Something You Should Know

by Melissa Hill

  Karen was furious. “Shane – did you not think to check if any of this was OK with me? I live here too and I don’t fancy spending my Friday night running around after three mad children.”

  “Jeez, Karen, will you keep your voice down,” Shane said, dropping his own voice to a whisper in case his sister might hear them, “I know they can be a bit boisterous,

  but –”

  “A bit boisterous – are you kidding me?” Karen hissed. “Look at the state of the living- room – not to mention the kitchen.” She shook her head. “Did you even think to ask me what I thought?”

  Shane looked hurt. “They’re my family, Karen. Now that we have a place of our own, I can see them more often than when I lived in the flat. Obviously, I couldn’t invite them there – you know yourself what a crummy place that was.”

  “So you decided to invite them here – to our house and let them loose on that instead? Shane, take a look around you. The place looks like a bomb hit it.”

  “Look, it’s not that bad,” he said, following her gaze around the room. “The toilet roll can be picked up, and I’m pretty sure that the paint is only watercolour, so we can wash that off and –”

  “Shane, it is – I mean it was, a Mexican pine coffee table,” Karen interrupted. Despite her protestations to Jenny, she had worked very hard decorating her home, and was proud of the results. It was awful to just come home on a Friday evening and see it looking like that. “We won’t be washing anything off. It’s not varnished. The paint will never come off it – they might as well have used Ronseal Quick Drying Woodstain on the thing – beautiful but tough. Which is what your sister would be well advised to be with those kids – tough.”

  Shane stepped back. “You’re talking about my family Karen,” he said, his voice hard.

  Seeing his hurt expression, Karen immediately felt guilty. “You’re right, you’re right,” she said wearily. “I’m sorry, but I’m just not used to having children around.”

  “I know that. But I like having them around. And as I said, I don’t get much of a chance to spend time with them. I’d really like to do Marie the favour tonight, Karen.”

  She bit her lip. “Well, I suppose it might be OK but, it’s just … well … I just don’t really know what to do – I won’t have to breastfeed any of them or anything, will I?” She had seen Marie do this once with Mary and it had terrified her.

  Shane’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “You really don’t know much about children, do you? It’s OK, they won’t bite.”

  Karen smiled weakly. “Are you sure – that Keanu looks a little dangerous.”

  Shane put an arm around her shoulders. “Go on into the kitchen and I’ll make you a nice cup of tea. And maybe Marie can give you some child-minding tips,” he added devilishly.

  Karen followed him, her heart pounding. She knew then that, terrified or not, she’d have to go through with this. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad; maybe the kids might be worn out from all the running around. Maybe she wouldn’t have to do anything. Karen smiled faintly at Marie who offered her the baby to hold. “Say hello to Auntie Karen.” she said, in a sing-song voice.

  Karen’s hands shook as she held the baby in her arms. Was she holding her the right way? She did seem to be squirming an awful lot – maybe she was hurting her. She sat down and awkwardly laid the child on her lap.

  Karen looked up, feeling Shane watching her. Her fiancé’s expression conveyed pure gratitude and seeing this, her heart melted.

  She’d get through tonight, she decided – for Shane’s sake.

  *****

  “I was scared stiff,” Karen said to Tessa, the following afternoon, “I didn’t know what to do with them.”

  Tessa hid a grin. “What do you mean you were scared stiff? They’re only kids, for goodness sake.”

  They were sitting on Tessa’s sofa, almost three-quarter ways through a bottle of wine, and most of the way through Tessa’s bridal magazines.

  “I don’t know – it’s hard to explain, really. I just – I just don’t know what to say to them – or even how to speak to them. That baby voice that people use sometimes, with me it doesn’t come out right, and I just feel silly – it’s as though they know I’m faking it.”

  Tessa laughed. “So you’re not planning to have any of your own anytime soon, I take it?”

