I passed the note to Maeve, so that she could read it. There was something about the way he ended his note, with Yours, that made me blush.
‘I told you that the men over here love the Irish women. You need to call him right now and tell him that you’ll see him tonight!’
‘Oh no, honey. Make him sweat. Eat your cheesecake, then call him in an hour. Never does to be too needy,’ our hovering waitress said.
‘I like your style,’ Maeve said. ‘We’ll have one of those cheesecakes in a milkshake yokes, please, this one is sorted it seems! And two coffees. Thank you.’
‘You got it.’ And the waitress was off, sticking her pen behind her ear.
‘Now, missus, you need to tell me everything! Start from the beginning and tell me it all, every single word he said. Wait till Michelle hears about this,’ Maeve said.
And for the first time since I arrived in New York, I understood Maeve’s excitement. All of a sudden, I didn’t feel so homesick. Rather than longing for my phone call with Mam later on, I was longing to call this strange guy with the lovely smile.
16
BEA
January 2020
Georges Street, Staten Island, New York
Katrina and I took a seat on a bench on the outside deck of the Staten Island Ferry. We were heading to Stephanie’s apartment on Georges Street. She’d moved over to the Island a little over a year ago. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I could see that the move was not just a move from the city, but also from our friendship.
Most native New Yorkers avoid the starboard side of the ship, because that’s where all the tourists go for the best views of the Statue. But I loved watching the city through their eyes. Every avenue, park and yellow cab is a movie set for the New York newbie. Grandad said to me once that living in New York was a choice. That there were easier places to live, with lower rents and a slower pace of life. But nowhere else in the world could give you the colour that New York did. I didn’t understand what he meant at the time, but the older I get, the more I get it. The colour comes from the woman who wears a fur coat and pearls every day as she walks her miniature poodle through Central Park. Or the guy standing in line for a coffee and sandwich at the deli, people listening. The Tony Stark skyline that always takes my breath away. The street artists, the commuters, the diversity, the energy.
My grandparents once talked about moving ‘home to Ireland’. And they always said it that way. Home to Ireland. They went as far as going over to look at possible retirement properties a few years before they died. But it was only then that they realized that, while they loved Ireland and it would always be their first love, it was no longer the love of their life. I’ve never forgotten what Grandad said: ‘I was home, but not really home, because I realized that I could never go back. New York is home now.’
‘This sea air is not good for my hair. What will people think,’ Katrina said, pulling her hat further down over her hair to stop it whipping around her face.
‘No one is looking at you,’ I said.
‘People always look at me. It is my burden and blessing to be so beautiful. Tell me again why we are going to see Stephanie when it’s clear she doesn’t want to see us. Your call to her didn’t go exactly well?’
‘Look, it’s a case of bringing the mountain to Muhammad. As for my call, well she left me no choice but to ring her through the Facebook app. She refused to return my calls, texts or WhatsApp. Did I tell you that she’d unfriended me! Isn’t that awful? Has she unfriended you, did you check?’
‘She has. I noticed that a few months back.’ Katrina shrugged, showing her indifference.
‘How can you not be bothered by that? The three of us were such great friends. I know our lives have moved on in different directions, but for goodness’ sake, we’ve history.’
‘You and she were the big friends. I’ve always suspected she put up with me because of you.’
‘That’s not true!’
‘Really? If you were not in the middle, then we would not be friends, that is truth. Like it or lump it. And the reason she does not like seeing us any more is because we are her mirror.’
‘What are you going on about?’
‘We told her that she should finish with Jimmy last year and she swore she would. But of course, she took him back. She knows we think she is weak. She knows she is weak.’
I had a feeling that Katrina had hit a nail on the head there. ‘Friends should be there for each other, no matter what. OK, maybe we don’t approve of her relationship with Jimmy, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be in her life.’
‘I’m not sure she feels the same way.’
‘Well, judging by the way she spoke to me when I called her on the Facebook messenger thingy, you’re right.’
‘Very technical.’
