Three Women (27 page)

‘The chauffeur used to sleep up here, and before him the stable lads who looked after the horses,’ said Tom. ‘There are two good rooms with a lot more space than you would think.’

They went and sat outside on the wooden bench near the door. It was very sheltered and secluded.

‘I’m going to really miss the house,’ he admitted, ‘but I’ll miss this old place too. It’s a bit of a refuge.’

Nina closed her eyes. With moving they were giving up so much.

‘Tom, we are not giving this up! If we cannot afford to hold on to Clifton, at least we can keep this. Maybe we should get someone to look at it?’

‘But I don’t need a fancy boat house.’

‘I’m not talking about a boat house,’ she laughed. ‘I think we should ask Mike Flynn to come over and look at it to see if there would be any potential to convert it for us. He’s driving poor Carol mad, hanging around the place since his operation.’

‘I’ll phone him,’ Tom offered, ‘and I can go and collect him, because I know he’s not let drive still after his knee replacement.’

The next day Mike came over to the house and disappeared off down the garden with Tom. There wasn’t sight of them again until lunchtime, when Nina made soup and toasted sandwiches for them all. Tom and Mike were both excited as they explained the potential for a conversion of the coach house that would give them two bedrooms upstairs and a small bathroom, and a good-sized kitchen-cum-living space with a smaller room and bathroom downstairs. Mike was sketching furiously, trying to show her.

‘Let me draw up something to give you an idea of the layout and a very rough costing. I’ll work on them tonight and, if you are free, I’ll get Carol to drop me over tomorrow.’

Tom drove him back home and, when they had gone, Nina tried to imagine herself living down the bottom of the garden!

ERIN STOOD LOOKING
towards the aisle as the music began to play and Ciara and Annie, her friend Jenny’s two sisters, in their pale-pink fitted bridesmaids’ dresses began to walk slowly up the aisle, followed by Jenny, eyes shining as she held her dad Frank’s arm.

Jenny looked amazing in her off-white lace dress with its narrow, fitted bodice and soft flowing skirt, which showed off her fabulous petite figure; she wore a simple veil over her dark hair and carried a bunch of summer roses. She was such a beautiful bride and everyone almost cheered when her dad handed her over to Shay, who was standing in front of the altar waiting for her. They had been going out since they were sixteen, all through school and college, and everyone had always known that someday they would get married. And now today was the day. Jenny’s Uncle Peter, a priest, was marrying them, so that made it even more special.

As they lit the candles and the ceremony began, Erin knew that she was witnessing two people who really loved each other
make
that proper commitment. Luke was in the bench beside her, looking very handsome in a tux. They had been invited to Jenny’s wedding months ago and Erin had been really annoyed when Luke had begun to suggest he mightn’t be able to make it over from London.

‘Shay and Jenny have been saving for this wedding for years and, Luke, you are not pulling out of it with only two weeks to go.’

‘Okay, okay.’ He had given in, but was still complaining about the cost of the hotel they were staying in in Cork and the fact that it was such a long drive from Dublin.

Nikki had come down in the car with Claire and Donal and was absolutely glowing. She looked as if she was about to pop in her turquoise dress and open-toed shoes. Jenny’s sister Annie was a nurse and she’d promised that she’d keep an eye on Nikki for them.

‘We don’t want Snoopy B being born down in Cork!’ Claire joked.

As Jenny and Shay exchanged their vows and the rings, Erin was touched by the emotion of it all and tears slid down her cheeks. This was what marriage to the one you love meant – these promises, these vows.

When the ceremony was over they all stood to watch Jenny and Shay walk arm in arm down the church together, happiness radiating from them both as they stood at the church porch in the sunshine to meet all their guests.

‘What a wedding!’ Nikki said, wistfully. ‘Jenny is so lucky to have found such a nice guy and married him!’

‘They are both lucky,’ agreed Claire, ‘to have found each other.’

Erin joined the queue that was pushing towards the bride and groom, Luke standing beside her, until eventually it was her turn.

‘I’m so happy for you both,’ she said, giving Shay a massive hug. Then she kissed Jenny. ‘Jenny, you are the most beautiful bride ever – you look so lovely today. You and Shay are just so much in love and perfect for each other. I know you two are going to be very happy.’

