Chapter 41
41
The next day, Nora telephoned Brianna to fill her in on what had happened. Then, after a spot of name dropping, she managed to get them a lunchtime seating at Peploe’s, the popular wine bar on St Stephen’s Green.
‘A long, lazy liquid lunch is just what you need,’ she insisted, marching Jess off to her room, ignoring her protests about not being hungry as she told her to get dressed. ‘Rug up, though; it looks pretty fresh outside.’
Stepping onto the pavement outside Riverside Apartments, the two women were hit by an arctic blast, and Jess was glad she’d taken Nora’s advice and dressed warmly. Tucking her hands into the sleeves of her coat, she picked up Nora’s brisk pace, the cold air clearing her head as they marched down the Quays.
They arrived at the oh-so-classy eatery opposite the Green bang-on midday. Brianna, eager for the unexpected time out from family life, was already there waiting with a glass in hand at the bar. As the threesome were greeted and led over to their sumptuously laid table, Jess decided Nora had been right. This was just what she needed, and after glancing at the menu, she decided she was starving, after all. She’d have to splurge on a starter and a main, oh and quite possibly dessert, too! It all sounded just too delicious.
Over wine and an entrée of brie aux filo, Jess apologised to Brianna.
‘I’m sorry for putting you on the spot the way I did last night. I wasn’t a very good friend, putting myself first like that.’
‘Ah, don’t be silly. You have every right to date who you want. I was out of order sounding off at you the way I did. I just wasn’t expecting to know Nick when you arrived last night, that’s all, and you weren’t to know what an arse he was. Though…’ she added with a wink, ‘I did try to tell you he sounded a bit too good to be true.’
‘Like a Galaxy bar,’ Jess and Nora chorused.
‘Good parallel. You need a man who’s a bit rough round the edges, Jess, but he’s got to have a heart of gold like yours, too.’
Jess was assailed by an image of Owen as Brianna, obliviously smearing her toasted brioche with paté, asked, ‘Hey, have you told your mammy it’s all off?’
‘There’s no point because it’s too late to stop her coming now; her flights are all booked. Anyway, a wasted trip will serve her right for being so gung-ho about marrying me off.’
‘She’ll be devastated.’
‘She’ll get over it,’ Jess muttered. ‘I tell you, girls, we’ll drive each other mad spending all that “quality” time together. A few days I can do, but two weeks under the same roof?’ She shook her head.
‘We’ll help keep her busy,’ Brianna assured her, and Nora nodded her agreement.
‘Yeah, it’ll fly by – you’ll see.’
‘Thanks.’ Jess wasn’t convinced.
‘You know, I feel pretty stupid, too.’ Nora changed the subject. ‘I thought Nick was perfect for Jess. It goes to show what an appalling judge of character I am. I hope I haven’t made the same error of judgement in Ewan.’
‘Ewan isn’t Nick! Besides, you said they hardly know each other these days,’ Jess stated firmly, and glad to take the spotlight off herself for a moment, she asked, ‘Have you told him how you really feel about adventure sports yet?’
‘I was going to wait until he got home next week, but I blurted it out last night when we were Skyping, in between?—’
‘Spare us the gory details – we’re eating, thank you very much. So what did he say?’
Nora looked coyly at them. ‘You were both right; he was great about it. He said I should have told him instead of putting myself through the paces like that, but that any girl prepared to do what I had done to impress him was worth having around. I’m going to be his cheerleader from now on and watch from the sidelines, which suits me just fine.’
‘Oh, Nora, that’s great! Do you know, I still can’t quite believe you’re dating a movie star.’
‘Me neither,’ Brianna reiterated.
Nora smiled and then dropped her gaze, studying her glass for a moment. ‘I don’t think of him like that. I did at first, but once you’ve seen someone sit on the loo first thing in the morning, it kind of brings it home that it’s just a job, albeit a very well-paid and glamorous one. But at the end of the day, it’s just a job and he’s only human.’
‘Albeit just a fecking gorgeous one, and I want to propose a toast.’ Brianna slurred slightly; she wasn’t used to wine in the middle of the day. ‘To the best friends a girl could have.’
‘To the best friends a girl could have.’ The girls raised their glasses and clinked.
‘It’s my turn now!’ Nora insisted, holding her glass up again. ‘To rough and ready men with a heart of gold for Jess, and to the lovely Pete and to Ewan.’
‘To the man for me, wherever he may be, and to the lovely Pete and Ewan,’ Jess echoed as they did another round of clinking. Then Brianna and Nora looked at her expectantly. ‘Your turn.’
‘OK – um, here goes. To slimy, bad-tempered freaks with erectile dysfunction not getting their own way – long live the Bray Community Centre!’
‘Yay! That’s the attitude, Jess – get mad, not sad.’ Nora leaned over and patted her hand before raising her glass along with Brianna. ‘Long live the Bray Community Centre! Now then, can we get down to some serious drinking?’
The three women laughed and charged their glasses.
‘You know, Jess, I’m a firm believer in getting right back on your horse and riding it, or in your case the pig, so what about it? How does the land lie with your pig farmer chap?’
‘Stop calling him my pig farmer, Nora; his name’s Owen.’
Over the second bottle of wine, Jess’s tongue well and truly loosened as she filled her friends in on what had happened in the barn during her mercy dash to Ballymcguinness.
‘I knew there was more to it!’ Brianna shrieked, causing heads to turn.
‘You sly old thing, you, making out you were only concerned with the piglet’s health. How is porky by the way?’ Nora said.
‘It’s Wilbur, as you well know, and I don’t know how he is because I haven’t heard from Owen since then.’
Then both girls asked, ‘So what are you going to do about it?’
Jess shrugged as her dish of Dublin Bay prawn risotto was placed in front of her. ‘Nothing. What can I do? He made it pretty clear it was a spur-of-the-moment mistake, and he never phoned me when Amy’s story ran. If he wanted to talk to me that would have been his cue to call, surely?’
‘I thought I told you that you should ring him.’
‘I did, but he wasn’t there, remember? So I left a message. He’s never phoned me back.’ Jess shrugged, but the girls weren’t buying her affected indifference.
‘Well, I think you should try again.’ Nora pointed a fork full of potato smothered in rosemary at her.
‘Yes, me too.’
‘No bloody way. I do have some pride, you know.’
‘Barracuda’ broke out, much to the shock of their fellow diners, and, blushing, Jess rescued her phone from her bag. ‘You can bloody well change this back to a normal ringtone, Nora Brennan.’ She glanced at the caller display and paled. ‘It’s him. Oh my God, it’s him.’
‘Who? Nick? Right, give me the phone.’ Nora took in her friend’s orb-like eyes and held her hand out, looking like she was ready to do murder.
‘No, not Nick – Owen.’
‘Well, fecking well answer it then!’