1. Amanda #2
‘Sloane’s sales are up again. She’s flying in the UK. Her novel is number eight on the fiction chart this week.’
‘Good news.’ Nancy almost cracked a smile.
Still the favourite daughter-in-law, Amanda thought, watching Nancy’s face.
It was annoying how obviously Nancy favoured Melanie.
Then again, they worked together and Melanie was excellent at her job.
It was hard to compete with that. Besides, Amanda would rather throw herself off a cliff than have to work with Nancy every day.
Amanda had loved living in London with a whole sea between her and her in-laws.
But now they were back living in Dublin and she was going to have to try to win Nancy over with great meals, caring for her and being endlessly patient while she recuperated from the broken leg. She felt tired just thinking about it.
Beside her, Katie was pouring herself another glass of wine.
She certainly was able to pack it away. They’d had a get-together over a simple supper on her and Ross’s first weekend back, and Amanda couldn’t help noticing how Katie kept her glass permanently filled.
Maybe it helped neutralize Nancy’s snarky comments.
If that was the case, Amanda wondered if she should up her alcohol intake to get through the next few months.
‘I sold Sloane’s translation rights to Norway and Croatia this week,’ Jamie said.
Sloane was obviously the agency’s new star writer. Amanda supposed she should take more of an interest now that Ross had started working in his mother’s literary agency too.
‘That’s good news, but you need to push harder, Jamie. She should be translated by everyone. She’s a star.’ Nancy was not impressed with her youngest son’s news, and Amanda could see that her response bothered Jamie.
‘What a fecking witch,’ Katie whispered, gulping back her wine.
‘Mum, that’s so mean and you said a very bad word.’ Lucy’s eyes were wide. Amanda smiled at her. She was a sweet kid, quiet and compliant, the complete opposite to her mother.
‘Sssh, I know. I’m very naughty,’ Katie said, pressing her finger to her lips.
Katie’s nine-year-old daughter shook her head. ‘Now you have to put money in the curse jar.’
‘I will. When we get home.’
‘It’s already very full, Mum, and you always curse more when you drink. You need to shush or Granny will hear you.’
‘I know, I know. I have a potty mouth and my happy juice –’ Katie pointed to her wine – ‘does make it worse. I’ll try harder, sweetie.’ Katie blew Lucy a kiss.
Lucy rolled her eyes. ‘Stop calling it “happy juice”. I’m not a baby. I love Granny and you promised not to say mean things about her any more.’
‘Jeez, relax, Lucy, it’s fine. She didn’t hear me.’
‘It’s okay. No harm done. Why don’t you take a seat here?’ Amanda said, wanting to avoid a showdown and to reassure Lucy.
They sat down – the kids on a separate table, which Nancy insisted on, and the adults at their own. Amanda placed platters, dishes and bowls of food on the table and they busied themselves passing everything around.
Everyone complimented the beef, except Frank, who ate only the vegetables but was very complimentary about them. Nancy ate all of the food, but didn’t praise any of it or thank Amanda for making it.
The chat remained very general and light, until Nancy homed in on Frank. ‘So, Frank, any news at your end?’
Amanda noticed Melanie’s body tense. Frank, meanwhile, looked very relaxed.
‘Nothing concrete, but I met up with Steevy Pine to talk about him writing a biography.’
‘He’d be a great person to get. Is he keen?’ Jamie asked.
Frank shrugged. ‘He said he’d think about it.’
‘In other words, no.’ Nancy sighed. ‘They’ll put “nothing concrete” on your tombstone, Frank. It’s your life motto at this point.’
‘Let’s wait and see.’ Frank shrugged again. Melanie’s jaw was clenched so tightly that Amanda thought her sister-in-law might crack a tooth.
‘So, how are you guys settling back in?’ Jamie changed the subject.
‘Good. It’s been pretty seamless,’ Ross said.
Amanda tried not to choke on her drink. What a liar.
‘I’m looking forward to getting stuck in at the agency now that all the admin of moving has been sorted out.’
