by Melissa Hill
‘Yes, it has been a long time.’
‘So how are things with you? I hear you’re doing well.’
‘Well you know, I’m no star, but I’m doing well enough for someone who was stuck in Lakeview.’
The coldness of his words cut her to the bone, and while on some level Ruth knew that perhaps she deserved it; on another she wasn’t letting him away with such a put-down.
‘I’m glad to hear it,’ she said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. ‘I always knew you’d be a huge success.’ When he didn’t reply, she smiled through her embarrassment, unsure what to say next. ‘Well, I’ll be in town for a little while so maybe we can get together for a coffee or something? I’d love to hear about all the goings-on.’
At this Charlie eyes darkened. He leaned in, getting close enough for her to smell the scent of the aftershave and without ceremony, took her by the elbow and guided her from the café.
‘Charlie …what?’ Ruth gasped as he led her out the door. ‘What’s going on?’
Once outside, he spun on his heel and the hitherto lazy cats quickly scattered . ‘I knew I was going to run into you at some point,’ he said drolly.
‘But what…what’s all this about –?
‘Spare me the small talk, princess. I have no desire to be part of all this, no intention of being pulled into some Hollywood-paparazzi-crap simply because it suits you. I’ll deal with your presence in my town this summer, but other than that, I will not give you another thought. You have been out of my life for the past five years and I plan to keep it that way.’
Ruth was shocked at such directness. ‘Charlie, I….’
‘Before you start, I don’t care about you anymore, but I will not have my life disrupted while you are here because you happen to be a shameless drama queen OK? So let’s get the rules straight right now. I don’t want to have coffee with you; I don’t want to have dinner with you – anything. I don’t want to be involved with you or the lapdogs that follow you around.’
His words stung her and she puffed out her chest in indignation. ‘How dare you insult me Charlie Mellon? You have no right to talk to me in such a manner.’
He laughed out loud and right then, Ruth felt relieved; clearly he was only joking around, messing with her head a little.
But what he said next didn’t sound humorous at all. ‘Please,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘Next time you do righteous indignation; try not to make it sound so rehearsed. I guess you’re not that great an actress after all.’ Then before Ruth could respond, he patted her cheek in a patronising manner, and walked off leaving her standing there alone. The irony wasn’t lost on her. At their last meeting, Ruth had made Charlie look like a fool.
Now five years on, it was her turn.
Chapter 12
This would have to be the marketing campaign of Jess’s life. She was going to have to sell this idea like no other, make it sound like the ultimate must-have.
And Jess could do it, she was sure of it; after all, wasn’t selling an idea her absolute speciality?
She paced the floor of the living room, listening intently for the front door to open, signalling Brian’s return from London. She’d set the table, picked up a nice lamb moussaka from a nearby deli, and had a bottle of his favourite pinot grigio in the cooler. She’d also picked up something very nice from La Perla to wear beneath her figure-hugging Issa dress in the hope that all would go well and things could get moving immediately.
It was nine-thirty in the evening, and Brian had called about half an hour ago from the taxi on his way from the airport. He should be here any moment and while Jess always looked forward to her husband’s return, this time was different. This time, she was …well if truth be told, a little nervous.
Then right on cue, she heard the front door open and her heart began to race.
‘Hey sweetheart,’ Brian greeted happily, but stopped short as he caught sight of the wine and the carefully laid dining table. Surprise registered on his face, and Jess tried to ignore the way the side of his mouth twitched, something that usually happened when he was amused.
‘What’s all this?’ he said, casting an eye over Jess’s attire and her blonde hair worn loose around her face. ‘I was expecting you to be in your comfy pyjamas by now.’
Jess smiled. ‘Well, I missed you and wanted to surprise you.’
Placing his overnight bag down, he loosened his tie and moved across the room towards her. ‘What’s the special occasion?’ he asked, taking her into his arms. ‘I didn’t forget our anniversary or something, did I?’
