“I can’t do that.” She dabbed her mouth with the paper towel.
“You can and you will. Eat that all up now.” He reached over and poured her another glass of wine. “See you at nine bells and sure I can spin you up to the hospital on your break if you want?”
She picked up her wineglass and looked at him. He smiled.
“Okay,” she whispered and she didn’t know why she whispered.
He walked to the front door and didn’t look back, closing it gently behind him.
Chapter 13
The room looked amazing. Cara smiled to herself. She was bush-tired and it was past midnight but she had wanted this all done before she got back in the morning. She had let Tiff and Mike go home as she was happy to attend to all the little extra touches herself. Jenny had chosen red roses and the scent filled the small room wonderfully. Cara went from table to table now with her wooden ruler and measured the distance between each plate and each glass. Then she measured the distance between the tablecloths and the floor. It had to be exact on each table. She was slightly anal in this department, she acknowledged. The tables were set with eight chairs, and there were six tables in all. The main table was a long trestle under the long window with the sea peering in at their backs. Jenny had chosen crisp white linen with small red bows – the exact colour of the roses – on the back of each chair, and red velvet ties on the menu scrolls. The area would be cleared for the band after the reception, a Beatles Tribute act, and Cara had the table for the cake already set up in the corner. Louise had made the most incredible four-tiered cake. It really was a work of art. She had one hundred candles to place yet and then she was done. She needed a strong coffee for her flagging energy levels.
“Oh, hi!” She was startled as she left the room and walked straight into Jonathan on the corridor.
“Cara? You’re still here? I think we should get you a room here!” He fell into step beside her.
“I want to get as much as I can done before tomorrow, just to be sure to be sure. It’s okay doing all this in an essay but in practice it’s different. People’s lives, you know. It has to be perfect for them.”
They headed for the back kitchen and Jonathan took two mugs down off the stack. “It will be wonderful, I know it. Coffee?” He held the almost empty pot up.
“No, sure you go ahead – I’m happy with a glass of water,” she said.
“No, come on, I insist. Please have the coffee. You’d probably be doing me a favour – it’s like my tenth cup today and you know any second now old Mrs Reilly will make a fresh pot and I’ll have to drink a cup. She’s my Mrs Doyle of Coffee-pushing.” He pretended to have the shakes in his hands. “Listen, I’m sorry I didn’t make it over to your place with the rest of the paints last week – something really important cropped up here and I just couldn’t leave. Story of my life I’m afraid. I’m still more than willing to help you paint but I was thinking it’s probably even better if I loan you Big Bob – he’s a brilliant handyman and will have that place painted in a weekend for you.” He sighed hard, handed her the coffee and bent down to open the small staff fridge.
She nodded. “Would it be okay if I took a few tins of that blue too?”
“Of course, work away – just leave me a little post-it on my desk of what you took, okay? But it’s all there for you to use.”
His smile was so warm. Then she noticed what he had in his hand.
“No, please! Not Red Bull?” She laughed at him.
“Afraid so.” He smacked his left hand with his right one. “I can run you home tonight with the blue paints in the boot if you want? Carry them in for you – at least you’ll have them there for when Bob arrives?” He leaned against the back wall.
“Thanks, Jonathan, actually that would be great. I am really keen to get the place looking well over the next few weeks.” Cara sipped the coffee as Jonathan opened his can and the potent smell of raspberry from the Red Bull filled her nostrils even over the strong coffee.
“Okay, how much have you left to do here, do you think?” He pushed his body away from the wall and stood tall.
“Well, I just want to place the candles and do final checks, so half hour should do me?”
“Cool – sure I’ll drop into the room in half an hour.” He moved towards the door and she followed out with her coffee cup between her hands. “I have a last pile of invoices to put through and there are still some guests in the residents’ bar so I want to check on the level of drink flowing in there, make sure the new barman Christy’s all right on his own. I’m so ready for my leaba then!”
“See you then.” Cara strolled down the corridor as the lush dark carpet welcomed her pumps.
