Two For Joy (56 page)

‘Yeah, why?' Lorna felt a flicker of excitement.

‘Well, a friend of mine who works in my building on the floor below me wants to go to Europe for six months, and she wants someone to take over her job and take a sublet on her apartment. She works for an agent.'

‘Where's the apartment?' Lorna demanded.

‘The East Village—'

‘I'll do it. I'll take it. When? Where?'

‘Hold on, you have to go and be interviewed first,' Suzie interjected.

‘Fine. When?'

‘I'll sort it. Get me a muffin to go with my latte,' her housemate ordered.

‘Yes, ma'am,' Lorna deadpanned and Suzie grinned.

‘Now!'

Two days later, dressed in a businesslike taupe suit with navy accessories, Lorna presented herself at Sandra Winston & Associates. Alanna, the girl she was hoping to replace, was sitting at the cherry-wood reception desk facing the elevator.

‘Hi, Alanna isn't it? I'm Lorna Morgan. I'm hoping to stand in for you. Suzie told me you wanted to go to Europe.'

Alanna eyed her up and down. ‘Waal, hi yourself. I guess Suzie's filled you in on what I'm doing. Six months off to do Europe. I just can't wait to get to Paris, France, and meet some sexy Frenchmen.' She grinned. ‘Sandra's fine to work for as long as you do your work and don't look for time off Friday or Monday. She goes out of town Thursday lunchtime and doesn't come back until Monday lunchtime. She has a farm in Westchester. She breeds horses.'

‘Wow! She must be rich.' Lorna was impressed.

‘Stinking. She has an apartment on Park!'

‘That says it all.' Lorna sighed.

‘Anyways like, mostly you're answering the phone, making appointments with editors and authors, typing letters, that kind of stuff. I use Word, are you familiar with that?'

‘Sure,' Lorna nodded.

‘Cool. If you want, you can come and spend a half day here once Sandra OKs you, and I can like, train you in. If you want to come around and see the apartment later this evening that's fine. It's a studio, kitchenette, and toilet and shower on the first floor. No AC unfortunately, but I've got plenty of fans. It's just off First and Eight.'

Lorna's heart sank. A studio! No AC. Already the humidity levels were very high. She'd heard that New York in August was a stinker. No AC was a bit of a bummer. Some parts of the East Village were a bit on the seedy side, and she hoped Alanna's pad was in the more bohemian, trendy neighbourhood. Still, it was too good an opportunity to miss. And it would give her a breathing space for six months, doing a job she was much more suited to. The relief of knowing that she might never have to work in Zack's goddammed diner again was indescribable.

‘When are you thinking of going?' Lorna asked.

‘Mid May.' Alanna broke off to answer a call.

That would be perfect, Lorna thought happily. Her mother was coming out the week after next. That would bring her up to the end of April. She'd do double shifts in the diner next week so that she'd never need to set foot in the crappy joint again.

‘Let me introduce you to Sandra.' Alanna stood up from behind her desk. She was tall and thin and dressed impeccably in a grey pinstripe suit.

‘Great,' agreed Lorna, although she felt a tad nervous as Alanna led her into a beige and off-white office where Sandra Winston reclined in a cream leather chair, dictating a letter. She was the epitome of Park Avenue chic in her black Chanel suit, with a single strand of pearls and a discreet gold bangle her only jewellery. Her ash-blonde hair was impeccably cut in a short asymmetrical style that sharpened her fine features and emphasized the smoky grey of her eyes. Her sculpted nails were state of the art, Lorna thought enviously as she stared at the perfectly groomed woman in front of her. She could be any age from thirty-five to fifty. It was hard to tell.

‘This is Lorna Morgan, the girl I was telling you about, Sandra,' Alanna said breezily.

‘Good to meet you.' Sandra held out her hand and gave Lorna a firm handshake. She had a soft, beautifully modulated voice. She was everything Lorna aspired to be, if just a little too old.

