Chapter 3
Mary woke the next morning to a flurry of missed calls and text messages from Greg, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at them.
Gingerly testing her feelings, she found last night’s rage seemed to have abated.
Now she just felt hollow, numb. Thank goodness she didn’t have to go to work and put a brave face on things, because she wasn’t sure she could summon the energy to get out of bed.
But she wasn’t cut out for wallowing and it wasn’t long before she became restless and decided to get up.
Besides, she was hungry. Her bed was by the window and she drew back the curtain and peeked up between the buildings to a cloudy grey sky, then pulled on a cardigan and a pair of thick socks and padded the few steps to her little kitchen.
When she’d made herself a breakfast of toasted sesame bagel and scrambled egg, she took it back to the sofa with a big mug of tea.
She’d never been more grateful for her little apartment.
Realtors would call it cosy, cute and convenient – euphemisms for tiny and cramped, and the fact that you could grab a snack from the fridge while sitting on the toilet.
But she loved her cubbyhole, and today it felt like a hug – warm and snug and comforting.
The living area doubled as the bedroom and tripled as the study, courtesy of a shelf that served as a computer desk, and the lack of storage space meant she had to be scrupulously tidy and careful to keep her belongings to a minimum.
But it was all hers and the location really was unbeatable.
Today, though, she longed to be in Dingle, eating her breakfast in her parents’ house at the long table overlooking the sea.
She could practically smell the salty air, feel the ozone filling her lungs.
She picked up her phone and checked the time.
It would be afternoon in Ireland. She knew she needed to tell her family what had happened, but while part of her wanted their sympathy and the kind of unconditional support she knew she could depend on from them, another part of her dreaded how upset they’d be for her – especially knowing she’d be spending Christmas on her own in New York.
She toyed with her phone, trying to decide who to call or text first. It wasn’t like her to be so indecisive, but after the shock of last night, her brain didn’t seem to be functioning properly.
Eventually, she decided to take the easy way out and put a message in the family WhatsApp saying she and Greg had broken up. Then she tossed the phone aside and headed for the shower before it started lighting up with responses.
Sure enough, when she was showered and dressed, she picked up her phone again to find a litany of missed calls and messages from her family.
She read through the texts from her siblings and parents, all expressing their shock, outrage and concern, with a lot of swearing and angry emojis directed at Greg.
She smiled as she thumbed through the chat, buoyed up by their solidarity.
Once she started responding, the group chat moved so fast she could barely keep up, all of them ‘talking’ over each other as she answered their questions about what had happened and how she was feeling and explained that she wouldn’t be able to make it home for Christmas at such short notice.
Eventually, her mother ordered everyone off the phone so she could call Mary.
Mary found she wasn’t as upset as she’d have expected to be about Greg.
She’d been blindsided, of course, but maybe somewhere deep down she’d envisaged something like this happening, so she was prepared.
She’d always felt that Greg wasn’t all in with her.
The way he’d fallen to pieces when Juanita told him she was getting married had made that crystal clear.
How could she have ignored such a glaring red flag?
However, she was devastated to be missing Christmas with her family for his sake, and the sound of her mother’s sympathetic voice on the phone brought tears to her eyes.
‘I wish I was there to give you a hug,’ Sheena said.
‘Me too.’
‘And there’s no chance you’ll get home?’
‘No, not at this stage. It’s too late.’ Mary swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. ‘That’s the worst part of all this.’
‘I can’t believe Greg did that to you! He seemed like such a nice man.’
Her parents had met Greg on one of their visits to New York. They’d all gone out to dinner and she’d been delighted by how well they’d got on together. Greg had been charming and thoughtful and had told her afterwards how much he’d liked Sheena and Liam.
She sighed. ‘Maybe he is – a nice man who’s in love with someone else.’
‘So what’ll you do? Could you go to a friend’s? Do you know anyone else who’s staying in the city? What about Gina?’
‘No, she’s going back to Chicago. I have an open invitation to go with her. But honestly, I’d rather stay here by myself. It’d be a strain being with people I don’t know, and I’m not in the mood to put in the effort.’
‘I hate to think of you there all by yourself at Christmas.’
‘I know. But it’ll be fine.’ She looked to the window and the steely grey clouds gathering outside.
‘The weather forecast on my phone says there’s a sixty per cent chance of snow.
Maybe it’ll be a white Christmas here. It’ll be nice – like in a movie.
I’ve never been in New York at Christmas. There are lots of fun things I can do.’
‘On your own, though,’ Sheena said uncertainly.
‘Honestly, Mum, it’s fine. I’m fine.’
There was a pause. ‘You know what, you’re right,’ her mother said then, sounding altogether more cheerful. Mary was surprised by the abrupt change of tone. ‘It’s a pity you can’t get home, but I know you’ll make the best of things. We bounce back, don’t we? I’m sure you’ll have a great time.’
Mary frowned. It wasn’t like her mother to accept defeat so readily.
She’d half expected her to mount some sort of rescue mission to get Mary home for Christmas.
But she supposed even Sheena McBride had to accept sometimes that she had her limitations and all she could do was try to make Mary feel better about her circumstances, since there was nothing she could do about them.
