The Heartbreak Cafe (7 page)

Trish
wrinkled her nose. ‘Hollywood Star or not – she puts her pants on
the same way I do,’ she giggled. ‘That’s if she remembers to wear
any at all.’

‘
Trish!’ Ella gasped shocked, and Nina smiled. ‘Although I read
heat magazine too and I do think that botox or not, she’s a bit
past the scraps of clothes she’s been wearing lately.’

‘
What age is she?’ Nina asked. ‘She has to be at least
thirty.’

‘
Twenty-five according to the press release,’ Trish confirmed
with a chuckle. ‘Does that mean we get to be twenty-five too? I do
hope she realises she is attracting a swarm of press to her
hometown, and someone might pull her birth certificate,’ she added
her eyes sparkling mischievously.

‘
Now, now, don’t be spiteful,’ Ella warned. ‘And don’t you be
stirring up trouble just because you have access to records for
that project you are doing.’

Trish
went on to explain to Nina how she was currently in the process of
putting together a photographic history of Lakeview. ‘I’m
publishing it for charity, so I get access to all the town’s
records to compile it.’

‘
Sounds interesting,’ Nina replied, thinking it was a very good
idea indeed. The town was steeped in history, having been the site
of a major republic rebellion a hundred years before. And seeing as
it had changed immeasurably since even the last time she had seen
it, it would be nice to have the changes down through the years
documented.

‘
Anyway,’ Trish continued. ‘The town has arranged to give her a
Lakeview Person of the Year award – I know; as if we have this huge
pool to choose from,’ she giggled, seeing Nina’s amused look.
‘There’s going to be a huge party at Clancy’s Hotel. You should
come along. Everyone acts as if the queen is coming. Although I
suppose it is very cool to think that someone from Lakeview,
someone we know, is now so famous.’

‘
Will you get to interview her?’

‘
Yep and I can’t wait, for the sake of my career if nothing
else,’ Trish smiled. ‘I would like to move on to one of the
nationals eventually.’

‘
Of course,’ Nina agreed, and no one better than Trish to do
so. ‘Well when you do, do you think you can ask her a question for
me?’

‘
Of course, what’s that?’

‘
What it’s like to spend her days on set snogging Troy
Valentine?’

Trish
threw her head back and laughed aloud. ‘You must have been reading
my mind! Well look, I’d better grab this pastry and get going. Oh,
Nina it’s brilliant to see you back. Having you home will be just
like old times. You should come to the awards thing with me and
we’ll drink loads of champagne. I’ll give you a call later to
arrange the plans, OK?’ she said, before breezing out the
door.

‘
Sure,’ Nina agreed, although Trish’s words had ruined the
light-heartedness of the moment and brought her screaming back to
reality.

Ella was
off serving customers, and deciding she’d already taken up enough
of her time, Nina left some money on the counter and stood up to
leave. Ella gave a friendly wave as she left but once outside, the
weight of all Nina’s problems returned. It was nice to feel just
normal and carefree for a moment with Trish and Ella she thought,
sighing. And while she’d be happy to go to Ruth Seymour’s official
homecoming with her friend, there would be no champagne for
her.

Nina
couldn’t well be partying it up and drinking bubbly in Clancy’s
hotel, not when she was twelve weeks pregnant.

Back in
Dublin, Jess worried over what had happened at Emer’s. She felt
hurt and betrayed that her so-called best friend would lie in order
to keep her away from her Happy Families party.

So now
that Emer had a child and Jess didn’t, it was easier to just cut
her out of her life? Why? What difference did it make, and why
should it make a difference at all?

It
certainly made no sense to Jess anyway, and she couldn’t believe
that Emer seriously felt the need to purposely leave her out of the
celebrations. And to think she even offered to baby-sit.

Earlier
that day, Emer had tried her best to smooth things over when her
neighbour left, by being overly chatty and offering to share the
bottle of champagne she’d been so reluctant about
before.

