Two Days in Biarritz

by Michelle Jackson

  “Where will she be?” Ciaran asked.

  “Heaven, boys,” she looked over at Damien who was listening to every word of the conversation. “She’ll be in heaven.”

  * * *

  “Hey, Annabel,” Meave said cheerily. “How is the stall going?”

  “Hi Meave, great thanks,” Anabel nodded. She was hopping from one foot to the other to stave off the cold.

  “I’ll buy two cartons off you.”

  Annabel took the humus with basil and humus with sun-dried tomatoes off Meave and packed them into a brown paper bag. “That’s eight euros please.”

  Meave handed the money over.

  “Any word on Kate’s mum?”

  “I haven’t heard a thing,” Annabel said with a shake of her head.

  “I might give her a call. I suppose you heard about Melissa’s bash next weekend?”

  “Yes, but I can’t make it because of the stall.”

  “I’ll bet that really pissed her off,” Meave said with a grin.

  Annabel nodded. “I only realised how much she used me as her personal caterer when I said I couldn’t help her. I haven’t even been invited to the drinks later on.”

  Meave smiled. “I only humour her too.” She looked around to make sure that nobody else could hear what she was about to say. “You know Annabel, there’re a lot of shallow people in this town and Melissa’s probably the queen of them all. You’re better off only seeing them in small doses.”

  Annabel liked Meave. She kept herself to herself and didn’t get caught up in the social pettiness in Howth.

  “Do you fancy calling around for coffee with the kids after school tomorrow?” Annabel blurted out. Her self and Meave were never very close. Meave’s husband was a school teacher and they lived in a smart but adequate three bed-semi on the way into Howth.

  “I’d love that, about two-fifteen?”

  “Great and don’t feed the kids. I’ll have homemade sausage wraps for them.”

  “I’ll look forward to that, thanks Annabel. I’d better get going. John hates me spending too long at this market. He says he needs open wallet surgery after I’ve spent more than an hour here.”

  Annabel chuckled.

  Meave moved along the stalls and Annabel reached down to pick up her ringing phone.

  “Hi, Annabel. How are you?”

  “Shane, Hi! What a nice surprise.” She recognised him instantly.

  “I hope I haven’t disturbed you.”

  “Not at all, I’m standing here at the market, selling humus.”

  “Hah?” he grunted with surprise in his voice

  “It’s a long story. Did you call Kate?”

  “Yes, that’s what I’m ringing about actually. I’ve seen quite a bit of her this last few weeks and I’m concerned about her. Is there any chance of meeting me for a coffee sometime?”

  “Sure, could you come out this way?”

  “No problem.”

  “What about after three tomorrow?” Annabel suddenly remembered Meave. “No wait, I forgot I’ve a friend calling. How are you on Tuesday?”

  “I’m finished work at eleven on Tuesday and I could call straight out to you.”

  “Great, do you know where I live?”

  “That would help, wouldn’t it?”

  “I’m up at Baily Green, third house on the right-hand side. It’s called Highfield.”

  “See you about eleven-thirty?”

  “Perfect.”

  Annabel slipped her phone into her pocket and took a pot of humus off an elderly lady with a tartan shopping trolley on wheels.

  “That will be four euros please,” Annabel smiled affably as she put the carton into a paper bag.

  “Really!” the old dear exclaimed with a strong west-Brit accent. “I came down here to buy provisions– not to get robbed!”

  * **

  Natasha’s hair was perfect after the wash and blow-dry. She had her nails French-polished and was wearing a new crossover dress that had cost the best part of four-hundred euros. She slipped her sunglasses on her nose as she left the salon and got into her Mazda sports car. She knew exactly where she was going. Josh always took his break at 3 o’clock on the days that he worked and it was one of his perks as manager that he had a private room on the top floor of the Gym.

  She breezed past the young lad in his tennis whites at reception causing his head to turn. She walked straight to Josh’s office and without knocking on the door opened it. Josh had his head down over a pile of papers. He was wearing a red-vest and white shorts that showed his bronzed figure off perfectly. His jet-black hair was thick and down to his shoulders. He ran his fingers through it when he looked up and saw Natasha in front of him.

  “To what do I owe the pleasure?” he grinned.

  Natasha scowled. “Upstairs now!”

  It was part of the game that they played with each other. She loved being the pursuer and he loved being the pursued. Josh was her personal trainer. They only made love on her terms and when she wanted it. She had a great body and a pretty face and Josh wasn’t one to miss out on any opportunity to be with her.

  They discretely took the back stairs up to his apartment and made love vigorously on the large three-seated couch. Natasha jumped up when they had finished and quickly tied her dress around her. Josh leaned back on the couch – still naked – resting his head on his hands.

  “Are you rushing off again?”

  Natasha turned around to answer him. “Why don’t you get dressed?”

  “I thought you liked my six-pack – isn’t that why you keep coming back for more?”

  “Don’t flatter yourself,” she huffed. “You’re convenient and available.”

  Josh smiled. He knew this woman’s style. The usual charming approach that women took while chatting him up didn’t work. Natasha was a smart girl and knew exactly what buttons to press to turn him on. She was also great in the sack. She’d be around again and again. Maybe even someday she’d be looking for more. Josh was willing to bide his time.

