The gang’s all here: Joan is sitting beside Jimmy, although she’s spending most of her time trying to get to talk to Sam, who’s holding court right in the dead centre of the group, buying round after round of drinks and absolutely refusing to let anyone else put their hand in their pocket.
The gig has just started and an MC is out on stage warming up, announcing what the contest is all about, with the juicy carrot of a cash prize for the lucky winner plus getting an agent out of it too. But I’m not even focused on what he’s saying. And neither is anyone else; everyone’s yakking away, getting drinks down them, getting in the mood to cheer, boo or maybe even throw rotting vegetables at the acts to come.
I’m swivelling around trying to spot Steve and eventually I see him at the bar, with Hannah and her husband Paul, who’ve just arrived. So I go over and ask them to join us, just as Sharon arrives … alone.
I’m in the middle of introducing Hannah and Paul to the others when Sam interrupts me. ‘So everyone, I’ve a surprise for you all.’ He throws a meaningful glance over to me and for a second my heart stops. Not with excitement though, with worry. And I couldn’t even tell you why.
‘Tomorrow is a very special occasion for me,’ Sam goes on, the centre of attention, radiating bonhomie, and then suddenly everything’s OK and I can breathe again. Because I do know what’s coming. I remember the date all too well.
‘It’s my thirty-fifth birthday party and I’d like each and every one of you to come along. It’s going to be held in Bentleys at eight o’clock and you’re all welcome, as my personal guests. I know it’s a Monday night and everything, but it would be so wonderful if you could make it. It’ll be a fabulous night. And any friends of Jessie’s are friends of mine.’
Gotta hand it to the guy; he really is sticking to his vow to get to know my family and friends better. The triumphant glance he shoots at me seems to say just as much. He even gets a round of applause from the assembled company. Well, from all of them bar Steve, that is. There’s a chorus of ‘Oh thank you so much!’ and I can even hear Joan asking whether there’ll be any actual celebrities there?
‘Thanks for the invite, but I doubt I’ll be able to make it,’ says Steve quietly, flashing a subtle glance in my direction.
Then Sharon’s over to him. ‘No, no please you have to come!’ she insists, looking pleadingly up at him. ‘Couldn’t you give me a lift there on your motorbike? I’ve always wanted a go on the back of a bike. Ah go on, Steve, please!’
He looks down kindly at her and says, well, OK then, if it means that much to her.
It’s at this point that I officially can’t take any more, so I work my way over to Steve and ask if I can see him in private. Now. Before Maggie goes onstage. Rude I know, but needs must. I can feel Sam’s eyes boring into me, but I don’t care. Gotta do this.
Steve nods and leads me to the back of the cellar, well out of earshot.
‘I need to talk to you,’ I begin although I scarcely know what’s coming next.
‘I need to talk to you too.’
‘I … I … well, for starters I wanted to explain about … you know … everything. I didn’t expect you to call to the house earlier you see, and I hope I wasn’t rude …’
‘Jessie,’ he says quietly. ‘I need to ask you something.’
‘Yes?’ My heart’s thumping now and I don’t even know why.
‘Are you seeing that guy again?’
‘No! No, not at all, we’re just … well, remember that caller on the show the other night? The one right at the very end? Well, that was him.’
‘I gathered. I also copped on that there was something majorly wrong with you when you barely said two words on the way home afterwards.’
‘You have to understand, I was in total shock. You’ve no idea. Sam really put me through the wringer …’
‘I know. My question is, and I really hope you’ll be honest with me here, are you about to get back with him?’
Suddenly, I feel a wash of irritation. As if, after all the tensions of the night, I finally just snap. ‘You know, I’d be perfectly entitled to tell you right now that it’s really none of your business.’
‘Not true and not fair. Who you go out with is my business.’
‘What did you just say?’
‘Because … look, Jessie, I never wanted to tell you this way. But it seems I’ve not got much choice now, do I?’
I look blankly at him, desperately trying to tune out the background noise so I can concentrate on what he’s about to say. Whatever it may be.