‘You know what I mean! She only answered the call because I caught her off guard. Katrina, it was awkward as fuck. She wasn’t very chatty. She even made me introduce myself. “Who is this,” she said, as if I were nobody. She made me feel like the most unimportant person in her life.’
‘Rude. I hope you told her that.’
‘No. I was like a fool saying, “It’s me – Bea, from St Joseph’s.” And when she still didn’t answer, I ended up losing my temper and said, “Oh for fuck’s sake, Stephanie. It’s Bea. Your supposed BFF!”’
‘What did she say then?’
‘She sighed. I asked her “How have you been?” She gave me clipped one-word answers. I swear, I’ve wracked my brains, Katrina, trying to think of anything that you or I have done to make her treat us like this. I even went back through our WhatsApp conversations to see if I’d said anything to offend. When I asked her if I’d upset her, she laughed and muttered, “Everything doesn’t revolve around you, Bea. Some of us have lives of our own.”’
‘Ouch,’ Katrina said. It had stung.
‘Then she told me she was busy. I got annoyed, asked her why she was being so snarky with me. She let out a snigger at that, but she didn’t sound one bit amused. She started shouting at me that we’d not spoken for months. That it made no difference if I’d upset her or not. That she had no interest in chatting to me. And that she had a life to get back to. Then she hung up!’
‘Remind me why we are wasting our time going over to see her. Most likely she will slam door in our face!’ Katrina said.
‘No shit, Sherlock,’ I said. ‘Do me a favour though, play nice today. We need to go in softly-softly. I have this feeling that she’s in trouble. And my letter said I’d never stop being her BFF. I want to make sure she’s OK, that’s all. I owe her that much.’
‘Maybe. But you know better than anyone that some people do not want to be found. Stephanie ghosted us for a reason. Maybe we should leave it.’
I shook my head. If Katrina wanted to back out of the visit, I couldn’t stop her, but I was not leaving Stephanie’s until we’d had a proper conversation. The letter wanted me to find my childhood best friend and build some bridges. And damn it, I was going to do that.
‘Speaking about your letter. Have you had any more messages from the beyond?’ Katrina tried to sound spooky, but the look of worry on her face disconcerted me. Not a lot worried my friend. Maybe I shouldn’t share the latest development. It would only make me look crazy.
‘Tell me,’ Katrina insisted. She gave me one of her stares. She had this way of looking at you that demanded full transparency. A big advantage for us when we were in full-on detective mode, interviewing someone. Not so good for me right now. I pulled the letter from my bag and admitted, ‘I had a new message this morning.’
‘This should be first thing you tell me,’ Katrina grumbled.
‘I know. Sorry. I’m still getting my head around all of this. And I’m worried that you’ll think I’m cracked …’
‘Your worry is justified. You are cracked. But that matters not. I still need to know all new letter-related developments.’
‘And you won’t laugh?’ I asked.
She made a sign of a cross over her heart, like we used to do as kids when we made a vow to each other. ‘Cross our hearts, hope to die, stick a needle in our eye …’
I handed her the third page. ‘Look at the bit where my younger self spoke about her wish to find someone to love, who looked at her in the same way my grandad looked at my gran in their wedding photograph.’
Katrina read out loud the message that was written in the same fancy script.
Am I hot? Am I married to a really hot guy? I better be!
I pointed to the message scrawled under it. ‘I wrote that bit after I’d received her message.’
‘I can see that,’ Katrina said. She read it, then looked at me, then went back to the letter again. Finally, she read my response to my younger self out loud, breaking into snorts of laughter as she did.
Happy to confirm I am smokin’ hot. We are not married, but we date loads of cute guys.
‘Smokin’ hot!’ Katrina squealed again, clutching her stomach. My first reaction was that it wasn’t that funny. But watching her laugh made me look at the message through her eyes, and then I saw the funny side of it. I couldn’t help but join in, gently at first, but within seconds we both erupted into full-blown hysteria. I felt tears roll down my face as Katrina kept repeating, ‘Smoking hot!’ Then she pretended to burn as she touched my arm. That made us both howl even louder. I think I even peed a little.
‘You must never tell her the truth of your frown lines. You must lie to her.’