  * * *

  Shane was calling around at four to meet the boys. Kate felt more anxious than if she were on her very first date. What if they played up and didn’t like him. Lord knows they were powerful opponents of anyone when put together. The plan was to take them to the pictures and then for something to eat in one of the burger joints that they were kept well away from in boarding school.

  “This is a very old friend of mine from a time when I wasn’t much older than you guys,” she had informed her sons. “Now, I want you to be very nice to him.”

  “He had better be very nice to us!” David had piped up.

  When they saw his black BMW drive up to Greenfield Close, Shane was already home and dry.

  “Your friend’s got a great car, Mum,” Ciaran called from the upstairs bedroom window where they had been waiting.

  “Will he take the roof off?” David shouted down the stairs.

  “We’ll see,” she called up to them on her way out to greet Shane on the driveway.

  “Do I look alright?” he asked nervously. She noticed he had tried to spike his hair up in an attempt to appeal to the boy’s sense of cool.

  “They aren’t going to care what you look like silly. They’re two little boys. Your car has passed the test anyway and that’s much more important,” she smiled reassuringly.

  Two bright faces with wide boyish grins waited at the front door as Kate and Shane walked up the short driveway.

  “Boys, this is Shane.” Kate introduced him with an air of formality that the boys found amusing.

  “Which one of you is David and which Ciaran?”

  “I’m David,” they both said together.

  “Now boys you mustn’t tease,” their mum berated. “This is David and Ciaran has the dark freckle on his left cheek. But you’ll remember him better by his red T-shirt for today.”

  “Don’t give our secrets away Mum,” Ciaran groaned.

  “I don’t think I’m going t
o be able to tell you guys apart anyway,” Shane said with a grin.

  As the boys piled into the back of the car and Kate took her seat beside Shane she felt an unexpected surge of emotion. This was how it would have been if she had stayed with Shane all those years ago and they had raised a family together. This is how it would feel going on a family excursion. It felt good. It felt warm and natural and for an instant she really believed that they were a cosy family unit.

  Shane looked across and smiled at her as he fixed the buckle on his seatbelt. “Okay?” he checked.

  “Mmm,” she nodded.

  A short while later they settled down in a row at the UCI cinema. Shane had bought massive tubs of popcorn for each of them.

  “Cool,” said the boys.

  It was going well so far. Kate snuggled up next to Shane. Shane kissed the top of her head momentarily before returning to his popcorn. The boys were too engrossed in the latest adventure blockbuster to notice. Kate couldn’t remember feeling this content in her life. Her eyes glazed over until she was rudely brought back to reality by a baby crying on the big screen of her own impending arrival. Shane would probably be really sweet about it she pondered. But would it be fair to expect him to go through the nine months waiting and then twenty years rearing someone else’s baby? He was so patient and understanding with her irrational requests. He hadn’t pushed her to sleep with him even though it was obviously beginning to put a strain on their relationship. Part of her realised that he still respected Natasha and didn’t want to sleep with her until he was free. Something would have to be done sooner rather than later but for the moment she wanted to savour the experience of being Shane’s partner– of being a family.

  “Right who wants to go to Casa Pasta?” Shane said as they emerged from the darkness of the cinema into the daylight.

  “Me,” the boys called together. Kate had already forewarned Shane that it was the boys’ favourite restaurant when they came to visit their grandparents.

  “Thanks Shane, I thought we were going to Mac Donalds,” Kate said as they got into his car for the short journey to Howth.

  “This is a special day,” he said. “Nothing but the best for your kids.”

  Kate flinched. They were her kids and not his. The fact that he had stated the obvious pulled her back into reality and out of the comfortable web she had spun around the four of them in the cinema. It convinced her even more that she had to make a firm decision about their future together and part of her felt that decision was already made.

  * * *

  Damien was having trouble sleeping. He thought now that he had made some sort of peace with Kate he would be more relaxed. For the umpteenth time he tossed and turned in the bed, images from his past flashing like light from a beacon. It wasn’t what Betty deserved for her final days on this earth. It was the bitterest pill to take. He felt scared for the first time in his life. Nobody in the Royal Dublin Golf Club or on his many building sites scattered around the city would believe that Damien Carlton would be afraid of anything. But scared is the only word that he could come up with to describe how he felt. He’d been so busy working and playing so hard for the last forty years, time had raced by without giving him a chance to stop and evaluate what the hell he was doing. He had accumulated enough money not to have to work so hard. But he couldn’t stand being around the house with Betty fussing and dusting around him. That was why he had put so much focus on his career. But if bricks and mortar were all he had to look forward to now he didn’t think he wanted to go on either. Both of his children lived in different countries and he only sporadically saw his grandsons. There had to be more to life and at sixty-two he had to make better use of the few years of good health that he had left.

  He thought of Annabel for a moment. He could clearly picture her face behind the stall at the market. Beauty personified. He wished she hadn’t been his daughter’s friend. She had turned into a stunning woman but age wasn’t something that he thought about on the brief occasion that they were together. Her age hadn’t mattered. He closed his eyes and tried to remember how it felt to hold her but couldn’t, no matter how much he grappled with the memory.

