One Midnight With You, page 7
‘Next drawer to the right,’ Gwen said, reading her mind.
Ailish followed the instruction, and the pizza cutter was revealed. She pulled it out of the drawer and started slicing, talking as she went. ‘How are you feeling now?’
‘So much better. I don’t think I’ll be running marathons again any time soon, but I managed to stand up in the shower without feeling faint. I’ll take the win.’
Relieved, Ailish slid the pizza onto the table and sat down, trying to decide whether to go for it and just blurt out her objections to Gwen’s plans.
‘Ailish, you have to take that worried look off your face, otherwise you’ll need to hit up Rhonda’s Botox clinic.’
Ailish made a mental note to check out the anti-wrinkle devices on the home shopping channels, before getting right to the heart of her concerns. ‘Okay, I’m just going to put this out there. I still think going out tonight is a bad idea. Gwen—’
‘Nope, I’m not listening,’ Gwen cut her off. ‘And besides, you promised in the hospital.’
‘I didn’t exactly promise. I nodded my head.’
‘That was a promise. I saw it,’ Rhonda interjected. There was still no doubt which side of the fence that one was inhabiting. Apparently, Ralph the body builder had taken the news of his rejection well and decided that he’d go to the gym instead.
Deciding to regroup, Ailish went for a different approach. ‘How about we have a cosy night in instead? You must be exhausted and it’s freezing out there. We could order food in, open some champagne and chocolates, find a good movie—’
‘Nope,’ Gwen answered, dismissing it without consideration.
Ailish wasn’t quite ready to concede. Perhaps she could talk them out of it on practical or logistical grounds. But first, she needed all the facts.
She tried again. ‘Okay, so say, hypothetically, that I did agree.’
‘You did.’ Both Rhonda and Gwen said that at exactly the same time, but Ailish refused to be intimidated. Someone had to be the adult in the room here. She ploughed on… ‘Then where do you want to go? It’ll be impossible to get a reservation anywhere tonight at this late notice, and anywhere that doesn’t require a booking will be absolutely packed.’
She caught the glance that passed between Rhonda and Gwen and suddenly the worry wrinkles on her forehead were back.
‘What? What are you not telling me?’
Gwen tried to go for nonchalance, mumbling, ‘I want to go to Gino’s,’ then immediately popping a baby tomato from the salad into her mouth, as if the words had never been spoken.
Someone switched on a spin cycle in Ailish’s stomach.
‘Gwen, no… I can’t…’ Abject horror blocked any more words.
Gino’s. There was a time when she couldn’t have fathomed spending New Year’s Eve anywhere else. But that was before… She couldn’t even bear to finish that thought. All that mattered was that last year had been the first year in decades that she hadn’t gone, and she had absolutely no desire to start up that tradition again. She took a breath. Then another. Tried to react calmly.
‘Gwen, I can’t go there. Not after what happened.’
‘Yes, you can. Because we’ll be with you.’
‘No. If Eric is there—’
‘Who cares? Not that I think for a second he will be—’
‘I don’t want to take the risk. That place is in the past for me.’
‘But the thing is, it isn’t for me,’ Gwen countered gently. ‘We’ve gone there on Hogmanay our whole adult lives, had some of our best moments there and I want to feel that again, even if it’s just once more. And yes, I’m using my cancer to emotionally blackmail you. Don’t judge me. Look, last year, we didn’t go because it was all too raw for you, and we understood. But what it really boils down to now is that I’m not going to let your arse of a husband take away our traditions.’
‘Ex,’ Ailish blurted.
Her friends looked at her quizzically.
‘Ex-husband,’ she explained, all the fight going out of her. ‘The divorce papers came through this morning. He’s my ex-husband now.’
To her fury, she felt a tear slide down her face and she chided herself. She had no right to be crying, not when Gwen was going through so much worse. She brushed it away.
Gwen reached over and took her hand. ‘Oh hon, I’m so sorry.’
‘But you’re well shot of him,’ were Rhonda’s words of consolation.
‘I do know that,’ Ailish admitted, ‘but I think I’m just finding it hard to see where to go from here. Urgh, listen to me. Honestly, I’m sick of hearing myself being so pathetic. I need to pull my bloody big woman pants on and get a grip.’
