Second Hand Jane (26 page)

Having made a
good strong brew and followed it up with a hot shower, Jess dressed
for comfort, not company, in her trusty elephant suit. She decided
to shake the melancholic feeling that had settled over her for no
particular reason that she could pinpoint, by firstly scoffing down
what remained of the bar of chocolate from their girly night in.
Then, she would phone Brianna and ask for her take on Nick’s little
problem. Nothing was sacred between friends, she thought, breaking
off the last square before picking up the phone.

Brianna was, as
Jess had known instinctively, most sympathetic to her plight; it
was why she had chosen to ring her and not Nora, who would have
grilled her for hours on her bedroom technique.

“I know where
you are coming from. It’s happened to Pete a couple of times—God,
he’d kill me if he knew I was telling you—men are funny like that,
aren’t they? It’s always been when he is under pressure at work, so
don’t read anything into it, Jess. I know it’s really hard not to
take it personally, though, because until Captain Pete is back at
the helm, I can’t help but wonder if he has gone off me or
something.”

Captain Pete?
Jess didn’t want to pursue that one. “That’s exactly how I felt,
even though I knew it was stupid.”

“Well, it was
stupid because he is obviously smitten but what has your man so
wound up anyway?”

Oh crap, now
she’d done it. Did she tell her Nick was the driving force behind
the proposed demolition of her community centre or just leave it?
Jess chewed on a fingernail, deciding to take the easier option and
leave it, muttering something instead about the finance he was
trying to get together for the project he was working on not being
straightforward.

“So are you
going to see him again?”

“I hope so. He
said he would phone me later today.”

“Well, that’s
good, isn’t it?”

“He hasn’t
phoned me yet.”

“It’s only ten
in the morning, that’s why. Now what about organising this dinner
at our place so I can meet him and be bowled over by his
wonderfulness too?”

Jess cringed;
she couldn’t keep Nick hidden away from Brie—she was one of her
best friends, after all. No, if she wanted to keep on seeing him
then she’d just have to bite the bullet and hope to hell that
neither of them put two and two together.

“I’ll mention
it to Nick this afternoon—when suits you and Pete?”

“What about
Saturday night? It’s short notice but then our social life is
sorely lacking these days.”

“
So is mine because Saturday night is good
for me too but I’ll let you know for definite once I’ve spoken to
him. Oh and Brie, don’t mention our little chat to Nora, will you?
You know what she’s like; she’ll go straight out and buy me a copy
of the
Kama
Sutra
or
something.”

Brianna
laughed. “You’re right, she would. Don’t worry. I won’t say a
word.”

“Thanks.” Jess
decided to change the subject. “Now then, how’s my favourite wee
man?”

“Harry?”

“Who else?”

“Well, he might
be your favourite young man but he is not mine. The little toad
decided it would be a good idea to ask a lady at our local Tesco
yesterday afternoon why she was so fat but he didn’t just leave it
at that—oh no, not my Harry. Nope, he went on to ask her was she
not making healthy choices in her shopping? The poor woman had a
box of frozen cream puff eclairs in her hand at the time.
Apparently Harry’s class has been learning all about making good
choices when it comes to food. I was mortified.”

Jess was still
laughing when the phone rang again two minutes later.

It was Nora
wanting to know how her dinner date had gone. Jess glossed over the
main event, thanking her friend for picking out her dress and
telling her what she wanted to hear—that it had been fantastic. It
was only a little white lie after all, she justified, because the
foreplay had been amazing and she was fairly sure the rest of it
would have been too, if Nick hadn’t got a puncture. Besides, she
didn’t want to get into it again; what she really needed was some
advice.

“Nora, you know
how Brie’s involved in trying to save the Bray Community Centre
that houses the play group she used to take Harry along to?”

“Yes, she
mentioned it the other night. She’s pretty passionate about
it.”

“I know—that’s
the problem.”

“What’s the
problem—I’m not with you?”

“Nick’s behind
the proposed demolition of it.”

There was
silence for a moment and then Nora exhaled loudly before uttering
Jess’s earlier sentiment. “Crap.”

