Are You Ready?

by Amanda Hearty

  ‘Ben, are you OK? Where are your shoes? Why are you carrying that pink coat?’

  Ben turned red. This was mortifying: once again he had run into Laura while he was with one of his crazy pets and while wearing horrific clothes. He tried to catch his breath and explain to Laura about Mango’s jail break.

  ‘Are you visiting your friend again?’ Ben asked, while keeping an eye on Mango, who was now perched on top of the local petrol station screeching at everyone who came in or out of the shop.

  ‘Yes, I’m on my way to collect her, as we’ve got tag-rugby tonight in Blackrock.’

  ‘So have I,’ Ben exclaimed. He couldn’t believe the coincidence.

  Laura didn’t seem that excited that he would be playing tag-rugby with her, but she still got out of her car.

  ‘Come on, let’s get that crazy bird down,’ she said.

  Ben said he’d appreciate the help, and they made their way to the petrol pumps, where they called to Mango. Laura ran inside the shop, bought some nuts and seeds and laid a Hansel and Gretel trail to her car, thinking Mango might fall for that. At first Mango was too busy lapping up the attention of the passing customers, but eventually the lure of the food got to him, and he started to swoop down to eat some of the seeds, and after a third try Ben managed to catch him. Ben quickly bundled the now pink-polyester-covered bird into the back of Laura’s car.

  ‘Thanks so much, Laura. Sorry for holding you up,’ Ben said.

  ‘No bother, it was fun. Sure, why don’t I give you a lift down to the rugby club? I just need to collect my friend and we can be on our way.’

  Ben agreed, and they pulled into his house to drop the now-exhausted jailbird Mango off.

  When Ben walked into the kitchen Joe started laughing, while Maura seemed annoyed.

  ‘I am never leaving you two alone again, if this is the kind of thing that happens. That poor bird, how could you?’

  Ben ignored her, and ran upstairs to grab his rugby boots, hoodie and wallet. He wanted to change, as he hated Laura seeing him in his worst shorts and T-shirt, but knew it would look too obvious if he reappeared in his good jeans and jumper. Anyway, she probably doesn’t care, Ben thought, as he walked back down the stairs. I messed up with her, and I don’t know what is going on with Nikki, so it is probably best to forget what could have happened and get down to the rugby and enjoy it.

  Ben, Laura and her friend made small chat in the car, but once they got to the rugby club Laura seemed happy to wish him good luck in his matches and leave him to it. He saw her once or twice during the evening, but didn’t get to speak to her. It was great fun, though, and Ben enjoyed having a good sports work-out, even if he was a little unfit. The lads had pints and barbecued burgers after, and Ben was glad to get back into the swing of things with them. As he left later he went to wave Laura goodbye, but she seemed engrossed in conversation with some guy. Well, I can’t blame any guy for liking her, Ben said to himself as he headed home. It was only then that he remembered that he hadn’t replied to Nikki’s text that morning.

  94

  Molly was running late for work. She was dying with a hangover, and if she didn’t get Coca-Cola soon she would die. As she sat on the bus she brushed her dark hair, and doused herself in perfume, anything to cover the smell of Bulmers cider. She would never normally have arrived late for work or hungover, and she was worried about what her Aunt Fran would think, but things had just gone pear-shaped the night before. A week and a half ago, after she had left Sterling Bank’s summer party, she had gone with Ali and Robin to see Set List again. She had been a bit nervous, about seeing the lead singer Will again, but the beers at the barbecue had loosened her up, and she had known that she had to go out and make her own fun, or else life would pass her by. The gig had been packed, and Molly had rocked to all their songs, and by the end herself and Ali had become hard-core fans. After the gig they’d joined the band for drinks, and even though Molly and Will had talked and gently flirted all evening, nothing had happened. Will had had lots of girls surrounding him, all wanting a piece of the main singer, and at first Molly had been embarrassed to find herself competing for his attention, but by the end of the night it had just been Ali, Robin, Will and Molly, and after getting some burgers at 3 a.m. they had all headed home. And even though Molly had gone home alone, with just a peck on the cheek from Will, that had suited her. She hadn’t wanted things to move too quickly. All the same, she had thought about him all week. He had taken her number, and she hadn’t heard anything until Saturday, when he had asked her to come along to his gig. Unfortunately, Molly had been in Kilkenny, at Ali’s hen party so she hadn’t been able to. Then, yesterday, he had told her about a free outdoor festival Set List were playing at in Temple Bar. Molly had managed to persuade Sarah to join her, and they had both a fantastic night, and heard many unsigned yet brilliant Dublin bands.

