He's Got to Go

by Sheila O'Flanagan

“What? What did I say?”

  “You’d say, oh, we can’t expect much from Bree. She’s the scatty one.”

  “No I didn’t.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Crap,” said Nessa decisively.

  “So what do you think about Cate and Finn?” Bree changed the subject.

  “I think it’s great,” replied Nessa. “Don’t you?”

  Bree shrugged. “Sure. Once she’s happy.”

  “Why don’t you think she’d be happy?” asked Nessa.

  “It’s what we said at dinner at Mum and Dad’s,” Bree told her. “I just don’t see her as a celebrity chick.”

  “She’s not,” said Nessa.

  “Did you see the piece about them in the entertainment section of the newspaper?” demanded Bree. “It was so naff I nearly puked.”

  Nessa nodded. “I read it last week while Jill and I were staying at Mum’s. She says to give her a call, by the way, she hasn’t spoken to you in ages. We had a good old laugh at it together. But they were simply using it to publicize Finn, weren’t they? It’s not real fame.”

  “It was gross all the same,” said Bree. “And I can’t see Cate sticking it even though she does enjoy slapping on the face stuff and prancing around in new clothes.”

  “She loves him,” said Nessa. “She’s stuck with it for three years.”

  “Not the fame bit though,” said Bree seriously. “She’s stuck with him while things have just been OK. But when they change—maybe he’ll change too.”

  “I doubt it,” said Nessa. “Finn’s a nice guy. He’s Aquarian so he’s pretty sensitive.”

  “You think that’ll save them?” Bree giggled.

  “They should get on reasonably well,” said Nessa. “They complement each other even though they might think differently about some things.”

  “I’m Sagittarian,” said Bree. “Who’s best for me?”

  “You’re difficult,” said Nessa.

  “Why?”

  “Because your moon is in Gemini,” Nessa told her.

  “And?”

  “You crave a soul mate,” said Nessa. “But you’re always looking out for something better than you have already.”

  “That’s total rubbish,” said Bree. “I have loads of friends.”

  “And none of them good enough to be boyfriends?”

  This was so near the thoughts that she’d had so recently herself that Bree nearly choked on her red wine.

  “I’m supposed to be a kind of philosopher,” said Bree. “Maybe that’s why.”

  “You look for answers by traveling around the place,” Nessa told her. “But you won’t find them that way.”

  “I’m not looking for answers,” said Bree. “I’m not looking for anything. Except, perhaps, something to eat sooner rather than later.”

  “Why do you have to make a joke out of everything?”

  Bree sighed. “I don’t. I just don’t want to spend the night listening to you lecturing me.”

  Nessa looked at her younger sister and frowned. “Is everything all right?” she asked. “Nothing’s bothering you, is it?”

  “Of course not,” said Bree impatiently.

  “Sure?”

  “Nessa, stop doing the big sister act! I’m fine. My job’s fine. My life is fine.”

  “So everything’s fine, then,” said Nessa.

  They sat in silence. Bree picked at a spot of candlewax on the table and wished that Nessa didn’t always try to dig into her mind. There was something about Nessa that wouldn’t allow her to leave things unchallenged. It was impossible to use throwaway remarks with a woman who picked up on them and worried them to get to the bottom of them.

  Bree sighed. Everything was fine, there was nothing in her life that had changed to make things different. Byt that, she admitted to herself, was the problem. As she’d dressed for tonight’s celebration dinner with her sisters she’d suddenly felt once again as though they’d found something that she hadn’t. Nessa and Adam, utterly crazy about each other. And no matter how much she protested to herself about Cate’s role in her relationship with Finn, at least he was ready to make a commitment.

  How do you know, she wondered, who the right man for you really is? How do you know when you’re both ready for commitment?

  “What the hell is keeping her?” Nessa’s irritated tone broke into Bree’s thoughts.

  Bree looked at her watch. It wasn’t like Cate to be quite so late, she realized. Cate normally arrived just late enough to let them know that she was a busy person and that they were lucky she’d managed to find the time.

