Mr Right for the Night

by Marisa Mackle

  ‘You look sensational. Every man in the room will be hitting on you.’

  ‘As long as you’re hitting on me too, I don’t care,’ Claire twirled to give the dress its full effect. ‘As long as you’re after me that’s all that counts.’

  The doorbell rang.

  ‘Oh, that must be Anna. I’ll get it.’ Claire made for the door and flung it open.

  ‘Are you going out?’ Anna looked startled.

  ‘No, silly, this is what I’m wearing to the party. Come in. Do you like it?’

  ‘Wow, it’s amazing.’

  ‘What are you wearing yourself, Anna?’

  ‘Me? Oh I haven’t a clue. What I’m going to wear is actually the least of my worries. Oh hi, Simon. Long time, no see.’

  ‘Hi, Anna. Now if you two ladies will excuse me, I’m sure you’ve loads of things to be gossiping about.’

  ‘Well, he looks happy,’ Anna said brightly and pulled up a chair for herself.

  ‘He’s every right to be,’ Claire grinned and instinctively moved her hand across her still impossibly flat stomach.

  ‘Is there something I should know?’ Anna asked warily.

  ‘God, where do I start?’

  Claire told Anna about the pregnancy, about going back to work, and about Shelley.

  Anna listened, gobsmacked. Claire had blossomed since she’d last met her. Being pregnant suited her.

  Still, rather her than me, Anna decided as Claire started to give a vivid description of her latest bout of morning sickness.

  In turn, Anna spilled the beans on her new relationship.

  ‘He sounds almost too good,’ Claire said.

  ‘I can live with too good,’ Anna replied.

  ‘But what about Mark?’

  ‘What about him?’

  ‘Don’t you still hold a candle for him?’

  ‘No,’ Anna said firmly, ‘I never held a candle or anything for him.’

  ‘I dunno about that,’ Claire teased.

  ‘Oh shut up, will you?’

  ‘So when are you meeting this fella again?’

  ‘His name’s Darren,’ Anna said huffily.

  ‘Does he know you’ve the day off ?’

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘Well, give him a ring now so. It’s only nine o’clock.’

  ‘But suppose he wants to meet up tonight?’

  ‘Well then you tell him you won’t be able to,’ Claire insisted. ‘We’re meeting Alice and Olive.’

  ‘Olive Sharkey?’

  ‘Yeah, Alice ran into her and she’s dying to meet up.’

  ‘You have got to be joking,’ Anna fumed. ‘She was Victoria’s buddy in school. Don’t you remember her? The ultimate yes woman.’

  ‘I’m sure she’s changed,’ Claire said diplomatically. ‘We’ve all changed in lots of ways, you know.’

  ‘Right, anyway I don’t think I’ll ring Darren tonight. I’m a bit wrecked after my journey from Galway.’

  ‘Whatever you think. Well, I’m ready when you are. Actually come in and have a peek at Andrew while I’m getting changed. He’s got so big.’

  Claire and Anna arrived at Coopers Restaurant early. Alice turned up fifteen minutes later. She seemed thrilled to see Anna. ‘I hear you’ve a new man in your life,’ she enthused. ‘I want all the gory details later.’

  ‘God, I’d be here all night,’ Anna laughed good-naturedly. She was careful not to ask Alice how her love life was. Claire had her well warned.

  ‘Olive won’t be here till ten. She does yoga on a Monday evening,’ Alice explained.

  ‘Does she still follow Victoria around the place?’ Anna was blunt. ‘Last time I saw her she was peeping out of the back pages of Ireland’s People with Victoria. It was the opening of some new clothes shop, I think.’

  ‘Well, she still loves to go out, I know,’ Alice explained. ‘Her husband is very much the stay- at-home type. He’s not gone on the whole social scene.’

  ‘God, he sounds the opposite to Simon. No wonder she’s so looking forward to coming out with us,’ said Claire. ‘Oh look, there’s Olive.’

  ‘Hi, girls.’ Olive made her way down the steps to the others. She waved almost nervously.

  ‘Hi, Olive,’ the girls waved back.

  ‘Sorry I’m so late. Oh you should have gone ahead and ordered without me. Thanks, I’ll have a glass of Bud,’ she told the waiter.

  ‘You look fantastic, Olive,’ Claire beamed.