  It was fun to be at an outdoor festival, and as they had danced around in the balmy evening Sarah and Molly had probably had one drink too many. After the gig Will had got the two girls backstage, where there was a free bar for the groups and their friends. Again there had been plenty of girls hanging around Will, and he had seemed to enjoy the attention, but later on in the night had only talked to Molly. He told her how, as a up-and-coming band, they had to take any gig they could, and that included weddings, even though it wasn’t really their ‘kinda thing, it’s hardly rock ’n’ roll!’ But they needed money to pay for recording-studio time, and weddings helped them practise, and ‘practice makes perfect’, laughed Will. He looked very young, but Molly didn’t mind: he was fun, and being a musician made him even more attractive. Sarah eventually wanted to leave, and Molly hadn’t known what to do. She’d hoped Will would want her to stay, but she was also nervous at being alone with a new man. But when Will heard that Molly was going to leave, he begged her to stay, and even though Molly guessed it was the free Budweiser rather than him speaking, she had agreed and Sarah had left alone. Although Sarah had first asked her if she knew what she was doing.

  ‘This is unlike you, Molly. Are you sure you are not trying to get over Luke too quickly?’

  Molly had put aside her own fears and replied that she wanted to move on, get on with her life – and for now Will was her stepping stone to being single again. When the free bar finally came to a stop, Molly followed Will to an after-gig party in a trendy nightclub. At this stage she had become very drunk, and lost all her inhibitions, and so became queen of the dance floor, while Will – who was slightly too cool to dance – watched from the side while ordering her more beers. Luckily one of Will’s band was sober, and had been driving and had suggested at 2 a.m. that she might want a lift home. By then, Will had also been in a bad state, and had been encouraged to squeeze into the little Micra. As Molly had sat beside Will, with two guitars squashed in on top of her and guitar leads piled on her lap, she had leant her head on his shoulder. Before she knew it she had been kissing him and it had felt great, so great that she had almost been tempted to take him up on his offer and go back to his flat, but luckily his band members had thought she needed to sleep her drink off, and had made sure she got dropped right at her door. Will had walked her up the driveway and they had stopped for a long kiss before they had heard honking, and Will had been called back to the car.

  Molly had felt great when she got to her room and undressed, but the minute she had lain down she had started to feel slightly sick, and had had to sit up and drink plenty of water. And as she had sat there alone, in the dark, feeling queasy, she had known that she’d taken things too fast. Yes, she needed to create her own life now that her comfortable couple lifestyle with Luke was gone, but maybe she had been too forward, had moved too quickly, too soon. Sarah had been right, it wasn’t like her to follow a musician around, even if he was very cute. Molly loved staying in, cooking, chatting, going for walks and to the cinema. Hanging out with young musicians in a grubby nightclub wasn’t what she was used to. But then living at home with her mum and da
d wasn’t what she was used to, either. Molly had felt sick all night, but it hadn’t just been the beer that had kept her up, her thoughts had kept flicking to Luke, Will and her future. Eventually she had fallen asleep, and she would have slept all day if her dad hadn’t woken her up and told her she was late for work, and now she was stuck on the very slow-moving bus and feeling stressed. She finally made it to the door of Heavenly, but almost felt like leaving again when she saw how busy the café was. All she wanted to do was sleep. Her cousin Eve rushed up to her.

  ‘Where have you been?’ she asked, concerned. Molly quickly filled her in, but didn’t have time to answer her questions about Will, as she knew she needed to head for the kitchen and apologize to her aunt.