  He jumped out of the bed and shook himself down. Maybe a trip to the toilet would clear his head as well as his bladder.

  * * *

  A loud thud woke Kate. She looked at the clock beside the bed. It was 3.04 am.

  Something had woken her, she was sure. She pulled on a dressing-gown and went to check on the boys. Opening the door gently, she peered in. They were sleeping peacefully, their two smooth faces popping out from under the duvets. Ciaran’s hair turned spiky in his sleep and no amount of brushing the next morning would flatten it. He had taken to using gel to put a shape on it. They would be teenagers soon and then off to college and they would have little time for their mother. She touched her stomach for a moment and thought about her unborn baby. Part of her longed to smell that fresh scent of talc and cuddles that only a newborn exudes. But if she had this child to look after and took her sons out of boarding school, she would be a single-parent of three. It seemed too much to cope with at the moment.

  Then on top of everything else she had Shane to think about. She knew she wanted him but didn’t want the guilt that would come with breaking up his marriage and would he want to take on three kids that weren’t his own? Life had a habit of dishing up dollops of problems that needed solving.

  As she closed the door quietly, she heard her father call her from her mother’s room. She hurried to the door. Damian was crouched over his wife who was lying on the floor by the side of the bed. He looked up as Kate rushed in.

  “What happened?”

  “She’s knocked herself out trying to get out of the bed – must have hit her head off the locker.”

  Kate helped her father lift her mother back onto the bed. Her frail frame reminded her of a little bird. In such a few short weeks she had deteriorated quicker than anyone expected. There was a shallow graze at her temple but no sign of bleeding or bruising. The yellowish hue under her eyes and sunken cheeks was now a shade of deep ochre. But she seemed to be breathing normally.

  “We’d better ring Tony,” said Damian.

  Kate picked up the phone. Tony Crosby was the local GP and lived close by.

  “Ask him if we should call an ambulance,” she her father.

  The doctor answered immediately sounding quite alert despite the hour.

  “Dr. Crosby– Kate Carlton. I’m sorry to call you at this ungodly hour but Mum has knocked herself out…we think she has hit her head off the corner of the locker…should we ring an ambulance?” Kate listened to the doctor’s queries carefully. “No it just happened – Dad heard her fall – and it’s very slight – no real bleeding – no bruising…” she paused and listened. “No, no bleeding from her nose or eyes…yes, she seems to be breathing normally…Okay, thanks so much. We really appreciate it.” She put the phone back onto its receiver.

  “Tony has been brilliant. I only wish she had gone to see him when she found the lump at the beginning,” Damien sighed. Damien played golf with Tony on the few occasions that the overworked G.P. took an afternoon off. He was hugely relieved when Tony offered to come to Betty’s bedside any time day or night.

  “I’ll call the ambulance, then I’ll wait for him at the front door.” Kate left her father holding on to his wife’s bony fingers.

  * * *

  Tony Crosby tapped gently on the brass knocker that hadn’t been polished since Betty had gone into Cornhill hospital the first time. His spectacles needed a good polish. He had whipped them on his nose from beside his bed without giving them a wipe. His hair was slicked back in a duck’s tail shape and he smiled at Kate when she opened the door from under his bushy ginger moustache.

  Kate took his long and slender hand that gave a warm and steady shake.

  “I’m glad to meet you at last, you must be the artist?” he asked with his west of Ireland lilting blás.

  “That’s
me, come this way Doctor.”

  “Call me Tony, everyone else does!”

  They quietly climbed the stairs.

  “Damien, how is she?” he asked on entering the bedroom.

  “Thanks for coming Tony,” Damien stood up and away from the bed. “She’s still out but her breathing is normal.”

  Tony took out his stethoscope from his bag and started to listen to her chest. He took her temperature and she moved around slightly.

  “I don’t think she knocked herself out Damien,” Tony said checking the slight graze on her temple. “She probably moved in her sleep and fell. The drugs will be affecting her at this stage.”

  “What should we do?” Damien asked.

  “Let her sleep and ring me when she wakes up in the morning. It’s my guess that she won’t remember this. Have you got the nurse for tomorrow?”

  “Yes, but we do two nights a week ourselves.”

  “Maybe you need to get more help at night time,” Tony suggested. “She’s not coping the best with the drugs.”

  Damien nodded.

  “You’re very good to come up.”

  “Sure I’m only around the corner from you, that’s why I said any time,” Tony smiled. “She’s settled well and should sleep for the rest of the night. Have you been minding yourself, Damien?”

  ”I’m fine – I have Kate here,” Damien tried to smile back. “I’ll be in touch soon no doubt.

  Kate showed Tony to the door. “How have you been keeping yourself?” he asked.

  “I’m fine, thanks,” she replied unconvincingly.

  “Be careful that you don’t get ill yourself looking after everyone else.”

  His vast experience as a healer meant he could clearly see the signs of anxiety behind Kate’s cheerful expression. She wondered if he could sense that she was pregnant as well.

  “Come and see me if you need me,” he said going out the door.

  “Thanks Tony, I’ll remember that.”