Where Rainbows End (20 page)

But this entire experience has taught me something. It’s taught me that I’m ready to move on from this job. I’m ready to accept a new challenge and without having any sort of game plan at all, I seem to be moving closer and closer toward my dream. Whoever thought those childhood dreams of running a hotel weren’t quite beyond my grasp after all? It’s funny because when you’re a child, you believe you can be anything you want to be, go wherever you want to go. There’s no limit to what you can dream. You
expect
the unexpected, you
believe
in magic, in fairy tales, and in possibilities. Then you grow older and that innocence is shattered and somewhere along the way the reality of
life
gets in the way and you’re hit by the realization that you can’t be
all
you wanted to be, you just might have to settle for a little bit less.

Or perhaps a variation of what you once wanted.

Why do we stop believing in ourselves? Why do we let facts and figures and anything but dreams rule our lives?

But now my mind is changed again. Nothing is impossible Alex—it was there all the time, I just wasn’t reaching out far enough, that’s all.

Nothing is impossible.

Not a bad statement to come from the pen of a cynic.

Thank you for your faith in me Alex, I would love to return that hug and kiss to you now! But then again perhaps
some
things just might be beyond our reach after all.

176

Cecelia Ahern

from:

Alex

to:

Rosie

subject:

Dreams

Again Rosie, you’re just not stretching far enough. I’m right here.

You have an instant message from: ROSIE

Ruby:

What on earth is Alex’s last message to you supposed to mean?

Rosie:

For god sake Ruby,
stop
reading my e-mails!

Ruby:

Sorry I can’t help it but I can assure you that I will continue to read them until you decide to change your password
and
until I find a job that interests me at all.

Rosie:

Well it looks like I’ll be changing my password then . . .

Ruby:

Ha ha so come on, I’ve seen it now, what’s he talking about? What’s this about stretching far enough?? Sounds kinda dodgy.

Rosie:

What do you think it means?

Ruby:

I’m asking you.

Rosie:

And I’m asking you.

Ruby:

I asked first.

Rosie:

Oh Ruby, don’t be so childish

Ruby:

OK then, he’s teaching you some new exercise techniques—reaching and
stretching
. . . to help the abs, the biceps, the triceps, and the whatever-ceps. Am I close? No probably not. I give up. What’s your interpretation?

Rosie:

A friend telling me that he will always be there for me no matter what and that he’s not that far away at all from me and all I have to do is call and he’ll be here.

Ruby:

Oh right, OK.

Rosie:

Oh there you go again Ruby with the sarcasm! What’s your theory now then?! I suppose you think it’s his secret way of telling me that he loves me and that he will always be there for me and if I just reached out to him then he would drop everything, his new life in Boston, his family life, his great big amazing job to come rescue me, love, rosie

177

whisk me away to live in a beach house in . . . oh I don’t know . . .

Hawaii where we would live happily ever after away from all the stresses and complications of the world? I suppose that’s what you would interpret it as. You and your sick mind always twisting things, trying to make out as though the two of us—

Ruby:

No Rosie, I really meant “Oh OK.” That’s fine, I believe you.

Rosie:

Oh.

Ruby:

Are you OK with that?

Rosie:

Yeah sure . . . I just thought you might have read into it a bit more like you usually do that’s all . . .

Ruby:

No, that’s OK. I believe that he meant it in a supportive friend kind of way.

Rosie:

Oh . . . OK.

Ruby:

Why, did you
want
it to mean something else?

Rosie:

Ha ha
god no
, I was just expecting you to go on a rant that’s all . . .

You know you usually do, don’t be silly!

Ruby:

Are you sure?

Rosie:

Of course!!

Ruby:

So you’re not disappointed?

Rosie:

No why should I be?

Ruby:

So you’re OK with him being your friend?

Rosie:

Of course! That’s all he ever was to me! I’m perfectly happy!

Ruby:

And you don’t want to be rescued and whisked off to Hawaii?

