Changing Places

by Colette Caddle

  Jill climbed up beside her. ‘Yeah, okay.’

  Pepe came back into the café and went behind the counter. ‘Hello, Jill, how are you today?’

  ‘Fine, thanks, Pepe.’

  ‘Coffee?’

  ‘Yes, a cappuccino, please.’

  ‘So is Mam annoyed with me?’ Anna asked.

  ‘No, but it would have saved a lot of hassle if you’d just told them you wanted to call Liam. So, how did it go?’

  ‘I don’t know, there’s no answer.’

  ‘Maybe it went really well and he’s gone for a drink to celebrate.’

  Anna’s expression remained glum. ‘Yeah, but who with?’

  Jill smiled her thanks as Pepe put her coffee in front of her. ‘Don’t think the worst, Anna. You’ve no reason to think he’s with Tara.’

  ‘I’ve no reason not to.’

  ‘Have you called Josie?’

  Anna shook her head.

  ‘Do you think she has any idea what’s going on?’

  ‘So you agree now that something’s going on?’

  ‘I meant between you and Liam. Anna, stop being so prickly, you’re not with Rachel now.’

  Anna dropped her head into her hands. ‘God, I’m sorry, Jill, I shouldn’t be taking this out on you. I’m turning into a right witch, aren’t I? It’s just I’m so scared.’

  ‘I know.’ Jill took a sip from her coffee. ‘So like I said, do you think Josie knows?’

  ‘I doubt it.’

  ‘So you could phone and ask quite innocently if she’d heard from him? What could be more natural.’

  Anna looked at her phone. ‘Maybe . . .’

  ‘You want to know how he got on, don’t you?’

  Anna picked up the phone and dialled before she could change her mind. ‘Hello, Josie? It’s Anna.’

  ‘Anna?’ Josie sounded as if she were trying to place her. ‘Oh hello, how are you?’

  ‘Fine, thanks. I was wondering, is Liam there?’

  ‘No, no he’s not.’

  ‘Oh.’ Anna felt suddenly deflated. ‘I was just wondering how he got on. He had an interview today.’

  ‘Well, of course I knew that! He thinks he did very well.’

  ‘Oh, you were talking to him then?’

  ‘He came straight here afterwards.’ Josie’s tone implied, where else would he go?

  Relief flooded over Anna. He hadn’t been with Tara. ‘I’ll wait for a while and ring him at home then.’

  ‘Oh, he won’t be there. He had somewhere else to go first.’

  ‘Oh, I see. Any idea where?’ Anna forced herself to keep her voice light.

  ‘I’m sure I didn’t ask.’

  ‘Oh, okay then. Well, I’ll keep trying. Maybe if you’re talking to him before I am, you’d ask him to call me?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Okay, then. Well, goodbye, Josie.’

  ‘Goodbye.’

  ‘So, he got on well then?’ Jill enquired, having heard one half of the conversation.

  Anna shrugged, distracted. ‘She says so. I wonder where he is.’

  ‘Well, it can’t be next door or Josie would know all about it.’

  ‘Yes, but would she tell me?’

  ‘I can’t see Josie approving of Liam carrying on, no matter how much she adores Tara Brady.’

  ‘I wouldn’t bet on it. Tara went to the right school, lived in the right street, has the right accent. Josie would kill to have someone like her in the family. I think she’d be delighted if Liam and I broke up.’

  ‘That’s awful.’ Jill stared at her, her nose wrinkled in disgust.

  ‘That’s Josie.’

  ‘Try the house again,’ Jill prompted.

  Anna dialled the number and listened while it rang out. ‘He obviously doesn’t want to talk to me.’

  ‘You don’t know that,’ Jill said. ‘He could be anywhere. It could be to do with the job, did you think of that?’

  Anna stood up. ‘I know you’re trying to make me feel better, Jill . . .’

  ‘But you’re determined to think the worst.’

  ‘Can you blame me? Are you coming?’

  As Jill went to get up, Kitty walked in the door and Jill settled herself back on her stool. ‘I’ll catch up on you after I’ve finished my coffee.’

  ‘Oh, sorry! God, what am I like?’ Anna went to sit down again.

  Jill waved her away. ‘No, you go on. I’ll take my time and chat to Kitty.’

  Anna turned and smiled at Kitty. ‘Oh, hi!’

  ‘Hello, ladies. I hope Pepe’s been looking after you.’

  ‘He’s been great.’ Anna shot the Spaniard a wide smile.

  ‘Hey, you, stop flirting with the staff,’ Jill warned.