‘Because …’ He takes a deep breath here, brushing back the floppy fair hair and suddenly I find myself having to concentrate on breathing. ‘Because, Jessie Woods, I’m mad about you. Completely and utterly insanely bonkers off my head about you. I think about you day and night and … Jesus, listen to me, I sound like a teenager … But the truth is that when I’m not thinking about you, I’m counting down the hours to when I’ll see you again. The only reason I never told you any of this before, is that I convinced myself you were still hurting over that smug tosser sitting there now. That the best thing I could possibly do was back off and give you time and space. I don’t want to be your rebound guy. And then I come back after only being away for a few days and here he is. In his Bentley acting like he owns you. Jessie, he is NOT the guy for you. Maybe you’ll tell me that I’m not either, but he most definitely isn’t. Don’t you see? For such a smart girl, why are you acting so stupidly? You don’t hear a word out of him for months on end after the guy broke your heart and turned his back on you. Then suddenly he bounces back into your life as soon as you’re officially a success again. It’s not a coincidence, Jessie. Think about it. You know in your heart of hearts that I’m right.’
‘Steve, please …’ I can’t even finish that sentence. Because just then the MC makes an announcement.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, if I can ask you to give a warm welcome to our first comedienne tonight. Introducing Maggie Woods!’
I actually think there’s a chance I might faint. Between trying to digest what Steve’s just said and trying to concentrate on Maggie’s act, my head is swimming and my breathing is coming in short sharp stabs. Like by some weird osmosis, I’ve now taken on all her stage fright for her.
Because Maggie is stunning. Not a nerve in her body. Dark. Nihilistic. And though I’m in no mood for laughing, I find myself not able to keep a straight face at some of her precision-bomb gags.
‘I can’t multi-task,’ is her opener. ‘I once had an appointment with my dentist and my gynaecologist on the same morning. I ended up lying in the wrong chair in the wrong direction. Which was very upsetting for my gay dentist.’
A huge roar of laughter and she’s away, effortlessly segueing into a meticulously rehearsed routine about working in the Inland Revenue office and the cast of characters/oddballs/wackos therein. It’s astonishing, but within seconds you can just feel that she has everyone in the room absolutely, one hundred per cent on her side. What can I say? A star is born.
*
Maggie doesn’t win. To much feet-stomping and general disgruntlement, she comes runner-up, narrowly losing out to a guy with a guitar, who sings all these little ditties about how he felt when he broke up with his girlfriend and was left broken-hearted. To pick himself back up off the floor again, he decided to set up a greeting card company for guys left in his position. One of his top sellers is a simple card which reads, ‘To my ex-girlfriend. At this time of year I always find myself thinking about you.’ Then you open it up to read, ‘Happy Halloween, you witch.’ Another wildly popular card says simply, ‘Will you marry me?’ And inside reads, ‘Ha, ha, I’m only messing, I think we should see other people.’ You get the picture.
Anyway, the best and probably the only part of the evening that I actually can look back on fondly, comes right after the gig, when everyone’s clustered around a glowing Maggie, congratulating her. Even Sam gets his oar in and not only invites her to his birthday ba
sh, but asks if she’ll do a reprise of her act to entertain the guests. There’ll be lots of influential people there, he tells her, who’ll make wonderful contacts for her.
Looking around, I think I was the only person who found this vomit-inducingly patronising. Everyone else oohs and aahs, all looking at Sam like he’s the next Simon Cowell. Next thing, a guy of about forty comes up to Maggie and hands her his business card, saying he’s a comedy agent and that he’d really like to represent her. Could they possibly meet for lunch whenever she has a window? Tomorrow, possibly?
Maggie and I look at each other dumbfounded. OK, so she may not have won, but this is the best result she could ever have asked for, isn’t it?
‘Oh, you’re Jessie Woods, hi!’ the agent says, shaking my hand as he instantly recognises me. ‘Are you a friend of Maggie’s?’
‘No,’ says Maggie stoutly. Then with a fond look, she slips her arm around my shoulder and says, ‘She’s … my sister. We’re family.’
It’s the nicest thing that’s happened the whole miserable, God-awful evening.
