Chapter 20
20
‘What do you think of this one?’ Nora was holding out a gorgeous LBD Jess had seen her wearing a couple of times. ‘You can’t go wrong with a little black dress.’
‘You can if it’s a woolly one, apparently, and little is definitely the operative word with that one. I don’t think I’ll fit it.’ Jess frowned, surveying the strip of silky black material dangling from Nora’s fingertips.
‘Go on – give it a try. You can always wear those support knickers your mam sent you over last Christmas, but just make sure you whip them off and replace them with something more appropriate should things get fruity between you and Nick. Otherwise, he’ll think you’re off to do the Tour de France in a pair of nude-coloured cycling shorts!’
Jess laughed. Trust Nora to say it like it was. Lucky for her, she was heading into work after lunch, so they had the morning to put together the perfect outfit.
Standing in her bra and knickers in Nora’s sumptuously feminine bedroom, she shivered. There had been a nasty frost this morning, a sure sign that winter was around the corner. She hoped Wilbur was faring OK with the sudden drop in temperatures.
She took the dress from Nora and wriggled her way into it. ‘Zip me up, would you?’
‘OK, are you ready? Steady – on the count of three, suck your tummy in – one, two, three, now!’
Jess breathed in as hard as she could, and Nora wrestled the zipper into place and then took a step back. ‘Oh wow, it looks fab! The perfect dress for a cocktail bar opening. What do you think?’
Jess looked in the mirror. The dress was shorter on her than it was on Nora, finishing mid-thigh. There was no doubt that it was snug, but it did hug her in all the right places. Buried in the depths of her wardrobe at home, she had a pair of black satin kitten heels, which would be just the ticket. ‘You’re right. It is perfect, just so long as I don’t breathe out and don’t sit down all night.’
‘Listen to your Aunty Nora. Wear those sucky-in knickers of yours and you’ll be fine.’
Jess changed out of the dress and back into her camel cords. They’d looked brand new when she’d whipped them off the hanger at the hospice thrift store, a bargain at two euros. After knotting the belt of the suede, fur-lined jacket she’d also been talked into buying that day, she flicked her hair out from under the collar. The old dear behind the counter had told her the jacket’s caramel colour set the highlights off in her hair ‘a treat’, so she’d happily parted with another fiver – always a sucker for a compliment.
Dressed again, she wandered down the hall into the kitchen to join Nora for an overdue coffee and catch-up.
‘OK, so what’s the story, morning glory?’ Nora asked, setting down a fragrant mug in front of Jess. ‘What in the name of Jaysus were you doing in Ballyfrigginmcguinness on a pig farm? Brianna gave me some garbled story about how you’d gone up there to sniff out an idea for your column. I didn’t get the whole rundown because she spotted Harry in the front garden piddling on the geraniums so she had to dash.’
Jess laughed. ‘I did head up to Ballymcguinness for a story.’ She began filling Nora in on how her recent purchase of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had led her to Amy’s story. Nora sipped away in silence, her normally steely blue eyes filling with tears when she heard about the bomb and how it had cut Amy’s life short all those years ago. Jess got up and retrieved the box of tissues from the top of the fridge. Nora might come across as a tough nut, but underneath it all, she was made of marshmallow like the rest of them. She handed her the box and waited until she’d finished giving her nose a good blow, then began telling her all about Owen and his moods, the farm and, of course, Wilbur.
Nora’s tears dried up, and her eyes narrowed as she wagged a finger at her. ‘Jessica Baré, I can see where you’re heading with this, and I’m telling you: don’t you dare go there!’
‘What do you mean?’ Jess looked at her friend, puzzled by her vehemence.
‘I mean please do not do your usual trick of falling for the man with issues. Not this time, when you have someone waiting in the wings who’s both successful and gorgeous but best of all very, very keen on you.’
‘Honestly, Nora, I don’t know what you’re talking about, and by the way, you sounded just like my mother then. That’s exactly the sort of thing she would say.’ Jess was indignant.
For her part, Nora was equally indignant. She didn’t like being compared to anyone’s mother. ‘I did not sound like your mother – well, OK, maybe I did, just a little bit, but to be fair, she has a point, as well as your best interests at heart, and so do I.’
Jess screwed her nose up; she wasn’t liking the turn this conversation had taken.
‘Don’t look like that. You do self-sabotage; you know you do. It’s like you have this weird kind of gravitational pull toward men with problems. You can’t seem to help yourself. You think you’ll be the one to fix them.’ Nora shook her head. ‘Well, my friend, take it from me: you can’t fix what happened to this Owen. It’s truly awful, and it’s really sad, but it happened and it’s up to him to move on, which he obviously can’t. Did he tell you why his marriage broke up?’
‘No, but then I didn’t ask him because it was none of my business and not related in any which way to the story I’m going to write. Which, may I remind you, is why I was there. It was work, not a romantic quest, thank you very much, and for your information, I don’t fancy him! I felt sorry for him, yes, but who wouldn’t? And even you would have thought Wilbur was something special.’
‘Sorry, I beg to differ. I like roast pork and apple sauce far too much to be moved by an undersized piglet, and if his being divorced has nothing to do with your story, how come it even came up?’
Jess poked her tongue out at Nora. ‘You’re a hard-nosed woman, Nora Brennan. I’m not even going to bother answering that, and I do fancy Nick; of course I do – he’s gorgeous. Man of my dreams material, which Owen is not.’
‘All right, all right, truce – I believe you.’ Nora held her hands up in surrender.
‘Good.’
They drank their coffees in silence for a while.
‘So, Miss Know-It-All, what is it with you and the adventure sports?’
Nora grinned sheepishly. ‘All I can tell you about that is that I’ve met a man worth putting my life on the line for.’
‘Yes, maybe, but you’re not being honest with him, are you? You’re not the kind of girl who likes to jump out of planes for fun or hare down bike tracks made for goats.’
‘Honesty, shmonesty – it’s overrated in relationships anyway.’ Nora nearly sent her coffee flying as she waved her hand to emphasise her point.
‘But you hate anything that puts you the teensiest bit out of your comfort zone.’ Jess wasn’t going to let it go.
‘He’s worth it.’ And with that, Nora closed the subject.