  Fran had been swept off her feet all morning, trying to get her own and Molly’s work done, and when Molly finally walked through the door, Fran had known from one look at her and from the smell of beer, that she was hungover. She knew it had been hard for Molly recently, finding herself single again, but still she didn’t have time for this.

  ‘I am sorry, so sorry,’ Molly said, as she put on her apron and started chopping tomatoes.

  Fran had been prepared to have given out to Molly, but could see she was in enough pain as it was. She looked as white as a ghost.

  ‘Just don’t let it happen again, Molly. Now help yourself to a Lucozade, and let me heat you up this muffin.’

  Molly thanked God her aunt was so kind, and promised herself that no man would make her jeopardize her career again.

  95

  Later that night Molly was at home, trying to unpack all her boxes of clothes, CDs and other junk. She had been avoiding it for weeks, mainly because she kept thinking that moving home was only a temporary solution, and that if she didn’t unpack it wouldn’t become real. But she knew now that she needed to move on, and wise up to the fact that she was single and back to living at home. As she unpacked flip-flops, slippers and boots she found her old photo albums. Molly had always been really into photos, and even though Luke wasn’t, he had finally realized, like most guys, that he might as well just give in and let her take photos of him on holidays, rather then upset her. She loved having memories in photo form: being able to flick through an album can take you right back to a beach, and to soaking up the sun and having that feeling of being endlessly happy. As Molly looked through the albums, they reminded her of holidays, parties, Christmases and weddings, but in every page there was Luke staring out at her. Was there any point keeping these photos now? Molly wondered. Would Luke want any of them? Would he care? Would she find someone new to create a photo album with? Molly put the albums back into their box. Then she got up and put the box in her brother’s old room. She couldn’t handle them today, she didn’t need to see them again for a long time.

  She spent the rest of the evening trying to sort out her new bedroom, and as she set up a shelf for all her cookbooks she decided to cook something. It would help her unwind, and after hours of looking at clothes, CDs and photos that all reminded her of Luke and that part of her life that was now over, she wanted to just head for the kitchen and make something. Her dad was reading the newspaper when Molly entered with the Avoca cookbook in her hand.

  ‘How are you, pet?’ he asked, putting down his glasses.

  Molly didn’t feel like talking to him about Luke, Will, work or all her worries, and instead said she was fine.

  ‘Dad, I’m in the mood for cooking, so let’s see what we’ve in the press. What do you feel like?’ Molly said as she opened cupboards, jars and the fridge.

  ‘Something sweet to go with this tea would be nice!’

  Molly knew just the thing, and opened the book to page forty-five, where the famous Avoca recipe for their Mars Bar squares was. It was a very simple dish, but so yummy, and Molly knew her dad loved chocolate. As she melted the chocolate her dad filled her in on family news and stories from work. Molly felt at ease: being in the family kitchen chatting and cooking was her dream night in. A million times better than last night, she thought, remembering the reality of the sweaty nightclub and the groupies hanging off the band. What was I thinking? she wondered. Will is nice, but that isn’t my scene. As she served her dad the chocolate and Rice Krispie squares, he gave her a hug.

  ‘I could get used to this, Molly. Not just being served up delights, but just having you around. I know it must be hard to move back in with us old fogies, but I love having you here, Mars Bar squares or not.’

  After cleaning up, Molly went to bed and for once she wasn’t thinking about Luke, but about her family and how lucky she was to have them. And even though she was back in a room that still had her My Little Pony stable and Glo-Worm doll, for now she couldn’t imagine anywhere better in the world to be.

  96

  Sarah and her mum were trying to weed the garden.

  ‘It’s too hot, Mum,’ Sarah protested.

  Sweat was pouring down her face, her long blonde hair was matted from the heat, and there was grass stuck to her long, bare legs. Sarah’s mum collapsed into a garden chair and tried to cool herself down with an iced tea.

  ‘Sarah, we’re almost finished, and once I plant those new flowers the garden will look perfect for tonight and my guests!’