  “Maybe Finn is making mad, passionate love to her,” she suggested. “P’raps he couldn’t stand the idea of her coming out with us and he’s tied her to the bed and is already beating her into submission.”

  Nessa giggled. “What a thought! Nobody could beat our Cate into submission.”

  “She might like it,” suggested Bree.

  “Would she?” Nessa screwed up her face. “D’you think so?”

  “God, how would I know?” Bree sounded horrified at the idea.

  “I just wondered,” said Nessa thoughtfully. “I think he’s a domineering kind of bloke and—”

  “But Cate’s not the sort of woman who’d let herself be dominated,” said Bree.

  “Not in the usual sense,” agreed Nessa. “She might like it in bed though.”

  “I doubt it,” said Bree. “And I’m not entirely sure we should be sitting here talking about our sister’s sex life!”

  “You’re right,” agreed Nessa. “It’s not something I want to explore either. I’m glad, though, that they’ve finally decided to get married.”

  “So you’re not the only one?” asked Bree.

  “I don’t care about that,” said Nessa. “But I’m pleased to see them publicly expressing their feelings for each other. I like to think of Cate as a person with feelings as opposed to a career girl automaton.”

  “She’s not an automaton!” cried Bree. “And of course she has feelings.”

  “Oh, I know.” Nessa sighed. “It’s simply that she seems to freeze them over sometimes. Don’t you think so?”

  Bree shrugged. “I don’t think about it that often, to be honest.”

  “I’m being silly,” said Nessa. “I don’t know what’s got into me today.”

  “Dodgy horoscope?” Bree’s eyes twinkled at her and Nessa laughed.

  “Boring horoscopes actually.” She rummaged in her bag and took out three sheets of paper. “I brought them with me.”

  Bree took a page from her. “Where did you get this from?” she asked.

  “Internet,” said Nessa. “I found a really good site.”

  “Was it the one that predicted your Lotto win?” asked Bree.

  “Yes.” Nessa looked at her triumphantly. “Only it’s not predicting anything at the moment.”

  “Certainly not for me.” Bree scanned the page. “What does ‘you need to get in touch with your inner feelings’ really mean, Nessa?”

  “Maybe you do need to,” Nessa told her. “Maybe you’re not listening to what you really want.”

  Bree looked at her watch. “What I really want is food,” she said. “If Cate doesn’t show up in the next five minutes we’re ordering without her. Celebration or no celebration.”

  Nessa chuckled. “No reason why we can’t celebrate her engagement without her. But we don’t have to. She’s finally decided to grace us with her presence.” She waved to the doorway where Cate was standing. The tall, willowy girl waved back at her and strode confidently to the table.

  “Where the hell were you?” demanded Nessa as Cate pulled out a chair and sat down. “We’ve been here for ages.”

  “Sorry.” Cate looked at her repentantly. “I was swanning around and lost track of the time.”

  Bree’s eyes opened wide in amazement at this admission. Very unlike Cate to admit to losing track of anything, she thought. Maybe her engagement had changed her completely.<
br />
  “So,” she said. “Show me the ring!”

  Cate had phoned her sisters the day that she and Finn had bought the ring. She’d been afraid to do it earlier in case, somehow, he’d change his mind. She knew that she was being a little silly about it but she didn’t see the point in telling the girls until she actually had the ring on her finger. And it had taken all her powers of persuasion to prevent Nessa (who’d been visiting their parents with Jill) from driving back from Galway straightaway to look at it.

  Now, a few days later, she extended her hand and they gasped in admiration at the large solitaire on her finger.

  “It’s fabulous.” Nessa sighed and glanced at her own engagement ring, a simple gold hoop with three small diamonds. “It must have cost him a fortune.”

  “He can afford it!” Cate smiled confidently. “He wouldn’t let me look at any of the prices in the shop, he told me to pick the one I liked best.”

  “It’s a lovely choice,” Nessa told her. “Really striking.”

  “It’s certainly eye-catching,” said Bree as she caught hold of Cate’s hand and scrutinized the diamond. “If he ever leaves you, you’ll be able to flog it and pay for a couple of comfort eating binges.”