Jess laughed. ‘You know that’s months away. There’s no occasion really,’ she said, her heart thumping so loud she was sure he couldn’t hear it. ‘I was back early today so I just thought it would be nice to do something special.’
‘You’re right, it is nice. And what a wonderful surprise, thank you,’ he said, kissing her softly.
‘So how was London?’ Jess asked, when they were seated at the table. She poured them each a glass of pinot grigio, making extra sure his was well filled. Tonight, she wanted her husband to be as relaxed as possible.
‘Ah not too bad, you know yourself. Actually, I’d rather not talk about work – I’ve had it up to here with all the goings on.’ He took a sip from his glass and smiled appreciatively as Jess put the steaming dinner plate in front of him. ‘How was your weekend? Did you have a good time with the girls?’
‘It was good fun.’
‘Everything back to normal then – no more baby talk?’
Jess gulped. ‘Well, now that you mention that…’
‘What, they were banging on about it again?’ He rolled his eyes.
‘Kind of but …well to be honest honey, all of that stuff kind of got me thinking a little.’
‘Oh – about what?’
‘Well, about us, and our own …situation.’
Brian’s fork stopped halfway to his mouth. ‘Our own “situation”?’
‘Yes, you know regarding that…department.’ So much for her big pitch, Jess thought. As it was, she could barely get the words out.
‘Wait a minute,’ Brian said, looking at her. ‘Are we talking about us having children?’
She nodded, her eyes shining. ‘I was just thinking that maybe, you know, it’s time.’
He was silent as he stared at her. ‘This is about the girls again, isn’t it?’ he said evenly.
Jess stared down at the tablecloth; the relaxing mood that she’d worked so carefully to cultivate was well and truly broken. ‘What? No, this has nothing to do with them.’
‘Ah Jess, come on, you’ve never been a good liar.’
‘Well, it isn’t about my friends. It’s about us, and if you ask me, it’s something I really feel we should be thinking about. ‘
A smile played at the corners of his mouth. ‘Really. So this big welcome home dinner has nothing to do with the fact that you were out with Emer and Deirdre at the weekend, and all of sudden you want to have a baby?’
‘It’s not all of a sudden – I’ve been thinking about this for a while actually.’
‘For a while? Strange that you hadn’t mentioned it before that thing with Emer. And do you honestly think that you having a baby will help mend the problems with your friendship?’
How did he do that? Jess thought. How did he hit the nail right on the head?
‘Honestly Jess, you should know better than to let this bother you; those two are like a pair of ‘oul biddies since they moved down to the sticks.’
‘No, the girls have nothing to do with this Brian, honestly. This is about us. This is about me. We’re …well, I’m getting old.’ She decided there was no choice but to call in the big guns and go all out with the dramatics.
‘Old?’ Brian chuckled. ‘You cannot be serious.’
‘I am serious. I’m thirty-five and while we’re sitting here talking about it, my eggs are drying up. I looked it up on the internet, it’s a fact.’ Saying the words out loud was
actually harder than reading them on screen and despite herself, she felt scared.
‘Ah love, this has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard…’
Jess’s heart began to thump; this really wasn’t how she’d planned tonight at all. She’d hoped for a calm, reasonable discussion about having a baby. She certainly didn’t think Brian would be so against it; didn’t men usually just go along with their wives on this kind of decision? ‘Look we always said we would have a baby some day, didn’t we?’ she pointed out. ‘But there’s no denying that whatever you say, I am getting older, and soon it might be too late.’
Brian’s tone softened. ‘Sweetheart, of course we should think about having a baby sometime, but don’t give me all this “old” business. Women have babies well into their forties these days.’
‘Well, I don’t want to be an older mum,’ Jess said dejectedly, standing up and going into the kitchen. Brian followed her, but she stood and faced the window, away from him. ‘A few more years and I might have to follow my kid around in a walker.’
Brian stood back, shaking his head. Then he sighed, and put his arms around her. ‘Look, I know we always said we’d have children someday and I’m still committed to that idea. But can’t you admit that maybe some of this – even a teeny tiny bit of it might have been brought on by you feeling left out of Emer and Deirdre’s mummy club?’