In the wedding room she placed her coffee cup on the window sill. She bent down to take the first of the silver candlesticks out of the cardboard box and, as she unwrapped the old newspaper from it, she remembered her own day in oh-too-vivid detail.
***
The apartment in Sandymount was beautifully laid out. Alex had brought most of his own furniture and it was all very modern.
He still found it funny that Cara had never had a DVD player let alone an iPod. “How is that possible?” he said, chomping down hard on his nicotine gum.
Cara was still working at The Law Top but Alex was always on and on at her to give it all up.
“I like it – it’s my job!” she had protested as he picked her up one evening and made a face at the place when he got out of the car to greet her.
“It’s an absolute shithole, Cara! Come on, you know that surely?” Alex crinkled up his nose.
“Actually, now that you mention it, funny I have never asked you this. What were you doing in the bar the day I first met you?”
Alex opened the passenger door for her as his hazards flashed red in his eyes. “I was meeting a friend, that’s all.” She got in and he closed the door with a bang.
“Who was he, the guy you were with?” she asked. “I mean, he didn’t look like a friend. Tristan, wasn’t it? I remember the name as I thought it was so posh! It all looked pretty official. I remember the table was scattered with a lot of papers?”
“No one interesting. Gee, Officer Krupke! Okay, now listen, I have had a great idea – guess where we’re going?” He eased the car into the traffic, the engine purring so softly sometimes Cara thought the engine had cut out.
“Where?” she asked as she clicked her seatbelt on to shut up the bloody warning signal beeping relentlessly at them.
“To the DSPCA. I thought it would be a nice idea to get Esther a little dog for company.”
“Oh Alex, that’s so nice of you!” Cara was instantly delighted with him once again. Esther did love dogs and, although she said they were too much work, Cara knew she’d be secretly delighted now that she was going to be on her own.
They drove to the shelter for the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, listening to some obscure classical music. Cara would have loved a bit of Beyoncé. When eventually they arrived the gate was closed and Alex pressed the buzzer.
“Hi, there.” A tall man approached them with a gang of yapping dogs close at his heels. His green Hunter wellies were well nipped, she noticed. “Hush a minute!” he called down at them and patted a couple of them on their heads. “Can I help you?”
“Yes, I called earlier. I’m Alex Charles. I said about looking for a dog for my mother-in-law?”
Cara made a noise. An involuntary one but a noise nonetheless. Both men looked at her.
“You okay?” Alex asked.
“Yes.” She smiled a huge big smile, her mouth now so dry her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth.
“In you come, in you come! “The man opened the gate and they followed him into the yard.
Cara walked carefully as the muck was slippery in places. Mother-in-law, she said over and over again in her head – he had called Esther his mother-in-law and he hadn’t made any deal about it. It was matter of fact. In fact he hadn’t really realised
what he had just said. Cara put her hand on her heart and it was beating wildly. She tried to concentrate on the task at hand.
There were rows and rows of dogs and she found it all very upsetting.
“I’m Colin Creedy by the way, district manager. Just take your time and give a whistle if you need me – they’re all beautiful animals.” He left them to it.
Cara peeped into each box. Big dogs, small dogs, old dogs, puppies, they were all so adorable. Time passed as she scrutinised each one, moving slowly from cage to cage. Then she stopped at this one cage. It was the low almost introverted whimpering sound that got to her. She bent down slowly and there she was. A small black-and-white Shih Tzu dog. Cara felt sure she was a female. She looked at the little dog and she immediately stopped the whimpering.
“Good taste there, Missus.” Colin was back now, hands clasped low behind his back. “Expensive dog, that one, but she’s been here over three months now and no one has come looking for her. We reckon the couple broke up and neither wanted her so they just let her out.”
“You are not serious?” Cara was appalled.
“Yeah, happening a lot lately. Couples move in together, playing house, get the dog and then it doesn’t work out. Especially these days with the money gone and couples having to leave the country. The need to emigrate always means horrendous times for animals. People just open the door and let the dogs go. You want me to let her all the way out, Missus?” He jangled the largest bunch of keys Cara had ever seen, which were attached to a chain on his army belt.