  “Do you know something, Tessa? I really couldn’t imagine myself with a child of my own. I think I’d be a terrible mother. I’m not used to dealing with them or having them around. Shane’s nieces and nephews – well, it’s all new to me. I’m a little scared, to be honest – not so much of the kids, just the idea of them.”

  Tessa waved her away. “Don’t be silly, everyone is different with their own children. And from what you said before, Shane’s crowd aren’t exactly well-behaved little angels, are they?”

  “No, but,” Karen exhaled deeply, “Tessa, to be perfectly honest, the thoughts of having children absolutely petrifies me and I don’t know if that’s ever going to change.” She made a face. “And the way Shane’s family are always going on dropping hints about our having a family, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

  “What does Shane think?”

  “I really don’t know. He knows that I don’t exactly fall all over the kids whenever they visit but …” She shrugged.

  Tessa looked thoughtful. “You said Shane’s family are always dropping hints?”

  “Yes, particularly his mother.”

  “And do you get on well with her – enough to maybe tell her how you feel?”

  Karen shrugged. “Possibly. Nellie’s OK. But she annoys me sometimes when she visits the house, in fact every time she visits the house. She always seems to find some fault with the place.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Karen sat up in her chair. “Well, one day for instance, she picked up the sweeping brush and started poking around on the ceiling with it. She told me that she had spotted a few cobwebs up there.”

  “Oh?” Tessa arched an eyebrow.

  “And another day, she came out of the bathroom and announced that the towels in there were beginning to smell. I wouldn’t mind, but earlier that same day, I had been nagging Shane to pick up the towels he used for his shower. And sure enough, Mammy Dearest had to spot them.”

  Tessa made a face. “She had a bit of a cheek coming right out and saying it to you though, didn’t she?”

  “Yeah, but as it happened, she was right. Anyway, I don’t think she means anything by it – she’s just trying to help.”

  “Maybe, but I don’t think I’d put up with Gerry’s mother telling me what to do in my own house – whenever I finally get one, that is.”

  “Oh, how’s the building going?” Karen asked.

  “Not too bad, actually. The roof is on and Dad is waiting on the plasterer now.”

  Tessa and Gerry had decided that once they were married they would move to a village in West Cork, where Tessa was from originally. Tessa’s dad was currently overseeing the construction of what would eventually become their new home. Gerry, who worked as a website designer, was planning to set up on his own and would run his business from the new house. Tessa hoped to secure a nursing position at a hospital close by, and with her widespread nursing experience, didn’t anticipate any problems with getting a job.

  Karen would miss her when she left. What with Jenny shutting herself away from the world out in Dun Laoghaire, and Tessa leaving for Cork, all of Karen’s friends seemed to be disappearing from around her.

  “Oh, I met Jenny yesterday,” she said, changing the subject.

  Tessa clapped her hands together. “I have to go out and see her myself. How is she these days?”

  Karen grimaced. “Much improved, but I think it got to her a little when she heard about your man’s impending departure.”

  “Oh, he hasn’t contacted her then?”

  Karen shook her head. “Thank God. Maybe he’s developed a conscience and has decided to let her
get on with her life. Or maybe he’s just forgotten all about her. Rat.”

  Tessa took a deep breath. “I met him one day in town,” she said. “And he seemed really miserable.”

  “So he should be,” Karen interjected. “She’s been miserable for long enough, so why shouldn’t he be? Anyway,” she said, stealing a cigarette from Tessa, having forgotten to bring her own, “what was wrong with him? Feeling sorry for himself because he was caught out in his true colours, was it?”

  Tessa paused. “Don’t you think that sometimes you might have been just a little bit too hard on the guy?”

  “What? You can’t be serious. You were there that night; you saw what happened – what he did. You saw how devastated Jenny was – what do you mean I might have been too hard on the bastard?”

  “Calm down, that’s not what I meant. I know that Roan was wrong to do what he did to Jenny. But I think he knows that. And I think he really cares about her.”

  Karen set her glass down on the table and folded her arms across her chest.

  “You’re as bad as Shane – he thinks he’s a great lad too. Tell me this, Tessa, would you be as forgiving towards Gerry if he treated you like Roan treated Jenny?”

