A Time for Friends (33 page)

‘Wonder will Norah give us a discount,’ Hilary grinned.

‘I wouldn’t hold my breath. She’s one tough cookie! She reminds me of Maggie Thatcher, with a hint of Bette Davis thrown in. You know, the permed blonde hair and the ruby-red
lipstick and the square-handbag look.’

‘Well she’d need to be a tough nut to deal with that pair.’ Hilary took her wellies off and threw them into Jonathan’s boot and slipped on her shoes. It was a nuisance
that she’d have to come back the following week but that was the way it went sometimes. ‘Thanks a million for driving me down,’ she said gratefully, leaning back against the soft
leather headrest.

‘No probs. I wanted to see what the place was looking like with the windows in anyway. I can visualize it all much better now. I need to get cracking on sourcing my materials and fixtures
and fittings.’

‘Well I could have driven us. It was a treat being chauf-feured.’

‘That’s what friends are for.’ Jonathan handed her a bottle of water and took a swig out of his own.

‘Speaking of “real friends” I got an unexpected text from Colette earlier. I haven’t heard from her in I don’t know how long!’ Hilary glanced over at him.

‘What does Little Miss Me Me Me want?’ Jonathan derided, reversing out of the parking space.

‘She told me she was in the Caribbean—’

‘Well for some, isn’t it?’

‘Don’t be like that,’ Hilary chided. ‘She said she was lonely and missed home and is planning a trip before the summer and hopes we can meet up.’

‘Something must be amiss and she needs your advice,’ Jonathan remarked as they emerged from the narrow secondary road onto the N11 and headed for the Gorey bypass.

‘I hope it isn’t,’ Hilary said firmly. ‘OK, she’s not the best friend in the world and never has been but I hope life is good for her and I’ll meet up with
her when she’s home.’

‘You’re the biggest marshmallow going, Hammond! And don’t forget, the only people who appreciate a doormat are people with dirty shoes.’

‘Yes, Jonathan.’ Hilary smiled. ‘And even though I could say things about pots and kettles, I won’t.’

‘No don’t,’ he grinned back at her and put his foot on the accelerator. They sped along making the most of their time together and had a thoroughly enjoyable natter.

The only people who appreciate a doormat are people with dirty shoes.
Hilary couldn’t help remembering Jonathan’s acid comment while she sat in Buswells
Hotel sipping a second cup of coffee waiting for her sister-in-law to arrive. Sue had chosen the hotel near the Dáil for their meeting, and Hilary had watched several well-known politicians
making their way in and out over the past hour as she fumed about Sue’s lack of respect. Typical. She was always late when they arranged to meet. Sue being firmly of the opinion that her time
was far more precious than Hilary’s. If she hadn’t wanted to finally have it out with her about her lack of assistance with Margaret, Hilary would have walked. It helped that by the
time her tardy sister-in-law arrived she was steaming.

‘Soooo sorry for keeping you.’ Sue swept across the foyer, the long lilac tie-dye scarf wound around her neck floating out behind her. Her heels were impossibly high, her trouser-leg
creases knife sharp and she was impeccably made up. ‘We were meeting with some TDs over in the Dáil bar and I simply couldn’t get away,’ she gushed, giving Hilary an air
kiss on both cheeks and looking her up and down rather dismissively.

‘You did pick the time and the location, Sue, and I’ve been here for over an hour. I’ve had to postpone a client consult,’ Hilary said coldly. That was a fib but she
wasn’t letting Sue know it. She had kept three hours free. She knew her sister-in-law of old.

‘Well I’m here now. Just let me order a peppermint tea and then I’m all ears,’ Sue said airily, catching a waiter’s eye with an imperious wave. It was a wonder she
hadn’t clicked her fingers, Hilary thought irately as Sue gave her order without even bothering to ask if Hilary would like a fresh beverage.

Hilary took a deep breath. ‘I’ll get straight to the point, Sue. I’m pressed for time,’ she added pointedly. ‘I can’t continue to bring your mum to her
warfarin clinic
and
her various medical appointments. I have parents of my own to take care of, and a demanding job, as well as a husband, children and a house to manage.
I—’

‘But I simply
can’t
take time off willy-nilly, Hilary. You’ve got to understand
I
have a very demanding boss and a
very
demanding job indeed,’
Sue cut in indignantly.