“Yes, please.” Cara fell to her knees now as the cage opened and the little black nose emerged first, then the head, two tiny front legs followed by the black-and-white body and two tiny back legs. She was wagging her stumpy tail wildly. Her breathing was snuffled and loud.
“Hello there, little one,” Cara whispered and she clicked her tongue. “A girl, yeah?”
“Indeed she is,” came the reply. “She’s a bitch – neutered though.”
“Hello, girl,” Cara said again.
The little dog took her time. She sniffed at Cara’s outstretched hand, no doubt smelling today’s corned beef and cabbage off her clothes.
“Hello, my pretty, aren’t you the best girl?” Cara rubbed her head ever so softly. “Aren’t you a beautiful little thing? Yes, you are, yes, you are!” She was besotted. Alex, leaning against the whitewashed wall, laughed out loud. “Looks like she’s the one – so what do we need to do now?”
Cara jumped up and hugged him tightly. “We can’t just take her now, can we?” she asked both men, her eyes darting from one to the other. They both nodded and she clapped her hands.
They headed for the Portacabin office.
After all the paperwork was signed Cara picked the little dog up gently and placed her in the curve of her arms.
“What you didn’t know,” said Alex, “is that I already had a visit from the DSPCA when you and Esther were out shopping in that woeful TK Max last week. Esther’s little house was inspected for its suitability to care for an animal and checked out thoroughly, and they will be back to make sure all the safety gates and lists they left me are done next week. Isn’t that right, Colin?”
“’Tis right enough. And just so you know, we call her Victoria, after that Posh Spice one, because she was the most expensive animal in here. She’s a thoroughbred, that one. I’ve a soft spot for her. Bring her back to see us on occasion, won’t you?”
“I will of course, Colin, I promise. Well, hello, Victoria, and welcome to the Byrne family!”
The little dog’s tail wagged but she didn’t move at all as she took in all of Cara’s face. Cara didn’t know why but she put her nose right up close to Victoria’s nose and said, “I love you, yes, I do.”
Alex laughing made her blush.
“Seriously, Cara, you do know you have to give her away?”
“I know, but she’s just so gorgeous, Alex.”
They said their goodbyes and walked back to the car.
“Thank you, Alex,” Cara said as they reached the car and she eased into the passenger seat gently with the little dog on her knee.
***
“What on God’s green earth is that?” Esther half shouted as Cara entered the kitchen and put the dog down.
Victoria skidded as she ran on the lino.
“This is Victoria, Mam,” Cara laughed. “Your new housemate!”
“Hello there, Alex.” Esther looked flushed. “Cara, you really should have told me you were calling! Would you look at the pure state of me?”
She did look a bit the worse for wear. Mismatched soft rollers in her hair, face cream not fully rubbed in, the old grey nightgown Lar used to call her “haunt-the-house robe” and her old pink slippers. Cara did feel a bit bad about not warning Esther now.
“Sure I’m family now, Esther!” Alex laughed awkwardly and pulled out a chair at the kitchen table. He fixed the padded cushion on it before he sat down.
“Well, she is cute,” Esther said.
She got a bowl from the draining board and half filled it with water. She placed it by the back door on the brown-and-grey non-slip mat. Victoria wasted no time and lapped it all up.
“Well, what does she like to eat?” Esther asked now as she popped on the kettle and tried to discreetly pull a few rollers out and shove them into a kitchen drawer.
“There’s a whole pile of papers on her here – what she does and doesn’t like, what jabs she’s had, what she may need, all that sort of stuff,” said Cara as she flicked through the pages in the large folder the DSPCA had given them. “Are you happy with her, Mam?”
Esther smiled down at the little dog. “Sure I am, I suppose, but they are an awful lot of work. I mean, what happens when I’m away with the bingo after Christmas?”