‘Thanks, Erin,’ smiled Jenny. ‘It’s the way it will be for you too, just you wait!’

Erin knew that when she got married she wanted her husband to look at her the way Shay constantly looked at Jenny, as if she was the most important person in the world, and to feel the way Jenny felt about Shay, that she couldn’t live without him.

Everyone stood outside chatting in the sunshine and taking photos. Erin quelled her annoyance at seeing Luke off texting on his iPhone and checking his emails.

After the church they made their way to Ballyrinn Castle, near Kinsale. It was a fabulous old eighteenth-century castle that had been restored and modernized. They all enjoyed drinks in the sunshine on the lawn before moving into the huge dining hall for the meal, where Erin and Luke sat at a great table made up of all Jenny’s schoolfriends. The wine flowed, the food was delicious and Jenny’s dad gave a great speech about welcoming Shay into the Sullivan family and saying what a wonderful daughter Jenny was. Shay had them all nearly in tears when he talked about falling in love with sixteen-year-old Jenny and secretly deciding there and then that some day she would be his bride. The best man nearly brought the house down with his stories of his best friend’s attempts over a long number of years to win Jenny’s hand.

‘What a lovely wedding!’ smiled Erin as the band started and she and Luke got up to dance. As he held her in his arms she wondered if some day it would be them having the first dance at their own wedding, with all their friends and family along to celebrate how much they loved each other. It was strange, but somehow, even though she was in his arms, she just couldn’t picture it.

They had a wonderful night, dancing and chatting to friends and keeping a very sharp eye on a cousin of Shay’s who professed to adore pregnant women and was literally dancing attendance on a delighted Nikki. It was all hours before they got to bed. Luke was up at the bar talking to a group of the lads while Erin, a little tipsy, nearly fell fast asleep on a sofa.

‘You two to bed!’ bossed Claire, kissing her good night – or was it good morning?

They slept in and had a very late breakfast with everyone in the hotel, then set off back for Dublin. Luke’s flight was at eight p.m. He was quiet on the drive home from Cork as Erin rabbited on, telling him about the upcoming sale of her parents’ home and a potential new client that she might be doing some work for.

Too early to go to the airport, they went back to her apartment and, dumping their bags, she made them coffee and a toasted sandwich.

‘Are you coming home next weekend?’ she asked him.

‘No. I’ve no reason to come over,’ he said flatly.

‘I don’t know what you mean.’ Erin had no idea what he was getting at. ‘We can go out – go somewhere …’

‘Erin, you’ve done nothing about coming to London, have you?’

She shook her head.

‘You’ve no intention of it, have you?’

‘I was going to …’ She tried a feeble protest, but realized that Luke was right. He was only stating the obvious.

‘No,’ she admitted. ‘I’ve no plans to move for the moment.’

‘I don’t like this commuting thing. It never works.’

‘For some people it does—’

‘Well it’s not working for us!’

Erin knew what he said was true. It wasn’t working. Maybe they just didn’t care enough about each other to make the effort. But going back and forwards between London and Dublin sporadically every few weeks and communicating by texts and emails and phone calls wasn’t enough for either of them.

‘What will we do?’ she said, already suspecting the answer.

‘I think we should finish it,’ he replied, leaning forward on the couch, his face serious. ‘We both know it’s not working any more. So what’s the point?’

Erin tried not to cry. She did really like him – love him, in a way. But she didn’t love him enough to change her life for him, even to make the commitment of going to London. And Luke – she knew that, deep down, he didn’t care enough about her to make her central to his life. They both deserved better.

‘I’m sorry, Luke,’ she said, crying even though she tried not to. ‘I know it’s the right thing, but I just feel sad about it.’

They were both upset, but they promised to try to stay friends.

Erin offered to drive him to the airport, but, much to her relief, he insisted on taking the Air Coach.

‘You can bring me out for an expensive dinner if I’m ever in London!’ she said.

‘Sure thing, and we’ll try to stay in touch if I’m home,’ he said, pulling her into his arms as they said goodbye.