‘Right, I have to go, pet.’ Sheena suddenly sounded distracted. ‘There’s… someone at the door. But we’ll talk again soon.’
‘Okay. Bye, Mum.’
When they’d ended the call, Mary got a notepad and pen, curled up on the sofa and began planning an indulgent Christmas alone in New York.
She’d stock up on all her favourite foods and treats, binge-watch romcoms, go for walks in Central Park…
It would be fun. Her family’s presents to her had arrived days ago and were sitting under the tree, ready for her to open on Christmas morning.
She’d lay waste to all the goodies in that hamper she’d spent so much time picking out for Greg’s parents too.
She rang Gina later and told her what had happened with Greg. Gina was predictably incensed on Mary’s behalf and spent a good ten minutes ranting, shrieking swear words and cursing Greg and Juanita.
‘The worst part is, I gave up going home for Christmas for him and now it’s too late! Bloody Juanita! Why couldn’t she at least have had the decency to make her big declaration a month ago when I could still have got a flight? Instead, she waits until it’s practically the eve of her wedding!’
‘You gotta feel sorry for her fiancé.’
‘Yeah. Though I think he dodged a bullet. He should be thanking his lucky stars.’
‘So what are you going to do?’
‘I’ll just spend it here in New York,’ Mary said. ‘It’ll be nice. I can stay in my pjs all day if I want to, order in and binge Christmas movies.’
‘Well, you know you’re welcome to come home with me, but your plan sounds more fun.’
Mary laughed. ‘Thanks for the offer, but I’m quite looking forward to some ridiculously indulgent downtime in my cubbyhole.’
‘There’s no chance you can get back to Ireland?’
‘No.’ Mary sighed. ‘I had a look, but all the economy flights are booked out. All that’s left is business class and the prices this late in the day are astronomical.’
‘So? You still have your year-end bonus, don’t you?’
‘Oh! Yes, I suppose I do.’ Her bonus had been paid in October at the end of the company’s fiscal year, but Mary hadn’t touched it yet, and it hadn’t even occurred to her to spend it on a flight home. ‘That’s actually a great idea! Why didn’t I think of that?’
‘Maybe because you don’t have my talent for spending.’
Mary had always been sensible about money, cautious about spending and a good saver.
Her siblings used to tease her for still having her pocket money at the end of the week when theirs was all long spent.
But she was the one they’d come to when they were skint and needed a loan, and they appreciated her frugality then.
Even when she had plenty of money and could afford an extravagant purchase, she’d still consider it carefully and nine times out of ten decide she didn’t want it anyway.
So it hadn’t even crossed her mind that she could splash out on one of those ridiculously expensive flights with her bonus.
But what better way was there to spend it?
She wasn’t interested in designer clothes or bags, and there was nothing she could do with the money that could bring her greater happiness – not only her, but her whole family.
‘Oh, what about my leave, though? I was working up to Friday and going back the day after Christmas when I thought I was going to Greg’s family. Do you think Chrissie would let me claw back the time off I cancelled?’
‘Sure she will. She’ll probably be glad to have one less person sitting around twiddling their thumbs for the week. You know how dead the office is this time of year.’
‘True.’ Most companies didn’t want to deal with new hires over the holidays and candidates weren’t keen to start new jobs either.
‘You should do it,’ Gina said.
‘You know, I think I will.’ Mary smiled to herself as the idea took hold, her heartbeat quickening with excitement. ‘I’d better do it now, before even the most expensive flights are all gone.’
‘Yes, go! Let me know how you get on.’
‘I will. And thanks for the suggestion.’
‘Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow. Unless you’ve already skipped town.’
An hour later, Mary checked over the details on the online booking form for a flight to Dublin on Wednesday night, arriving the following morning, the twenty-second.
She’d already squared it with her boss, Chrissie, who’d been touchingly sympathetic about the break-up with Greg and told Mary she could take whatever time she needed.
She still hesitated, her finger hovering over the pay button.
It seemed such an obscene amount of money to pay for a flight.
But it wasn’t just a flight, she reminded herself.
It was the chance to spend time with all the people she loved most in the world.
And after what had happened last night with Greg, it felt good to know that they’d be overjoyed to see her.
She hit the pay button, her heart pounding with excitement as just like that, her year-end bonus vanished into the ether.
Booking a last-minute flight had the added advantage that it left no time for moping and was the perfect distraction from thinking about Greg.
Galvanised into action, she sprang out of her chair as soon as the confirmation email came through and went to her bedroom to start planning.
She’d already started packing for her trip to Maine with Greg, so she’d only have to make a few tweaks to that.
But there was so much else to do. She had to look up transport from Dublin to Kerry and plan how she was going to get to Inch, the tiny village on the Dingle Peninsula where her parents lived.
And she needed to let her family know that she was coming home for Christmas after all.
She picked up her phone to do just that, but then she hesitated.
How fun would it be to turn up unexpectedly and surprise them?
She smiled to herself, the idea giving her a tingle of excitement.
She pictured their startled, delighted faces when she appeared at the door.
Juanita wasn’t the only one who could pull a stunt like that.
She dropped her phone on the bed and resumed her packing.
She couldn’t wait to see everyone’s faces when she turned up on Thursday.