  ‘Yes you do,’ Anna agreed. She wasn’t sure if she trusted Olive. Olive had been wary of ever being seen talking to Anna in school. Anna hadn’t been ‘cool’ enough.

  They ordered their starters and a bottle of red and white. Anna’s tummy was grumbling. Another busy day in the store had left no time again for eating.

  ‘So is everybody looking forward to the party?’ Olive looked from one face to another.

  ‘Very much so,’ Anna lied.

  ‘Victoria was saying that she realized not everybody will have a partner to bring along but that they’re welcome to come on their own anyway,’ Olive said, mainly for Alice’s benefit but Anna thought the comment was aimed towards her and felt a surge of annoyance.

  ‘I would have thought it a better idea to leave the men out of it altogether,’ said Alice. ‘After all, it was a girls’ boarding school run by nuns. Men were strictly forbidden.’

  Everybody laughed. The wine was poured.

  ‘But if the men were banned we wouldn’t get to see all the telly hubbies.’ Anna held her glass up.

  ‘Cheers, girls.’

  ‘Now, now, we’ll have no bitching,’ Claire tutted.

  ‘Remember we all grew up together.’

  ‘Like one big happy family not,’ Alice said.

  ‘So what does Victoria do all day?’ Anna couldn’t help asking.

  Olive shrugged. ‘Shop, I suppose. Look in the mirror? I’m not really sure, to be honest.’

  ‘Aren’t you two joined at the hip any more?’

  ‘No, we had our operation a while ago. I’m free now.’

  ‘So you saw through her in the end,’ Alice muttered. ‘Everybody does eventually.’

  The starters arrived. Anna tucked into her salad. The evening was turning out to be a bit of fun after all. Olive wasn’t so bad. People changed. You had to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe even Victoria wouldn’t be so horrendous either.

  ‘Do you still keep in touch with Mark Landon?’ Alice asked during the course of the meal.

  ‘Well, I haven’t seen him since I went to Galway but he used to live across the road from me in Ranelagh.’

  ‘Did he? Lucky you. I always thought Mark was divine,’ Alice sighed. ‘Is he not married?’

  ‘No,’ Anna put her knife and fork down. ‘No, he is not.’

  ‘Funny, I thought a man like that would have been snapped up long ago.’

  CHAPTER FORTY

  It was strange waking up in her old bedroom. Anna stretched lazily on the bed and rolled over. Oh, the joy of not having to get up at the crack of dawn!

  The first thing she had to do today was ring Darren.

  He’d be expecting her call.

  And anyway he’d no way of contacting her. Grandad was sipping tea in the kitchen. ‘Would you like a cup? The kettle’s boiled,’ he croaked.

  ‘Thank you.’ She fetched herself a tea bag.

  ‘Are you married yet, Anna?’

  ‘I don’t have time,’ she answered.

  ‘You’re no spring chicken, you know.’ He nibbled on a plain digestive.

  She made no reply. Grandad could be quite insensitive when he wanted to be.

  She went out to the hall, dialling Darren’s number before she could change her mind.

  He answered promptly.

  ‘Darren?’

  ‘Hey, gorgeous.’

  ‘I’m in Dublin.’

  ‘Great, what are you up to?’

  ‘Nothing much and yourself ?’

  ‘I’m up to my eyeb
alls in business meetings today.’

  ‘Oh.’ Anna was disappointed.

  ‘I’m afraid I won’t be able to see you this evening.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘Are you mad at me?’

  ‘No, not at all, I understand. You’re keeping the weekend free for me though, aren’t you?’

  ‘Sure, I’ll call you.’

  ‘I’ll look forward to it.’ Anna put the phone down.

  So much for that. Anna was upset. Surely he wasn’t that busy? It wasn’t as if she was in Dublin every week. Surely he could have fitted her somewhere into his busy schedule? What was going on? Was he losing interest already? Hadn’t they just spent the most magical weekend together? Maybe she shouldn’t have slept with him. Maybe that was the reason he seemed to be going off her. Men were sometimes a bit funny after sex. They saw you in a different light once the mystery had disappeared.

  But it had seemed so right. It had felt so right. Snap out of it, Anna, she told herself. He’s busy, that’s all there is to it. Sure wasn’t she the very one who was constantly snowed under with work commitments? She of all people should be more understanding. Besides there were things to be done. A dress had to be bought for this blasted party.

