by Melissa Hill
It was simply incredible. Membership uptake was always at its slowest throughout the mid-summer months. People out and about in the fine weather saw little need for pounding on a treadmill when they could enjoy the exercise much more in the park or on the beach. But the report Nicola held for the summer read as well as the one for January. She couldn’t believe it.
“That article was an absolute godsend, Nikki,” Ken smiled. “You seem to have won over at least half of the Lakeview natives, as well as some out-of-towners. Those figures should carry us through for the rest of the year. The accountant will be happy, as will the partners so I’m confident of getting a capital top-up for next year. Should free us up to spend a bit more on this place. Well done.” He winked at her. “I always knew you were the right person for this job, you know.”
Nicola smiled at this. Initially, she had her reservations about coming back to Ireland and taking up Ken’s job offer, unsure as to whether she would be able for it – unsure if coming back home was a good thing. She had also been quite touchy about it, suspecting that Ken had suggested her for the job simply because of her situation and because he was feeling sorry for her. But Ken had been insistent that she would be perfect for Motiv8 and, as it turned out, he was right. She loved this job and within months had dispelled any of her own qualms about Ken’s ulterior motives for offering her the manager’s post. She was good at this, and she knew it.
Soon she realised that Ken had offered her the job because he understood her need for independence and a chance to regain some normality – and also because he cared deeply about her.
Nicola hadn’t known it at the time, hadn’t known it that day in his office when Dan walked in, hadn’t known it for a long time after they began working together at Motiv8. But when she eventually did find out, she didn’t care about Ken’s original intentions, because by then she had fallen in love with him too.
She had been very lucky, she thought, studying Ken who looked as pleased as punch with himself as he reread the figures. She had been very lucky in finding a man like him; maybe she should put more of an effort into making sure he knew it.
And, she thought cheerfully, recalling her recent musings about Dan and the problems in her first marriage, she really had been worrying for nothing. Dan could continue phoning her all he liked, but she and Ken were happier than ever. Whatever Dan Hunt’s intentions might be, there was little he could do to change that.
50
Nicola had had the affair. Oh no. Chloe hadn’t expected that. Why hadn’t John O’Leary said anything about it? Hell.
Chloe started up the jeep and headed towards Lynne’s house. She needed to talk to someone about this, get someone else’s opinion on it.
What a silly cow. What woman in her right mind would cheat on someone like Dan?
Then a thought struck Chloe. Nicola hadn’t been in her right mind though, had she? She had been full sure that Dan was carrying on with Shannon. Chloe had thought so too, with the way the way the story was going. After all, Nicola had rejected him and kept pushing him away, refusing to let him share her grief.
But Shannon hadn’t a hope, because obviously Dan was too much in love with Nicola, too much in love with their marriage.
And Dan had actually caught them at it too. No wonder he didn’t want to talk about it! Now Chloe understood. No man likes to admit they’ve been cheated on, least of all a man like Dan.
But if their marriage ended because of her fling, then goodness only knows how he felt about her now. Maybe he was still in love with her. Chloe remembered what John had said before about Dan having to ‘get over her’. Maybe Dan had got over Nicola, but meeting her again had brought all the old feelings back.
Nicola had broken Dan’s heart, and their marriage had ended because of her affair. But now she was back. Chloe’s heart sank.
What on earth was she going to do?
51
Laura carefully eased the dress over her shoulders, and pulled the skirt down over her hips. She hoped that the false tan she’d applied earlier had fully dried; otherwise she would have some orange go-fast stripes down each side of her wedding dress. Lovely.
She turned sideways and struggled to view her rear in the mirror, hoping that it wouldn’t be obvious to all and sundry that she had had to wear industrial-strength knickers under the dress.
She giggled as she put on her garter. The lace garter combined with those knickers didn’t exactly make for sexy viewing. But she didn’t think Neil would mind. In fairness, by the time they got to bed tonight she might as well be wearing knickers made of steel for all the interest he would have in them. A few pints and Neil could barely stand up, let alone anything else. Laura smiled. She and Neil wouldn’t be the first or last couple that didn’t consummate their marriage on their wedding night.
She hoped that today would be a good day. She was a little bit nervous about the reception, thinking that perhaps she had been mistaken in omitting her mother’s family from the guest list.
Maureen was barely talking to her over it. For some reason, she had been convinced that Laura could eventually be talked round into inviting them, and had been apoplectic when Neil had finally put the kybosh on it by admitting that the invitations had been sent out two months earlier, and not one had been addressed to the Kellys in Glengarrah.
“It’s nothing but bad manners,” Laura had overheard her mother say to him, and had nearly died with embarrassment.
But Neil was well able for her. “Isn’t it bad manners that not one of them have ever congratulated Laura on her engagement? Isn’t it bad manners that they didn’t bother turning up at the church for the twins’ christening, but were the first into the hotel for the dinner?”
It was true. There had been so many Kellys ensconced at the hotel beforehand, that upon the christening party’s arrival, the hotel had actually had to set a second table, while all the while Maureen’s sister-in-law Francis had moaned about the delay in being fed. Laura couldn’t understand why Cathy had never said anything, but her sister was too like her mother, always eager to please, always afraid to risk insult.