‘I've read your CV, it's fine. You've done frontline reception, which is what you'll be doing here for the six months Alanna is away. I expect you to keep on top of your in-tray. Be polite at all times to callers and clients. You will after all be the first interface callers will have with Sandra Winston & Associates. First impressions are lasting impressions. But I'm sure I don't have to tell you that, having worked in the hotel trade. I may have to call on you to run errands occasionally. And I like my coffee black, first thing. You know your way around Midtown and Uptown?' Sandra arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow that caused not a wrinkle on her smooth, botoxed forehead.

‘Oh yes, I spend a lot of my free time shopping,' Lorna assured her.

‘Perfect! I think we'll work extremely well together. Please come in for at least half a day so that Alanna can familiarize you with the office.' Sandra stood up, indicating that the interview was over.

‘Whew,' Lorna exhaled when Alanna had closed the door behind them.

‘She's totally hot.' Alanna grinned. ‘But it's a good position and you meet lots of people. I enjoy it. Why don't you call around to my building after work? I'll be there from seven on. I can tell you more about the job and you can see if you like where I live,' the other girl suggested.

‘Sounds good to me.' Lorna took the address that Alanna had written and left the office walking on air. Standing in the elevator as it sped silently from the fiftieth floor, Lorna looked in the mirror and smiled. At last it was starting to happen. Who knew who she'd meet during her sojourn at Sandra Winston & Associates? Now she really had something to boast about.

She wasn't too sure if she'd be boasting about the apartment, she thought with a sinking heart when, several hours later, she knocked on the door of Apt 1C and felt the oven blast of heat as Alanna unfastened what sounded like a multitude of locks before opening the door to the small, cramped studio apartment that looked out on to a fire escape and the wall of an adjoining apartment block.

‘Vista's not to die for,' Alanna admitted as she offered Lorna a beer, ‘but there's plenty of restaurants and shops around. Little India is just a few blocks away between First and Second. Great little restaurants, very cheap to eat out. There's lots of clubs and cafés, I'll leave you a list of must-sees!'

Lorna gazed around at the studio, which was about as big as the bedroom she'd shared with Heather so long ago in Dublin. The house in Yonkers was a palace in comparison.

A sofa-bed took up the wall opposite the two sash windows. A built-in shelf space contained a TV and stereo unit. An armchair with a multi-patterned throw stood in front of an unsightly radiator. A small table and two chairs completed the furniture. The room was painted in a soothing pale green and white, its only saving grace.

A closet filled the wall at the end of the room, off which two doors led to a tiny kitchenette with a cooker, sink, small fridge-freezer and microwave. The other door led to the toilet and shower.

‘The john's a bit noisy when you flush, so if I have to go at night I don't bother flushing. You'd be awake for an hour listening to the cistern filling up,' Alanna advised.

Lorna tried to quell her sense of disappointment. She'd been expecting a roomy loft, or an elegant brownstone. This poky little kip was from a different era, and the rent was not insubstantial, but this was Manhattan, she admitted. Living space did not come cheap. Unfortunately. If she was ever going to get the apartment on Park, she had to make a start somewhere. If Neil saw this, her image would be totally blown, she thought wryly as Alanna offered her another beer and began to tell her what would be expected of her as PA to the perfect Sandra Winston.

*   *   *

Jane Morgan kissed her elderly mother goodbye and hurried out of the nursing-home. She hated visiting. When her mother's health had started to deteriorate two years ago, Anne had offered to take her to live in her home and Jane had been mightily relieved. She was not good with sick people. They upset her, made her feel fearful about what might happen to her in the future. Her sister was much better at dealing with things like that. Their mother, however, had a streak of independence that was unquenchable, even in her eighties.

‘I'll be a burden to no one. I'm going to sell the house and move into that Tranquillity House nursing-home,' she declared. Jane thought it was a marvellous idea. Anne had been horrified.

‘We're not putting Mum into a home,' she fumed.

‘It's what she wants and that's what's important,' Jane said firmly, and her sister couldn't argue the point. The care in the nursing-home was excellent and their mother settled in well; nevertheless Jane disliked visiting, especially as her mother had become frailer and a little senile. It was distressing when she didn't know her, and whereas Anne had great patience with her, Jane found herself becoming irritable.

