Happy Ever After (6 page)

‘I am,’ Caitriona grinned. ‘And yes, we most certainly do have time for photos. And, seeing as I’m the boss, I get first choice of the chocolates.’

‘
You’re
the boss?’ Debbie stared at her friend.

‘Yep – you’re looking at your new Acting Head of Wages and Salaries.’ Caitriona gave a bow. ‘I’m the most senior after Judith, and they offered me “acting” which will be good on the old CV whenever a chance for promotion comes along.’

‘Congratulations, you deserve it. Can I have a day off and go home?’ Debbie teased.

‘Absolutely not, and you better give me no back cheek or impudence, or I’ll make you stand in the corner with your back to the rest of us. Now, show us the photos, and I better look good in them.’

They all spent ten minutes laughing and reminiscing as they studied the wedding photos, and then Caitriona said briskly, ‘I guess we better get to it. Debbie, will you look after any new sick-leave items and, Ciara, will you do the annual-leave requirements. Everyone else, keep an eye out for glitches. IT were on this morning, they’re upgrading the system, and you know the way these things can mess up our stuff. I’ve to go to a meeting in HR at eleven. If the lunch trolley comes around and I’m not here, will someone get me an egg and onion roll and a doughnut? I’ll leave the money on my desk.’

‘I’ll do that for you, hon,’ Debbie assured her.

They all went to their individual desks and spent the morning working harmoniously, with none of the tensions usually engendered by stiff and starchy Judith. It was one of the most pleasant mornings she’d ever spent at work, and it took the whole sting out of being back at the grindstone.

From what they had heard, it seemed that Judith was lucky to be alive and would be out of work for the foreseeable future. While she wished her boss a speedy recovery, Debbie couldn’t help but be cheered with the news that the biggest thorn in her side would not be troubling her for some time to come.

Or so she thought.

‘Right, my little band of merry workers,’ Caitriona announced during their mid-afternoon coffee break, ‘we have to sort out who’s going to visit Judith. I was talking to Janice in HR, and it seems our beloved boss is out of the special care unit and back in a ward, so it behoves us to pay a visit and give her our best wishes and a few flowers. Any volunteers?’

‘Aaww, Caitriona, do we have to?’ Emily Moran groaned, as no one stepped forward to offer their services.

‘Ah, come on, girls, it’s the decent thing to do. She nearly died—’

‘Well, you go then, seeing as it’s your bright idea,’ challenged Linda Kelly sourly.

‘OK, I will then but, honestly, you’re a mean shower,’ Caitriona said crossly.

‘We could put the names in a hat. That would be the fairest way of doing it,’ Orla Ryan suggested.

‘I suppose so,’ agreed Emily, grimacing. ‘Fair is fair. It shouldn’t be left up to Caitriona.’

‘Oh
nooo
,’ groaned Debbie. ‘She hates me. What happens if I get chosen?’

‘Oh, get over yourself. She doesn’t like any of us, so we’re all in the same boat. Let’s get it over and done with.’ Emily reached for a piece of paper, tore it into strips and wrote her name on one of them.

‘Look, forget it. I’ll go,’ Caitriona offered. ‘Linda’s right – it was my suggestion.’

‘You only suggested it because you’re a good person, and we’re all mean wagons,’ Emily retorted, handing out the strips. ‘And even though it’s my fervent wish that you do get picked and I don’t, at least we’re all in with the same chance. Is everyone agreed?’ She looked around.

Heads nodded in assent, and they all wrote their names on the strips of paper, then Emily folded them up and placed them in an empty brown-paper bag she found in her wastebasket.

‘OK, you’re the boss, you pick. The first two names out get to visit Ms Baxter,’ she ordered, giving the bag a shake and holding it out to Caitriona.

‘You go, girl, and don’t pick me,’ warned Orla, laughing as Caitriona took out the first piece of paper, opened it and called out Ciara’s name. Everyone else cheered as their colleague made a face.

‘Bitches!’ she swore good-humouredly, giving them the finger.

Thank God
, thought Debbie. If she was picked, she’d be horrified, but she had to admit it was the fairest way of doing it.

‘You pick the next name then,’ Caitriona said magnanimously, offering the bag to Ciara.

‘With pleasure.’ Ciara selected a folded-up strip and waved it around.

‘Open it and put us out of our misery. If I have to visit that cow, my weekend will be ruined,’ Linda growled.

Ciara opened it and caught Debbie’s anxious gaze. ‘Sorry.’ She made a face and handed her the strip with her name on it.

‘Oh shit,’ muttered Debbie, her heart sinking.