  The traffic into town would be manic, Anna reckoned. So she took the bus. She stood at the bus stop outside Stillorgan shopping centre and waited for a 46A. As long as Darren showed up at the party that was the main thing. And he would. Of course he would.

  Eventually a bus stopped. Anna hopped on, taking a seat upstairs. The sun was shining. Life didn’t seem so bad after all. She’d really have to stop being a pessimist. Not all men were bastards. Only some of them.

  Just the ones that Anna had the misfortune to cross paths with.

  At Grafton Street, she hopped off and ambled down the main street along with the hundreds of shoppers. In Brown Thomas she bumped into Olive trying on a cream strapless evening dress.

  ‘Hi there,’ Anna said making her jump.

  ‘Hey, Anna.’ Olive’s face broke into a smile.

  ‘You’re in the same dilemma as me, I take it.’

  ‘At this stage I feel like turning up in a pair of old jeans,’ Anna laughed.

  ‘Same here. What do you think of this?’

  ‘It’s stunning,’ Anna said truthfully.

  ‘Almost a month’s wages.’

  ‘But you only live once,’ Anna reminded her.

  ‘You’re right, I’ll take it.’

  ‘Want to grab a coffee?’

  ‘Sure,’ Olive grinned.

  It was funny, Anna thought as herself and Olive chatted easily about life in the coffee shop in Brown Thomas; she’d lived under the same roof as the girl for six years and had never really had a proper conversation with her.

  ‘Do you know something, Olive?’ she confided,

  ‘You’re so different now to what you were like in school.’

  ‘In what way?’ Olive seemed surprised.

  ‘Well, don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but I thought you were quite nasty in school. You laughed every time Victoria bullied anyone.’

  ‘God, that’s terrible.’ Olive looked contrite. ‘If I laughed it was only because I was afraid of Victoria. It wasn’t like I thought anything she ever did was funny.’

  ‘I’m dreading going to the reunion. I mean, if it was in anybody else’s house I wouldn’t mind so much.’

  ‘We’re all in the same boat,’ Olive almost whispered. ‘I don’t particularly want to go along either. But I’d say the night will be interesting. I don’t really know what to expect.’

  ‘Is the house nice?’

  ‘Amazing,’ Olive sighed.

  ‘Lucky girl, eh?’

  ‘Do you know something?’ Olive said after a while. ‘You might find this hard to believe but I actually envied you in school.’

  ‘Me?’

  ‘Yeah, you were so independent and did your own thing, you know?’

  ‘God, that’s funny that you think that.’

  ‘I was the sad case following Victoria and those around hoping to be accepted. You were so strong.’

  ‘Not inside I wasn’t.’ Anna gave a slight shudder. She didn’t like to think about it too much.

  ‘Anyway, enough about school. What are your plans for the rest of the day?’

  ‘I have to find a dress for starters,’ Anna nibbled on her scone, ‘and then, I dunno . . . I might call round to Claire’s.’

  ‘Don’t you have to be back in work tomorrow?’

  ‘Yeah, but not until lunch time. I’ll drive down in the morning.’

  ‘Are you meeting that sexy man of yours?’

  ‘Not this evening,’ Anna tried to keep her voice light.

  ‘I’m sure I’ll see him at the party.’ Olive stood up and brushed the crumbs off her skirt. ‘By the way you should give Alice a ring. She’s dying to go out. She really is.’

  ‘Well, maybe I will,’ Anna smiled.

  ‘So,’ Alice met her later in the bar of The Morrison Hotel, ‘describe it.’

  They sat in the corner and ordered two vodkas and diet Cokes.

  ‘It’s short and black but completely different to Olive’s and it’s got these chiffon sleeves. Cost a bomb but I’ll worry about that later.’

  ‘It sounds bliss. What’s Darren wearing?’

  ‘I don’t even know if he’s coming,’ Anna sighed.

  ‘Nonsense,’ Alice argued. But what did she know about anything? ‘So, do you want to go dancing?’

  ‘Tonight?’ Anna looked surprised. ‘Sure nothing’s open on a Tuesday.’

  ‘Tomango’s is.’

  ‘God, well there’s a blast from the past!’

  ‘Let’s go for the laugh.’

  ‘I’ll kill you for doing this to me,’ Anna groaned.

  ‘You’re only young once,’ Alice said as she hauled her out of her seat.

  ‘I was young once,’ Anna said.