  “Bree Driscoll! That’s a horrible thing to say.” Cate drew her hand back.

  “Sorry.” Bree grinned at her. “But you know me, Cate, jewelery was never my thing.”

  “What about ordering some food?” suggested Nessa quickly. “We’ve been here ages and my stomach thinks my throat’s been cut.”

  “Good idea.” Cate opened one of the menus and glanced over it.

  When the waiter arrived they ordered salads, lasagne, garlic bread and a bottle of Chianti.

  “I’m really glad for you, Catey,” said Nessa once her glass had been filled. “Here’s to a long and happy marriage with Finn-So-Cool.”

  “Thanks,” said Cate as they clinked their glasses together. “Only, do me a favor, don’t call him that. He hates it.”

  “Does he?” Bree looked surprised. “I rather thought he liked it.”

  “He doesn’t,” said Cate.

  “I brought your horoscope, Cate.” Nessa filled the sudden silence. “Only it’s not very exciting.”

  “Why should it be?” asked Cate as she took the paper from Nessa and glanced over it. “I’ve already done my exciting thing. Though I thought you’d know in advance.”

  “Actually your horoscope last week did say something about stunning events but I thought it was something to do with your work.”

  Cate grinned. “For once maybe it was right. We got a massive order for our new shoe which has put us right back on track for our sales targets.”

  “Brilliant!” cried Nessa.

  “Imagine that,” said Bree. “An engagement and a shoe order all in the one week!”

  “How did he propose?” Nessa made a face at Bree and turned to Cate. “Did he go down on one knee or did he just look at you and say how about it?”

  Cate felt herself blush and she put the page on the table. “Neither.”

  “How then?” asked Bree.

  “Well, he—”

  “You were having mad passionate sex and he shouted marry me, marry me, and you said, oh, OK, anything to get you off me,” suggested Bree.

  “Bree!” But Nessa was choking back the laughter.

  “Actually, I asked him,” said Cate coolly.

  Bree and Nessa stared at her.

  “You asked him!” squeaked Nessa. “You didn’t, Cate, did you?”

  “I just said I did.”

  “Wow.” Bree looked at her admiringly. “You truly are a liberated woman, aren’t you?”

  “It’s no big deal,” said Cate.

  “What made you ask him?” Nessa looked at her curiously. “I thought neither of you would ever bother.”

  “I knew the time was right,” said Cate. “And he’d just brought me home a magnificent bunch of roses…”

  “If you’d waited, maybe he would’ve asked you,” said Bree.

  “Maybe.”

  “But you just jumped in there like you always do,” said Nessa.

  “It was one of those now or never moments,” Cate told her.

  “I’m impressed.” Nessa filled their glasses. “To Cate. May nothing ever hold her back.”

  “To Cate!”

  They clinked their glasses together vigorously and Nessa mopped up the splash of wine that had ended up on the table. They fell silent as the waiter arrived with their food but resumed the conversation as soon as he’d left.

  “How did Adam propose, Nessa?” Bree looked at her older sister. “Or are you another sister who caught her man and brought him kicking and screaming to the altar?”

  “No,” said Nessa dreamily. “He proposed to me. Romantically.”

  “Naturally,” said Cate.

  “He’s a romantic sort of person,” Nessa told her.

  “So, how, Nessa?”

  “In the car,” said Nessa. “At Howth Summit.”

  “Don’t tell us what you were doing at Howth Summit.” Bree giggled. “I’ve seen cars parked there with the windows all steamed up.”

  “We didn’t steam up the windows,” said Nessa primly. “We were looking at the view.”

  Cate and Bree guffawed.

  “We were!” protested Nessa. “And he said something like me being more lovely than all the flowers on the hillside or the stars in the sky or something like that and he asked me to marry him.”

  “You’re joking,” said Bree.

  “Why should I be joking?”

  “Adam never struck me as a swooning romantic sort,” she said. “I thought it’d be more pragmatic with Adam somehow.”

  “Oh, no,” said Cate. “Adam is a gesture kind of man, isn’t he? Although I’d have thought he’d propose to you over a candlelit dinner.”

