The Single Wife : 'Liane Moriarty meets Elin Hilderbrand in an addictive summer read'

by Ella Grey

  “Seems no one knows how to handle Kirsty, other than her mother of course,” Brian interjected dryly.

  Just then, the waiter arrived to take their order, and Robin felt sorry for Sarah. It was obvious he felt she was being unrealistically overprotective of Kirsty’s asthma, yet she couldn’t be blamed for worrying.

  “I get it. It’s a big responsibility, isn’t it?” she said warmly. “Hard to rely on someone else to know what to do if something happens.”

  Sarah nodded gratefully. “It is – and to be honest, I’m not just worried about Kirsty. As she gets older she’s learning that she needs to take her inhaler, but it’s not fair to the baby-sitter. She knows she’s asthmatic but still …”

  “Still we can’t wrap the child in bloody cotton wool,” Brian said. “Honestly, the more you fuss over her, the worse she gets!” He looked at Ben and Robin, exasperated. “It’s not good to molly-coddle a kid like that.”

  Robin and Ben exchanged awkward glances. The way Brian spoke about her, you’d swear that Kirsty was just some troublesome ‘kid’ instead of his own chronically asthmatic daughter. But Brian was away with work most of the time, so didn’t understand the worry and stress poor Sarah had to endure.

  “I’m sure the baby-sitter will manage just fine,” Ben soothed.

  Sarah nodded, red-faced and embarrassed at her husband’s lack of etiquette and, Robin suspected, hurt by his lack of understanding. Her own father had been the same.

  “I suppose,” Sarah bit her lip. “I feel guilty leaving her though – it’s so humid this summer and the pollen count is –”

  “Oh, for goodness’ sake, will you give it a rest. The kid will be fine, which is more than I can say for myself. This is my first weekend at home in ages – we’re supposed to be out for a relaxing dinner, and already you’re giving me heartburn.”

  For a long moment, an awkward silence descended on the table until waiter returned with their first course and Brian turned to Ben. “So,” he asked, purposefully changing the subject, “how’s business?”

  “Good, very busy actually,” Ben answered, equally anxious to change the subject, moreso, Robin thought, to take the spotlight off poor Sarah.

  She didn’t know how she put up with such an ignorant oaf for a husband. “She’ll be fine,” she mouthed, giving Sarah an encouraging smile, before taking another sip of her wine.

  The others had begun making inroads into their starters but as she was unfamiliar with this particular restaurant, Robin had declined to order one herself.

  She glanced at Sarah’s green salad and the others’ deep-fried shrimp, and while everything seemed innocuous it was just too much of a chance to take. She had taken chances on the basis of doubtful assurances before, and while she lived to tell the tale, Robin knew too well that it just wasn’t worth it. Anyway, she didn’t want to ruin the meal for everyone else by throwing caution to the winds, and particularly not for Ben, who, if the worst came to the worst, would have to administer her adrenaline.

  “Aren’t you having anything?” Brian asked her then. “Oh, I just remembered, you’re another one of these faddy dieters, aren’t you?” He shook his head. “You should hear some of the crap the girls at the office come out with – if they’re not on Atkins, they’re in some ‘Zone’,” he made quotation marks with his fingers, “or else they’ve talked themselves into believing they’ve got some kind of wheat or dairy intolerance…” He laughed derisively. “But seriously Robin, you don’t need to lose weight – you look great.”

  At this Ben put down his menu and gave his brother-in-law a look that could cut him in two.

  “Brian!” Sarah gasped, mortified.

  But there was no point in getting upset about it. Brian was just an idiot who couldn’t help putting his foot in it.

  “A load of baloney, as far as I can tell,” he went on. “When we were kids there was no such thing as nut allergies and pollen allergies, and goodness knows what else these drugs corporations are dreaming up these days. You do know that that’s all it is, don’t you, Robin? Big Pharma’s brainwashing, preying on people like you and Sarah. They get us all worked up about our health and our kids, so we go and dutifully pay them lots of money for drugs that help ease our worries and conscience.” His point made, Brian went back to the rest of his shrimp.