  Alice was determined to live it up on the dance floor. She shook her hands wildly to songs like ‘I will survive’ and ‘It’s raining men’. The music was brilliant and the place was packed with people having fun. But somehow, Anna felt, if Darren had been with her, the night would have been slightly more fun. What was wrong with her? Would she never be able to enjoy a girls’ night out ever again? This was insane!

  ‘How on earth are we going to get home?’ Anna asked Alice at about 2 a.m. ‘Stillorgan is miles and miles away.’

  ‘Look out for somebody drinking water,’ Alice suggested. ‘They’re usually the non-drinkers. One of them will bring us as far as town.’

  ‘Oh I dunno about that,’ Anna hesitated.

  ‘Go on,’ Alice urged. ‘It’s a tried and tested method.’

  Anna glanced around the room trying to spot the non-drinkers. Eventually she approached a man with a pint glass full of water.

  ‘Is that water you’re drinking?’ She fluttered her eyelashes at him.

  ‘Yesh shis, I’m trying to shober up fore I get home,’ he said. ‘Want shome?’

  ‘No thanks,’ Anna muttered and walked away.

  ‘No luck?’ Alice asked her. ‘Okay, let me try.’ Five minutes later she returned with a man. And, more importantly, a lift.

  His name was Nigel.

  ‘Are you sure you don’t mind about this?’ Anna tried not to show her delight too much.

  ‘Not at all,’ the guy assured her. ‘Sure, I was bringing my friend Jack home anyway.’

  The ‘lift’ was a navy van so Anna and Alice had to climb in the back and sit among a pile of boxes. Jack was intrigued with the ‘birds’ in the back. He’d been trying unsuccessfully to score all night while Nigel had effortlessly picked up two!

  Jack reluctantly got out of the car in O’Connell Street. Alice was dropped off a little further on.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Nigel asked Anna.

  ‘I’m fine here,’ Anna said.

  ‘But where do you live?’

 
‘Er . . . Stillorgan.’

  ‘Get into the front so, I’ll drive you,’ Nigel insisted. Anna took a good look at him. He didn’t look like the type of guy who would strangle you and then discard your body in one of those wheelie bins. And it wasn’t like he had even approached the girls in the first place. And it was pretty cold outside too.

  She didn’t much want to stand at a taxi rank. Ah she was probably safe enough!

  ‘Did you have a good night anyway?’ Nigel was very chatty.

  ‘Great, I never left the dance floor.’

  ‘So I noticed,’ he said as Anna froze.

  So he had been watching her. Oh God. Maybe he’d been simply biding his time. Just waiting for his chance to pounce. She took another look at him so she’d be able to describe him later to the Gardai. Curly red hair. Round face. Pert nose. Friendly smile. God, he didn’t exactly look like a criminal, did he?

  Nevertheless, Anna breathed a short sigh of relief when they finally reached Stillorgan. Thankfully she’d remembered her keys. She went to get out of the van.

  ‘I never got your name,’ said Nigel.

  ‘Anna,’ she said quietly. ‘It’s Anna.’

  ‘That’s a nice name.’

  ‘Thanks. And er, thanks very much for the lift, it was so good of you to go . . . er so far out of your way.’

  ‘Not a bother, Listen, Anna, do you think I could have your number? I’d really like to meet up with you again.’

  ‘Well it’s just . . .’ Jesus, how was she going to get out of this? ‘. . . it’s just I have a boyfriend actually.’

  ‘Just a quick drink,’ Nigel insisted. A quick drink? I don’t think so.

  ‘Sure,’ Anna relented. ‘Give me your number. I’ll ring you.’

  She watched guiltily as Nigel scribbled his number on the inside of an empty cigarette carton, knowing full well she’d never ring him.

  ‘Thanks again,’ she said putting the carton in her bag. ‘Goodnight.’

  It was always the way, wasn’t it, Anna thought as she sat in the kitchen drinking a glass of anything-to-try- to-keep-the-hangover-to-a-minimum water. The guys you were not interested in were interested in you. And the guys you adored treated you like shit. Why was life like that? Why was it all so bloody unfair?

  Poor Nigel would be waiting for her call over the coming days until it became obvious she was never going to ring. In the meantime she would wait patiently for Darren’s call. Her phone would sit in dead silence like a big black monster. And she would pick it up at least five times an hour just to make sure it was working.