‘And the best place to wear those big woman pants is Gino’s tonight,’ Rhonda assured her. ‘So come on. You know that no matter how busy they are, they’ll find us a table. Dario has always had a soft spot for you, so he’ll make it work.’
Ailish felt a jolt of something she couldn’t put her finger on. Dario. Her first ever crush. She occasionally wondered what would have happened on a night long ago if she’d made a different decision.
And she had to admit, it would be good to see him.
Before she could mull that over any further, her phone began to ring. The screen announced that it was her Ring doorbell app. Probably the delivery of something she’d bought while she was surfing the shopping channel at 3 a.m. It had become her favourite indoor sport. In the last month, she’d bought a jewellery cleaner (still in the box), a laser device that would remove the hair from her legs forever (still in the box) and exercise bands that would transform her into a body-beautiful athlete in six weeks or your money back (still in the box eight weeks later). She’d be hanging out down the gym with Rhonda’s blind date in no time. Oh, and then there was an electric mop that would apparently rejuvenate both her floors and her life. That one had yet to be delivered so she assumed this was it now. One of the neighbours must have left the front door of the building open again, because whoever it was had already made their way to her flat.
She opened the app and peered at the live footage from the doorbell camera. Whoever it was had begun to walk away and she could only see the outline of his shoulder.
‘Hello? Just leave the delivery on the doorstep please.’
There were some muffled sounds as the man stepped back into the frame, then a gasp as she realised it wasn’t the life-changing mop, but her second crush – the life-changing cheating husband. Ex-husband.
‘Ailish? Ailish, it’s me. Can you let me in? I need to talk to you.’
Hearing Eric’s voice, Rhonda and Gwen’s heads swiftly swivelled in her direction, and they were both staring at her, wide-eyed, Rhonda mouthing. ‘No fucking way!’
Ailish felt the pulse on the side of her neck begin to throb. ‘Is something wrong? Is Emmy okay? Your mum?’
Even without a crystal-clear picture, she could see his perplexed expression. ‘What? Yes. Of course. They’re both fine. Look, that’s not why I’m here. Can you just bloody let me in?’
‘No.’
She watched him run his fingers through his impressive head of hair – he always did that when he was stressing – as he murmured, ‘Oh for God’s sake…’
His exasperation was palpable, and she realised that even now her first instinct was to consider his feelings and attempt to soothe them, a little nugget of self-reflection that irritated her, so she disguised it with a curt explanation of the facts. ‘I can’t let you in because I’m not there. I’m speaking to you remotely. I’m with Gwen and Rhonda.’
‘Oh.’ That appeared to take the wind out of his sails. ‘When will you be back? I need to speak to you today.’
Rhonda’s eyebrows rose in irritation and Ailish was right there with her. A torrent of suppressed emotions began bubbling up inside her: rage, fury, disgust, disappointment, heartbreak, and unwavering grief for the loss of the decent, kind, honest man she’d thought she was married to for thirty years, and for the future they’d always planned together. Gwen was right. She’d let this knock her down. Now it was time to slide out from under the weight of it. She had to accept that no matter how much she’d loved him, that chapter of her life was over. He didn’t want her, didn’t love her, so it was time she processed that and got over it.
‘Well, Eric,’ she said. ‘That’s the thing about you having an affair and then divorcing me – I don’t have to do a single thing that you want me to do. So no, I won’t be back today, and even if I was, you’d still be looking at that closed door because you wouldn’t be getting in. I have absolutely nothing to say to you. Go home, Eric.’
‘But Ailish…’ he spluttered. ‘I want—’
‘I’m sorry, Ailish is no longer available,’ she answered before disconnecting the conversation and closing the doorbell app.
She pressed the lock button on the side of the handset, then calmly, with a confidence she hadn’t felt in a long time, placed it on the table, face down. Then she ignored it when it immediately rang again. And again.
‘I have no idea who you are, but I like you,’ Rhonda deadpanned, pouring Prosecco into the glass that she’d just slid in front of Ailish.