  Things had been tense all evening, but it seemed that this was the last straw for Sarah.

  “Brian!” she whispered harshly, her voice a mixture of embarrassment and outrage. “How dare you paint Robin as some kind of raving hypochondriac. What do you know about worry and conscience, when you spend the whole time off on your bloody road trips? When was the last time you had to rush Kirsty to hospital after an asthma attack? When was the last time you had to listen to her struggle for breath, and wonder if her little lungs were going to give out?” Tears shone in her eyes. “And then you have the cheek to sit here and accuse me of being overprotective? Of course I’m being over-protective, you asshole, because I need to make up for both of us.” With that, she stood up and grabbed her handbag.

  “Well, so much for a pleasant evening.” For once, Brian looked flustered – obviously, Robin thought, unused to his wife standing up to him like that. Good for her.

  Although, catching sight of Ben’s hard stare as his sister and brother-in-law exited the room, Robin knew that doing Brian good was the furthest thing from her boyfriend’s mind just then.

  “He’s such a prat,” Ben said, when they returned to their apartment later that evening. “Lecturing you like that – who the hell does he think he is?”

  They left the restaurant soon after, the thought of dinner no longer quite so appealing. Instead, they had picked up a pizza from a reliable place near home.

  “It wasn’t so much that – it was the way he lectured Sarah that annoyed me,” Robin answered, taking a huge bite out of her pizza. “Honestly, you’d wonder why the likes of Brian ended up having children at all – he’s never there for Kirsty and she adores him.”

  Ben fiddled with a strand of her hair. “She adores you too, you know,” he said, “and wouldn’t you wonder why the likes of you and me don’t have children, when it’s obvious you’d be a terrific mother?”

  Robin moved his hand away. “Don’t, Ben.”

  “Don’t what?”

  “Don’t start this again.”

  “I can’t understand why you’re so against having children when you’re obviously a natural with them. Kirsty adores you, all kids adore you and despite what you say, I know you love them too.”

  Robin shook her head. Wasn’t it enough for him that she had agreed to settle down and buy a house together?

  “Do you have any idea what it would be like trying to bring up a child with my allergy?” she muttered. “Bad enough as it is – like tonight when I can’t go to a restaurant, or even eat at a friend’s house without a fuss.”

  “There are no guarantees that it’d be passed on –”

  She had tried to explain this many times before but he just wouldn’t listen. “There is every chance. It’s hereditary, and because mine is so severe there’s a nine out of ten chance that it would be passed on.”

  “But what about that ten per cent? Don’t you think that having a child of our own would be worth taking that chance? Why let this ruin your chances of becoming a mother? As you said yourself, it takes over so much of your life, so why let it extend to this?”

  “Ben, it’s very easy to say that now, but look how Kirsty’s asthma has put Sarah and Brian’s relationship and their marriage under severe pressure.”

  “That’s because Brian is an insensitive prat who doesn’t realise –”

  “It’s not that, of course he realises. He realises but he doesn’t really understand.” She shook her head. “It was the very same with my parents. My mother had a terrible time with me and, as you know, was fiercely protective. My dad, although he knew that my allergy was serious, still thought that Mum was overly cautious and hysterical even.�
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  “I know all this already,” Ben said, “and that your dad wasn’t cautious enough.”

  When she was six years old, her father had taken her on a trip to Tramore Strand one summer. After a pleasant day in glorious sunshine with Tom helping her build sandcastles and teaching her to swim, Robin was ravenous. Her dad had innocently bought them chips from a roadside van. Robin had taken a single bite and within minutes started going into anaphylactic shock. Luckily, her dad had remembered to take adrenaline with them, but left it in the car. In the time that it took for him to go back and find it, his daughter had almost died.

  “Mum went crazy. Understandably she blamed him, and it eventually drove them apart.” It was something that Robin had always felt guilty about, despite the fact that her mother assured her it wasn’t her fault.