*
Hours later, Sharon and I are in our room; she’s painstakingly taking off make-up, while I just lie on the bed, staring in silence at the ceiling. Desperately trying to comb some sense out of the tumult of emotions that’s thundering over me.
‘Four calls and six texts so far,’ she says with her back to me, staring at her reflection in the mirror and playing with her mobile phone.
‘Hmm?’
‘From Matt. So far, since I dumped him. Says I’m making a big mistake and should give him another chance.’
‘So what will you do?’ My questions are all dull. Automatic. Mainly because I’m not even thinking straight.
‘I told you. I’ve set my sights elsewhere. I’ve someone else on my radar now and what’s more I think he’s interested. All I have to do is play it cool and reel him in.’
Suddenly I sit up. ‘Sharon, this new guy you’ve met. By any chance … I mean, is it anyone I’ve already met?’
But I know the answer before she even tells me. ‘Course you know him, you gobshite. It’s Steve. Who else?’
Chapter Twenty-Three
Needless to say, I don’t shut my eyes for the whole night. I just lie there, alternately thinking, worrying, stressing, tossing, turning, then reverting back to plain old-fashioned agonising again. And when that all gets too much for me, I keep checking to see if Sharon’s awake, just in case there’s any chance I could talk to her. Because I have to talk to her, there’s no side-stepping this.
But what the f**k do I say? Idon’tknowIdon’tknowIdon’t knowIhaven’tthefirstclue …
One thing’s for certain, there’s no getting away from the one inalienable truth that’s staring me in the face. I am without doubt the greatest, most witless moron on the face of the earth. I mean, what in the name of Jaysus is wrong with me? All my life, I’ve only ever wanted two things: a television career and Sam Hughes. And now, both have been handed back to me on a plate and all I can do is obsess about Steve.
Steve. Who declared himself to me. My darling friend. God, even just thinking about life without him is like a stab to the heart. And the thing is, if I choose Sam, then that’s exactly what will happen. Because I know Steve so well and I know there’ll be no going back.
So what does this Cinderella Rockefeller do? Go off into the sunset with my Prince Charming? Back to a life of palatial mansions and fabulousness? Or choose Steve, who’s been like a rock to me? Who I care about so, so much too. And, let’s be honest, who I think I fancy a lot of the time too. Because he’d never let me down, or turn his back on me. Never.
So what’s it to be? Buttons or Prince Charming?
And then there’s Sharon, snoring her head off in the bed beside mine. Then a fresh worry. Suppose she and Steve are meant to be together and not him and me? Suddenly a dozen instances pop into my head of really lovely things they’ve both said about each other to me over the summer. I remember Sharon referring to him as Fertiliser Man because he slowly grows on you. And, what’s more, I remember Steve saying over and again how well she was looking and how much softer she seemed lately. That was the exact word he used, softer.
There’s nothing else for it. I have to come clean to Sharon and take the consequences. Trouble is, there isn’t a bit of peace or privacy to be had at home next morning. Maggie has taken the day off work and is faffing around the place up to high doh on account of the comedy agent she’s arranged to meet for lunch today. That, coupled with the fact that she’s doing a reprise of her gig at Sam’s birthday shindig tonight, has her tearing round the place, even more up to the ceiling with nerves than she was yesterday. Funny, but I thought I’d seen all incarnations of Maggie. From couch potato, to passive-aggressive put-down artist, to blossoming stand-up comedienne. But I’ve never in all my years seen this side of her; she’s pressured, busy, motivated, buzzing around the place and … happy. Actually happy. Probably the only person in the shagging house who is.
Joan, who’s wandering around the kitchen in one of her Barbara Cartland dressing gowns, is spewing fire because she’s just heard the news about Sharon dumping Matt. ‘Is that how I reared you, you ungrateful little idiot? To toss aside perfectly eligible young men?’
‘We broke up, Ma. It happens,’ says Sharon, munching on her breakfast of left-over pizza. ‘Get over it.’
‘Well you can’t just dump him like that. It’s … it’s … illegal dumping for a start.’
‘Jeez, Ma, will you cool the head?’