She hurried down the steps of the nursing-home to where her husband was waiting to drive her to the airport. She couldn't wait to get to New York. Lorna had been bubbling with excitement during her last phone call. Telling her mother about a new job and a new apartment that were on the cards. It did Jane good to hear her. She wanted her daughter to be happy. At least if she was happy it would help Jane smother the guilt she carried around with her after her daughter's traumatic outburst at Christmas. If only Lorna could find the right man and settle down it would be almost perfect.

‘How was Mother?' Gerard asked as they set off towards the capital.

‘Dozing. I don't know if she even knew I was there.' Jane sighed.

‘Well, she's not in any pain. She's warm and comfortable and well looked after, so try not to be upset,' her husband advised.

‘Thank you, Gerard,' she said more warmly than usual, appreciating yet again that while her husband might not be the most ambitious, successful man in the world, he had a good heart.

They didn't talk much, as was their wont, but as he stood with her at the check-in he smiled at her and said kindly, ‘Don't be afraid to use the credit card. I've upped the limit to ten thousand Euro so don't be stuck.'

‘Don't encourage me,' Jane warned as she raised her face to his and kissed him lightly on the cheek. ‘Thank you for the chance of this holiday with Lorna, Gerard. I appreciate it.'

‘A bit of daughter/mother bonding is always a good thing, but try to get her to think about coming home in May. She needs to set herself up in a career here, buy a house, establish roots.'

‘She's young yet, Gerard. Let her get it out of her system,' Jane argued.

‘She'll be an illegal, I worry about that. If anything happens to her she won't be able to pay for healthcare.'

‘I'll talk to her,' his wife promised as she took her boarding card from the clerk and with huge relief waved her husband goodbye before setting out, alone, on her much longed-for holiday.

*   *   *

‘And that's Jackie's apartment block, Mum,' Lorna pointed out the green canopied entrance to 1040 Fifth Avenue. ‘Isn't it magnificent? Look at the length of the canopy, it's longer than a limo.'

‘It's so elegant,' Jane murmured, staring with unashamed curiosity at the place where one of the greatest icons of the twentieth century had lived.

‘Look at the views she had over Central Park, and how near she was to all the shops that matter.' Lorna was in her element in her spiritual home of the Upper East Side. It was the third day of her mother's visit and they were about to have lunch in the Metropolitan Museum and then do a tour of it. Museums weren't normally Lorna's bag, but the Met was different and she knew her mother would enjoy its bright, airy, impossibly stylish ambience.

Jane had taken to New York like a duck to water and already her hotel room was filled with designer bags full of joyfully purchased goodies. It was the first time Lorna had ever spent time with her mother and to her surprise she was enjoying the experience. She'd gone out to JFK to meet her and her heart had lifted when she saw her elegant mother emerge into arrivals, her face lighting up with pleasure when she'd seen Lorna. They'd even hugged briefly.

It helped of course that they both enjoyed and shared a taste for the fine things in life. Jane thought Le Parker Meridian lived up perfectly to its ‘Uptown But Not Uptight' motto. She was like a child in Aladdin's cave as they plundered the stores on Fifth Avenue, and Lorna began to realize that her mother had never done the kind of things she took so much for granted. She'd never gone on holidays with girlfriends, never shared a flat, never gone clubbing and most probably never had sex before marriage. She'd gone from her parents' house to marriage and motherhood, and while she had travelled with Gerard, she'd never done the girly things she was now doing with Lorna. They'd even got tipsy on champagne in Jack's the previous evening after enjoying a delicious room-service dinner, so exhausted were they after a day of serious shopping that their swollen feet would take them no further.

When they got back to their hotel room later that evening, after their cultural afternoon, the flashing light on the phone caught Lorna's eye. ‘There's a message, Mum, you'd better check it out,' she said as she rooted around in the mini bar for some still water.

She heard her mother lift the phone, and then give a little gasp. ‘Oh no,' she muttered. ‘Oh no.'

‘What is it?' Lorna jumped to her feet and hurried over to where her mother was standing. ‘Mum, what is it?' she repeated. Jane raised a trembling hand to her mouth.

‘It's Mummy, she died an hour ago. We've got to go home!'

46

Heather knelt beside her grandmother's bed, along with the rest of her family, and looked at her face, which held a peaceful smile as though some secret knowledge had been granted to her and all life's cares and worries had been wiped away.