Two For Joy (30 page)

‘I'd love to go on the Staten Island ferry too,' Jane said animatedly. ‘Oh, Lorna, I'm starting to look forward to this.' They smiled at each other. ‘Are you sure you want me to come and visit?'

‘Of course I'm sure, Mum. Let's go and look up some hotels on the Internet.'

‘Maddie Costello always stays at the Waldorf Astoria, she says it's the best hotel in New York,' Jane remarked as they went into the den and switched on the computer.

‘She would say that,' Lorna said dryly. ‘Maddie Costello loves boasting. Just because her husband's a pilot and she gets free flights. Lisa, the girl I used to share with, was telling me about this hotel just minutes away from Tiffany's, Saks, Bergdorf Goodman and Central Park called Le Parker Meridian. It's got a rooftop pool – bet the Astoria doesn't have that – it's nearer to the posh end of Fifth Avenue, and it has a restaurant called Norma's which is one of
the
hot spots for brunch in New York. I think you should have a look at it.'

‘I'll look at anything,' Jane said happily over her daughter's shoulder.

They spent two gloriously satisfying hours surfing New York's finest hotels and had to agree that Le Parker Meridian sounded and looked just peachy. They drooled over the brunch menu.

‘I'll visit it, see if it's all it's made out to be, and if it is, you can book there and then, right?' Lorna said.

‘Right,' Jane agreed. ‘I hope Gerard won't mind.'

‘I don't think Dad will, Mum. I think he'd like you to go on a holiday. I'll say it to him tonight if you want.'

‘Well, you could just mention it.' Jane switched off the computer and gave her daughter an unexpected peck on the cheek before going out to check on dinner.

Lorna felt strangely happy. Her outburst at Christmas seemed to have been the best thing that could have happened between herself and her mother. They were drawing quite close … for them. That peck on the cheek was a sign of it. Jane was rarely affectionate. It was nice to see an animated sparkle in her mother's eye rather than that look of distant resignation that she often wore.

It would be a pleasure to go shopping with her mother. Jane had a great sense of style and loved buying clothes, the one interest they had always shared. Looking at the hotels on the Internet made it all so real. Soon Lorna was going to be there. And Le Parker Meridian and Norma's, Saks and Tiffany's were all going to be very real to her. Lorna did a little twirl of delight, only to stop short when her sixteen-year-old brother Eoin stuck his head in the door and jeered, ‘Who do you think you are, Britney Spears?'

‘Get lost,' she snapped. There was no love lost between her and her youngest brother – he was the bane of her life and always had been.

‘Get lost yourself, Brit,' Eoin reciprocated cheerfully and went off to see if dinner was ready. Lorna scowled. She wouldn't miss him.

Later, after dinner, when her father had retired to his study to read up on a case he was working on, she slipped in and sat on the arm of his chair.

‘Hi, Dad, how's it going?'

Gerard looked out over the top of his glasses at her and smiled.

‘Not bad, love. It's nice to have you home. Are you sure about going to New York?'

‘Oh yes, Dad,' Lorna said enthusiastically. ‘I wish I had a bit more money of course. It happened so unexpectedly I didn't have time to save, but I'm so looking forward to it and it's only for a few months anyway.'

‘Three, or you'll be an illegal,' her father pointed out.

‘Oh Dad, I might stay a bit longer, we'll see.'

‘Just be careful. And I'll give you a few bob when you're going.' He patted her knee.

Lorna gave him a little hug. He looked tired, she noted guiltily. She never made much fuss of her father, just took him for granted. She knew when she said about not having enough money that he'd subsidize her, he always did. He always took extremely good care of his family and got very little in return.

She cleared her throat. ‘Er … Dad … I was just wondering if you'd mind if Mum came out for a few days when I'd settled in? I know she'd adore the shopping, but I don't think it would be you somehow or another.'

Gerard laughed. ‘Dead right it wouldn't be me. I'd love for your mother to go. And you think she would?' He looked at her in surprise.

‘I think so,' Lorna said noncommittally. ‘I just don't think she'd feel good about you not coming. I don't think she'd feel it was fair.'