‘What are you planning to do? Sales, marketing, optioning, deal negotiation, contracts, foreign rights, media, reading our massive slush pile?’ Jamie asked.
‘All of it.’ Ross wiped his mouth with a white linen napkin, one of the set that Nancy had insisted on using and Amanda would have to launder.
Amanda looked at the red-wine stain on the napkin: it reminded her of red lipstick – the kind she wore. Amanda pressed the image down. Not now, not here.
Jamie frowned. ‘Well, foreign-rights contracts are my area.’
‘I’m going to get involved in everything. I want to see how efficiently the agency is running. I have more experience than anyone at this table after fifteen years with Jackson Mayhew. They are, after all, one of the largest publishers in the world.’
‘We know who Jackson Mayhew are,’ Melanie said.
Amanda could hear the irritation in her voice and she wished Ross didn’t always have to take the bull-in-a-china-shop approach.
It had earned him kudos in London, but it might not work the same way here.
‘The agency is running very well, Ross. We’ve had a lot of success with Sloane, in particular, this year. ’
Ross leant forward. ‘We all know that the agency’s success is mainly because of Hayden Lang’s cookbooks and Jessie Wright’s crime fiction – both authors my mother signed years ago.’
‘Sloane’s sales figures have far surpassed Hayden’s this year.’ Melanie was not backing down. Amanda was enjoying watching someone put Ross in his place. ‘And Jessie is way behind schedule on her new book.’
Ross had a serious adversary there, but Amanda thought Melanie should be grateful to have a job at the agency.
Not only was she lucky to have been hired by Nancy all those years ago, but she’d also got a husband out of it.
She’d met Frank at the agency and married into the family, thereby cementing her job and her future.
‘Ross will be a big asset to us. His expertise and experience from working on the publishing side will be invaluable,’ Nancy said, in his defence, and Amanda breathed a sigh of relief.
Ross needed a big salary. There was no plan B.
They needed the money to deal with the shit-show they’d left behind in London.
‘How are you finding being back in Dublin?’ Katie asked Amanda.
Amanda sighed. She missed London. She’d been so happy there until her husband and son had ruined everything.
The truth was, she hated being back in Dublin: it was so small and insular and claustrophobic.
‘It’s so different here from London. I know everyone thinks Dublin has become cosmopolitan, but it seems backward compared to London.
I miss the shops, the cafés, the restaurants, the theatre.
London has so much more to offer. Dublin seems small and limited. ’
‘But you’re from a small town,’ Jamie said. ‘I mean, you’re not originally a city girl.’
Amanda flinched. ‘Yes, and I hated living in a town where everyone knew everyone’s business. I couldn’t wait to leave it, which was why I went to university in Dublin.’
‘And met Ross,’ Melanie added.
‘Yes.’
‘Lucky for him that you did.’ Frank smiled at her.
Amanda had always thought she was the lucky one, but lately she wasn’t so sure.
‘ Daaaaad , we’re so bored.’
The twins were not happy being at the children’s table. They looked pleadingly at Frank. He caved in immediately, which Amanda felt might only prove Nancy’s view of him.
Frank took out his wallet and gave them a note. ‘Here you go. Why don’t you nip down to the shops and get ice creams for yourselves and your cousins?’
‘Thanks, Dad.’ They blew kisses at him as they sprinted out of the door.
‘For God’s sake, Frank,’ Melanie hissed, ‘stop indulging them. They could just sit down like their cousins.’
‘You need to put manners on those two. They’re getting wild,’ Nancy told her middle son.
‘They’re just teenagers, Mum. They don’t want to be cooped up all afternoon, which is understandable.’
‘I’d fancy escaping to the shops myself,’ Katie muttered, as she poured herself more wine, emptying the bottle.
‘How is Theo finding school?’ Jamie asked his older brother.
Ross put down his fork. ‘Good.’
‘I hate it,’ Theo said, from across the room.
