Changing Places (35 page)

This was a big move for Jill and she could imagine her parents’ reaction when she told them, but she knew it was something she had to do. For the first time in months she felt adrenaline
course through her veins, as she contemplated the challenges ahead. To finance the project she would need every penny she had. To cut costs she would live over the bar and buy a moped or use
Kitty’s van to get around. It was going to be a far cry from the level of luxury she was currently used to, but Jill didn’t care. It would all be worth it in the end. A new country, a
new lifestyle and hopefully, less stress, although Kitty had warned her that running a restaurant was a very stressful business indeed.

Jill didn’t doubt it but she was used to pressure and hard work. In ADLI, she’d often worked round the clock to impossible deadlines and limited budgets. In Spain she might have to
work equally hard but it would be for her and she wouldn’t have any office politics to contend with.

As Jill drove to her parents’ house, she pondered when to tell everyone her plans. Being her usual independent self, she didn’t feel the need to consult her parents or friends about
her decision and she didn’t want advice. But she would like their blessing. After the initial shock, she felt sure that she would get that from her cousins. As for Mam and Dad . . . ah well,
they’d come around eventually. After all, they’d have somewhere new to go on their holidays. The flat over the restaurant was small but it had a second bedroom so she would be able to
have family and friends to stay. No, she was completely confident that she was doing the right thing and had no regrets about what she was leaving behind – with the possible exception of
Andy.

Jill couldn’t help but feel that she’d made a big mistake ending it with him. They’d enjoyed an easygoing, relaxed relationship that she’d never found with a man before.
Andy had not only made her pulse quicken; he’d made her laugh as well. She’d be very lucky indeed if she found another man like him. Still; he was gone now and there was no point in
dwelling on it.

Her mother was cleaning the front window when she pulled up outside the house.

‘Shouldn’t Dad be doing that?’ Jill called as she got out of the car.

Pat looked around at her daughter and smiled. ‘I won’t hold my breath.’

‘Good to see you, Ma,’ Jill said, kissing her cheek.

‘Nice holiday?’ Pat asked, leading her daughter inside.

‘It was great. Bridie and Shay send their love.’

‘How is he?’

‘Not a bother.’

‘He had it coming, you know, although I blame Bridie. She feeds him all the wrong food.’

‘Not any more,’ Jill assured her, taking off her jacket. ‘They’ve gone all Mediterranean.’

Pat sniffed. ‘Boiled potatoes, poached fish and plenty of greens, they’re what the man needs. Look at your father, almost five years older than Shay and in the whole of his
health.’

‘Thank God,’ Jill said automatically. ‘Where is he?’

‘At a Neighbourhood Watch meeting in the community centre.’

‘Telling the Gardaí what they should be doing, no doubt.’ Jill laughed.

‘Someone has to,’ Pat told her. ‘So what’s the news? Are they coming home?’

‘They’ll come back for the birth.’ Jill watched as her mother made a pot of tea and took some buns out of a cake tin.

‘Are they going to stay?’ Pat quizzed.

‘I don’t think so.’

Pat shook her head. ‘I don’t know what they think they’re doing. They’re behaving like a couple of teenagers.’

‘Would you not be tempted, Ma?’

‘Indeed I would not,’ Pat scoffed. ‘Why would I leave my own lovely home?’

‘You don’t have to do anything as drastic as selling up,’ Jill pointed out. ‘Just take a couple of holidays abroad now and then. You must know every last inch of
Enniscrone and Wexford at this stage. Aren’t there countries or cities you’ve always wanted to visit? Rome? Naples? My God, you haven’t even seen London, have you?’

‘And what would I do in London?’ Pat said. ‘One city is no different to another. I’m quite happy to stay in my own country, thank you very much. Although your father was
saying that maybe we would go up to Donegal next year,’ she confided. ‘Wouldn’t that be lovely?’

‘Lovely.’ Jill smiled. Her mother was nothing like her sister Bridie and she’d never change. It was funny, Anna and Rachel wanted their parents to be conventional and
traditional and to stay at home, while she was trying to persuade hers to be more adventurous.

‘So.’ Pat sat down opposite her daughter and lifted her cup to her lips. ‘Any news?’