  Sarah had agreed to help her mum prepare for the Midsummer’s Eve drinks party that she was giving for her neighbours and friends. Sarah’s parents had always had one, it was a family tradition, but after her dad died, no one had had the heart to throw it any more. But now Sarah’s mum had felt the time was right to have an enchanting party again.

  ‘Dad would have loved being here today, getting it all ready,’ Sarah said, as she tried to splash water from the small garden fountain onto herself.

  ‘Yes, he would, he loved nothing more than a party. Are you sure you don’t want to stay yourself?’ said her mum.

  Sarah had always enjoyed parties at home, but she knew tonight was her mum’s night, and so herself and Hugh were going out for dinner and drinks – and more than likely she would stay over at his.

  ‘No, I’m fine, Mum, you enjoy yourself. I’m going for dinner, that’s if I don’t die from digging up dandelions.’

  They spent the next few hours tidying the garden, planting some new bedding flowers, and setting up the wooden garden furniture. They then moved into the kitchen, where they prepared little snacks of chicken satay, sausage rolls, salmon and brown bread and mini-kebabs. Sarah then had a shower and slipped her long, thin body into a new brown and cream cotton dress from Jigsaw.

  Once her mum’s first guests had arrived, Sarah wished her mum well and drove up to Hugh’s flat. He lived in a very modern apartment in Dundrum, near the shopping centre and the Luas tram line. The furniture was all dark wood and minimalist, apart from the huge amount of art pieces on the walls. They didn’t all go with the apartment, but Hugh was always saying that one day he hoped to move back to Galway. Sarah hoped this wasn’t true and pretended she hadn’t heard whenever he mentioned his home city. She knocked on the apartment door, and Hugh welcomed her with a big kiss and some flowers.

  ‘I haven’t seen you all week. I missed you,’ he said, as he took her overnight bag and her coat.

  ‘I missed you, too. It’s just that work is busy and I’ve been trying to work on some of my own pieces. I’m so sorry.’

  ‘No problem, let’s just get going for dinner. I thought we would try that new Thai restaurant in the Beacon hotel, as it’s close and supposed to be very funky.’ He locked the apartment behind them.

  The hotel was very modern, with oversized couches, glass walls and unusual lighting: the bar glowed blue, and the chairs all changed colour as you sat on them. They decided to have a drink before their meal. Sarah still couldn’t believe how well things were going with Hugh. He was very relaxed, and was such interesting company. Even though he worked in finance, he had a huge interest in the arts and Sarah could talk to him for hours about theatre, art exhibitions and films. They had settled into a nice routine of dinners
, cinema, and lazy Sundays in bed. He was always asking her to go to Galway to meet his family, but it was hard for Sarah to get a weekend off work. She knew, though, that she would have to soon, or else she would come across as rude. They both had two Coronas before sitting down to enjoy their Thai curries. Over dinner Hugh once again talked about Galway.

  ‘Next weekend my two best friends are having an engagement party. They have this house in Salthill right on the water. It will be great fun, and it will give me a chance to show you the true Galway, not just Quay Street and the touristy bars.’

  Sarah saw the excitement in his eyes. Even though she was due to work the next weekend, she knew Clodagh, who had now finished college for the summer and was always looking for extra work, could cover it, so she agreed.

  ‘Great,’ Hugh said, as he smiled and ordered more wine. ‘Wait until you meet my parents and friends! And you just have to meet my cousin Pat, he loves art, too. They will all love you, they can’t wait to meet you.’

  Sarah was happy he was excited about the proposed trip, but as he planned the weekend, and she heard him name all the people she would be meeting, she began to get nervous. Hugh seemed so determined this would be a perfect weekend and everyone would like Sarah. She hoped he wouldn’t be disappointed.

  97

  After work on Tuesday Sarah was just telling her mum about her upcoming weekend trip to Galway, when the doorbell rang. Sarah answered it and was surprised to see John and Tom at the door. They both gave her a kiss and headed for the kitchen.

  ‘Your mum asked me to pop in and see if we could fix your shed door. She said it keeps sticking,’ her brother-in-law John said, as he headed out to the garden.