  Laughing, Anna picked up her bag and turned to leave. ‘See you later.’

  ‘Bye,’ Kitty called, as she slipped behind the bar and pulled on an apron. ‘So, Jill, how are you?’

  ‘I am just fine, Kitty. Sitting here, contemplating my future.’

  ‘Glad to hear it.’ Kitty glanced at the clock and then poured herself a coffee. ‘I’ve got about thirty minutes before the rush starts. Tell me more.’

  Rachel was alone on the balcony when Anna returned to the apartment. ‘Where’s Mam and Dad?’

  ‘They’re out in the camper van.’ Rachel kept her head in her book.

  Anna sat down opposite her. ‘Any good?’

  Rachel shrugged. ‘It’s okay.’

  ‘Look, I’m sorry about earlier.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it.’

  ‘It’s just I wanted to call Liam.’

  ‘Yeah, Jill said. So how did it go?’

  ‘He wasn’t there.’ Anna gazed out at the beach where a young couple were messing about in the surf. The girl splashed him and he lunged at her, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her down into the water. Her screams were mixed with delighted giggles that stopped abruptly when he turned her face to his and kissed her.

  ‘I can’t remember the last time Gary and I fooled around like that,’ Rachel said wistfully.

  Anna looked at her in surprise and Rachel gave an embarrassed smile. ‘I suppose that’s what happens when you get married and have kids.’

  ‘Surely you can still have fun? Just you’ve got Alex too. Doesn’t that make it even better?’

  ‘Oh, well, yes, of course,’ Rachel sat up and nodded politely. ‘We have wonderful times with Alex.’

  But not with Gary, Anna was going to say, but decided against it. Rachel would probably jump down her throat. Anna pulled out her phone and checked the signal. Full strength. He could call her any time he wanted.

  ‘Everything okay?’ Rachel was watching her curiously.

  ‘Sure. Why wouldn’t it be?’

  ‘Oh, forgive me for asking!’ Rachel rolled her eyes and heaved herself out of the chair. ‘I’m off for a bath.’

  As soon as she was alone, Anna snatched up the phone and dialled again. She was just about to hang up when a breathless Liam answered.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Hi, it’s me.’

  ‘Anna!’

  ‘I just called to see how the interview went.’

  ‘It went really well.’

  ‘Oh good, I’m so happy for you.’

  Liam laughed. ‘Me too. You know, I really think this could be it.’

  ‘And about time too. You deserve a break,’ Anna told him.

  ‘Thanks, sweetheart.’

  ‘I called you earlier to wish you good luck but I must have missed you.’

  ‘I left early, I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to find the place.’

  ‘Oh, right. And then I tried to get you at your mother’s but you had left.’ She waited.

  ‘Oh, yeah? I was going to call.’

  ‘Were you?’ Not before you visited your beloved Tara. Anna felt misery engulf her. Ask him, she urged herself. Ask him where he’s been.

  ‘Yeah, of course.’

  Anna waited but he still did
n’t offer any explanation as to where he’d been. ‘Look, I’d better go. My battery’s low.’ Ask me not to hang up. Tell me where you’ve been. Tell me you love me.

  ‘Anna?’

  ‘Yes?’ Maybe . . .

  ‘Thanks for calling.’

  She closed her eyes, as she held the phone tight against her ear. ‘No problem. Bye.’

  ‘Anna?’

  ‘Yes?’ Please, oh, please . . . She realized she was holding her breath.

  ‘Would you like me to pick you up from the airport on Sunday?’

  Tears rolled unchecked down Anna’s face. ‘No, that’s okay. We’re getting in really early. Gary’s going to be there so he can drop me.’

  ‘Well, if you’re sure.’

  ‘I’m sure.’

  ‘Then I’ll have breakfast waiting for you.’

  ‘That would be nice. Bye, Liam.’

  ‘Bye, sweetheart.’

  ‘Yoo-hoo, I’m home!’

  ‘Shit!’ Anna charged out to the kitchen as she heard Jill let herself into the hall.

  ‘Anna? Rachel?’

  ‘I’m in the bath,’ Rachel called back.

  Anna was just wiping her eyes with a teacloth when her cousin walked in. She quickly turned away and buried her head in a cupboard. ‘Oh hi, I didn’t hear you.’

  ‘What on earth are you up to?’ Jill put down her bag and flopped into a chair.

  ‘Just looking for the chocolate biscuits.’

  ‘We finished them last night when we came in from the pub.’

  ‘Oh, right.’ Anna didn’t move.

