Chapter 88
Maeve
Thursday
Maeve had never been less enthusiastic about anything than she had been earlier this evening walking over to Moira Fitzpatrick’s, trudging one foot in front of the other, chin dipped, shoulders down.
Her beanie hid half her face, or at least, she hoped it did.
Snap Maps told her there was nobody from school in the vicinity—nobody she’d bump into between her house and Moira Fitzpatrick’s over in Oakpark.
But still, someone might have had Maps switched off…
If she had to walk past anyone, she would die.
Her mum would say she was being dramatic, but her mum doesn’t get it.
For all her talk of remembering what it was like being a teen, she obviously didn’t if she was insisting Maeve go ahead with the babysitting.
Maeve zoned in on Nika on Snap Maps. She was down in Blackrock, probably in Jessica’s house.
And Ariana was on Westminster Road, in her own house.
God, if she ever saw Ariana again. Maeve’s cheeks flamed at the thought.
· · ·
Moira Fitzpatrick beamed when she opened the door, tucking a blonde strand behind her ear. She was all dressed up in a 70s-print jumpsuit, gold hoop earrings and metallic strappy heels.
“You look lovely,” Maeve said politely.
“Oh, thank you!” Moira rewarded her with an even wider smile.
“My mum has the same jumpsuit,” Maeve added.
Moira’s smile thinned, and Maeve remembered that her mum was a little older and Moira might not see herself in the same fashion demographic.
“Anyway, how are you? Enjoying summer?” Moira asked, fixing her hair in the living-room mirror as Maeve followed her in.
“I’m good, it’s great,” Maeve said in the way of teenagers everywhere since time began whose lives are falling apart.
· · ·
Senan is a devil child, Maeve decided, just twenty minutes after the Fitzpatricks left.
Good god, no wonder Cody Geary put him in the back garden, she thought, as he tore around the living room, jumping from couch to chair to couch, shrieking at the top of his voice.
His sister stood beside Maeve, arms folded, foot tapping, saying, “You know he’s not allowed to do that? ” over and over.
Maeve reached for him as he raced past and grabbed him around his middle.
His shrieks got louder and he wriggled out of her arms, elbowing her in the eye in the process.
It hurt far more than a five-year-old’s elbow should and tears sprang to her eyes and, suddenly, all Maeve wanted to do was sit on the floor and cry.
· · ·
It was early—half ten—when the Fitzpatricks got back, though Maeve had only just got the kids to sleep.
The first six times she put Senan up, he came back down.
In the end, she sat on the floor outside his room, to steer him into his bed each time he emerged.
This seemed to tire him out eventually and, close to tears again, Maeve made her way downstairs and on to the couch just as the key turned in the front door.
“Hello!” Moira stage-whispered, peeping into the living room. “We didn’t stay long—work in the morning. All good?”
“Yes, all great,” Maeve said, through gritted teeth.
“Fab.” Moira slipped into the room, wobbling a little in her silver heels as she rummaged in her bag.
“I’m delighted.” She pulled out a rolled-up fifty-euro note and pressed it into Maeve’s hand.
“Sometimes Senan can get a bit…excitable. He’s a great kid, but not everyone is as capable as you. ” She pursed her lips.
Maeve smiled, feeling a new solidarity with Cody Geary.
“Senan’s a sweetheart,” she said, and picked up her bag.
· · ·
And now, at the end of the Fitzpatricks’ driveway, Maeve stops to put the cash inside her phone cover.
It’s actually two fifties. Wow. Moira’s never paid her this much before.
Maybe she’s desperate to hold on to anyone who’ll put up with the devil child.
Maeve checks Snap Maps to see who’s around.
Ariana is still in her own house. And Jessica is in hers.
Nika, however, is on the main road, near the turn for Oakpark.
Shit. Though according to the app, she’s in a car, so maybe she won’t notice Maeve.
She switches off her own location and starts her walk home.