Pieces of My Heart (47 page)

‘Don’t think I won’t be coming back to the fact that you lied to me about Tia’s parents being at home and went to a nightclub without our permission,’ I informed my younger daughter.

‘Whatever, Mum. So Bobby and me are standing on the footpath trying to get a taxi but there are a million people and, like, four taxis and a rickshaw. The guy with the rickshaw was nearly as thin as Ali, so I doubted he’d be able to pedal me and Bobby the four miles home without collapsing and dying. So we looked around for somewhere to go for food while we waited for more taxis to arrive. I was still starving after the plate of grass you served us for dinner. But then I saw a sign for Zuzi’s, which is where Nadia works, so I said to Bobby, “Let’s go in and see if she can help us get home.” ’

‘You went to a pole-dancing club?’ Paul asked, looking crosser by the minute.

‘We were totally not there for the girls, Mr M, we just wanted to get help with a taxi,’ Bobby assured him.

‘So we go in and it’s all dark and full of dirty old men your age,’ Sarah said, pointing to Paul. ‘This foreign girl comes over who is basically naked.’

‘Babe, she did have some clothes on,’ Bobby reminded her.

‘Hello! She was wearing a tiny G-string and had two tassels covering her nipples. She wasn’t exactly in a freaking
burqa
. Anyway, she totally ignores me and is all over Bobby like a rash.’

‘She just wanted to know what we were having to drink,’ Bobby pointed out.

‘She actually shoved her boobs in your face and you went bright red.’

‘I did not. I was cool with it.’

‘I know you were enjoying it. I could see that from the stupid grin on your face. So I pushed the waitress back and ordered two beers, but she said they only had wine and champagne, so Bobby decided to try to impress her and ordered a bottle of Moët.’

‘I wasn’t trying to impress her, babe, I bought it for you,’ he claimed.

‘You were staring at her boobs when you ordered it,’ Sarah retorted. ‘So the waitress goes off and gets the champagne and brings it back and hands Bobby the bill. It’s a hundred and fifty euros! Bobby tries to pretend that he’s not shocked and takes out his wallet but he only has sixty and I only have thirty, so we can’t pay.’

‘I should have brought my old man’s credit card out. I’m only supposed to use it in life-and-death situations, but this was a major emergency. I was mortified,’ said the big spender.

‘So the waitress who was all over Bobby is now totally disgusted, because she can see we’re not high-rollers. She starts getting stroppy and saying she’s opened the champagne now and we owe her a hundred and fifty euros and she’s going to call the manager. So then, out of the corner of my eye, I see Nadia strutting onto the stage and swinging out of a pole and I say to the waitress, “Chill out, you narky tart, we know Nadia, she’ll lend us the money.” So she looks over to where I’m pointing at Nadia upside-down on this pole – I have to say she’s so bendy for her age it’s seriously impressive – and the naked waitress starts going mental. She’s shouting, “That Nadia is a bitch,” and all that kind of stuff, but it was hard to understand because her English wasn’t great and the music was really loud.’

‘I found her quite easy to understand, I must say,’ Bobby disagreed.

‘Well, that’s because she only spoke to you and ignored me. Anyway, the waitress is going mad shouting about Nadia being a whore. I’m, like, “Hey, I know, I could have told you that myself.” But she’s ignoring me and ranting on.’

‘So I ask the lady, “Why are you so pissed off with Nadia?” ’ Bobby explains.

‘And she says,’ Sarah pauses for dramatic effect, ‘ “I hate her because she stole my boyfriend.” So I say, “Now, hold on a minute, who is your boyfriend?’ And she points to this really big muscly guy at the bar who looks like the Incredible Hulk.’

‘He was well ripped,’ Bobby agreed. ‘I’d say he spends minimum three hours a day in the gym just doing weights.’

‘OK, the man had muscles. Can you get on with the story? I’d like to get to the end of it before sunrise.’ Paul hustled them along.

‘Patience, Dad,’ Sarah reminded him. ‘So I ask the waitress how long ago Nadia stole her boyfriend. And she says four months, and then she starts to cry and Bobby is all handing her tissues and rubbing her back and ogling her boobs.’

‘I can assure you, Mr M, I was not looking at her knockers. I felt sorry for her, that’s all,’ Bobby said.

Sarah ignored him and continued with the story: ‘Obviously I wasn’t going to let that go, so I told her that Nadia was engaged to my grandfather and that she was pregnant with his baby. And then the waitress started to laugh and said the baby wasn’t Charlie’s, it’s her ex-boyfriend’s.’

