Chapter 34
What Finnuala had told me was the key to everything.
It was as though something had been unlocked.
I knew business was about product and selling and buying, and giving people what they wanted.
But the best businesses, the ones I wanted to work with, were more than buying and selling, there was something that happened around all of that, which was community.
Humans need each other and we want to care about people and a product is enhanced by the story we tell around it.
The jumpers we were selling were beautiful, meticulous pieces of Irish craft, but the story of these women made their coming together so important.
But what could I do with it? I thought about all my other businesses and how I had just polished the pitches, told smooth stories about who my clients were.
But I hadn’t gone deep enough. I had got it all wrong and back to front.
My phone rang and I picked it up, expecting to see Johnny’s name on the screen, telling me he’d been joking. But it was Lucy.
‘Sheila’s had a heart attack. She collapsed in the warehouse, just after you left. She and Finnuala have gone in an ambulance. It’s serious.’
Oh, God, let her be all right, let her be all right for both of them. Your friend is your life buddy, your ride or die, the one person who will be there forever. You are meant to do life together. ‘Who’s with her?’ I asked.
‘Finnuala.’
‘No, who’s with Finnuala? Who’s supporting her?’
‘No one,’ said Lucy. ‘I mean, there will be, but she went on her own. I think Gran’s going to go in later. Betty is calling her daughter who is a doctor in A twenty-nine on a bad day. She said she was only just finding her stride. That’s why we were so excited about the knitting circle.
This was our time. And now…’ Her voice drifted to nothing.
‘Has her son been notified?’ I asked. ‘We can call him for you?’
‘I’ve already called Adam,’ she said. ‘Don’t worry about that. He lives in Abbydabby and he’s booking a flight home.’
‘We can get you a cup of tea and we can just stay here and wait if you like?’ I went on.
‘Girls, honestly, you should be having fun, not being here in the hospital. I’ll be grand.’ Finnuala wiped her eyes. ‘There’s nothing anyone can do until Dr Heart arrives.’
I patted Finnuala’s hand, as she dabbed at her eyes with the corner of her shirtsleeve. We bought her a cup of tea and a bar of Cadbury’s chocolate, and then she insisted we go.
‘I’ll stay in touch with news,’ she promised. ‘I’ll ask Mary to add the two of you to the whatsup group. I’ll update there.’