That should have made me cross but only made me laugh even harder.
‘And who are these hot guys you are dating?’ Katrina demanded.
‘I’ll have you know that I flirted with the barista in Starbucks earlier today. Totally gorgeous he was.’
‘It’s not just the letter-writing you are imagining,’ Katrina muttered. Then she pointed to my lady bits and said, ‘If you leave that any longer, it will close up.’
‘How rude! It’s only been a few weeks.’
‘That is enough time to freeze up. Dan is hot guy and he would go back with you in a moment.’
‘Have you been talking to him?’ I snapped. I didn’t want him talking to my friends or family. Especially Katrina.
‘I see him around. He misses you.’
‘He has no right. You have no right. It’s over between us and having you and Dad and everyone going on and on about it only makes it harder for me!’ I felt temper crackle its way through me, the flames growing inch by inch.
‘Hey, calm down!’ Katrina said, putting her hands over mine. ‘If you say it’s over, fine. But you look sad all the time. To us, it’s as if you want to be with Dan. And he wants to be with you.’
‘We can’t snap our fingers and get over each other. But it’s over for a very good reason.’
‘That’s the thing, you’ve never told us what the reason is.’
‘Yes I did!’ I was getting really pissed off now. It was so tiring going over and over the same thing with them all.
‘No you didn’t,’ Katrina persisted. ‘You have been vague.’
‘I don’t love him enough. It’s as simple as that. I realized he wasn’t the one.’
‘The one what? That is most ridiculous thing you have ever said.’
‘Well, I’m sorry my feelings don’t work for you, Katrina! But you and everyone else are going to have to get over this. We are finished.’
‘Fine. Then you have to stop moping. If he is gone, so be it. It is time to find new man. Or woman, I do not care.’ She began eyeing up everybody in our vicinity. I took a firm hold on her arm in case she decided to grab one of the tourists snapping photographs of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline beside us.
‘I’ll go back to Starbucks tomorrow and wink at the barista. OK?’ I showed Katrina my very best wink, which made her smile again. I didn’t like us fighting over Dan. They were friends, we’d all partied together a lot. But this was our new status quo and she had to get her head around it. By the time the ferry slowed down as it made its way into the harbour, the subject of my ex was dropped. We headed to the gangway and disembarked, following the tourists and New Yorkers out of the terminal building. The walk to Stephanie’s apartment was only a brisk twenty-minute stroll and as it was such a nice day we decided against a cab. The closer we got, the more nervous I felt. When we arrived, I took a deep breath, then pushed the buzzer to 7B.
‘Hello.’ Stephanie’s voice came through the intercom. A good start, she was home at least.
‘Hi! It’s Bea and Katrina,’ I said, holding the button down to speak. I had no idea if she would let us in and it went quiet for a while, except for the sound of our breathing as we waited for her response.
‘This is ridiculous,’ Katrina said, and she buzzed the intercom a second time. She said a little more forcibly than me, ‘We can wait here all day, Stephanie. Or you can let us in, so we can all continue with our lives!’
Stephanie’s response was of the four-letter word variety, but the door swung open all the same. We ran inside before she changed her mind. When we got to her front door she was waiting for us. But to be honest, I nearly didn’t recognize her. Judging by the ‘Kurac’ that Katrina whispered, it was the same for her too. Stephanie was thinner than I’d ever seen her before. Almost to the point of being underweight. Her collarbone stuck out and the baggy oversized T-shirt she wore only accentuated her small frame.
‘Sorry for barging in unannounced,’ I said.
‘She did try to call. Many times,’ Katrina added.
‘Be nice,’ I whispered. Katrina’s comments earlier about the state of their friendship were not unfounded. I couldn’t deny that they’d always had an up-and-down friendship. 90 per cent of the time they were fine, but every now and then they’d clash and a row would erupt. Gran always said that they competed for my attention, but I could never see that. It was ridiculous, because I loved both of them equally. Stephanie walked into her apartment, still without saying a word. As she left the door open behind her, we took it as an invitation to follow her in. Our second shock of the day was seeing how messy everything was. There were dishes in the sink, unwashed mugs of half-drunk coffee on the floor, laundry spilt onto the floor from the couch, books and magazines in piles on every surface available. I caught Katrina’s eyes and she mouthed ‘She’s lost it!’