‘
Oh, go on then, you’ve twisted my arm,’ she’d said cheerily,
as if nothing at all had happened.

‘
No, it’s fine, maybe you should just keep it for your next
party,’ Jess murmured, before eventually making her excuses and
leaving.

While
she’d tried her utmost not to betray her feelings about the
situation, it was difficult. On the one hand, she felt a bit silly
for being so upset about it, but on the other there was no question
that she had been deceived. By someone who was supposed to be her
best friend, the person with whom she’d shared pretty much
everything over the last fifteen years. Well, clearly Emer wasn’t
interested in sharing her new life with her, Jess mused unhappily,
not while she remained childfree in any case.

And that
wasn’t on the cards, not yet anyway. She and Brian would like to
have children someday of course, but the time wasn’t quite right.
Granted they’d been married for seven years and together for over
ten, but somehow the idea had never really occurred to them. Their
careers probably had a lot to do with it; Brian was away so much
with the executive travel agency he managed, and Jess had been
working her way up the corporate ladder at Piccolo.

Thinking
about it now as she moved through their Dublin townhouse, she
wasn’t quite sure why they’d never thought seriously about going
down that route; goodness knows enough of their immediate circle
had done it. Emer and Dave, Deirdre and Kevin, and many of the
other couples they socialized with.

Or used
to.

Jess knew
Brian would be an amazing dad and she hoped she’d be a good mother,
as she adored babies and liked spending time with children; Emer’s
little Amy being a case in point. Yet, she’d never really pictured
herself as a mother, for some reason feeling that there was plenty
of time for that and when the time came, she’d know about it. After
all, there was a time in every woman’s life when she just knew,
wasn’t there? Although perhaps this line of thinking was fine when
you’re twenty-four but not so much when you’re
thirty-five.

It was
strange but still Jess associated settling down and starting a
family as something older more mature people did, and didn’t feel
she and Brian were quite at that stage yet. Her maternal instinct
hadn’t yet kicked in, and because of this, babies still didn’t
really feature in their plans

Why not?
Was there some other subconscious reason that she hadn’t
considered?

She went
to the bedroom and stripped off her clothes, changing into a pair
of pyjama pants and an old t-shirt and tying her fair hair into a
ponytail.

She
looked around the bedroom she shared with her husband, realising
that the normal sense of calm that she got from this tranquil place
with its bright interior and luxurious fabrics was not apparent
today. She tried to see it through Emer’s eyes, suspecting that her
friend might note the room for its beauty, but would possibly deem
it lacking because the floor wasn’t strewn with toys.

Then a
sudden bubble of defensiveness rose up inside her. Why should she
be feeling undermined by this? She had a fabulous career, a
wonderful husband who loved her, and an all-round great life. She
was happy with her own choices, happy with her life as it was. At
least, she was until this weekend.

She
wanted desperately to talk to Brian about what had happened, and on
any other day would have phoned him immediately, but at that moment
he was thirty-thousand feet above sea-level on his way back from
Singapore. He’d be home later and they could talk about it
then.

Jess
sighed, wishing she didn’t have to wait. She needed to talk to
someone, needed to share what had happened and reassure herself
that she wasn’t just imagining things; that her friendship with
Emer really was in jeopardy.

In the
open wardrobe, her eyes rested on a DVF dress that her friend
Deirdre had admired last time she’d worn it. Of course, Deirdre! No
better woman to talk to about this, and who being both a friend of
hers and Emer’s would be able to shine a light on it. She too lived
in Lakeview, and was also a mum to two small toddlers, something
which as far as Jess could recall had never had any negative
bearing on their relationship.

Feeling
slightly heartened at the thought of being able to discuss her
worries with a sympathetic third party, Jess reached for the
bedside phone, and dialled Deirdre’s number.

The phone
rang seven times, and Jess was beginning to think that her friend
wasn’t home when finally, on the eighth ring, Deirdre picked
up.

‘
Hello?’ she gasped, and Jess noted how frazzled she
sounded.