‘Hold on!’ I interrupted. ‘Did you just tell me that it’s not Charlie’s baby?’

‘According to this waitress, Nadia has been using Charlie for money. She’s been shagging this other guy for months and is pretending it’s Charlie’s baby so he’ll give her more money. The boyfriend knows all about it and has been encouraging her to squeeze as much out of Charlie as possible.’

‘That little bitch,’ I raged.

‘I always knew Nadia was a slut,’ Sarah said. ‘So I went over to her and pulled her off the stage and I was screaming, “You’re a whore, I know it’s not Charlie’s baby – how could you do that to Charlie? He’s been so good to you …” ’

‘What did she say?’

‘She knew she was sussed. She didn’t even deny it. She said she hadn’t done anything wrong, that Charlie had had a good time with her and she hadn’t got much money from him at all and she’d been planning to tell him the baby wasn’t his … and then I got so angry I pulled her hair and told her she was a cheap whore, but her big beefy boyfriend came over and picked me up and tried to throw me out of the club. Bobby jumped on him from behind but he was way too strong for us.’

‘Hold on there, babe. I had him in a head-lock. It was only a matter of time before he hit the deck,’ Bobby objected.

Sarah rolled her eyes. ‘Babe, he was twice your size. Anyway, the naked waitress came over and hit her ex-boyfriend over the head with the champagne bottle and the Hulk fell down, so me and Bobby ran out of there as fast as we could.’

‘Jesus Christ, you could have been killed. A lot of the guys running these joints are ex-IRA,’ Paul scolded. ‘You’re not bloody US Navy Seals. What the hell were you thinking?’

‘Excuse me! We just saved Charlie’s life and you’re giving out to us?’ Sarah was incredulous.

‘Poor Charlie, how am I going to tell him? He’s mad about Nadia,’ I said.

‘I dunno, Mum – but since Nadia said she was pregnant and started being so narky, I think she lost some of her charm for Charlie.’

‘He was very excited about having a baby. Oh, God, what a mess,’ I groaned.

‘He’s better off finding out now before she fleeced him,’ Paul said.

‘I know, but you’re all forgetting that he’s in love. After twenty miserable years with Catherine he deserved a break. How am I going to explain this to him?’

‘You won’t have to. I heard it all,’ Charlie said, appearing from behind the door in his pyjamas. ‘I woke up when Sarah slammed the front door and heard a commotion so I got out of bed to see if something had happened to Ali and then I got caught up in Sarah’s adventures. Our own little Indiana Jones.’

Paul and I looked at each other.

‘I’m sorry, Charlie,’ I said, getting up.

‘Don’t worry, pet, I’ll be grand. There’s plenty more fish in the sea – isn’t that right, Sarah?’ He smiled over at his granddaughter.

‘Totally. She was never good enough for you. I pulled her hair really hard,’ Sarah said. ‘And I told her that she’d better not darken our door again or my dad would kneecap her.’

‘Jesus, you’ll get me arrested,’ Paul said.

‘I was protecting Charlie,’ Sarah protested.

‘That’s enough detective work from you two,’ I said. ‘Now, Bobby, I think it’s time you went home and Sarah went to bed.’

‘I’ll give you a lift,’ Paul said. ‘I’d like to have a word with you anyway about bringing my underage daughter to nightclubs.’

‘Leave Bobby alone,’ Sarah told him. ‘It was my idea.’

‘I’ve no doubt it was, but he needs to learn to say no to you,’ Paul replied.

‘The relationship works very well the way it is, thank you, Dad, so can you please leave it alone and not stick your oar in? I’m the normal daughter, remember?’

‘Normal?’ Paul sputtered. ‘Accosting pole dancers and fighting bouncers is not normal behaviour for a sixteen-year-old girl.’

‘Whatever happened to, “Well done, Sarah, nice work, Sarah. Congratulations, Sarah. Despite your sister freaking out at dinner and upsetting everyone in the family yet again, you managed to keep a cool head and help your grandfather”?’

‘I’m very proud of you, pet,’ Charlie said.

‘We’re just worried about you,’ I reassured her. ‘What you did was brave but extremely dangerous. We couldn’t bear anything to happen to you.’

‘Well, it didn’t. And I saved the day. You can think of a suitable reward while I get my beauty sleep.’ Turning to Bobby, she said, ‘Babe, ignore everything my dad says. You were great tonight.’

‘You rocked too. You had a total
Charlie’s Angels
vibe. So hot.’