I was worried. The Stephanie I knew was one of those annoying people who had a place for everything and everything in its place. I’d watched her once on her hands and knees scrubbing the white kickboards. I mean, who did that?
I sat down beside her at the small dining room table. ‘Oh Stephanie, honey, what’s wrong? Tell us. Let us help.’
‘What do you care?’ she spat at me. And I mean, literally spat. I don’t think I’ve ever been so shocked by a reaction in my life. It was as if she hated me.
‘Of course we care!’ I protested, wiping a little bit of spittle from my cheek. I leaned in to grab her hand, but she pushed me away as if my touch stung her.
Katrina joined us at the table and with more tenderness than I’d ever heard in her voice before, said, ‘Whatever is wrong, we are here to help. We are your friends.’ I smiled my gratitude to Katrina. I knew I hadn’t imagined their friendship. Stephanie sighed a sigh worth a thousand sighs and then closed her eyes. I looked at Katrina and mouthed, ‘Bet it’s Jimmy.’ It was always Jimmy.
‘Is it Jimmy?’ Katrina decided to take the bull by the horns.
‘What have you heard?’ Stephanie cried. Her face paled even further.
‘We haven’t heard anything. But this …’ Katrina motioned the chaos in the room around us, ‘… is a hint that you are upset. And if past history is anything to go by, he’s been up to his tricks.’
Stephanie picked up a newspaper from the table, then pointed to an advert in the New York Times. ‘There’s no point in hiding this. It’s only a matter of time before you find out.’ Katrina and I read in silence, and with every word my heart broke a little mor
e for my friend.
Rita Gregory engaged to marry Jimmy Del Torio
Harry and Connie Gregory of Cypress Lane, New Haven, Connecticut, announce the engagement of their daughter, Rita, to Jimmy Del Torio, son of Carlos and Meghan Del Torio of Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, New York.
The future bride graduated from Penn University in New York with a degree in business studies. Ms. Gregory works in marketing. The future bridegroom graduated from St. Joseph High School, Brooklyn, New York. He is the co-owner of Del Torio and Molloy Real Estate.
The couple plan to marry in 2021.
17
BEA
January 2020
Georges Street, Staten Island, New York
‘He didn’t even have the decency to tell me himself. I had to find out about his engagement from my mother. I have never been so humiliated in my life.’
What could we say to this? Jimmy had two-timed Stephanie constantly ever since they began dating in high school. I’d never liked him as a kid. His ability to charm people seemed to get stronger with time, but I’d not forgotten that day he’d showed me his true self when he tried to kill a bird. No matter how many times he broke Stephanie’s heart, she always forgave him and took him back. Then two years ago, he’d announced on Facebook that he was in a relationship with a woman called Rita. And we all thought that was the last straw for Stephanie. For a while it did appear that she had reached the end of her Jimmy tether. When she texted us both to tell us about Rita, Katrina and I packed a weekend bag, picked up supplies from Target, then arrived on the doorstep of her uptown apartment. We drank tequila, we ate pizza and Chinese takeaway. We called Jimmy every name under the sun and even had a cleansing ritual where we burned all of his things in Stephanie’s metal bin. We set the fire alarm off, which caused a bit of a hullaballoo when the whole building had to be evacuated. But it made her laugh and for a while it looked like we had our Stephanie back. When we left her, she was strong and resolute, ready to start a new chapter in her life. Less than a week later, she messaged us to tell us that Jimmy had called, begging her to meet him for a coffee. Only to chat, she insisted, to give him back his Prince CD collection that she’d borrowed. We knew she would take him back. Damn it to hell, we were right. The problem was, the things that Katrina and I had said about Jimmy could not be taken back. We’d both been honest about how we felt, neither of us holding back on our thoughts. Which basically boiled down to the fact that Jimmy was a class-A arsehole.
The Moon Over Kilmore Quay Page 12