‘I appreciate that,’ Hilary said smoothly. ‘That’s why I’ve worked out a rota for you and Niall, and
of course
I will bring Mrs Hammond to some of her
appointments because I love her and she’s a wonderful mother-in-law and grandmother. I just want you and Niall to pull your weight. After all Gran H is
your
mother.’

‘I know she’s my mother,’ Sue snapped. ‘But you have a sister to help you out. I don’t!’ She played a trump card.

‘You have Niall,’ Hilary retorted.

‘He’s not much use,’ Sue said insultingly.

‘Well the pair of you’d better work it out between you,’ Hilary snapped back.

‘I don’t like your tone, Hilary.’ Sue glared at her.

‘Deal with it, Sue,’ Hilary said sharply. For once in her life she wasn’t going to be the pacifier. She wasn’t going to swallow down her irritation and have heartburn for
three days after their encounter. She was sick and tired of being taken for granted by the pinched-faced, self-absorbed woman opposite her. She was done trying to be nice. With Sue nice got you
nowhere. She was fed up pandering to her and her moods and her airs and graces. Hilary took a typed-up sheet of paper out of her bag. ‘Here are your mum’s appointments for the next
three months, including her next warfarin appointment. Niall will be away for that and I have an appointment but it’s ten days away so you have some leeway to schedule it in. Sort the other
dates with Niall and I will fit in as best I can,’ she said crisply.

‘Are you suggesting I take time off? Annual leave?’ Sue exclaimed, aghast, taking the paper between her finger and thumb.

‘It’s what
I
have to do, Sue,’ she retorted. ‘
I
take time off to bring
your
mother to her appointments. I’m up to my eyes. I can’t
do it any more.’

‘But your job is much more flexible than mine.’

‘Actually it’s not. And even if it was, that’s not the point. It’s not up to
me
. And let me tell you something else, Sue, you might as well prepare yourself. As
time goes on there are going to be more appointments and more demands on your time, so you’d better get used to it. I will help out as much as I can but you need to start taking your share of
the burden. You could start by cooking Margaret a meal every second weekend or inviting her over for dinner. Niall and I pay for the garden to be maintained; you could contribute to having her
cleaner come an extra day.
I
actually shouldn’t have to be sitting here saying these things to you, Sue. And because they have to be said, it’s Niall that should have been
saying them. I don’t want to fall out with you but frankly I’m sick of your self-absorbed behaviour and I’m heartily sick of being taken for granted. I have a family to rear, and
parents to look after myself. I would love to be able to go to the gym and go hill walking and partake in all the activities you have time for. I don’t even have time to read. So, Sue, there
comes a time when you have to step up to the plate and your time is now. OK?’

Hilary stood up and stared at her shocked sister-in-law. ‘I’d love to stay and have another coffee,’ she said acidly, ‘but I had to reschedule because you were late. I
think it’s disrespectful to keep someone waiting so I have to go now to be at my next appointment on time. Work out the dates with Niall and try not to make your mother feel like a
burden.’

‘I
really
don’t like your attitude, Hilary.’ Sue was furious at the way she’d been lectured. ‘In fact I strongly object to it and—’

‘Sue, build a bridge and get over it,’ Hilary retorted. ‘You’ve got away with it for years because I took so much on. Your mother deserves a lot more from you than what
she’s getting and if I have to point that out to you, that’s such a sad reflection on you. Now I’m going. Bye.’

She hurried out of the hotel without a backward glance and headed towards Pearse Street. She’d taken the DART into the city, unwilling to deal with bumper-to-bumper traffic and the hassle
of looking for parking. She didn’t care if Sue was mad with her, as Hilary knew whatever polite façade they had kept up over the years there would be no coming back from today’s
encounter. She scowled, jaywalking across Kildare Street. Frankly she didn’t really care any more. The older she got the less inclined she was to put up with crap from people and Sue was full
of it. You couldn’t like everyone. And she didn’t particularly like Sue. So be it – she wasn’t going to lose sleep over the disintegration of their flimsy relationship. She
had too much on her plate as it was.