‘Easy there, tiger, take yourself and your hormones and get into my car.’ Paul ushered Bobby out of the house and Sarah went upstairs to bed.

I went over to put my arm around my father. ‘Hey, Charlie, are you all right?’

He sank into the couch. ‘Oh, Ava, I’m some gobshite. I was totally taken in by her. I actually thought she loved me. I was lonely and I wanted some fun – I was an easy target and she must have seen me coming a mile away. God, I’m an awful idiot. You were right, Ava, I never learn – out of the frying pan into the fire.’

‘You’re not an idiot. You’re just trusting and generous and kind. I’m sorry it didn’t work out.’ I poured him a whiskey from the drinks cabinet in the corner and handed it to him. ‘Here, drink this – you’ve had a shock.’

‘I just feel so stupid. It looks like I’ll always be the orphan boy desperate for love. Will I ever learn?’

‘But that’s what makes you so special. Despite having had no love when you were small and being dumped in an orphanage, you somehow managed to come out full of life and love and warmth. You’re one in a million. Don’t ever change, Charlie. Even if you have made mistakes the wonderful thing about you is that you never give up on love and happiness. I’ve really seen over the last few months how important that is.’

‘I suppose as mistakes go it wasn’t so bad. It was fun for the first few months and the sex was fantastic. As for the money, she didn’t get much out of me.’

‘What about the baby?’

‘Ah, I’m too old to be having children. I can barely look after myself. I tried to convince myself it would be fine, that it was a new start, but I’m past being a dad. I’ve been blessed with a wonderful daughter and two fantastic granddaughters. That’s enough for any man.’

I kissed his cheek. ‘And I’ve been blessed with an amazing father and the girls with an incredible grandfather.’

‘I’m not exactly a great example to them, marrying an alcoholic and then being conned by a pole dancer.’

‘You’re a great example to them of how to be generous and kind, and how important it is to have fun and not take life too seriously. I’ve allowed myself to get bogged down in mortgages and school fees and work and exams … And I stopped taking time to appreciate everything. But you’ve always been grateful for what you have and you live every day like it’s your last – and that’s right, Charlie, because you never know what’s around the corner, as we’ve seen with Ali.’

‘I have the orphanage to thank for that. I saw so many kids with broken hearts and broken spirits and I said, “No way am I ending up like that. I’m going to be happy.” In some ways starting life with nothing is good because you never take things for granted. And when you get to my age, every day’s a bonus.’

‘I wish I could be more carefree like you. I’m always worrying about something, and if there’s nothing to worry about, I worry about that. I wish I could relax more.’

‘It’s not your fault. You’ve had to be responsible from a young age with your mum dying so young and me going off the rails. I’m sorry you had to grow up so fast. You should have had more fun when you were younger. I should have been a better dad.’

I took his hand. ‘Charlie, you were a great dad, unconventional maybe, but you’ve always been there when I needed you, and you’re an even better granddad. I heard you talking to Ali earlier and you were brilliant. You said all the right things. I don’t know what I’d do without you.’

‘You’d be just fine. You’ve done a great job bringing up those girls. They’re a credit to you. Don’t worry about Ali, she’ll get through this.’

‘And what about you? Will you be OK?’

‘Of course I will. You need to stop worrying about everyone else and take some time for yourself. Enjoy life, Ava. It goes by very quickly. Now, off to bed with you, you need some sleep – you’re shattered.’

‘OK. Goodnight, Charlie, and thanks.’

‘For what?’

‘For being your unique self.’

52

Sarah insisted on calling Ali first thing the next morning to fill her in on the Nadia saga.

‘It’ll distract her from counting the cornflakes in her bowl,’ she assured me.

I snuck upstairs and listened in on the extension.

‘Hey, Ali.’

‘Hi, Sarah.’

‘Are you better today?’

‘I’m fine.’

‘So what was with all that choking drama yesterday?’

‘I just got nervous with everyone staring at me.’

‘Well, the food was awful. I could barely eat it myself. Seriously, dry vegetables, come on. I’ll be anorexic soon if Mum keeps cooking that crap.’

I couldn’t believe Sarah was mentioning anorexia and criticizing my food. I’d kill her.

Ali didn’t respond, so Sarah kept talking.

‘So, anyway, you’re not going to believe what happened last night. I found out that Nadia is a lying, cheating whore.’

‘What do you mean?’ Ali sounded shocked.

‘It’s not Charlie’s baby. She’s going out with this massive big bouncer and it’s his kid. She was lying to Charlie to get money out of him.’