“My thoughts
exactly. And now Brie’s insistent that I bring him round for dinner
to meet her and Pete. She wasn’t keen on the little bit I had told
her about him anyway but when she finds out it is his company
wanting to knock the centre down, she’ll go mad. What do I do?”

“You’ll have to
tell her because she is bound to find out sooner or later anyway.
Besides, it is Brie’s problem, not yours. There is nothing not to
like about Nick. He is successful, handsome, and charming—do I need
to go on? Business is just that—business. It is not personal.”

It was true
Nick was all those things, Jess thought, but Nora wasn’t finished
yet.

“Brianna will
just have to drop the bleeding hearts routine and get over it.”

It sounded
harsh but Jess supposed she was right. “I guess so but the thing is
I can see her side of things, too. It is sad how companies like
Nick’s come along and knock the stuffing out of small communities
by tearing down buildings that have been their hub for years. And
all because money talks. It just doesn’t seem right.”

“Now you listen
to me, Jess,” Nora said in that tone of hers that left no room for
discussion. “Nick Jameson is the best thing that has come your way
in a long time. Don’t go spoiling it for yourself by jumping on
Brie’s soapbox. You know what she is like. By this time next month,
she will have forgotten all about this community centre of hers and
she will be signing up to save the fecking pigeon or some such
thing.”

“Yeah, I know
what you mean and in Nick’s defence, I have to say that I have
never been wined and dined quite so thoroughly.” She sighed. “It
was lovely but what if Brie doesn’t forget all about it this
time?”

Nora had an
urgent call come through and had to go, leaving Jess feeling
perturbed because in the space of half an hour, she had more or
less lied by omission to her two best friends about the man she was
seeing. It was something she had never done before and it left a
sour taste in her mouth. She didn’t get a chance to dwell on it,
though, because no sooner had she hung up the phone than it rang
again. Good God, she muttered, what is this place—a frigging Bombay
call centre?

“Hello?” she
snapped.

“Jess.” A wary
voice greeted her. “How are you? It’s Owen.”

At the sound of
his Northern twang, her mood brightened. “Owen, hi! I’m fine, how
are you?” She didn’t give him a chance to answer, asking instead,
“How’s Wilbur getting on?”

“Actually,
that’s why I am calling. Wilbur’s sick.”

Owen had
assured her down the phone that it was just a cold Wilbur had come
down with but Jess knew that in an animal for which the odds had
already been stacked against like Wilbur, a cold could be a serious
thing.

“I’m sure he’ll
pull through but I thought you’d want to know. I promised I’d keep
you up to speed like.”

“I’m on my
way,” she’d shrieked, hanging up on him before he could talk her
round. Logic was telling her Wilbur was a pig and she was being
ridiculous but logic had nothing to do with the swarm of emotions
that had engulfed her upon hearing Owen’s voice and the news that
Wilbur was ill. She phoned Brianna for the second time that
morning. It rang and rang and Jess tapped her foot impatiently,
muttering, “Come on, Brie, pick up.” Until, at last she
answered.

“Hello.”
Brianna panted as though she had just finished the New York
Marathon.

“Can I borrow
your car?”

“Is that you,
Jess?”

“Yes,
sorry.”

“Bloody hell, I
was on the loo—you know what my piles are like.”

Jess did indeed
know all about Brianna’s post-childbirth five-years-of-hell piles
but had no wish to get into a discussion about them at this moment
in time.

“And the phone
rang for so bleeding long I thought something must have happened at
school with Harry so I had to get off. I only spoke to you five
minutes ago. What’s the emergency?”

“
Sorry, Brie, but it
is
an emergency. I just had a call to say that
Wilbur’s sick, so I need to get up to Ballymcguinness again as soon
as I can.”

“Who’s this
Wilbur? I thought your man’s name was Owen and who told you that
you have to get up there right away?”

“
Brie!” Jess was impatient; she didn’t want
a confab about it all—she just wanted to get up there. “Wilbur’s
the piglet I told you all about. You know, the little runt like
in
Charlotte’s Web
that I got to feed.”

