29. Katie
The coffee-shop door burst open and Katie dashed in. She plonked herself down opposite Melanie and ordered an extra-large cappuccino. ‘Sorry! My last client’s husband died recently and she was crying in the salon. I couldn’t leave her.’
‘Oh, no. What age was he?’
‘Ninety-five.’
‘Okay, so it can’t have come as a huge shock?’
They began to giggle.
‘God, I needed a good laugh. It’s all been a bit serious and grim lately.’
‘With the Nancy fall-out?’
‘Yeah, and other stuff, which I’ll get into. But, first, how was the lunch?’
‘We missed you. The twins were very vocal about you not being there. You know how much they adore you.’
‘Jamie did tell me that and I was chuffed. He also told me about the family photo Nancy insisted on – he was mortified.’
‘Just Nancy being Nancy, making sure we know our place in the pecking order.’
‘I have no words … well, none that aren’t curses.’
Melanie shook her head. ‘I hear you.’
‘I bet she was all over Lucy.’ It had killed Katie to watch her family leaving for a lunch she was banned from. She’d spent the afternoon crying.
‘She was, but Lucy spoke up for you. She had your back. She’s so good with Nancy – she really knows how to handle her.’
Katie sighed and sipped her cappuccino. ‘I know it’s childish and I’m glad they get on, but sometimes I wish Lucy would see Nancy’s mean side.’
What she wanted to say was It really bugs me that my own daughter doesn’t see what a total bitch her granny has always been to me, and I think I am very selfless to encourage her to visit the old cow. If I wanted, I could ban her from seeing Nancy, but I’d never do that.
Melanie stirred her coffee. ‘She gets a different Nancy from anyone else. She brings out the best in her granny.’
‘I suppose she does, and I bring out the worst.’
Melanie laughed and glanced at the clock.
‘Okay, I know you’re busy and I’m late, so I’ll get to it.’ Katie paused. She felt bad about discussing this with Melanie, but she needed advice and Melanie was very level-headed, clever and practical. She’d be able to help her figure out what to do.
‘Spit it out, I’m imagining all kinds of awful things.’
‘It’s about Theo …’ Katie told her about bumping into Theo in the park and the cocaine, and how Theo admitted he had been expelled from school.
Melanie was as shocked as Katie had been. ‘Expelled for dealing coke?’
‘Well, not dealing. It sounded more like he was sharing it about.’
‘Still, though.’
‘I know, it’s not good.’
‘Poor Amanda. No wonder she was so low when they moved back,’ Melanie said. ‘That’s a lot to deal with. She loved that posh school – she was always talking about how wonderful it was.’
‘And banging on about her friendship with Lady La De Da. I bet she dropped Amanda like a hot cake when the news got out.’
Melanie turned a packet of sugar between her fingers. ‘Do you think Theo’s an addict?’
Katie shook her head. ‘No, I honestly don’t. I knew a lot of kids growing up who messed with drugs and you can always tell the ones who are addicted. I think he’s just been acting out and probably trying to be the “cool guy” in school. Theo is a good kid.’
Melanie bit her bottom lip. ‘I wasn’t going to say anything until I knew more, but seeing as how we’re sharing secrets and concerns, I think Ross may be having an affair.’
Now it was Katie’s turn to be shocked. ‘No way! He’s so up his own arse and Mr Responsible … Are you serious?’
Melanie told her about seeing Ross arguing with a woman at the Goldstone awards, and the slap, and how she’d then received an email from Ruby Rose, asking for a meeting at the Fitzroy office.
‘And then I googled her and it’s the same person. And –’ she paused – ‘on her Instagram page, she’s pregnant and there is lots of secrecy around who the father is.’
Katie spluttered her coffee into the cup. ‘Jesus Christ!’
Melanie exhaled. ‘Yep.’
Katie whipped out her phone and looked up Ruby Rose’s Instagram page.
‘She’s not exactly hot, but I guess she’s young and kind of cute.
’ She scrolled through the posts and messages.
‘Oh, look, someone’s asking who the dad is and she says, “I can’t reveal that just yet. ”’ Katie showed Melanie the message.
‘Yeah, it all seems to point to Ross. Now that I think of it, she says she’s seven months pregnant here. When I saw her she had a big coat on, so I didn’t notice anything, but that’s probably what they were arguing about.’
Well, well. Ross was a dark horse. Katie was gutted for Amanda, but it all began to make sense now, why they had rushed home to ‘look after’ Nancy when they had barely come home once a year before now.
Why Amanda had looked so broken when they came back and seemed so upset.
Maybe it also explained why Ross was so tightly wound up and such a dickhead to everyone – guilt is a difficult burden to carry.
‘Do you think Amanda knows about it?’ Katie asked her sister-in-law.
Melanie shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea, but I wouldn’t be surprised. They seem distant from each other, her and Ross. They’re usually so in step, but they haven’t seemed close at all when I think about it.’
‘Yeah, I thought she just hated being home, but now that you mention it, I’ve seen her be pretty cold towards him.