‘No.’
He sighed. ‘Okay, if you can’t admit that, fine, I’ll go along with it. But regardless, don’t you think that a decision like this, a huge, momentous life-changing decision like having a baby deserves a little more talk and planning?’
‘Of course but –’
‘Wait, let me finish. Don’t you think that maybe we should discuss the practicalities, look at our finances, see if we still have things we want to do before we commit to such a huge change?’
‘But our finances are fine,’ Jess argued. ‘And we can continue to do whatever we want; the only difference is we’ll have a little one to tag along.’
Brian nuzzled Jess’s neck, ‘Love, you do realise a baby isn’t an accessory, don’t you?’
Immediately she pushed her husband away. ‘Don’t patronise me, Brian.’
‘I’m only teasing, but you really should hear yourself,’ he said pulling her back to him but again she wriggled away. ‘Can you see that I’m really serious about this?’
‘OK, duly noted,’ he said. ‘But come on, let’s not rush into anything before we’re sure it’s right for us. Yes of course we can start talking about it, but we also need to make sure that it’s something we really want. Truthfully, I suggest you should let some of this rubbish with the girls blow over before you even start considering it seriously. Just because you’re feeling a bit left out of their lives now isn’t a good enough reason for us to embark on starting a family. That kind of clouded judgment won’t do anyone any good, especially when you’re are talking about a decision as big as this. Come on, you of all people should know that it isn’t something to take lightly.’
‘I do but …’ Jess sighed. Of course Brian was going to be all methodical and logical about it, wasn’t he? Still, he did agree to consider it, and that was something, wasn’t it? And seeing as the idea had (however muddily) been pitched, maybe now it was just about speeding up the selling process.
‘So what do you think?’ he asked in conclusion.
‘You promise we can talk about it?’
‘Of course, but we aren’t going to jump into this blindly.’
Not exactly the answer she wanted, considering she’d already told the girls they were trying, but it was close. ‘OK then, let’s talk about it.’
‘You mean now?’
‘Why not?’
He ran a hand through his hair. ‘Ah come on Jess, I’ve just got home after a long hard week and another flight. I don’t have the energy, emotional or otherwise, to even think about something like this just now.’
‘Tomorrow then?’
Brian sighed heavily. ‘I have a long day tomorrow too, but fine OK, tomorrow.’
‘My clock is ticking, remember?’ she said, half-jokingly.
‘So is mine and every second we spend here talking about your biological clock is one second closer to when I need to get up in the morning.’
‘Alright, alright,’ she decided to let the subject drop for now.
‘So, is that new?’ Brian asked, smiling at the raspberry coloured lace peeking out at the V of her dress.
‘It is actually,’ she said, smiling back at him.
He encircled her in his arms and bent his head to kiss her. ‘Well then, let’s try and make those seconds count.’
So be it, Jess thought, as she kissed her husband. She’d laid the groundwork and with a little more prodding, Brian would be on board.
Because while he might have won the battle tonight, he definitely wouldn’t win the war.
Chapter 13
On Monday morning, Nina met Trish outside Lakeview public library where they planned to search through old newspapers for relevant articles and photographs for the charity book. They had phoned Ruth and asked her to join them, but couldn’t contact her and neither one of them had seen her since they’d met up at the cafe.
‘What’s the story with those two?’ Nina had asked that day when Ruth and Charlie went outside. It was obvious there was some kind of history between them, but Nina hadn’t known Ruth well enough back then to know whom she was or wasn’t seeing.
Trish was unperturbed. ‘I suppose they’re just catching up. It’s impossible to talk to Ruth these days without people gawping at you so I’d imagine he wanted to talk to her in peace. Didn’t you see them all staring when she was with us?’
Nina hadn’t in fact, noticed anything untoward, but then again she’d been sitting beside the actress and facing the other direction. While she had no idea what was said, she figured it couldn’t have been terribly positive considering that Ruth never returned to their table.
