Woman to Woman (64 page)

“When I was their age, I’d have been given a good beating for speaking to an adult like that. And that’s what Phillip wants. A few slaps , would be good for him.”

She turned to look at him, taking in his flushed face and angry eyes. He was a bully, all right. Why hadn’t she noticed it before? She’d been seduced by the way he made her feel.

She’d wanted to get her own back at Michael by having such a sexy, handsome boyfriend.

She’d let that, and his amazing ability in bed, blind her to his faults. Not any more.

“You’re entitled to your opinion about children,” she said evenly.

“But don’t think you’re going to try your theories out on my children, because you aren’t. And you’re not going to try it out on me, either, Sam. It’s over between us. So if you could leave, I can get back to living my life without you telling me where I’m going wrong every five minutes.”

Sam stared at her openmouthed.

“You can’t mean that, Aisling,” he said.

“What about us, about our plans …?”

There is no us any more. It’s over.”

He grabbed her arm and tried to pull her onto his lap, his words cajoling.

“Please, Ash, don’t say that.”

“Let me go!” She wrenched herself free of his grasp.

“Aisling.” Sam stood up and tried to put his arms around her, but she backed away.

“Just go, Sam.”

“Yeah, go.” Phillip and Paul were back, standing at the door like small sentries. For a moment, Aisling felt her chest tighten as Sam’s face grew dark. His jaw tensed.

Jesus, he wasn’t going to hit them, was he?

“Boys, come here!” she cried. They ran to her and stood in front of her.

“Go!” she said again.

He shrugged.

“I’ll go, but you’ll be sorry. I know you will.

You’ll want me back.”

Yeah, when hell freezes over, she thought silently. Nobody said anything as Sam turned and walked out the door. He slammed the front door behind him.

How predictable.

“Well boys, what do you want for dinner?” Aisling asked brightly, determined to hide how shaken she was by the encounter.

“Or should we go to McDonald’s for a treat?”

“We’ll cook,” Phillip announced. He pulled up a chair for her at the table.

“We can defrost just as well as you can.”

Aisling had to laugh. She got herself a glass of icy white wine from the fridge and sat down at the table.

“OK, boys, what are we eating?”

“Are you thinking about Sam?” asked Jo.

Aisling looked at her friend and smiled.

“You know me so well, Jo,” she said.

“Well enough to know that you’ve done the right thing,” Jo said quietly.

“Oh I know that.”

“I’ll take Isabel downstairs while you finish getting ready, girls Laura said, taking the baby out of the room.

“Now I know where you get your perceptiveness from,” Aisling said. She sat on the pale yellow duvet and looked up at her friend.

“I’m not upset, Jo. To be honest, I’m very happy.

I love my life now, I love the freedom. OK, juggling work, more work and child minders isn’t easy, but there’s this huge sense of freedom in everything I do. I make the decisions, I decide what I’m going to do every day, every week,” she explained earnestly.

“It’s incredibly liberating. Sam was great for my selfconfidence, at the beginning anyway,” she added wryly, ‘but being around him made me realise that I don’t want another man to worry about. Not for a long

time. And when I do want someone else, it has to be on my terms. ““So you’re happy?” asked Jo tentatively.

“I know it’s childish, but I want you to be happy on my wedding day.”

Aisling got up and wrapped her arms around Jo.

“I am happy. I’m so happy for you and Mark too. It’s wonderful seeing how happy you both are with Isabel.”

Thanks for everything, Ash,” Jo said. Thank you for being here today and thank you for being so good to me when I needed you.”

“What are friends for?” Aisling asked with a shrug.

“Now tell me, this photographer, Ralph, who’s taking the wedding pictures. Is he handsome? Is he single?”

“Yes and yes,” said Jo, a tad too enthusiastically.

“He’s drop-dead gorgeous. Dark hair, brown eyes, great body.

There’s only one problem he’s gay.”

“Is he a mature adult?” demanded Aisling.

Absolutely,” Jo replied.

“Fine. We can work on everything else. Just as long as he’s grown-up, that’s all I want. Now, shall we go to a wedding?”

“You bet.”