  ‘Let me guess. You’ve been talking to Liam.’

  Anna turned slowly to face her, her eyes red, and nodded.

  ‘So what happened? What did he say?’

  ‘The interview went very well.’

  Jill arched an eyebrow. ‘And that made you cry?’

  Anna wrung her hands together as she paced the tiny kitchen. ‘I told him I’d called his mother’s but that he’d already left and he said nothing.’

  Jill frowned. ‘I don’t follow?’

  ‘He didn’t tell me where he’d been!’

  ‘Why didn’t you just ask him?’ Jill followed her cousin with her eyes. ‘Oh, please sit down, you’re making me seasick.’

  Anna sank on to a chair and buried her face in her hands. ‘If it was innocent he would have told me, wouldn’t he?’

  Jill sighed. ‘You really have a way of complicating things, Anna. Why don’t you ring him back and ask him?’

  Anna took her hands away and looked at her. ‘Just like that?’

  ‘Just like that.’

  ‘But then he’d know—’

  ‘That you cared?’ Jill interrupted. ‘That you were jealous? Maybe he needs to know that.’

  Anna pulled her phone out of her jeans pocket and plonked it on the table.

  ‘Go on. What have you got to lose?’

  Anna looked at her and then looked back at the phone. ‘But what if he tells me he was with her?’ she said in a small voice.

  Jill’s heart went out to her cousin. She looked so small and frightened, almost childlike. ‘Then at least you’ll know for sure. You’re going to drive yourself mad if you carry on like this.’ She ruffled her cousin’s hair and stood up. ‘I’m going to read my book until it’s my turn for the bathroom. With Rachel in there, I’ll probably get to finish it!’

  Left alone, Anna considered her cousin’s advice. Jill, as usual, was right. She was behaving like a lovesick teenager. Liam wasn’t a mindreader. ‘If you want something, Anna, please just tell me,’ he’d begged her many times. ‘You know I’m lousy at picking up on subtleties.’

  Before she could change her mind, she picked up the phone and dialled again.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Liam, it’s me again.’

  ‘Is there something wrong?’

  ‘Yes, yes, there is.’

  ‘Your dad—’

  ‘No, nothing like that,’ she assured him. ‘I just want to know where you’ve been.’

  ‘Sorry?’

  Anna took a deep breath. ‘Where did you go after you left your mother’s?’

  ‘The supermarket, why?’

  ‘Nowhere else?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘You weren’t with Tara?’ She could hear Liam sigh at the other end of the phone.

  ‘No, love, I wasn’t with Tara.’

  ‘Oh, okay.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘For what?’ Anna asked.

  ‘Everything.’

  Anna swallowed hard. ‘We need to talk, Liam.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I mean it, Liam. We need to really talk.’

  ‘I’ll pick you up on Sunday, okay? And we’ll come home and talk.’

  ‘Promise?’

  ‘I promise.’

  She closed her eyes and pressed her lips to the mouthpiece. ‘See you Sunday.’

  Chapter 28

  Jill didn’t get an opportunity to ask Anna if she’d talked to Liam, but it was pretty clear that she had. The girl was positively glowing and she was even being nice to Rachel! Saturday turned out to be a lovely day. After breakfast on the balcony, they’d lazed around the pool, gone to Kitty’s for lunch and then while Shay went for his snooze, the women made their way to the beauty salon for a final pampering.

  Anna giggled as Steffi applied a fluorescent green face mask to her sister. ‘If Alex saw you now, he’d run a mile.’

  ‘You can talk.’ Rachel retorted. Anna’s mask was equally colourful.

  ‘You’re both gorgeous, nearly as beautiful as your mother.’ Bridie winked at Maria who was giving her a manicure.

  ‘Yeah, after this session, Mam, you’ll have Matt all over you.’ Anna laughed.

  ‘Oh, go away out of that.’ Bridie blushed.

  ‘He’s always fancied you, Mam.’

  ‘Hardly surprising, married to that old bag,’ Rachel pointed out.

  ‘Patricia’s not so bad,’ Bridie protested half-heartedly.

  ‘She’s a loud-mouthed gossip,’ Anna retorted.

  ‘A right pain,’ Rachel agreed.

  Jill smiled, thinking how much fun her cousins were when they were getting on.

  ‘Now we’re not spending the whole evening with them, Mam,’ Anna warned. ‘This is our last night.’

  ‘I told them we’d meet up for a drink after dinner,’ Bridie promised her. ‘Then you three could go dancing if you want.’

  Anna glanced over at her sister. ‘What about it, Rache?’