Rosie:

NO! Off course not!

Ruby:

Good then . . .

Rosie:

Yep it’s great . . . Everything’s great . . .

Ruby:

Good.

Rosie:

And the new job will make everything better!

Ruby:

Good.

Rosie:

And my marriage has been saved and I truly believe Greg loves me more than ever . . .

Ruby:

Good.

Rosie:

And I’m going to be paid a lot more than before which is good.

They say money can’t buy happiness but I’m a fickle person 178

Cecelia Ahern

Ruby . . . I can get that new coat I saw in the Ilac center yesterday . . . I’m thrilled!

Ruby:

Good.

Rosie:

Absolutely! So anyway I’m going to head off now, got a bit of work to do . . .

Ruby:

That’s really great Rosie . . .

Rosie has logged off

from:

Rosie

to:

Stephanie

subject:

It’s a wonderful life!

Life is wonderful, life is great! I have a good job, just got promoted to an even better one. I have a daughter who talks to me, a husband that doesn’t! Only joking, have a husband who loves me! I have a wonderfully supportive family, mum, dad, brother, and sister. I’ve two brilliant friends that would do anything for me and who I love with all my heart. I remember telling you years ago just before I started my new job at reception that phase two of my life was beginning . . . well this appears to be the beginning of phase three! Things are looking up for me and I am so happy! I am in a deliriously giddy mood today, high on the excitement of life I suppose!

from:

Ruby

to:

Rosie

subject:

Cork??

What do you mean the bloody hotel is being built down in Cork?! And they only tell you now? Are you moving down to
Cork?
I thought you said it was along the
coast of Dublin?!
Did they think that piece of information was
irrelevant
to you? For Christ sake Rosie, how are you going to drag your family down to the
other side of the country?

love, rosie

179

Do you even want to move? Oh my god, I think I’m going to have a heart attack!

E-mail me back ASAP!!!

from:

Rosie

to:

Ruby

subject:

Re: Cork??

Oh Ruby, right now I have a headache, I don’t know what to do. I know that I want this job but there are two other people to think about. I’ll have to have a chat with Katie and Greg about it tonight. Pray for me! Please god if you’re listening and not busy sprinkling gold dust on all the lucky people of the world, please do me this favor and brainwash my family into thinking of what I want for once. I thank you for your time and patience. You can continue gold-dust sprinkling now.

from:

Ruby

to:

Rosie

subject:

God

Hello Rosie, this is God. Sorry to bring you bad news but life doesn’t work like that. You must be honest with your family and try to convince them yourself. Tell them of your lifelong dream to take the job that you have been offered and if they are unselfish people they will understand your desire to move to Cork. My popcorn’s ready so I better leave. I’m already missing the first of this evening’s entertainment. I’m watching your friend Ruby’s life tonight. Good luck with the family.

Dear Mum & Greg,

Don’t worry about us Mum, me and Toby will be OK. We have run away because we don’t want to be away from each other. He is my best friend and I don’t want to move to Cork. Please don’t make us leave Mum.

Love,

Katie and Toby

180

Cecelia Ahern

from:

Rosie

to:

Ruby

subject:

Re: God

I couldn’t help noticing that God logged on under your name yesterday.

If you see him around please tell him that if he’s looking for drama, he should tune into my family today.

p a r t 3

8

Dear Alex,

I was so happy when I finally got around to shutting the door on this horrible day. “It’s only a job,” Greg said. Well if a job is so unimportant then why is he so adamantly refusing to leave his own? It’s not
only
a job though. So they offered me a promotion, but with it they offered me confidence and a little bit of self-belief. To believe that my hard work was being rewarded and I was seen as competent and smart.

But this time I wasn’t even given the choice to screw it up myself. That decision was made
for
me. Katie won’t leave Toby and I’m not quite hating Greg enough to storm off to Cork in a huff on my own. Although, I’m pretty close to it. God does that man make my blood boil! Everything is always so black and white to him.