Beside her, Gwen picked her moment. ‘So what do you say then, Ails? How about, instead of being sad about your divorce, we celebrate it? Are you going to let Eric Wandering Willy Ryan continue to dictate your life, or are we going out tonight to our favourite place, full of old friends, and sod whether he’s there or not?’
Ailish waited for the knot in her stomach to loosen, for the huge bloody lump in her throat to go down, then she picked up the glass. Regardless of how she felt, she could see how much Gwen wanted this, and she wasn’t going to let Eric get in the way of it.
‘Sod him and sod it all. We’re going out.’
‘Yessssss!’ Gwen cheered, with a smile that warmed Ailish’s heart. ‘Watch out, Glasgow, we’re back and looking for trouble.’
Ailish’s first thought was that Gwen was of course joking. Her second thought was that she might not be. And her third thought was that more trouble ahead was exactly what she was afraid of.
10
EMMY
There were many reasons that Emmy loved working on the elderly ward at Glasgow Central, but one of them was the fact that she was constantly busy, so it didn’t leave any time for thinking about anything that didn’t involve her patients’ care and well-being. She always tried to have a chat to each patient while she was doing her rounds or administering their medications, and if she did have a spare minute, she’d spend it with the ones who rarely or never got visitors. Their solitude hurt her heart, and she would never understand the cases where families just didn’t bother to come. Her grandmother, Minnie, was one of her favourite people in the world, and she spoke to her every day. She usually phoned her on the way into work, but her dad’s appearance had got in the way of that, so she’d give her a call as soon as she finished work at 7 p.m.
In the meantime, she focused on her shift, until it was time to stop for a tea break at 1 p.m. She could count on the fingers of one hand how often they actually got a tea break, because the ward was always so busy, but today was quieter than usual because where possible, patients had been discharged or allowed out to spend time with their families over the holiday. Also, many of the patients who were still here had lunch time visitors.
Her closest friends on the ward, Charge Nurse Yvie Danton and Senior Nurse Keli Clark had their breaks at the same time. Yvie was first into the staffroom and had already put the kettle on when she got there. ‘One step ahead of me again, Miss Danton,’ Emmy teased, harping back to the fact that Yvie had got to the hospital five minutes before her this morning at the beginning of their shift. She’d commented on it because it was so unusual. Yvie was usually the one flying in at the last minute and making her start time with only moments to spare.
‘It’s my New Year’s resolution, but I’m just kicking it off a day early. My name is Yvie, and I plan to be on time every day. Although, that whole vow thing hasn’t worked with the diet, so I’m not holding out much hope,’ she added, helping herself to a slice of the yule log she’d brought in with her.
Beside her, Keli helped herself to a piece too, but when she offered it to Emmy, she shook her head.
Keli put the cake down and leaned forward, elbows on the table, towards Emmy. ‘Okay, spill. What’s wrong with you today? You’ve got the worst stoic face ever.’
Yvie swallowed a chocolate reindeer. ‘I thought that was me?’
Keli nodded, acknowledging that statement. ‘Yep, yours is rubbish too. I’m never taking either of you to a poker game. First time you lose, you’ll crumble.’
Despite her distraction and her rubbish mood, that made Emmy laugh. These two women had been an absolute joy to work with, and, in a round-about way, Yvie was one of the reasons that she was here. She was engaged to Carlo Moretti, who owned Carlo’s Cafe, the bistro just along the road from the hospital that they went to most Fridays after work. It had become a bit of a tradition and a full-circle moment because Carlo’s dad, Gino, owned the restaurant her parents used to take her to every New Year’s Eve. That was actually where she’d met Yvie. In fact… ‘I just realised we met two years ago tonight. At your father-in-law’s restaurant.’
Yvie harrumphed. ‘Not father-in-law yet. Despite years of undying love, and this little sparkler…’ She nodded to her engagement ring, a family heirloom passed down from Carlo’s grandmother. ‘He’s still dragging his heels about setting a date.’
Keli put her mug down. ‘Oh dear. Do I detect trouble in paradise?’