  ‘I don’t know about dancing but I suppose I could sway a little.’

  Jill clapped her hands together. ‘Good woman.’

  ‘That’s settled then.’ Bridie sat back in her chair and closed her eyes.

  ‘I wish we weren’t going home tomorrow,’ Rachel said with a wistful sigh.

  Anna looked over at her sister. ‘I thought you’d be dying to see Alex.’

  ‘Of course I am, but I’ll miss this wonderful weather.’

  ‘And what about me?’ Bridie asked.

  ‘Ah, we’ll miss you a bit too.’ Anna reached over to squeeze her mother’s hand.

  ‘So, Mam, when are you coming home?’ Rachel asked.

  Bridie opened her eyes. ‘I told you, love, as soon as you need me. We’re moving back up into France in a couple of weeks and I thought we’d visit Lourdes.’

  Rachel’s eyes widened. ‘Lourdes?’

  Bridie flushed. ‘Well, I’m not the most religious person in the world but I would like to give thanks for your father’s recovery. And I’ve always wanted to see the place. We’ll keep heading north and as soon as you call, we’ll be on the next boat home!’

  ‘But how can I call you?’ Rachel asked.

  Bridie glanced at the clock on the wall. ‘You can reach us on the mobile that your dad is buying right about now.’

  Anna grinned delightedly. ‘Oh, good on you, Mam!’

  ‘Yes, well, I want Rachel to b
e able to reach us when this baby decides to make an appearance.’

  ‘You’ll have to remember to charge it, Mam,’ Anna told her.

  ‘Now, isn’t it well you told me that?’ Bridie’s voice was loaded with sarcasm.

  ‘Sorry.’

  ‘You won’t know yourselves,’ Jill told her aunt. ‘Once you get a mobile phone you wonder how on earth you ever managed without it.’

  Bridie wrinkled her nose. ‘I’ve never liked the things but I suppose it’s a necessary evil.’

  Rachel smiled. ‘Thanks, Mam, it means a lot to me.’

  ‘That’s okay, love.’

  ‘We’ll have to teach you to send text messages.’ Jill winked at Anna.

  ‘There’s a challenge,’ Anna laughed.

  ‘Carrier pigeon might be quicker,’ Rachel added.

  ‘I hope you lot aren’t making a laugh of me.’

  ‘Wouldn’t dream of it, Mam!’

  Jill groaned and held her stomach as the plane hit some turbulence and the seatbelt sign came on. Maybe that last gin and tonic hadn’t been such a good idea. It had turned into a very late night and they’d only had three hours’ sleep before it was time to go to the airport. Jill was dreaming of bed and planned to crawl in as soon as she got home. The unpacking and laundry could wait. The plane lurched again and Rachel gripped her arm. ‘It’s okay, Rache, don’t worry.’

  ‘Why the hell doesn’t he fly above it?’ Rachel muttered. ‘I feel sick.’

  ‘Me too,’ Anna said as she gazed out at the grey skies.

  Jill pressed the button for the flight attendant. ‘Three brandies, please.’

  ‘I can’t drink brandy!’ Rachel protested as the attendant went off to fetch their drinks.

  ‘One won’t do you any harm. It will settle your stomach and help you doze off.’

  ‘Great idea,’ Anna agreed.

  ‘Well, if you’re sure.’ Rachel still looked doubtful as the drinks were set in front of them. ‘You take half of mine, Jill.’

  ‘No problem.’ Jill lowered half of Rachel’s glass in one go. ‘Ooh, that’s better!’

  Rachel took a tentative sip and wrinkled her nose. ‘Ugh, it’s like medicine.’

  Anna laughed. ‘My kind of medicine.’

  Rachel shifted in her seat, trying to get comfortable. ‘Maybe I will try and doze for a while.’

  ‘You do that, chicken.’ Jill patted her arm and settled back to enjoy her drink and ponder her next move.

  Excitement bubbled up inside her but she kept her feelings to herself. It was too soon to tell her cousins her plans and she wasn’t quite sure what their reaction would be. Or maybe she was, she admitted to herself, and that’s why she hadn’t said anything. Still, it was early days and there was a lot to sort out before she’d be in a position to do anything. The thought of all the work ahead was both exciting and scary. It would be very hard to knuckle down and concentrate at the office tomorrow. She took another sip of brandy as she imagined the chaos that would greet her. But it didn’t matter any more, she realized serenely. At the beginning of the holiday she’d been confused and depressed as to what her future held. Now she had a new goal, a new challenge, and she couldn’t wait to get her teeth into it.