‘
Deirdre, hey it’s Jess.’

‘
Oh hello there!’ she replied and as Jess heard the genuine
warmth in her voice, she began to feel more at ease.

‘
How are you? Just thought I’d phone and say –’

‘
Boys, I said NO! Hold on Jess, it’s World War Three here.’
Deirdre didn’t wait for Jess to respond; instead she placed the
phone down on whatever surface must have been closest and went off
to scold one of the boys for doing something … with a frog
apparently. OK, Jess thought with a smile, whatever that was about,
she really didn’t want to know. Finally, all seemed quiet again and
Jess waited for her friend to get back on the line.

‘
I’m sorry Jess,’ Deirdre groaned. ‘Both boys are in a mood and
I’m being referee all day.’

‘
No worries,’ Jess said, easily. ‘I can imagine.’ Although she
couldn’t, not really.

‘
So how are you?’

‘
Well …’ Jess wasn’t quite sure how to broach the subject
without feeling like an idiot. ‘I’m having a bit of a crisis
actually.’

‘
Crisis – you?’ Deirdre said with a faint laugh as if the very
idea were preposterous. ‘Ah let me guess, you can’t get those new
season Choos in your size?’

While she
might have been joking (and almost certainly was), Jess’s heart
sank afresh at the idea that her friend would think her so shallow
that the only crisis she could possibly have was a wardrobe one. It
wasn’t as though Jess was some bimbo airhead with nothing to do but
shop all day. She was a professional businesswoman with an
important job and a full team under her remit.

But
realising that she was liable to be touchy just now, she resisted
the urge to remind Deirdre so. ‘Ah, no nothing like that,’ she
chuckled. ‘No, this is actually about Emer.’

‘
Oh?’

‘
Well, I called down to Lakeview earlier with her birthday
present and –’

‘
Ah blast it – I forgot her birthday was today. I wouldn’t mind
but we were only talking it about a few days ago and …sorry go on,’
Deirdre said, the rest of her sentence trailing off.

Jess duly
filled Deirdre in on her afternoon with Emer, from the offer and
subsequent refusal to babysit, Emer’s outright lie about her plans,
to the arrival of her neighbour and the truth coming
out.

Deirdre
listened silently at first as she took in the story, and hearing
herself recount it, Jess felt surer than ever that she had been
hard done by.

‘
So you see, it’s not so much that I’m upset she didn’t invite
me, more that she felt the need to lie about it,’ she said in
conclusion. ‘Although I suppose I am a bit miffed about that too,
especially when she knew I was at a loose end.’

‘
I know what you mean,’ her friend replied, and Jess
immediately started to feel better; sensing she had an
advocate.

‘
So what do you think?’ she urged. ‘Am I right in being totally
cheesed off? Not to mention pretty hurt.’

There was
silence on the other end of the line. ‘Well …you see, this is a bit
of a tricky situation. I understand you being mad, but I have to
admit I kind of understand Emer’s side of it too.’

‘
Really?’ Jess said, sitting up straight in bed. Emer’s side?
‘What do you mean?’ Then something Deirdre had said hit her. ‘I
wouldn’t mind but we were only talking about it a few days ago
…’

‘
Wait a minute, were you there last night? Did you go to the
party too?’

‘
No no I wasn’t there,’ Deirdre said quickly, and Jess started
to relax again, happier in the knowledge that she wasn’t the only
one who had been excluded. ‘I mean … we were invited, but we didn’t
go in the end. Dougie had a bit of throat infection during the week
so I thought it better to not infect any other children just in
case.’

Jess
blinked. ‘Oh, so I guess I am the pariah then. None of you want me
around because I don’t have any kids of my own.’

‘
No. Of course, not,’ Deirdre soothed. ‘Look, it’s just … well
I think Emer thought that it wouldn’t be your thing, or Brian’s if
he came along too. I mean, why would you two want to be around the
lot of us and our kids?’