“We will take her for you, won’t we, Alex?” Cara turned to him now as he had stood up and was looking at pictures that adorned the kitchen wall.
“Sure,” he said, not turning around. Then he added, “We really should go, Cara, it’s late.” He grabbed his coat off the back of the chair.
“Will ya not have a cuppa tea, Alex?” Esther said, pouring the boiling water into the old teapot.
“No, no, thank you, Esther – we’ll have a nightcap at home.”
Cara was a little shocked. It was quite rude as the tea was already made but she didn’t make a fuss. “He’s right, it’s too late, Mam. You enjoy the tea.” Cara patted Victoria who had settled herself nicely on a cushion that Esther had thrown down by the back door.
“Okay, if yer sure?” Esther said and walked them to the door as Victoria jumped up and tottered slowly behind her new mammy.
***
Back at home Alex poured them each a glass of Hennessy brandy and they sat back on the stiff leather couch. Cara was trying to like the taste of brandy but she’d have murdered a chilled white wine or even a cup of her mother’s tea. Alex wasn’t one for television either.
“I’ll be gone now for two weeks, you know that,” he suddenly said, “and here’s the thing . . . well . . . I don’t want to you to stay with your mother while I’m gone.” He cupped his oversized glass in his hand and looked at her.
She looked back at him, her feet curled under her and her red hair flowing free. “Why not?” she asked, puzzled.
“Because this is your home now, Cara. You can’t run back to Mammy every time I’m on a long haul – it would be ridiculous. It looks ridiculous. Promise me you’ll stay here, in our home. It’s the reason we moved in together, to set up a home. I mean, come on, you’re a grown woman!”
The leather creaked as she shifted her position. “Okay, if you feel that strongly about it. I won’t stay over with her, I promise.”
They drank their brandies, each lost in their own thoughts.
“Say something,” Alex said after a while. “I hope this isn’t you sulking now, is it, after all I’ve just done for you and your mother?” He drained his glass and put it on the wooden floor at his fe
et. He insisted on no rugs. He hated rugs.
“No, of course not . . . it’s just a big change for me, that’s all,” she managed.
“Listen, Cara, I don’t want to upset you but I think you need to make a clean break, I really do. If you keep running back to Mammy every time I’m away this will never work.”
She knew he was right but she didn’t know why she felt so bad about it. It just seemed silly that she couldn’t spend time with Esther while he was away.
He leaned over and kissed the side of her face with soft, soft kisses. Then he pulled her close and they made love hard and fast on the couch. Alex wasn’t a gentle slow lover, he didn’t take a long time over sex, but Cara liked it that way.
He was leaving at four in the morning so she wouldn’t see him now for two weeks. As she showered before bed she thought about what he had said. She supposed he was right: this was her home now.
“I’ll call you every night around ten, okay? You’d better be in,” he whispered in her ear as she crawled into bed beside him, exhausted now.
“Okay,” she mumbled and immediately fell asleep.
***
She wasn’t due in work until twelve the next morning so she enjoyed a nice lie-in. Alex wasn’t one for lying on in bed in the mornings: he was always up at the crack of dawn. He didn’t really like Cara lying in either. Cara liked her sleep.
When she awoke at eleven she stretched out on the expensive sheets. If she was really honest she didn’t find them as cosy as her old pink, blue and green-striped cotton sheets. She sat up in the bed, and threw her hair up in a bun. She knew Alex liked it down best so she tried to leave it down when she was with him. She found all that hair around her face all day tiring.
She hopped out now, dressed quickly in her work clothes and headed for the kitchen. She would make the bed tonight.
Alex had left a note, written in huge black block letters, all coloured in to perfection with a red biro. “I LOVE YOU, CARA . . . FOREVER.” He was so romantic. He was always leaving little notes around the place for her. Sometimes in her bag or even in her purse. When she mentioned this to Esther the other woman had simply said, “A man shouldn’t go through a woman’s bag.” She was so old-fashioned at times, her mother.
The Other Side of Wonderful Page 15