Erin was sitting feeling numb and rather forlorn when Nikki and Claire finally arrived back.

‘Luke and I just broke up,’ she told them. ‘I’m back to being single again.’

‘
What?
’

She told them everything and they both admitted that they weren’t surprised.

‘I couldn’t imagine you married to Luke,’ said Nikki firmly. ‘I couldn’t see the two of you babysitting Snoopy B and bringing Snoopy out cool places.’

‘Weddings are notorious for breaking couples up,’ said Claire, sagely. ‘They make people take a hard look at their relationship.’

‘I thought weddings were meant to be great for meeting people,’ laughed Nikki. ‘Because I’ve got a hot date with Shay’s cousin Paul next week. We’re going to the cinema.’

‘Nikki!’ they both screamed.

‘Shut up!’ she warned, plomping herself heavily on the couch and putting her feet on the footstool. ‘Nice guys are hard to meet and he is a seriously nice guy.’

Erin found herself laughing as Nikki told them all about Paul.

ERIN STARED AT
the screen of her apple mac, trying to turn the image around. It looked pretty good, but was still not a hundred per cent what she wanted. She wanted perfection, and for the product name and the image to jump out at you simultaneously. She was on a deadline with this; she had to have it with the client by six this evening, as their marketing people were presenting it to the directors and the board first thing in the morning. She gave it another whirl and made the image even sharper. Perfect!

‘Time for coffee,’ she said, rewarding herself and heading for the office coffee-maker where Monika and Lilly were already brewing up a pot. It was lashing rain outside and the water pelted against the window panes. She could see people running helter-skelter with umbrellas, trying to avoid the downpour. She chatted for a few minutes with the others and, returning to her desk, got a call from Declan to come to his office to meet a potential new client. She needed this like a hole in the head today, but Declan was the boss. Grabbing her notebook and pen, she went to join him.

‘Hey, Erin, I’d like to introduce you to Brian Quinn and Matt Ryan,’ said Declan from behind his massive red desk.

Erin smiled as she greeted Matt, wondering what the hell he was doing in the office.

‘So you two know each other?’

‘Yes, we’re friends,’ she said quickly, embarrassed by the way Matt said nothing about their connections.

‘Brian and Matt love the work you did on Lia’s album. They shot the video for two of her songs. Anyhow, they have just finished filming a new feature film and are here to talk about the possibility of us doing all the design work for the film’s marketing campaign. I worked with them a few years ago on
Cromwell
, but I’ve told them that this time you will be the lead designer on this project. So maybe we can all sit down and talk about it?’

Shit – Erin was conscious of the time!

‘I’m sorry, Declan, but I have to have something to Georgina Hill and her team very soon,’ she reminded him.

‘Okay then, we can just have a very brief run-through today and you can set up a meeting with the guys tomorrow or the next day,’ he suggested.

Erin sat and listened as Brian, the producer, gave a very brief outline of the film, which had received some funding from the Film Board. It was yet another coming-of-age Irish film and unfortunately nothing jumped out at her in terms of marketability.

‘I’d like to see the film,’ she suggested.

‘I’m still editing it,’ confessed Matt, ‘so it’s not all picture-locked yet and—’

‘The guys are on a bit of a deadline,’ explained Declan. ‘They want to submit it to the Sundance Festival and the Cannes Film
Festival
and they both require some marketing back-up. Also another thing, Erin – there is a very limited budget on this.’

Matt at least had the good grace to look shamefaced. No wonder Declan was handing the job to her …

‘I’ll do my best,’ she said, ‘but I really have to go. Can you send me a DVD of it the minute it’s ready?’

‘I’ll be working on it all night,’ Matt said. She could see he was already exhausted. ‘I could try to have it done for tomorrow, but even if you saw a bit of it would that help?’

‘Listen, Matt, let me finish what I’m doing,’ she offered, ‘then I’ll phone you later and come over to the studio in Temple Bar and you can show me what you have got. At least I can make a start while you are working on the rest.’

‘Sounds good!’ said Brian.

With no time for pleasantries, Erin practically ran back to her desk. She had been talking to the girls about going to the cinema tonight but she’d text them and tell them to go without her. She would definitely be working late!