‘What I’d very much like to know is this: what’s life going to be like round here when Jessica moves out? Because if we’re back to the days of you slumped night after night in front of the TV, then I’m telling you right now, young lady, you’ll have me to answer to. That Matt was a perfectly acceptable fella who worshipped the ground you walked on …’
‘Ma, we’d nothing in common, he didn’t even drink or smoke, for feck’s sake.’
‘Well, no one’s perfect. You could have broken him in gradually. But the point is, you were a different person when he was around, you were actually getting out of the house for a change, and now what? Back to watching repeats of X Factor ad nauseam? And you won’t have Maggie for company this time, you know, madam. She has a whole new career opening up for her now.’
‘I won’t be doing that, Ma. As it happens, there’s someone else that I’ve my eye on.’
At this point, I step in. ‘Sharon, I need to talk to you. Can we go upstairs for a minute please?’
‘NO ONE leaves the room until this row is over!’ screeches Joan, as Sharon and I scarper for cover.
But my planned chat with her doesn’t go as smoothly as I’d hoped.
‘So, let me get this straight,’ says Sharon, angrily lighting up a fag and pacing the bedroom. ‘You spend months on end mooning over tufty-head Sam, then the minute he comes back to you, I’m sorry, but her ladyship now wants the only fella I’ve fancied, properly fancied, in ages. Are you fecking kidding me? What is wrong with you?’
I’m actually ready to burst into tears now. As it is, all I can do is nod mutely. Mortified and hating every second of this. Tell you something, honesty is a highly overrated virtue.
‘Well, you want to know something?’ snaps Sharon, more furious than I think I’ve ever seen her before. ‘I don’t care if you did snog Steve and I don’t care what he said to you last night. I really think he likes me. He even offered to take me to the party on his bike tonight. So to hell with you, Jessie. Go back to Sam where you belong and stop interfering in my life!’
Sweet baby Jesus and the orphans. If tonight doesn’t end up being a bloodbath, it’ll be a bonus.
*
Sam continues with his policy of pulling out all stops imaginable, arriving in a white, chauffeur-driven stretch limo to collect the whole lot of us. The car even attracts a crowd of the local kids, all clustered around it demanding to know whether someone’s getting married? He steps out
of the back, in black tie, laden down with red roses. You should see him. It’s like James Bond just arrived into a council estate.
We’re all present and correct, except for Sharon and Steve that is, who left about five minutes ago. I was upstairs getting ready, to a stony silence from herself, when the doorbell rang. She stuck her head out the window, didn’t tell me who it was, didn’t even say goodbye, just raced downstairs and was gone. I looked out the bedroom window just in time to see her zoom off on the back of Steve’s motorbike.
I’m the last one into the car, mainly because I’m wearing a cheapie pair of faux-crystal sandals that cut the feet off me and which I’m practically hobbling in, hence it takes me ten minutes just to get downstairs. But I bought them anyway, a) because they were on sale in Dunnes Stores for an astonishing €8 and b) because at least they go with my dress, which is a silver, glittery strappy number, also bought in Dunnes Stores and also on sale at €24.99. I know, all Sam’s pals will be head to toe in designer gear and I’ll be the only discount shopper there, but Credit Crunch Jessie doesn’t worry about crap like that anymore.
Sam, true to form, does notice, but then he misses nothing. We’re in the back of the limo and he’s doling out champagne to the assembled company; Joan, her date Jimmy Watson, Maggie and myself, to toast his birthday.
‘You look … well, OK, babe,’ he says to me. ‘Where did you get the outfit?’
‘All from Dunnes Stores,’ I say proudly, delighted with my bargains. ‘Total cost: just under thirty-three Euro.’
‘Do you want us to wait for you to change into something a bit more suitable?’
That sounded like a casual suggestion, but his tone was more like an order.
‘No thanks, I’m happy in this. Besides, I don’t have anything else.’
‘But, it’s from Dunnes Stores. And you can be sure the press will pick up on it too.’
‘Not a problem for me,’ I say firmly. ‘I’m comfortable in this.’ And a glare from me tells him to drop it, which he does.
Hopes & Dreams Page 33