“Oh right, I’m
with you now, sort of.”

“Well, he’s
sick and I have to get up there. Christ, if anything happens to him
and I am not there!”

“Okay, Jess—are
you listening to me?” Brianna snapped, not expecting an answer and
if she were there, she would have given Jess a slap to bring her
round; however, the silence down the other end of the phone
satisfied her that she had her friend’s attention. “Take a deep
breath—in through the nose and out through the mouth.”

The sharp tone
was an anomaly for Brianna and it shocked Jess into doing what she
was told.

“Good girl; now
take another one. That’s it and again, one more for me. Right now,
are you calm?”

“Yes.” No, she
bloody wasn’t calm, Jess thought, snorting through her nostrils and
exhaling noisily out of her mouth as she wondered why Brianna was
using the routine she usually saved for Harry when he got a graze
on his knee or stubbed his toe on her.

“Jess, sweetie,
I want you to put things into perspective. Wilbur is a pig,
okay?”

“I thought you,
of all people, understood, Brie. He’s not just a pig to me.”

“If you say
he’s your baby, I will have you committed. Anyway, you don’t have
to be Einstein to work out that it’s not this Wilbur you’re
breaking your neck to go up and see. It’s a pretty convenient
excuse if you ask me. Did Owen ask you to come?”

“No, not
exactly and I don’t know what you mean about it being a convenient
excuse—it is Wilbur I am going up to see.” Jess studied her
thumbnail before beginning to chew on it agitatedly. She might have
been playing dumb but she had a fair old idea what her friend was
implying and maybe there was more than a grain of truth in it, but
she was still hurt. Wilbur was so small and vulnerable and he
needed her to be on his side. Okay, so her feelings for Wilbur
might be seen by some as irrational—but not by Brianna, surely? She
could always count on Brie to take her side. So what if she was
unconsciously misplacing her maternal instincts? She couldn’t help
how she felt.

Sensing she
might have gone too far, Brianna suddenly backtracked and announced
that yes, alright, Jess could borrow her car so long as she had it
back to her that evening because she had a meeting to go to. Jess
had wasted no time and so, grabbing her purse and shoving her feet
into a pair of trainers, she’d slammed the front door behind her
and headed for Bray.

It took her
well over half an hour to get to Tara Station and as she stared out
the window while the familiar scenery she normally adored whizzed
by, she didn’t see any of it. She was too busy mulling over why it
was that when you really needed to get somewhere in a hurry, things
always seemed to conspire to hold you up. Like the group of
American tourists she had gotten stuck behind on the Quays. She’d
had to bite her lip to stop herself from yelling at them to “move
their fat arses!” By the time they did and she made it to the
station, the train she wanted to be on had just been pulling out
and she’d had to wait an age for the next one. Now, it was with a
sigh of relief that she felt the train slow as they pulled into
Bray Station.

Jess spied
Brianna’s familiar blue Golf Estate in the car park and was pleased
her friend had driven down to meet her, as it meant she wouldn’t
have a ten-minute jog up to her house.

“Brie!” She
waved and as she made her way over to the car, Brianna climbed out
to greet her.

“Hi, you made
it then.”

“I nearly
assaulted a group of Americans on my way but yes, I made it at last
without causing them grievous bodily injury. I hope you didn’t have
to wait too long?”

“I brought my
book so it wasn’t a problem.” Brianna grinned, handing over the
keys, and then looked shamefaced. “I’m sorry about what I said
earlier. I had no right to pass judgement like that. It’s that time
of the month and you know what I get like. Pete always says I’m
like Jekyll and Hyde when I’m due on. He reckons he can see the
evil change in my eyes.”

“I know where
you’re coming from. God help anyone who tries to get between me and
a bar of chocolate round that time. Besides, if it was you haring
off into the wilds of County Down to see some piglet, I think I
would have something to say too.”

The two women
giggled and then hugged quickly before Jess slid behind the wheel
of Brianna’s car. “Do you want me to drop you home?”

“No, you get
going. A walk will do me good. Exercise is supposed to ease PMS,
isn’t it? Mind how you go and I’ll see you tonight.”