  “Yes, well, he’s not as clichéd as you think,” said Nessa pertly.

  “Obviously,” said Cate.

  “And he did propose to me,” said Nessa.

  “You mean, I had to force Finn?” Cate’s voice was dangerously calm.

  “Of course not,” said Nessa. “Let’s face it, you can’t force anyone to marry you.”

  “Oh, I dunno,” said Bree. “What about all those shotgun weddings?”

  “They don’t happen anymore,” said Nessa dismissively.

  “Finn would’ve asked me,” Cate said. “But, like I said, the time was right so I just did it.”

  “And you were right,” said Bree firmly. “Finn is one of those guys who probably waits around for everything to happen. Adam is a businessman. Makes a decision, gets the job done. Even though he probably would prefer to think of himself as a laid-back type of person.”

  “I don’t think he cares,” said Nessa.

  “Oh, absolutely.” Bree shook her head. “Your husband would like to be seen as the young, trendy type.”

  “Trendy?” Nessa laughed. “Adam?”

  “He’s not so much trendy as a connoisseur,” said Cate. “He likes the good things in life, doesn’t he, Ness?”

  “I suppose so.” Nessa nodded. “He prefers to spend the money and buy something good than make do with an inferior product.”

  “You can tell by his clothes,” said Cate. “Always expensive.”

  “So are yours,” said Nessa.

  “Only because I like to dress well for work,” said Cate.

  “That’s not a work dress.” Nessa nodded at her sister’s red outfit. “It’s far to clingy.”

  “Is there something wrong with it clinging to me?” demanded Cate.

  “Of course not!”

  “Girls, girls!” Bree did a passable imitation of their mother’s voice.

  “I like nice clothes too,” said Nessa. “I just can’t afford them all the time.”

  “Oh, come on!” Cate said. “You’re not exactly impoverished.”

  “No, but we don’t always have loads of money to splash around,” said N
essa. “You wouldn’t believe how expensive a kid is. And it’s all very well to tell me that I should say no to her ever-increasing demands but if the other kids have stuff I feel bad if she doesn’t.”

  “Either way you’ve a lot more than me,” said Bree. “I think I’ve got a leak in my bank account or something. No matter how much money goes in, more seems to go out.”

  “You’re not organized,” said Cate. “Anyone who says that they can’t manage money is simply not organized.”

  “You’re far too organized!” complained Bree. “Anyway, since I don’t have a bloke to spend money on me I have to look after myself.”

  “Isn’t there anyone in your life?” asked Nessa. “You should have someone, Bree.”

  Bree shook her head. “There was Steve. He was living with me for a couple of weeks.”

  “You never said anything about a Steve before!” exclaimed Cate.

  “We weren’t an item,” said Bree.

  “Sounds to me like you were,” Nessa said. “You don’t let any stray bloke live with you, do you?”

  “He’s gay,” said Bree.

  The sisters stared at her.

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Bree looked at them in frustration. “I was just leading you on! He was sharing with me for a while because he broke up with his boyfriend.”

  “How do you meet these sort of people?” asked Cate as she poked her fork into the still bubbling lasagne and released an aromatic waft of garlic.

  “Steve isn’t a ‘sort of person’,” said Bree indignantly. “He’s very nice.”

  “Though not exactly boyfriend material,” suggested Cate.

  “I’m not looking for a boyfriend,” said Bree.

  “You know, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have a boyfriend,” mused Nessa.

  Cate giggled. “I can. When Tom McArdle broke it off with you and you pined after him for weeks.”

  “I didn’t pine,” said Nessa tartly.

  “Yes you did!” Bree was relieved they’d got off the subject of her love life. “I remember that too. You kept scribbling his name on bits of paper.”

  Nessa made a face. “He was an Aries, like Cate. It never would have worked. We didn’t agree on anything.”

  “You surely don’t think that your star signs had anything to do with it,” said Cate.

  “Not really,” admitted Nessa after a pause. “It was really because he’d met someone with a smaller bum and bigger tits.”