‘I'll sort that out, don't worry.' Gerard smiled, visions of a week's fishing beginning to take shape.

‘Great.' She kissed the top of his bald head. ‘I won't disturb you from your work.'

‘You're never a disturbance,' her father told her fondly. ‘Maybe before you go you should sort things out with Heather. It would be a shame for you to go off if you're having a bit of a tiff,' he added, out of the blue. Lorna was surprised – she hadn't realized that Gerard knew anything about her estrangement from her cousin.

‘Well, I was talking to her today and I tried to be friends but she was very snooty,' she said defensively.

‘Persevere.' Her father smiled.

‘OK,' she agreed, thinking privately that if Heather wanted to stay snooty she could. It was no skin off Lorna's nose. She went out to the kitchen and made herself a cup of hot chocolate. Heather had been extremely cool today and she certainly wasn't going to get down on bended knees and beg her cousin to talk to her. She really thought she was someone now just because she had a fella, she thought crossly. She was dead cute though. Neil Brennan was going to be rolling in it eventually. That garage was no Mickey Mouse affair and Neil had told her he was going to expand. Lorna believed him. She recognized ambition when she saw it and he was ambitious.

He'd laughed at her when she'd told him she wanted to keep the car for two weeks, but he'd played it well, she thought, faintly admiring. He wouldn't give her the cheque for a week but he'd agreed that she could hold on to the car until she left. She'd half expected him to turn her down outright. She had given him a hard time in the past but he hadn't held it against her when they were doing business. He might be a country bumpkin, but he was an ambitious country bumpkin, she acknowledged, and Heather had made a smart move coming back to Kilronan.

She paced around the kitchen. She was bored. If she and Heather had been talking she could have gone and had a drink with her. Maybe she'd go up to the gym in the Lake View and do a work out early in the morning. She needed to be absolutely toned and fit for life in New York so that she could stride down Fifth Avenue in her designer gear with the best of them.

She was doing a swift jog on the treadmill at nine a.m. the following morning when Heather and Neil sauntered in. Damn, she cursed silently, holding her tummy in tighter. Heather was not a bit pleased to see her, she could tell by her expression, but Neil gave a friendly wave and called ‘Hi.'

She waved back and kept on jogging. Fancy seeing them here. Heather could do with a few sessions in the gym, she thought cattily. Neil seemed to have toned up a lot since she'd first known him.

They stepped on their treadmills and began to walk briskly. Not able to jog, Lorna thought smugly as she increased her pace. Ten minutes later she lay on a bench and began to lift light weights. She could see through lowered lashes that Neil was looking at her and she stretched and lifted, making sure to stick her boobs out and tuck her tummy in.
Eat your heart out, babe, all you'll ever get is lumpy, dumpy Heather.

They left before she did, and she felt a little flat. They seemed happy together, joking and laughing. What was she going to do for the rest of the day? Nothing. The great metropolis of Kilronan had nothing to offer her. On an impulse she decided to go for a swim and a sauna. She had her bikini in her sports bag. She did a quick change, took a shower before going into the pool and walked through the swing doors. She slid gracefully into the pool and began to swim a length. It was nice to feel her limbs relax in the warm water after her workout and she turned on her back and lazily floated along.

‘Hello again.' Neil Brennan surfaced beside her. She got such a shock she swallowed some water and came up spluttering.

‘Whew.' She wiped the water from her eyes, wishing she wasn't wearing a totally silly bathing hat.

‘Where's Heather?' she asked.

‘Over there.' He pointed to the other side of the pool.

‘She's not too friendly,' Lorna said in her ‘poor little me' voice. ‘Do you think if I swam over and asked her to go for a drink she would?'

‘I have no idea.' Neil laughed. ‘Good luck!' He swam away from her, much to her chagrin. How dare he turn away from her in the middle of a conversation. A proper country bumpkin. She eyed her cousin. Heather was scowling at her. For two figs she wouldn't bother, but if she didn't make it up with Heather she was stuck here for the best part of two weeks with no one to go out with. She took a deep breath and crawled lazily across the pool to where her cousin was doing some exercises.

‘Hi, Heather.' She pretended everything was perfectly normal between them.