Theo was saying something about them not being back in Ireland just because of him, but then Lucy barged in and interrupted us.
He must have been talking about Ross. God, poor Amanda.
That’s too much for anyone to deal with.
A son expelled and a husband playing away from home. ’
‘She must be a lot stronger than she looks.’
‘She must feel so alone. We need to support her.’
‘I was thinking the same.’
‘Do you think Nancy knows?’ Katie asked.
‘No. She’d be much harder on Theo and Ross if she did. Nancy will go nuts when she finds out Ross was having an affair and got a young writer pregnant. Ruby was one of his publishing house’s authors. It’s inappropriate on so many levels and reflects very badly on him. Nancy will be furious.’
‘What will we do about all this info, though? How do we approach it? I was awake all night worrying how to tell Amanda about Theo, but now with this other bombshell … My head’s spinning.’
Melanie pushed her coffee cup to the side and propped her chin on her hands. ‘Okay, we’re assuming Amanda knows something about Ruby, and we know she knows about Theo, but she probably doesn’t know about his recent drugs purchase, so the main shock will be that.’
‘Unless Ross hasn’t told her about Ruby and the baby.’
‘Yes, but if she knew about the affair, she would surely have looked Ruby up online and seen the pregnancy news that way.’
‘True.’ Katie nodded.
‘To buy time, I emailed Ruby to say I was tied up but could potentially meet her next week. What I’ll do now is set a date for her to come over and meet me for a chat about signing her up. Although I’m wondering now if that was just a ruse to get into the office and see Ross.’
‘What’s a ruse?’ Katie asked.
‘A stunt.’
‘Right. Yeah, you could be spot-on there. Maybe he’s ignoring her calls so she wants to doorstep him like she did at the awards.’
Melanie nodded. ‘Exactly what I’m thinking.
She was absolutely insistent that the meeting had to take place at the agency, even though she’s pregnant and lives in London.
So I’d say that’s her plan all right. She’s banking on me not having a clue about the affair and then sweeping in unannounced.
Ross is going to get one hell of a shock when she walks into the office. ’
‘She might waddle. She looks quite big now,’ Katie said, grinning.
Melanie smiled. ‘I know I shouldn’t be getting any satisfaction out of this, but I am a bit. He’s such a sanctimonious arse.’
‘I need to see this. I’ll have to make an excuse to pop in to see Jamie. I have to see Ross’s face when he’s confronted by his hugely pregnant mistress in front of everyone. Oh, my God, it’s going to be so good. Karma!’
Melanie picked up her phone. ‘Right. I’m going to email her now and ask if next week suits her to come to Dublin to meet.’
Katie rubbed her hands together. ‘Is it really bad that I can’t wait?’
Melanie chuckled. ‘No, I can’t either.’
‘Are you going to tell Frank?’
Melanie paused. ‘No, because Frank will talk me out of it and try to organize some kind of mediation or something. I want Ross to face up to this in front of Nancy.’
‘Yes! Me too. I won’t tell Jamie either, although it’ll be sooooo hard to keep this to myself.’ Katie frowned. ‘What about Amanda, though? On the very small chance she doesn’t know, she’ll be devastated. And there’ll be no hiding it when this Ruby one exposes Ross in the office.’
Melanie stopped typing and put her phone down on the table.
‘Well, by doing this we’ll have one hundred per cent proof that Ross is about to father a child with this woman.
I think it’s best to have the facts. Then you make decisions.
This way, we’ll find out the whole truth for her, no matter what she does or doesn’t know. ’
Katie picked up her cup and sipped thoughtfully. ‘I think you’re right. If it was me, I’d be grateful if you two found out for certain and told me all the facts. I’d rather know – especially if my husband had been lying to my face.’
‘I think you should hold off on telling Amanda about Theo until after Ruby comes over. Once all of that is out in the open, we can have a really honest and open chat with Amanda and make sure she feels supported by us.’
‘We’re Team Amanda all the way! I can’t wait for that smug jerk to get his comeuppance.’
‘It’s going to be epic,’ Melanie said, typing furiously again. She tapped send and sat back in her chair. ‘It’s done.’
‘I wonder if she’ll –’ Katie was interrupted by a buzz from Melanie’s phone.
‘It’s her,’ Melanie said, picking it up. ‘That was quick.’
‘What does she say?’ Katie said, leaning forward.
Melanie scanned the email. ‘We’re on,’ she said. ‘She’s suggested Monday at eleven. She’s keen.’ She checked her schedule, then sent a reply. ‘We’re good to go,’ she told Katie.
‘So Ross has a date with destiny on Monday,’ Katie said, shaking her head. ‘He has no idea what’s coming down the tracks at him.’
The two sisters-in-law walked out of the café, chuckling with nervous excitement.
Ross was going to face the music and Katie could not wait to watch it all happening.
He had been so condescending and awful to her after her argument with Nancy, made her feel so small and worthless, and all the time he was hiding this dirty little secret.
She wasn’t a vengeful person, but in Ross’s case she had no issue with watching him thrown to the wolf that was his mother.