jumped out of her skin when her mobile phone rang again.
Picking it up she saw it was an unfamiliar number, but she decided
to answer it anyway.

‘
Hello.’

‘
Hello Nina? Hi, it’s Ruth here.’

‘
Oh hi, how are you?’

‘
OK I guess,’ she said, not sounding OK at all. ‘Look my mum
passed on your messages and … well I’m sorry about not getting back
to you guys sooner but –’

‘
Not at all, I’m sure you have a lot going on.’

‘
You could say that.’ She sounded flustered, Nina thought.
Trish had insisted that her Lakeview News interview with Ruth would
be balanced and pretty complimentary, but maybe there’d been
another horrible story in the papers in the meantime? ‘Actually I
was wondering if maybe you wanted to meet up for lunch or
something?’

‘
Today?’

‘
Well, yes, if you don’t have anything else on.’

Nina
didn’t. Ella didn’t need her at the café and Trish was working flat
out on the upcoming edition of the newspaper so she was at a loose
end. ‘That would be lovely. Do you want to meet at the
café?’

‘
Well is there any chance you could come here to my place? My
parents are out at the moment,’ she added hastily. ‘And I was just
was thinking that I really don’t feel like putting on makeup and
getting dressed up.’

Yes, Nina
could only imagine the pressure of having to look a million dollars
every time you put your nose outside the door.

‘
Sounds perfect, can I bring anything?’

‘
Well, now that you say it, could you pop to the shops and
maybe pick up a salad or something?’ she asked and Nina got the
impression that she was used to having minions at her beck and
call. But she didn’t mind, as long as the other girl didn’t make a
habit of it.

‘
Why don’t I pop into the cafe and get Ella to rustle us up a
salad roll or something?’

‘
That would be fantastic,’ Ruth said, sounding relieved, but
also Nina noted, a little frazzled. ‘Nothing with wheat though, you
know how it is. And nothing with butter, eggs, or meat …oh and no
tomatoes either; they give me breakouts.’

‘
OK.’ Nina wondered what options she actually had left. Soda
bread and lettuce?

‘
Oh sod it; actually, maybe I need a carb blowout,’ she said
with a sigh.

‘
Ruth, are you OK? You sound a bit … stressed.’

‘
What? No, no, I’m fine. I just didn’t want you to think I was
ignoring your calls or anything. You and Trish have been so nice to
me and – ’

‘
No need to worry about that,’ Nina reassured her. ‘Tell you
what, I’m just going to get changed, pick us up something nice, and
I should be with you sometime after one o’clock OK?’

‘
Great, see you then.’

Getting
off the phone once more, Nina went into the bathroom to freshen up.
As she was getting ready, she studied her changing body shape in
the mirror. Hmm, her boobs were definitely bigger, as was her
stomach. She grimaced, placing her hands gently on either side and
turned to look at her profile. Yep, over four months in she was now
very definitely starting to show.

She felt
a sense of awe as she thought about the baby growing inside her.
Would it be a girl or a boy? What colour eyes would it would have
and would it have dark hair like hers or dusty blond like Steve’s?
Then Nina shook her head, preventing herself from thinking about
such things. What did it matter who it looked like? What mattered
was what the hell she was going to do about it.

She
slipped on a white form fitting t-shirt with the intention of
placing a bulky sweater over it to hide her growing frame. Then she
realised that she’d left the sweater back in her bedroom. She
padded barefoot back out to the hallway and almost collided with
Patrick at the top of the stairs.

‘
Oh!’ Nina stopped in her tracks and locked eyes with her
father.

‘
I was just wondering if….’ His words trailed off as his gaze
trailed to her mid-section, settling on the small bump highlighted
by the tight-fitting T-shirt. Nina instinctively lowered the towels
and clothes that she had been carrying.

‘
Yes?’ she prompted, hoping that he was just embarrassed about
seeing her still half-dressed. His eyes wouldn’t meet hers; they
were shifting back and forth as he stood there,
dumbstruck.

Nina felt
her face becoming hot, and before he could say anything, she moved
away and down towards her room, closing the door behind her. She
threw the towels on the bed, and rushed to put on the sweater.
Damn! Could her father possibly put it all into place? Had he
spotted that she was pregnant? Or maybe she just looked bloated
like she’d ate too much for breakfast?

She rose
to look again in the mirror. No, she definitely looked pregnant,
there was no way anyone could pass that off as too much
food.