  “No but …” Knowing she was fighting a losing battle, Tessa gave up. “You’re probably right. It’s just he seemed genuinely sorry for what had happened, and he was really anxious to find out how Jenny was doing.”

  Karen sniffed. “Probably wondering if she had calmed down enough for him to weasel his way into her affections again.”

  Tessa had to laugh. “Karen, do something for me, will you? Keep reminding me for the rest of my life that I should never, ever make an enemy out of you.”

  Karen giggled. “I know – I’m a cow. But Tessa, you didn’t see half of what I saw throughout that relationship. When Jenny came back from Australia, she was so bubbly, and happy, and confident. When I saw her yesterday …” She shook her head. “I don’t know – it was hard to believe I was talking to the same person. He shattered her, Tessa, really shattered her. I think she had put so much faith in him, and so much faith in that fortune-teller’s prediction, that she just couldn’t cope with finding out that it was all wrong.”

  “Do you think she’ll be OK – eventually, I mean?” Tessa asked.

  Karen gave a firm nod of the head. “She’ll be OK – as long as that bastard stays out of her life and she never sees him again.”

  Chapter 26

  Jenny couldn’t believe it. How could she have been so careless?

  It had happened the same day Karen had told her about Roan moving to New York. That was the last time she worked in the Commercial Cash, she was sure of it.

  Barry paced up and down the office in front of her.

  “I can’t believe you could have done something like that, Jenny. What the hell has got into you lately? A bloody trainee wouldn’t do something so stupid.”

  “Barry, I don’t know how it could have happened,” Jenny, afraid to meet his eyes, stared down at her lap. “I just didn’t realise.”

  She had never seen Barry so annoyed, and it was not a pretty sight. His face was bright red and screwed up in anger, and his eyes flashed dangerously.

  “Just didn’t realise. I should hope so, Jenny. After all, we wouldn’t want you handing out dummy notes to all our customers just on a whim, would we?”

  Jenny flinched at his words. She couldn’t believe what she had done. The same afternoon after her lunch with Karen, Marion had asked her to step in and cover the Commercial Cash area for the afternoon, as one of the girls had gone home sick. Thursday was late opening, as well as being one of the busiest days of the week, so they needed extra cover there. It was the very last thing Jenny wanted to do, as her thoughts had been everywhere that afternoon. She remembered finding it very difficult to concentrate on anything after she had found out that Roan was leaving the country, possibly for good.

  The Commercial Cash was a secure area, separate from the regular cashiers, and it usually dealt in large sums of money. The cashiers there took in substantial cash lodgements, and dispensed large amounts, generally to companies who paid their staff wages every week in cash. Jenny remembered that they had been especially busy that afternoon, and that she had been rapidly doling out more cash than she was taking in. She had forgotten to reset the timer on her safe and, as the safe was time-locked, she knew she had a few minutes to wait in order to replenish the notes in her drawer.

  One of the directors from a local company had come up to her in a terrible hurry, looking to withdraw cash from the business account. She had been so harassed and harried by his impatience, that Jenny had mistakenly given him a wad of dummy notes, along with the rest of his cash.

  The dummy notes were an Alliance Trust Bank security precaution, which usually resided in the cashier’s drawer to be given out in the event of a hold-up. This cash was often referred to as the ‘bomb’ by some bank staff, and the reason for that was because, after a robbery, the fake wad of notes exploded a coloured dye onto the thief’s hands, clothes, and (hopefully from the bank’s point of view) onto the rest of the stolen notes, rendering them useless.

  Jenny had given the bomb notes to an important customer of the bank. He had telephoned Barry the following morning, and had been absolutely livid. Jenny was only hearing about it now, because she had taken a sick day on Friday, and was out for two days the following week. The news of Roan’s departure was an emotional setback for her, and she had felt she needed some uninterrupted time to decide whether or not she should get in contact with him before he left.