‘News’ was Pat’s coded way of asking Jill if there was a man in her life. She wasn’t interested in her daughter’s successful career. She wanted to see her march up
the aisle and have lots of babies, preferably in that order. That was real success as far as Pat was concerned.

‘None,’ she told her mother.

Pat sighed. ‘How’s Rachel coping? Is she huge?’

‘Not really. She found the heat a bit much in Spain and her feet swelled up like balloons in the evening.’

‘I was just the same when I had you,’ Pat told her. ‘The poor love, I must give her a ring.’

‘She’d like that. I think she’s missing Bridie.’

‘Well, of course she is. She needs her now more than ever. And little Alex could do with his grandparents too. It’s hard for little ones when a new baby comes along. They need to be
pampered and reassured.’

‘Well, like I said, they are coming home for the birth,’ Jill reminded her.

‘Yes, but for how long? They really should be a bit more responsible at their age,’ Pat tut-tutted. ‘And now that Shay’s health is failing he’d be better off
settling down.’

‘His health is not failing,’ Jill protested. ‘He just has a bloody ulcer.’

‘No need for that language,’ Pat retorted.

‘Sorry.’

‘Has Liam found himself a job yet?’ Pat asked as she poured herself more tea and pushed the cakes towards her daughter.

Jill shook her head and helped herself to one.

‘I don’t know what his problem is. There’s plenty of work out there for those willing to do it,’ Pat said self-righteously. He’s too picky, that’s all.
It’s that mother of his and her airs and graces. Josie Harrison always thought she was better than the rest of us. She certainly thought Liam was too good for our Anna and now look at them.
He’s idling at home and she’s the breadwinner.’

‘Liam hates being unemployed,’ Jill said, sneaking a look at her watch and standing up.

‘Are you going already?’ Pat said, disappointed.

‘Yeah, sorry, I’ve got to meet someone.’

‘A man?’ Pat’s eyes lit up.

‘Yes,’ Jill confirmed with a wink. ‘He’s tall, dark and about Dad’s age.’

‘Jill!’ Pat’s eyes were like saucers.

‘Don’t worry, Ma, it’s business.’

‘Huh, aren’t you very funny?’ Pat started to clear away the dishes. ‘You and your work! Don’t you think it’s time you concentrated a bit more on your own life
and forgot about that company for a while?’

Jill nodded. ‘Yes, Ma, as it happens, I do.’ Planting a quick kiss on her mother’s cheek, she made a quick exit before Pat could question her further. ‘I’ll see you
at the weekend,’ she called as she headed for the door, grabbing her jacket off the banister in the hall. ‘Tell Dad I said hi.’

‘Will you be here for dinner on Sunday?’ Pat hurried after her. ‘I was going to do a nice pork roast.’

‘I’ll be here,’ Jill promised, getting into her car. ‘See you, Ma.’

As Jill drove away she could imagine the conversation at her parents’ table that evening. ‘That daughter of yours still doesn’t have a man,’ her mother would start. Her
father would grunt and keep eating while her mother would remind him that both Anna and Rachel were settled, Rachel with her second child on the way, and yet ‘his daughter’ was only
married to her job.

Well, Jill didn’t think that was such a bad way to be. Look at Kitty O’Driscoll. There was an advertisement for living alone if ever there was one. According to Pepe, the business
was more successful now than it had been when her husband ran it, and Kitty had every single male in the area queuing up to take her out. Jill grinned to herself. A queue of men would be very nice.
If she ever got the time off to go out, that is. Kitty had warned her that the hours would be unsocial but given that they were in the centre of town, there was nearly always something to do or
somewhere to go. Still, she’d miss meeting Anna for lunch and having girly nights out.

But tonight she had to see if she could get a good price for her car. There was a dealer coming over to see it and Jill was hoping he’d make her a reasonable offer. Then she could
concentrate on selling the apartment. She was confident that she would sell it easily as it was in an excellent and tranquil location, surprisingly spacious, and it came with its own parking spot,
something very coveted in this area. She would ask Anna to handle the sale, of course, but not just yet.