Yvie took another bite of chocolatey goodness before she answered. ‘Not trouble, just…’ She hesitated for a second. ‘Impatience. I mean, honestly, it’s been years. I’m beginning to think…’ After another pause, she seemed to snap herself off that train of thought and swiftly diverted the attention. ‘Anyway, enough about me.’ She circled back to Emmy’s comment. ‘And the lest said about how you and I met the better.’
Emmy nodded silently in agreement. That had been one of the worst nights of her life. They’d all been in full-scale party mode in the early hours of the morning. It must have been after 2 a.m., but Gran Minnie and Grandad Henry were still slow dancing in the corner. Mum, Auntie Gwen and Auntie Rhonda were at their long table singing along to something by Celine Dion. It was before Emmy had met Cormac, so she was happily riding solo and had been enthusiastically joining in the chorus, until she excused herself and made her way to the ‘ladies’. At that point, she hadn’t even given a thought to where her dad had disappeared to. Probably off chatting to Dario somewhere. She had got to the corridor just off the back of the restaurant, where a short, gorgeous, curvy blonde maybe a few years older than her was leaning against the wall outside the row of three bathrooms. ‘There’s a queue, I’m afraid. But feel free to go before me, if it’s urgent. I’ve been dancing for the last hour, so I’m just killing time until my feet stop aching.’
Emmy had decided right there and then that she liked her. ‘You’re Carlo’s girlfriend? We’ve been coming here for years – our families are friends. He was telling me last year that he’s off the market because of a complete babe called Yvie. I really hope that’s you or I’ve just caused a situation.’
‘Yep, that’s me,’ Yvie had said, laughing. ‘He’s a lucky man. Although, I think he’s just future proofing for his old age. I’m a nurse on the elderly ward at Glasgow Central.’
Emmy’s eyes had widened. ‘No way! I’m a nurse in the Emergency Department at Paisley General. I’m Emmy.’ Her extended hand was greeted with an enthusiastic shake.
If it had been left there, it might have been the loveliest of meetings that would have resulted in a passing acquaintance. Instead, it had gone on to be a ten-minute chat that had been interrupted when, a few feet away, Dario’s son, Matty, still in his chef’s whites, had opened the emergency exit door next to the kitchen, and there, standing outside in the gleam of the security light, was her father, with his arms around the waist of a thirty-something brunette whose pinched face and relentlessly moving mouth suggested she was haranguing him.
‘Ouch. Wouldn’t want to be in his shoes. She does not look happy.’ Yvie had whistled, as Matty came back in after tossing the bin bag in the skip.
‘Yeah, well, that man is about to be pretty unhappy too.’ Emmy had swerved past Matty as she walked towards the door and slammed it open. Nope, she hadn’t imagined it – they were still there. And now she could hear what the woman was saying.
‘No, Eric, I’m not waiting. I’m sick of this. If you don’t tell her now, I will.’
‘Tell her what?’ Emmy had interrupted them, and her dad’s face had twisted into an expression that could easily have come from being the victim of a drive-by shooting. Horror. Pain. Panic.
The woman had found her voice first. ‘You’re Emmy.’
‘And you’re Donna.’ Emmy had recognised her dad’s secretary from the couple of times she’d been to his office. ‘This doesn’t look like a work conversation.’
‘Emmy, let me exp—’
‘No, let me,’ Donna had interrupted him. ‘I’m sorry, but your dad and I have been in a relationship for almost a year now. It’s better you know. Your mum too.’
Emmy couldn’t absorb what she was saying, so she’d sought clarification from the man she trusted more than any other. ‘Dad?’
‘Emmy, I… I…’ He’d run out of steam, clearly realising that there was no defence. None.
Donna had stepped back into Truth Central. ‘He’s been promising me for months that he was going to tell your mother, and he keeps backing down. I’m sorry, but I’m not waiting any longer. If he won’t do it, then I will.’
‘I think you just did,’ came a low, shockingly calm voice from behind Emmy. As she’d turned around, she saw a wide-eyed Yvie first, then, just behind her new friend, was her mum, staring straight at them. Before another word had been said, her mum had turned around, gone back inside, told Rhonda and Gwen what had just happened and they’d all left.