‘What do you want?' Heather said bluntly.

‘Please don't be like that,' Lorna wheedled. She was quite astonished that Heather was holding the row for so long. It really was so unlike her.

‘Why not?' Heather said coldly, doing the bicycle underwater.

‘Look, I'm sorry. I didn't behave very well. I admit it. Can't you let bygones be bygones? I'm not going to be here for very long. I'm going to New York in two weeks. I was made redundant,' she threw that in for the sympathy vote. ‘Please, Heather, stop being so cold.'

‘Well, it wasn't nice what you did, Lorna.'

‘But look, you didn't stay in Dublin. You're back home with Neil, in your own place. You've really got it made. I've nothing,' Lorna protested.

‘Well, no thanks to you,' Heather muttered.

‘I know, but you're a lucky wagon all the same,' Lorna persisted. She felt she was getting somewhere. ‘Look, why don't you and I go and have a drink tonight—'

‘No, Neil and I are going out. He's going back to work now,' Heather retorted.

‘Fine, let's go and have a coffee and a chat. Please, Heather?' she urged.

‘OK then,' Heather sighed. ‘After I've had a sauna.'

‘Great. I was going to have one too. Whenever you get out I'll follow,' Lorna said gaily as she did a back flip and swam away. Passing Neil going in the opposite direction, she gave a triumphant thumbs-up. She sighed happily. She and Heather were talking again. She wasn't going to be stuck on her own for two weeks, and she'd have someone to impress with her tales of New York.

Life was getting better and better, she decided as she sliced through the pool with firm, powerful strokes.

25

Heather was frazzled. It was the day of the official opening and her phone was buzzing constantly. Caterers, invitees, as well as the normal run-of-the-mill phone calls she usually dealt with. The last two weeks had been hectic, getting the invites printed up and sent out and then organizing the event itself.

Lorcan Kelly, head of the local Chamber of Commerce, who was performing the ceremony, was taking it all very seriously and had been in constant contact. He was a serious, intense man in his mid-fifties who had a tendency to make mountains out of molehills. He'd insisted on approving the guest list and adding a few more names of his own and he was getting on Heather's nerves.

She couldn't grumble to Neil, he was as bad. He was hyper, rushing around getting into a tizzy over the slightest thing. He'd become even more driven than when she first knew him, Heather reflected as he asked her for the umpteenth time whether she'd organized the bouquet of flowers for Lorcan's wife. Personally, she felt he was going over the top and wasting money, but he told her Mrs Kelly too was a potential customer, the same as everyone else, and it was good to keep in with her.

A red car shot on to the forecourt. It was Lorna. Heather sighed deeply. She really wasn't in the humour to listen to her cousin rabbiting on about New York. She'd had it shoved down her neck for the past two weeks. It was all Lorna could talk about. Though she was trying, she couldn't quite feel the same about her cousin. Lorna had been all friendly and bubbly when they'd gone for coffee the Saturday they'd met in the gym. She'd been all over Heather, saying how wonderful it was for her to be back with Neil. Heather didn't believe a word of it. She'd never had a good word to say about him before. She was such a hypocrite. Still, the three of them had arranged to meet for a drink on the Sunday night and Lorna had been so sweet to Neil it was sickening.

‘She's not that bad, I suppose. She's quite entertaining,' Neil had remarked as they walked home hand in hand. Heather had said nothing. One day, Lorna would revert to her true self, and Neil wouldn't be quite so smitten.
Entertaining
indeed!

Her cousin waved at her. Heather waved back. She could see that Lorna was dressed to kill in a pair of black leather trousers, black polo, and short black leather jacket. She wore a pair of black sunglasses and looked for all the world like a film star or model. Automatically Heather tightened her tummy muscles. She'd seen her cousin doing a punishing workout, and running fast on the treadmill. She worked hard for her stunning figure, Heather couldn't deny it. She always felt like a plump frump beside her. She was definitely going to walk at least a mile a day, she promised herself as Lorna swanned into the office.

‘Hi, I just dropped by to say I'll be dropping the car in after I say goodbye to Gran this afternoon. What time's your do?'

‘One thirty, why don't you come?' Neil had just come into the office.