  “What do you suppose I should do about this, Jenny?” Barry snapped. “How am I supposed to pacify a man that had one of his Armani suits ruined, as a result of your stupidity? Not to mention the fact that his hands are still covered in blue dye nearly a week later. He was on his way out of the country that same afternoon for a meeting, and he had to cancel it. He says he couldn’t face anyone, not to mention an important client, in that state.”

  “Barry, I don’t know what to say. It was a mistake – I really am very, very sorry.”

  She was terribly sorry, but the image of this self-important businessman (as he undoubtedly was) covered in irremovable blue dye was comical. She could just imagine his face when the thing exploded all over him. Jenny bit her lip, trying to bite back a threatening smile. Barry was anything but amused.

  The manager sat back in his chair, folded his arms across his chest and exhaled loudly. Jenny noticed that the colour in his face had begun to recede a little.

  “Well, I suppose what’s done is done, at this stage,” he said in a normal voice. “There’s not a lot any of us can do now, except try to patch thing up as best we can. He’s a decent enough customer, you know. The company’s got an excellent credit grading, and Kennedy has investments, a pension and life assurance with us. We can’t afford to lose him as a customer.”

  Jenny nodded. “I’ll speak to him, Barry. Maybe now he’ll have calmed down a little. He’s the director of InTech, you say?”

  “Michael Kennedy. I’ve never met him myself – he usually deals with the Assistant Manager.”

  Barry picked up the company file on the desk in front of him, studied it for a moment and then snapped it shut, before sliding it across to Jenny. “His contact details are all there. I suggest you write a personal letter of apology to him, and perhaps follow it up with a phone call to his office. Sweeten him up – send flowers or something – I don’t know, just make sure he knows that this bank is not in the habit of putting imbeciles behind a cash desk.” He dismissed her with a wave of his hand. “Go on, back to your office. I know you didn’t do it purpose – just try not to have an off-day from now on, OK?” He grimaced. “Now I have to try and sort him out with a replacement bloody suit. Unfortunately there’s no dry cleaner on earth that can help him with that blue stuff.”

  Jenny said nothing more. She stood up and went towards the door, eager to get out of the office and away from
Barry. When he was angry, it was as well to stay as far away from him as possible, particularly when she happened to be the cause of his anger in the first place.

  However Jenny noticed a tiny glimmer of amusement in Barry’s eyes when, on her way out the door, he suddenly asked her: “By the way, Jen, do you know if Arnott’s do Armani suits these days, by any chance?”

  *****

  One morning, nearly two weeks after she had sent him a ridiculously expensive gift basket, Jenny got a visit from Michael Kennedy.

  The entire episode with ‘the bomb’ had made her famous throughout the Alliance Trust network. The story had been gleefully retold all over the district, not surprisingly becoming funnier and more exaggerated with each telling. Even the staff in some country branches had heard about it. Jenny’s workmates in Dun Laoghaire had been teasing her unmercifully ever since.

  “Feeling a bit blue today, Jenny?” Brendan had asked her cheekily one morning in the staff canteen, soon after the episode. Despite herself, Jenny couldn’t help but giggle.

  “I don’t think I’d ever be able to afford an Armani suit,” added Brian Keyes, getting into the swing of things. “Don’t they cost an absolute bomb?”

  Everyone roared with laughter as Brian and Declan gave one another a high five, delighted with their little act. Jenny enjoyed the banter; it took her mind off the fact that Roan had left for the States the previous weekend. Karen had been in contact, wondering if Jenny had heard from him before he went. Jenny hadn’t, and was now resigned to the fact she was unlikely to ever see or hear from Roan Williams again.

  The thought didn’t disturb her as much as she thought it might. It merely meant that now, many months after the break-up, she could finally begin getting on with her life, instead of hiding away from it. It would be easier for her to do that now, without the risk of running into him again. Dublin was a relatively small city and chances were that their paths would certainly have crossed sometime in the future. Jenny didn’t think she could handle that. This was the best way. Maybe now she could finally begin to let go.