The nerve of her sister-in-law, Sue raged, lighting up a cigarette on the steps of the hotel as she stood under the flag-bedecked awning trying to compose herself. Just who did
she think she was, lecturing her about her responsibilities? Her boss would not be best pleased when she started taking mornings off to bring Margaret to her clinics and medical appointments. Niall
was going to have to do as much as she did. He needn’t think he was getting away with it. And she was going to tell him that in no uncertain terms, she decided, taking her phone out of the
side pocket of her bag and dialling his number.

Hilary had to run to catch a DART just before it pulled out of the station and she sank into the seat breathless, relieved that she hadn’t missed it and wasted even more
time on Sue. Her sister-in-law was probably taking deep angry drags on a cigarette somewhere, fuming at what had been said to her. Tough, it had been a long time coming. Too long. Hilary scowled as
the train pulled out of Pearse.

‘Sue phoned me. She was most upset at what you said to her. Did you
have
to start a row?’ Niall demanded down the phone a little while later as the train crossed the Liffey
into Connolly.

‘I didn’t start any row. She’s upset because she has to get her skinny ass in gear and take some responsibility for her mother, Niall,’ Hilary hissed indignantly.
‘She’s got away with it for years because
I
was there doing what she should have been doing. So tough if she’s upset. She’s a grown woman. It shouldn’t be up
to me to have to tell her how to behave. And if I may say so, it’s only because
you
didn’t have the guts to do it that I had to, so don’t give me a hard time about this,
Niall, because I’m not taking it. Niall, you need to cop on a bit and start backing me up on this. I take responsibility for looking after my parents; you and Sue need to start taking more
responsibility for your mother. Bye!’

She hung up and stared unseeingly out of the window as a flood of passengers boarded at the station. Her husband had some nerve ringing her because Sue had gone whinging to him obviously. Well
it was time the two of them got used to the idea that she wasn’t going to be a pushover any more. A doormat she was no longer prepared to be and if they didn’t like it they could both
lump it.

Millie and Sophie were going to the pictures with their cousins and having a pizza beforehand. Hilary had planned on cooking steak, onions and mash for herself and Niall. And
she had decided to take the opportunity to discuss her reasons for taking the duvet day with him, and sort their issues once and for all, but as she drove home from work, tired and irritable and
still simmering with resentment at her husband’s high-handed attitude, she decided she was damned if she was cooking and took a detour to McDonald’s. She ate her Big Mac and fries in a
drive-through bay, and finished her meal off with a McFlurry ice cream and apple pie. She licked her fingers and shoved the cartons into the paper bag they had been served in and turned on the
ignition. She was going to buy
Hello!
and pour herself a glass of wine and flop on the sofa and Niall could look after himself, she thought grimly, reversing out of her parking space.

‘Where’s dinner?’ Niall asked grumpily an hour later, surprised at finding Hilary lying on the sofa flicking through a magazine, a big glass of red at her side and not a sign
of a meal being prepared.

‘I’ve had mine earlier. I got a McDonald’s. There’s steak in the fridge if you want it or order in, whatever you prefer.’ Hilary didn’t lower her
magazine.

‘Well thanks for telling me you weren’t cooking. I could have got something at work,’ he said indignantly.

‘It was a spur of the moment decision. I wasn’t in the humour for cooking,’ she retorted.

‘No, be honest about it, you’re just pissed off at me and you’re getting your own back, that’s what’s going on,’ Niall scowled.

‘That too,’ Hilary said coolly.

‘Well that’s childish in the extreme.’

‘You can look at it like that if you want to, Niall. I’m just taking a night off and putting myself first for a change.’ Hilary took a sip of her Shiraz.

‘You’re good at that,’ he said nastily.

‘I am
not!
’ Hilary retorted indignantly, sitting bolt upright. ‘You go and frig off for yourself!
You’re
the one that’s good at putting yourself
first! I never say anything to you about the nights you’re off out playing music.
And
I’ve been very good to Margaret.
And
I do most of the running around after the
girls. So don’t give me that crap.’

‘And do I say anything about the time you spend with Jonathan? And all the jaunts you go on with him that aren’t work?’ Niall demanded.

‘Now y
ou’re
being childish,’ she retorted.

‘No I’m not. You spend more time with him than you do with me.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she snapped.

‘Well you do. It’s Jonathan this and Jonathan that,’ he said sulkily.