First, she wanted to hand in her notice and she couldn’t do that until she’d had a quiet word with Karen and her team. She might be walking away from her career but she was still
very aware of the responsibility she had to them, especially with a shark like Vinny around. She had allowed herself a week to do this and then she would talk to Sue. She was curious as to how her
resignation would be received. Sue was a pragmatist and would probably wish her well and turn her mind towards the matter of a replacement. Vinny would be positively triumphant and the others would
no doubt see it as an opportunity. And if they didn’t, she’d tell them in no uncertain terms that it was time to reconsider their positions. This was a competitive business and no place
for people who wanted a quiet life with a generous salary at the end of every month.

Jill drove into her apartment complex and parked the car in its designated spot. It was amazing that she could feel so happy about leaving all this, she marvelled as she watched the electric
gates close behind her. She’d come a long way from her childhood in a three-bedroom council house in Malahide. And though her mother didn’t understand why her daughter was so driven,
she knew that both of her parents were proud of her and boasted of her success to anyone who’d listen. What they would make of her leaving it all behind to go and work her butt off in a
restaurant in Spain she could only imagine. She laughed at her own stupidity. She wouldn’t have to imagine at all. Her ma and dad wouldn’t think twice about telling her exactly what
they thought!

Anna dragged herself into the office, thanking God it was Friday. Since that dreadful day of her attack, she had avoided Charlie like the plague. He had got more persistent as
time went on and she’d resorted to erasing his texts without even reading them. She didn’t trust herself with him and if she read his messages or took his calls, she knew that
she’d probably end up agreeing to see him. That would be disastrous. She and Liam talked briefly every day, but any time he’d suggested having ‘that chat’ she’d fobbed
him off. Ironic, really. She’d tried to get him talking for months and now when he was ready to do just that, she couldn’t handle it. Feelings of guilt consumed her and she didn’t
think she could even look him in the eye.

She had, of course, had to call over to see Josie but she managed to spend the evening concentrating all her attention on her mother-in-law. When it was time for her to go, she hurried out to
the car, imagining Tara Brady’s eyes on her. Of course, for her benefit, Anna should have kissed Liam long and hard at the garden gate but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She felt
dirty, sick and cheap.

The only consolation was that she hadn’t actually had sex with Charlie. But she couldn’t take any credit for that. If Paul Brennan hadn’t appeared on the scene she would have
gone the whole way, without even a thought for Liam. And the reason she was avoiding Charlie was because she still wasn’t sure she could trust herself alone with him. The attraction between
them was palpable. How that left her marriage or her commitment to Liam was another matter. She just knew she couldn’t cope with either man at the moment.

Today she was going to do her first viewing since her attack and she had to psych herself up for that. Val had begged her to leave it for another few days but Anna knew that Mark’s
patience was wearing thin and she was afraid he’d start thinking she wasn’t up to the job any more.

‘I’ll come with you,’ he’d offered when she’d told him that she was going out today, but she refused with what she hoped was a confident smile.

‘There’s no need, Mark. Val has called this couple a few times and they are genuine buyers. I’ll be fine.’

‘Bring your mobile and call us if you have any problems, any problems at all,’ he’d said, patting her arm awkwardly.

‘I will, thanks.’ But Anna was determined to stand on her own two feet.

She was just getting ready to leave when the phone rang and Val held it out to her. ‘It’s your sister.’

‘Oh.’ Anna sat back down to take the call. She hadn’t talked to Rachel all week although her sister had called a few times. ‘Hi, Rache.’

‘Anna, hi, is everything okay? Haven’t you got my messages?’

‘Yeah, sorry, Rache, it’s just been a bit mad here.’

‘How’s Josie?’

‘Getting around a lot better now.’

‘So is Liam coming home?’

‘Er, probably not. Look, Rache, I’m late for an appointment.’

‘Okay, okay.’ Rachel sounded irritable. ‘I was just calling to invite you to tea tomorrow – and Liam too of course if he’s home.’

‘I’m not sure . . .’

‘Alex has been asking for you. I thought it would be a nice surprise for him.’

‘Okay, then, Rache, I’ll be there.’

‘About five, okay?’

‘Yes, five is fine, see you then.’

Anna hung up with a sigh. She would much prefer to spend tomorrow in bed but she had promised Alex at the airport that she would see him soon. Anyway, playing Power Rangers or cards with her
nephew might be the very distraction she needed at the moment.

Val walked back into the room as she was pulling her jacket on. ‘Will you be okay, love?’ she asked, her eyes full of concern.