Amanda swooped in. ‘He’s only just settling down and it is very different from his old school. In London they had a swimming pool, a nine-hole golf course and indoor tennis courts. The facilities were on a different level, but he’ll just have to adapt. We all do.’
‘It’s not easy changing school at seventeen,’ Melanie noted.
Try changing house, country and life, Amanda thought darkly.
‘You’ll be all right, mate,’ Frank told Theo. ‘Hang in there. The first few weeks are always going to be a bit rough, but you’ll find your tribe.’
‘He just needs to put his head down and crack on,’ Ross said. ‘We’re all adjusting to this new chapter in our lives.’
Theo rolled his eyes. Amanda had the urge to slap him, and Ross.
‘I hated school.’ Katie’s words slurred at the edges. ‘I found it all so rigid and boring. That’s why I ended up leaving a year early. I couldn’t wait to get out. School is not for everyone.’
Amanda thought of the tens of thousands of pounds they had spent on Theo’s posh school in London. There was no way in hell he was going to waste his education and leave school early. If she had to sit on his head, he’d finish school and make something of himself.
Ross snorted. ‘Theo will not be leaving school early. My son will be studying hard for the next year and going to college.’
He sounded so sure of himself. A very different Ross from the one who had sat in the headmaster’s office at St Oliver’s five weeks ago, pleading with him not to expel Theo. Amanda shuddered at the memory. The shame still made her feel physically ill.
‘Ross is right,’ Nancy said firmly. ‘None of my grandchildren will be leaving school early. They will get a proper education and proper jobs.’
Ouch, Amanda thought. Nancy could really sling an insult when she wanted to. Poor Katie.
‘I agree with Katie,’ Frank said. ‘I think college is wasted on some people. If you’re a truly creative soul, you should follow that path and not waste three or four years studying something you hate.’
Amanda tried not to roll her eyes. Frank seemed to live in some alternative universe where life was easy and chill.
Did he really not see that he was only able to live this stress-free life because his mother employed him, and his wife was an extremely successful literary agent who worked her backside off?
What if his life got shattered, as Amanda’s had?
Then what? Would Frank live on vegan cake and air?
Amanda wished she hadn’t been so quick to devote her life to being a wife and mother.
If she had her own money and independence, she’d have more choices. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
‘Finishing school is non-negotiable,’ Nancy retorted, ‘for all five of them.’
Amanda watched Frank closely, but he didn’t react. It was as if everything Nancy said just washed over him.
‘What would you like to do, Theo?’ Frank asked him.
Amanda flinched. She wanted Theo to say finance or law or medicine, but he had no interest in ‘traditional’ careers. It was a serious bone of contention with Ross.
‘Travel for a few years, then maybe design video games or do drone videography or something.’
‘Cool,’ Frank said. ‘What people are doing with drones now is incredible.’
‘Rubbish! You need to knuckle down and get a good, solid degree like your father,’ Nancy said.
And your mother! Hello, I exist too, Amanda wanted to shout. Just because I became a stay-at-home mother when I had Theo doesn’t erase the fact that I got a good degree in social studies, even though I never did anything with it.
‘Theo will be going to university to study for a decent degree that will allow him to get a job and earn a living. He will not stumble through life expecting everyone else to keep him afloat.’ Ross glared at his brother.
There was the sound of chair legs scraping on tiles, and Theo stomped out of the room, muttering, ‘Fucking prison,’ under his breath.
There was an uncomfortable silence. Melanie was shooting dagger looks at Ross and he was glaring at Frank.
Jamie was glancing worriedly from one to another.
Amanda just wished they’d all shut up. Things were bad enough without all this tension and arguing.
She took a deep breath, trying to keep herself under control. She wanted to roar at all of them.
‘At Theo’s age, Frank was dealing with a lot of trauma. Let’s not forget that. You can’t compare them,’ Nancy said in a softer voice.
Amanda watched as Jamie patted Frank’s shoulder while Melanie checked her phone under the table.
‘Anyone like more wine?’ Katie asked.
Amanda sighed. No amount of wine was going to make this godawful lunch and crappy situation any easier.