  Now she turned to look at Ben. “No matter what you might think now, that of course you’d protect the child and make sure that nothing ever happened, you’d always feel as though you’re sitting on a time-bomb. It changes your routine, your relationship – your whole life.”

  “I’m not being funny, but surely any parent could say the same thing? Children will change your life, no matter what. There’s always the chance they could run out in front of a speeding car, or drown or whatever…” He trailed off, exasperated. “I think you’re imagining the worst-case scenario and after what you’ve been through yourself as a child, I can completely understand that. But I don’t think you should deny yourself or me the chance to become parents simply because of hard work. It’s hard work anyway. And like I said, there’s always the chance that the condition isn’t inherited isn’t there?” He caught her hand, and looked her in the eye. “Isn’t there?”

  Robin sighed and looked away, wishing Ben would understand that it was still way too much of a chance to take.

  16

  Leah was sitting in her workshop going through a supplier catalogue when the phone rang.

  “Hey,” Andrew’s cheerful tones came on the other end, “how’s the head?”

  “Oh, you’re a bad influence, Andrew Clarke,”she exclaimed. “Josh is barely talking to me.”

  “I’m surprised he’s still with you, considering. Anyway, I was in the same boat – Amanda was livid that I stayed out so late.”

  “What time was it?”

  “It must have been four or five by the time I got in. I can’t believe they stayed serving that long.”

  “Well, why wouldn’t they, when you put your gold card behind the bar and kept buying rounds for everyone?”

  “Ah feck it, don’t tell me I was in flash-git mode, was I? That was your fault for making me out to be some hotshot businessman.”

  “But you are,” Leah teased him, knowing Andrew did tend to lay it on thick but only when he was drunk. Anyway, why not? He was a hotshot so why shouldn’t he show off a little?

  “Give it up. So I can’t talk long but I’m meeting with the accountant soon about what we talked about that night. Can you give me some sort of idea of how much you need?”

  “What?” Leah’s heart stopped. “Andrew, I was only joking – please don’t think that I was begging …” She trailed off, mortified.

  “What are you on about, you eejit? Wasn’t it my idea in the first place? Anyway, I made some enquiries about a premises this morning and –”

  “What?” Leah squealed. “A premises – what for?”

  “For the shop, of course. Hey I know we had a few that night, but don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the entire conversation…”

  “But I thought it was just a joke, I didn’t seriously expect you to –”

  “Look, you have the basis of a very good business, but in order to go further you need to expand. You said yourself that your stuff would fly out the door if you had a retail premises. Well, that’s what we’re going to do.”

  “Andrew, I just couldn’t take –”

  “You’re not taking anything from me – I expect a good return on my investment. I know a good business when I see it, Leah, and I trust you to make a go of it too. Despite the fact that you lot think I’m just a jammy sod who got lucky a few years ago, I do know what I’m talking about. Anyway, I’d rather put my faith in you than some fresh-faced business graduate that doesn’t have a clue about the real world. And if you’re willing to take me on as a business partner, a silent partner, mind – I don’t want to step on any toes – then I think we can make a real go of this.”

  Leah was speechless.

  “Well, are you going to get me some figures or what?”

  “I’m just … I’m just amazed by all of this. What’ll Amanda think?”

  “I’ve invested in a couple of ventures over the years you know – you’re not the first one.”

  “Oh, I know that – I didn’t mean …” It was weird – all of a sudden Leah felt as though she was taking to her boss, not her mad old college friend who could drink her under the table and used to let her cry on his shoulder whenever her latest squeeze dumped her.

  As if sensing her thoughts, Andrew spoke softly, “What I mean is that I make the business decisions. Nine times out of ten Amanda doesn’t know what I do with my money and, to be honest, she doesn’t want to know. As long as there’s enough in the joint account or on the credit card to keep her stocked with clothes and shoes, that’s all she cares about.”