In his opinion, he has a great job here that pays well and I have a good job that pays OK. Why on earth would he want to move to a city where his wife will have a brilliant job and earn great money? Oh of course, I forgot they don’t have any banks in Cork so there’s no way he could ever find a job or be transferred. People just save money under their beds in shoeboxes there.

Plus everything (well a lot of things, like houses for one) is cheaper down there than it is here. Katie would be able to
begin
her first year of secondary 184

Cecelia Ahern

school in a perfectly good school so it’s not as if she’s being taken out of school midway here. It could all be so perfect.

On the other hand, I can honestly say that her friendship with Toby is possibly the most important thing to her. He’s a great supportive force in her life; he makes her happy and keeps the innocence in her eyes. Children need close friends to help them grow up, to discover things about themselves and about life. They also need close friends to keep them sane, and due to Katie’s little disappearing act I now know that her being without Toby, at this stage of her life anyway, would lead to incredible insanity.

Do you realize that they had actually booked their flights to you over the Internet with Greg’s credit card? They were in the queue to check in at the airport when the gardai found them! I can just picture them: a little girl with jet black hair and vanilla skin with no luggage except for a cuddly teddy bear bag on her back. Beside her, a little boy with messy blond curls, in charge of the tickets and passport details. A miniature honeymoon couple. Someday I will look back on this experience and laugh.

After I get over the shock, horror, bitterness, and resentment. Probably in my next lifetime.

So I can’t accept the job of my dreams because my family won’t move with me. Big deal. It’s not as though I bend over backwards for them. It’s not as though I arrange my life to revolve around them. It’s not as though I come home from work tired and still have dinner on the table for them, it’s not as though I perform wonderful supportive wifely chores when there’s a million other things I could be doing. It’s not as though I defend my daughter at school, constantly fighting with the teachers about how she is not Satan’s daughter. It’s not as though I tolerate Greg’s mother for dinner every Sunday and listen to her whinge about how the food isn’t cooked right, about my hair, about the way I dress, about the way I have chosen to raise Katie and then have to sit through hours of reruns of her favorite soaps. It’s not as though I’m always the one to take a day off work when Katie is sick or drop whatever plans I’ve made to help people out.

Just as well I don’t do any of those things.

But who cares? I get burned toast and milky tea one morning once a year love, rosie

185

on Mother’s Day as thanks. And that should make up for it, shouldn’t it?

Greg always tells me I’m forever chasing rainbows. Maybe I should stop now.

Love,

Rosie

from:

Alex

to:

Rosie

subject:

Rosie Dunne!

Do not give up! You are Katie’s mother and what you say is final. She will learn to adjust and you don’t need to worry because kids adjust to things far easier than us adults. As for what’s-his-name! Doesn’t he have a supportive bone in his body? I suppose he doesn’t, not having a spine and all . . .

I just hate to see you miss out on another opportunity, isn’t there anything you can do to convince what’s-his-name?

from:

Rosie

to:

Alex

subject:

Family

Thanks, Alex, but no. I can’t force my family to leave their home if they don’t want to, they’re important to me.

I have to respect Greg’s wishes; I don’t think I would be too happy about moving away from my job and friends if he had to move due to work. I can’t live my life pretending it’s just me in the world. But how much easier it would be! Anyway it’s just another missed opportunity.

So enough about me—how are all those lectures going? Find out who Mr. Fantastic Surgeon is yet?

Thanks for your support, as always.

186

Cecelia Ahern

from:

Katie

to:

Toby

subject:

Grounded!

I can’t believe we are grounded!
And
on our summer holidays! Our parents didn’t have to go all psycho about it! It’s not like we ended up going anywhere—we were less than an hour away from home. Hardly worth locking us in our houses for two weeks. I told you we should have taken a ferry over to France or something. In the films, the first places the gardai always check are the airports. That was where we made our mistake. I’ve been looking into this and we should have gone to Bus Aras, and got a coach to Ross-lare. Next time that’s what we’ll do.