Still, neither Cathy nor Maureen seemed all that afraid of insulting Laura. Only that morning, she had overheard Cathy complaining about the ‘tat’ she had to wear with her dress.
But Laura wasn’t going to let any of them get to her. Not today.
There was a low knock and a slight throat clearing outside.
“Can I come in?” Joe Fanning asked.
“Of course, Dad. I think I’m ready to go now.” Laura smiled, her dad being the first one to see her in full wedding regalia. She waited expectantly for him to comment. After all, it wasn’t every day that your daughter got married.
“You’re looking very – em – nice,” he said in such a way that Laura knew he had been warned to say it. Her heart sank. “But your mother was wondering if you might hurry things up a little bit. The photographer is downstairs, and she doesn’t want to hold him up.”
Hold him up – where else would Kieran be going? He was her photographer, for goodness sake – and an old school friend at that.
“Fine, tell them I’ll be down in a minute,” she said, annoyed that her mother couldn’t even let her savour a few moments alone before her own wedding. Hurry things up!
“Right,” Joe turned towards the door, paused slightly, and then turned back to Laura. “Whatever happens love, with your business, with everything … just try to be happy. You deserve it,” he said quietly and almost embarrassedly, before heading back downstairs.
Laura looked after him, tears in her eyes. That from her father meant more than any pride-filled speech or words of encouragement. A man of very few words, Laura knew that those few came right from Joe’s heart. She also knew that it was his way of telling Laura not to let Maureen’s antics get to her. Her father was one of the kindest, most patient and easygoing people she knew, and he had a lot to put up with in Maureen. Yet he never complained and merely went about defusing arguments and smoothing ove
r problems without ever losing his cool.
Laura wondered how he managed it all these years. How had he let himself be henpecked and browbeaten by his wife, a selfish woman who didn’t know the meaning of the word compromise? Had Maureen always been that way? Did her mother begrudge and belittle people and their intentions when she was Laura’s age, or had getting older blighted her vision and closed her mind? Laura didn’t know, but she knew that she was determined never to be that way. If Laura had a daughter, she would give her every encouragement possible, she would let her make her own mistakes and be there for her to pick up the pieces. Had her mother ever done that for Laura?
It really wasn’t until she met Neil, wonderful kind and patient Neil that Laura had given her ambitions a second thought.
And look where that had led.
Laura shook her head. Today was not the day to be thinking about the business and whether it would or wouldn’t succeed. She wasn’t going to allow her mother’s doubts in her abilities creep into her conscience and ruin her chances.
Today she was getting married, and Laura was going to enjoy every minute of it.
52
Nicola and the others waited for Laura’s arrival outside the church. Helen, who Nicola noticed was looking very sexy – possibly a little too sexy for a wedding – had just arrived and was doing her best to calm down a hyper Kerry. Her friend was wearing figure-hugging Lainey Keogh – the hem of the bright, multicoloured dress just long enough to be decent. There was no denying that Helen had a fantastic figure and amazing legs, and judging by the gawks she was getting from some of the male guests, Nicola wasn’t the only one to notice.
“Where’s Paul?” Nicola asked immediately, hoping to finally get a glimpse of this supposed sex-god.
“Oh, he’s not coming,” she said airily. “Something cropped up at work. Last minute, you know yourself.” She indicated Nicola’s neckpiece. “Wow, look at that, it’s gorgeous.”
Nicola caught Ken’s eye. Last minute … on a Saturday?
Hopefully this Paul wasn’t just another of Helen’s come-a-day, go-a-day boyfriends, and if he was, she hoped that at least her friend would have the sense not to let him get too involved with Kerry. Although Helen was great like that. She rarely introduced her boyfriends to her daughter, ostensibly because she was unsure of how the relationship would go and of course didn’t want Kerry getting attached to someone who could eventually disappear from her life.
For all the giving out she did about Helen’s maternal shortcomings, Nicola had to admire her for that. Kerry had never known Jamie, so it wasn’t as though she needed a father figure in her life. Yet, Nicola thought, it would be good for Kerry and indeed for Helen, to maybe eventually have someone she could call ‘Daddy’. She wondered briefly if this Paul might be that someone.
“You know, we should try and arrange something after the wedding,” she said to Helen. “Get all of us round to the house for something to eat, and you could bring Paul.”
“Yeah,” Ken added, “it would be much easier than meeting everyone at something like this.”
“He really is working, you know – he didn’t just bottle out, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Helen said testily.
“That’s not what we meant.” Nicola decided she had better shut up. If Helen was going to be touchy about it, there was no point in pursuing it. And she didn’t want Helen in bad form on Laura’s wedding day.
Laura arrived shortly afterwards, helped out of the car by her father. She was the picture of radiance and, as she smiled down at Kerry, who had raced across to hug her, Nicola thought she had never seen her friend look so beautiful.
The ceremony was wonderful. Nicola felt silly for worrying about how she herself would look going up the aisle in front of Laura – although there had been a few curious sideways glances, nobody took much notice of her. And why would they? They were all watching the bride.