  “Are you absolutely sure though?” Leah was feeling a curious mixture of fear and adrenaline. With Andrew on board there was no limit to what she could do. She could take on staff, and spend more time on her recipes without having to worry about accounts and suppliers. And an outlet – an actual store – wow!

  “Of course I’m sure. Look, I get it was a drunken conversation, so I can understand that you might find it a little weird but Leah, I promise, once I put up the money, there’ll be no interference from me. It’s still your baby and I trust you completely. If you’ve any doubts in that regard, don’t, ‘cos I don’t want anything to do with it – unless you’d prefer that I did, in which case I’d have to withdraw the offer as I just don’t have the time – ”

  “No, no – that would be perfect! I mean, that’s exactly how I’d prefer it too. I’m just finding it so hard to get my head around it but, wow, I haven’t even said thank you. Andrew, thank you, thank you, thank you!”

  “You’re welcome. Now, do you think you could stop thanking me for a second and get your ass down to Blackrock and have a look at the place I have in mind?”

  “Blackrock? You don’t mean Blackrock, Dublin, do you?” Leah knew that in that bijou upmarket village, her produce would literally fly out the door.

  “No, I mean Blackrock, feckin’ Cavan, where else? I’m meeting with the estate agent about another place at two, and then I was hoping we could pop over there for a look – what do you think?”

  “What do I think?” Leah repeated, exhilarated. “I’ll be there with bells on!”

  17

  “Seems a bit sudden?” was Josh’s dour response when later Leah told him the good news. “I mean, you haven’t seen this guy since his wedding and all of a sudden he wants to make a huge investment in your business?”

  “He’s a good friend,” Leah said, her spirits dampened by his less than enthusiastic reaction. “We’ve both been very busy with our own lives, you know how it is, but always stayed close. And if Andrew Clarke has enough faith in my talent to invest his money, well, I think I have a right to be pleased about it.” She knew she was sounding petulant but she didn’t care. Sometimes, Josh got a little bit funny about Leah’s career, probably because he had always worked for his father, who ran a popular chain of DIY stores.

  Josh hated working there and was always looking for any excuse to get out of it, yet the pay was good and the hours were flexible and having done nothing more than an Arts degree in college, he wasn’t qualified to do much else.

  “So what’s he planning then?”

  “He isn’t planning anything, it’s entirely up to me. But we
went out this afternoon to have a look at the premises he had in mind for the shop and oh, it’s just perfect! Blackrock, can you believe it?”

  Kate certainly couldn’t earlier when over the phone Leah had told her about Andrew’s offer.

  “Blackrock is just perfect, such a busy little spot, and upmarket too, ideal for Elysium.”

  One of the most desirable places to live on Dublin’s Southside, the affluent and discerning inhabitants of the village and surrounding areas would be the ideal clientele for her. It would be a terrific start and she couldn’t contain her excitement at the prospect.

  “So what happens now?” Josh asked her. “Are you going to go for this place or what?”

  “Well, Andrew is hammering things out with the estate agent about the lease, but based on the figures we went through this afternoon, we should be well able to manage things. I’ll need to take another look at range, see how I’m going to manage fridge displays and all that, so I’m going to take a pop into town tomorrow to check out some of what will soon be my competitors.” She hugged Josh delightedly. “Can you imagine me, with my very own store? Honestly, Josh, I knew I was doing OK with supplying trade, but retail will just take the business to a completely different level.”

  “I know it will, congratulations.” He returned her hug, half-heartedly.

  Leah knew it was hard for him knowing that she would be working a lot more than usual to get the shop set up, but the way Andrew was driving forward, it shouldn’t take much longer than a few weeks before they were open for business.

  Yes, she would have to work like a demon between now and then to satisfy existing suppliers and come up with new stock for the outlet, but at least things were moving forward.

  If Leah had her way, the business would get to the stage where maybe Josh wouldn’t need to work with his dad any more, and she would be able to support both of them – well, not she – she knew Josh wouldn’t like the sound of that – but the business certainly would.