‘They were engaged you know,’ Trish told her, referring to Ruth and Charlie.
‘Really?’
‘Yeah, well kind of, I heard he proposed but … Actually, I can’t remember the exact jist of it, but it was around the time Ruth really made it big on The Local. Obviously they broke up when she moved to LA.’
‘Right. That must have been tough.’ Nina wondered if this was partly the reason Ruth had taken so long to return home. A broken heart, perhaps? ‘I wonder why he didn’t go with her?’
‘Charlie Mellon in Hollywood? You must be joking. The same man can’t stand going to Dublin, so he’d hardly be cut out for La-La Land.’
‘I see.’ Sounded like Ruth had had to make a choice; a glittering acting career or life as a Lakeview housewife. Knowing what little of the girl she did, she suspected it wasn’t a difficult one. Yet she wondered if Ruth had privately ever had any regrets?
Since then Nina had tried calling Ruth and had spoken to her briefly about coming to the library, yet she seemed intent on keeping to herself for the moment. Which was why she and Trish were on their own this morning.
Going into the library, they were escorted to a room out back by the friendly head librarian. ‘I’m not sure if there’s much here to help you, Trish,’ the woman, who was called Martha said, ‘but if there’s anything I can do don’t hesitate to ask. I think this book is a brilliant idea and it’s about time someone other than Madame Seymour did something to put Lakeview on the map.’ She sniffed, her tone leaving them in no doubt as to her opinion of the local celebrity and Nina figured it was probably a stroke of good luck that Ruth had decided not to accompany them today.
When Martha left, Trish plopped down her large leather holdall and started perusing the shelves. ‘What do you think we should look for?’ she asked.
Nina grimaced. ‘I was hoping you would know, this is your project, after all.’
‘Yeah well, truth be told, I have no idea.’
Nina grabbed a volume containing ne
wspaper clippings off the wall. ‘This is impressive. I suppose I didn’t think that Lakeview had any history that was worthwhile enough to merit an entire room.’
Trish smiled at her tone. ‘Oh, aren’t you the sarcastic one, Lakeview happens to have a splendid history, rich and colourful and…’ Trish faltered.
‘Exactly,’ Nina said laughing. ‘You know as much about this town’s history as I do.’
‘Well, I will know the history,’ Trish said haughtily and Nina raised an eyebrow. ‘Just as soon as I finish this book,’ she added giggling. ‘Seriously though, I suppose I’m looking for stuff that’s interesting, a bit quirky maybe? Something that’ll surprise people.’
Typical, Nina thought smiling; she should have known that Trish’s instructions would be clear as mud. Interesting and quirky weren’t exactly words that jumped out at you when you thought of this place.
Several hours later, she stood up to stretch, feeling dusty and yellowed, a little bit like this room. And there was no denying her hunger. These days she couldn’t stop eating, a side-effect of not being able to keep breakfast down, she supposed. Trish, on the other hand was still eagerly reading each and every piece of newspaper and examining every picture with the intense scrutiny of a pit-bull.
‘I’m hungry,’ Nina said, checking her watch. It was almost lunchtime; they’d already been here for three hours.
‘Just a little while longer …’ answered Trish distractedly.
Nina rolled her eyes and ran her hand over the spines of the scrapbooks on the shelves. She had to admit, it had been a mildly interesting morning. She’d come across several mentions of her mother among the stacks – pictures and articles from when Cathy was in school or various community events she had been involved in. She had to give her mother credit; she’d been quite the popular one.
On the other hand, she’d only come across evidence of her father a couple of times, once in a class photo of his high school graduation and a second mention in the wedding announcements. It didn’t surprise her; clearly in those days Patrick had been just as anti-social and invisible as he was now. It made her further question why her mother had ever got involved with such a wallflower, such an outcast, when clearly she could have had her pick of any of the men in town. Her mother was a stunner, and while she could see from the photo that Patrick had been reasonably handsome in his youth, she couldn’t figure out how this was enough to catch her mother’s eye.