Then
again, what of it? What business was it of his? She wasn’t asking
him to raise it and she wasn’t sixteen either. She was thirty years
old and only living here temporarily. There was no reason for
Patrick to care one way or the other; he knew that she’d been
living with her boyfriend, so why would he care?

Still,
she didn’t want Patrick to know, didn’t want anyone to know in case
word would get back to her mother. And the last thing Nina wanted
was to have to deal with other people’s emotions; it was hard
enough dealing with it all herself. Not to mention that she hadn’t
even begun dealing with … the consequences.

The last
conversation she wanted was one with her father where she had to
explain she was pregnant by a man who was no longer her boyfriend,
and who had no intention of marrying her nor helping her raise the
baby.

Still,
Nina knew that regardless of how odd Patrick may be, he wasn’t an
idiot. If he did suspect something, it was only a matter of time
before he’d ask what the hell was going on. Not to mention that
sooner or later she’d need to tell him the truth.

Or would
he ask? Nina didn’t know. Patrick could be so strange sometimes
that he might not have noticed a thing, or even if he had, might
not make mention of it in any case.

And for
once in her life, Nina was somewhat glad that her father wasn’t
quite like anyone else.

The
doorbell of her parents’ house rang and Ruth went to answer it,
expecting to see Nina. She’d phoned her on the spur of the moment
really; needing to talk to someone after Troy’s wholehearted and
very hurtful rejection of her.

Of course
she had no intention of confiding in Nina about her newly
discovered state – it was way too early for that – but she’d spent
so much time cooped up in this house lately that she needed
something to take her mind off her problems. And in truth, she felt
guilty about avoiding Nina’s messages this last while; she was a
lovely person, easy to be around and had this nice sort of calming
effect on Ruth – sort of like Chloe but better.

But when
Ruth answered the door she was met by none other than Charlie
Mellon.

‘
Charlie?’ she gasped, confused. What was he doing
here?

‘
May I come in?’ he asked sombrely.

‘
Sure.’ Ruth stood back to let him pass and he stood in the
hallway looking around. ‘The place hasn’t changed much,’ he
commented lightly. Then he glanced towards the kitchen. ‘Are the
folks home?’

‘
No, they went to Dublin for the day.’

‘
I thought as much when I didn’t see the car outside. You
didn’t go with them?’

She
smiled tightly. ‘I’m trying my best to keep a low profile these
days.’

‘
Ah. Know what you mean. I guess that explains why I haven’t
seen you around town lately.’

‘
I would have thought you’d be glad about that seeing as
apparently my presence here offends you so much,’ she said, clearly
recalling their last meeting.

‘
Well, actually that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I
wanted to apologise for my behaviour in the café that
time.’

Ruth
couldn’t hide her surprise. ‘Apologise? Why?’

‘
Because I know I shouldn’t have been so rude to
you.’

She
raised an eyebrow. ‘Well, I won’t argue with that. But why the
sudden change of heart?’

Charlie
sighed. ‘Look, any chance I could have a cup of coffee while I’m
here?’ he said, eyes twinkling in the slightly roguish way that had
always made him irresistible.

‘
Depends on whether or not you deserve one.’ Ruth wasn’t going
to make things that easy for him.

‘
OK, OK. I admit it; I was an ass for talking to you the way I
did. You didn’t deserve it.’

‘
Agreed and I’m still trying to figure out where this
turnaround is coming from.’

He held
up a newspaper she hadn’t noticed he was carrying. ‘I read the
interview in the News this morning and to be honest, I didn’t
realise that you’d had it so tough in Hollywood.’

‘
Tough?’ Eyes wide, Ruth reached for the paper. What the hell
had Trish been saying about her?

She
flicked through the pages until she found the two-page spread,
including (an admittedly fabulous photograph) of her taken down by
the lake. Ruth was impressed; she hadn’t expected the local
photographer to be that good. But the headline wasn’t so
good.

Our Ruth
Overcomes Hollywood Casting Couch Hell to finally make it to the
Top.

Damn!
Ruth had mentioned very briefly how she’d had to work hard to break
away from the Oirish stereotype but it had been nothing like the
‘hell’ the headline suggested! Carrying the open newspaper through
to the kitchen, her eyes scanned through the interview. It was for
the most part flattering, and while Trish had mercifully glossed
over the Troy Valentine and Late Tonight incidents, she did imply
that Ruth enjoyed and embraced the party-girl tag, pointing out
that she’d always been an attention seeker while growing
up.