53
A week later Nicola and Ken were relaxing in front of the television, Barney sleeping peacefully at their feet, when she got a call.
“Hello, Nicola?”
She smiled. “How are you? I’m so glad you rang. When are we meeting for coffee?”
“Soon, I hope. But this isn’t actually a social call.”
“Oh? What’s wrong?”
“Well, someone came to see me a few days ago, someone who was asking a lot of questions about you.”
Nicola took the cordless handset into the kitchen and closed the door behind her. “What do you mean? Who? What kind of questions?”
“It was Dan’s fiancée. She was pumping for information about when you two were married. I couldn’t get you at home before now, and I didn’t want to disturb you at work.”
“You can’t be serious. What did she want?”
“Well, she’s a cute one. She let on that she was some kind of solicitor or something. Only for I’ve seen her before, and I knew who she really was, I might have been taken in by it. John pointed her out to me one night.”
“What? She didn’t even tell you who she was?”
“No. She obviously doesn’t want anyone, including Dan, to know that she’s digging around. Obviously, I didn’t say much to her and I told her that the two of us were friends, but only through Dan and John.”
“And?”
“And she said she was under the impression that I had been a close friend of yours, so I told her that if I was such a close friend, why didn’t I even know you were back in Ireland until recently?” She paused. “She was very persistent. I didn’t really take to her, to be honest.”
Nicola couldn’t believe it. If Dan’s fiancée was looking for information about her, then she must know that she and Dan had met up again lately. Maybe she was the jealous type, Nicola thought, recalling how unnerved Ken had been by it all. But surely if Dan had told her everything, then she’d know there was absolutely no reason for her to be jealous.
“Do you think I should tell Dan about this?” she said, thinking out loud.
“Well, if it was me, I’d have to tell him. I wouldn’t want her poking around in my business like that. I mean, she could be talking to anyone.”
Nicola sighed. “I wonder if she has spoken to anyone else?”
“To be honest, I kind of got the impression that she had, because she seemed to know an awful lot about your marriage. But she didn’t get much from me.”
What would Chloe want to know about their marriage? Her first guess was that the girl was basically insecure, but she couldn’t imagine how any woman could be so bad that they’d resort to sneaking around like that. “Look, thanks for putting her off.”
“No problem. I just thought you should know, though. I wouldn’t like someone asking questions about me behind my back like that.”
“Thanks. And listen, you should come over soon, for dinner or something.”
“I will, we’ll arrange it soon.”
“Who was that?” Ken asked easily, when she returned to the living-room.
“What? Oh, it was Helen, wondering if I could baby-sit Kerry this weekend,” Nicola lied. She couldn’t tell him about this. Ken would go mad. And she couldn’t risk the possibility that he might confront Dan about it. Damn. She had thought this thing was over and done with.
“Oh.” Unperturbed, Ken changed the television channel.
“I’m going to make a cuppa,” Nicola said, needing a little time to think about this. “Do you want anything from the kitchen?”
Ken looked up, pondering. “Mmm, I think I’d like the table, please,” he teased, “and maybe a couple of chairs while you’re at it?”
“Ha. Somebody’s in fine form tonight.” Nicola smiled absently and left the room, her mind fully focused on what she had just heard.
Dan’s fiancée asking around about her? Why? She’d have to tell Dan and let him deal with it. It was up to him to sort it out.
Luckily, her old friends were supportive, and of course they wouldn’t tell Chloe anything. Laura certainly
wouldn’t, neither would Helen, and no better woman than Carolyn O’Leary to tell her where to go. But Chloe wouldn’t be bold enough to approach her closest friends, would she?
54
The following day, still annoyed, Nicola dialled Dan’s number
“O’Leary, Hunt Accountancy. Can I help you?” It was a voice Nicola didn’t recognise.
She cleared her throat. “Is Mr Hunt free, please?”
“He’s in a meeting at the moment,” the telephonist told her in a song-song voice. “Would you like to leave a message?”
Nicola paused. Should she leave her number? Dan would surely wonder why she was calling him. It was probably better to phone back later and speak to him directly.
“Or possibly his PA could help you? Shall I put you through?” the girl continued, unnerved by the lack of a response.
“No, no, that’s fine, I’ll just leave my number, thanks.” Nicola recited her office number and hung up.
Nearly an hour later, she was in the gym conversing with one of the newer instructors when Sally roared across at her.
“Nicola, phone.”
It was Dan.
“Nic?” he sounded pleased, but a little surprised. “Did you phone me earlier?”
She nodded, forgetting he couldn’t see her.
“Nic – you still there?”
“Yes, sorry. Dan, can you hold for just a minute? I want to use the phone in my office.”
“Sounds ominous,” he joked.
When she was safely ensconced in the privacy of her own office, Nicola told him what she had learned about Chloe.
“Are you serious?”
“I wouldn’t make something like this up, Dan.”
“I know – that’s not what I meant … crap. What the hell is she playing at?” he asked, voice raised in anger
“Look, I’m not telling you this to cause any trouble between you two, but I have to tell you that I don’t like it.”