‘It’s beautiful, thank you.’ Laura tended to wear black in the hope it flattered her body, so she could wear the scarf or the necklace with pretty much anything in her wardrobe. It might make her outfits more summery.
Sarah had bought her a set of mini Yankee candles.
‘That’ll help brighten up my flat,’ Laura said, realizing she’d complained to Sarah the other day about how grubby her flat was. ‘That was thoughtful of you.’
Looking at her colleagues now, Laura felt a little spark of excitement at the idea of going to France with them. They were kind, thoughtful people. They would have fun together. Once they got off the damn plane. She drained her tea and went to get ready.
She was running Rhythm and Rhyme that morning and by eleven o’clock, she and a group of under-fives with their accompanying adults were stomping like elephants, prowling like tigers and jumping like kangaroos around the room. After that day’s story, The Tiger Who Came To Tea, which was always a firm favourite with kids and carers alike, Laura did some finger-counting rhymes to end the session. When the half hour was up, she was exhausted and sweating like an animal herself.
The rest of the morning raced by and it was only when her stomach rumbled that Laura realized it was past midday. She ate lunch with her mother on Fridays. It had become a thing. Seeing as it was her birthday, maybe Noreen would take her to The Titanic Pub and Kitchen. It was just round the corner and Laura liked it there, as much for the atmosphere as for the food, although her mother considered it to be a tacky tourist trap.
Her mum was talking to Ava when Laura found her in the entrance hall. As they left, Noreen hissed, ‘She has a face only a mother could love, that one.’ Laura nudged her, afraid Ava might have overheard. ‘It’s true. She could eat an apple through a tennis racket with those teeth.’
Laura could feel her face burning. As they stepped outside, she turned to her mother. ‘Ava’s nice and that’s not—’
‘Oh, come on. I was joking. I’m sure she’s a lovely girl. Many happy returns of the day,’ she said, deftly changing the subject before Laura could protest any further. ‘I didn’t get you a present,’ she continued. ‘I thought we could choose something together in your lunch break.’
‘What? Now? We won’t have time to eat if we go shopping.’
‘Well, it’ll not do you any harm to skip a meal now, will it? Let’s go to CastleCourt. I’ll buy you some clothes for your holidays.’
It was a strange experience. Laura hated clothes shopping and tended to buy stuff online. She tried on garments her mother chose – things she wouldn’t normally buy herself – and then blushed as Noreen made her walk up and down and do twirls in front of the changing cubicle in Debenhams. Laura felt as if she was being made to parade naked along a catwalk in front of a large audience, certain the other shoppers were staring at her. With each outfit, Laura tried to gauge her mother’s reaction, hoping for approval, but expecting to read disappointment in her expression. But Noreen remained impassive.
Laura had to admit, though, her mum had an eye for this. The colours Noreen picked – greens and blues, with white rather than black, suited Laura’s pale complexion and went well with her ginger hair. Plus the clothes were comfortable. Her mother splashed out and bought her three dresses, five T-shirts, a pair of jeans and two pairs of shoes. She’d always been generous with her money, her mum. Laura decided to go on a diet. She’d look better in her new clothes if she were a bit slimmer.
She returned to the library ravenous. Her stomach growled all afternoon and by the end of the day she had a headache. She was glad the library closed early on Fridays. She could stop off at the supermarket on the way home and get what she needed to make herself a healthy dinner. Veggie lasagne, maybe. And some soda bread. That wouldn’t hurt. Especially as she hadn’t had any lunch. And she’d buy a bottle of wine for Mrs Doherty to thank her for agreeing to look after Harry while she was away next month. Then she could curl up on the sofa and read for a bit before getting an early night.
But her colleagues had other ideas.
‘It’s your birthday. Let’s go for a drink!’ Claire suggested as they finished work.
‘What about a drink and a meal?’ said Sarah. ‘I’m starving and it’s not good to drink on an empty stomach.’
‘Ooh, it’s Friday. Let’s make it a girlie night out,’ Ava said.
Laura left the bags of new clothes in the staffroom and allowed herself to be persuaded to go out. She’d been for a drink with Claire a few times and she’d had lunch with Sarah and Sarah’s mum on at least two occasions. But she’d never socialized with Ava. She didn’t know her as well as the others.
‘What did you have in mind?’ Sarah asked Ava.
‘Might as well get something to eat in Muriel’s, seeing as it’s not far, then we could move on to The Spaniard?’
Laura wondered if Ava was planning a pub crawl. She’d been to The Spaniard once with Declan and Patrick, but she’d never heard of Muriel’s.
Ava filled her in. ‘Muriel’s Café Bar. Gins to die for. Food’s great, too.’
Laura found Muriel’s to be a classy bar, despite the knickers suspended on clotheslines around the ceiling, a wink at the establishment’s past as a brothel, according to Claire. They were lucky enough to get a window seat upstairs. Ava was right. The food and the gin cocktails were delicious. And Ava turned out to be a hoot.
Over Cajun chicken burgers, pepper fries, nachos, guacamole and mixed berry mojitos, the conversation turned to their respective love lives. Sarah had a steady boyfriend, Claire had a string of exes, Laura was embarrassed to admit she hadn’t been out with anyone for more than two years. Ava, who wasn’t at all ashamed of her single status, regaled them with stories of her latest disastrous dates.
‘I’ve been on two so far this month,’ she said, ‘and I’m starting to think I’ll never find Mr Right.’
‘What was wrong with these two?’ asked Sarah.
‘Well, first there was Aiden. Other than the chunky chain around his neck, he was fine.’
‘You didn’t see him again because he wore a necklace?’ Sarah asked, incredulous.
‘No. I’m not that shallow! I’m not finished.’ Ava took a gulp of her gin. ‘At the end of the evening, he offered to drop me home and asked would I mind if we called in to see his granda on the way. He said it was “a difficult anniversary.”’ She made air quotes with her fingers. ‘So, I said, yes, of course. I figured his grandmother must have died on that date or something and it was hard on the old man.’
‘So, what did he mean?’ Laura asked, absent-mindedly twirling the paper umbrella from her cocktail between her fingers.
‘He took me to Milltown Bloody Cemetery,’ Ava continued. ‘It was the anniversary of his granda’s death.’
‘No!’ Laura suppressed a giggle as Claire’s mouth dropped open.
‘It was eleven o’clock at night and I was in a graveyard for feck’s sake. I was bricking it. I even texted me ma so she’d know where I was in case anything happened to me.’
Ava paused, for breath or to drink more gin, Laura wasn’t sure which. She had no idea if Ava was exaggerating or even making all this up, but as Declan often said, you shouldn’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.