‘Well, at least there’re two of us in the same boat,’ Ciara shrugged. ‘When do you want to go?’

‘The sooner the better. Let’s get it over and done with. What do you think?’ She eyed her colleague glumly.

‘Good thinking, Wonder Girl. How are you fixed for tonight?’

‘Well, I was supposed to be meeting Bryan for a bite to eat—’

‘Look, seeing as you’re representing us, and you’ll have to go and get flowers and a card – which will come out of the kitty, of course – why don’t the pair of you get changed and head off around four?’ Caitriona offered kindly. ‘It would give you a chance to get there early enough, and you’d only have to stay for ten minutes or so, and at least she’d have had a visit from her section. If Judith’s in for a long time, I’ll go on my own for a visit. Janice told me she’ll be going in, and I suppose some of the other managers she has her tea break with will visit. So is that OK?’

‘Yeah, it’s fine, Caitriona. Thanks.’ Debbie smiled at her friend, not wanting her to feel bad, knowing that she understood very well how she was dreading having to visit Judith.

‘Thanks, Caitriona.’ Ciara got up and rinsed her coffee cup in the sink. ‘I think we should take a taxi to the hospital. I’m not sure of the bus routes on the Northside,’ she suggested as they went back to their desks.

Just as well it was payday, Debbie sighed, thinking of her precarious financial position. Taxis were a luxury for the moment, until she got back on the straight and narrow financially.

‘Good idea,’ she agreed. ‘We can always get a bus back into town, and I can meet Bryan later. We can buy the flowers and the card in the hospital, which will save us some time.’

‘Look, if she’s in hospital for ages, some of the others will have to go, so at least we’ve done our duty and we won’t have to do it again.’ Ciara was doing her utmost to make the best of the situation.

‘You’re right, and we get off an hour early, which was decent enough of Caitriona,’ Debbie agreed with false cheeriness as she bent her head to her keyboard and began to key in some figures for a pension package one of the receptionists was getting on her retirement the following week.

Her enjoyable day back was ruined. The thought of having to see Judith brought on that tense, stomach-knotting feeling of anxiety she always felt around her boss. None of the others realized just how stressed Judith made Debbie feel. None of them was picked upon as much as she’d been this past year. Judith had it in for her for some reason. That bitch had held back her salary increment, a raise she could have badly done with, and now Debbie was going to have to pretend to be nice to her and offer her sympathy when it was the last thing she felt like doing.

The thought of seeing her boss was actually making her feel nauseous. She supposed she could have refused outright to allow her name to be put in the hat, but all the others felt they had as much of an excuse not to want to visit Judith as she had, and it had been the most democratic way to do it. It was just her tough luck, she thought glumly, sending her husband an email to tell him the score.

No probs, Debbs
, he emailed back.
Meet us in Farringtons and then we can have a bite to eat in Eden later. Going to book a table for 8.30. You should be back in town by 7.30. Love ya and miss ya. Wish we were in NY. B XXXXXXXX

Debbie read his email and shook her head. Bryan needed to realize that they were going to have to economize for the next few months. And while she loved the food and the ambience in Eden, she’d been thinking of somewhere more cheap ’n’ cheerful to eat, to suit their current financial circumstances.

Well, they wouldn’t be having starters or desserts if it was Eden he wanted to eat in, she decided. Cutbacks would just have to be made, whether her darling husband liked it or not.

Bryan sat at his desk and stared at the worksheet in front of him. The office-design and fit-out company he worked for had secured a contract for planning and structuring three floors of offices in a big new block just across the river from where he was based in the IFSC. Appointments had been made for him to meet with the clients to discuss their requirements. The first one was at nine thirty on Monday morning, so he had a little leeway to ease himself back into work mode.

He tried to look on the bright side. As long as he was on the project, he could take the Dart into work and walk across the Liffey at Matt Talbot Bridge, so at least he wouldn’t have to drive and be stuck in traffic snarl-ups like he’d been that morning. He was being given the task of designing the CEO’s office as well as the rest of the management team’s, so he’d have a chance to use a bit of flair and imagination, if the budgets allowed. It was better than having to design and fit out the ordinary employees’ open-plan space, which didn’t offer a huge amount of scope for innovation. Having come up in the ranks, he was now being entrusted with the more expensive and coveted jobs. He could do open plan in his sleep!

Bryan sighed and chewed the top of his pen as he stared out at the sun shining intermittently on the gunmetal-grey waters of the Liffey. An easterly breeze was blowing up the river, and choppy white-capped waves pummelled the quay walls, not with the ferocious intensity of stormy weather but with a relentless, angry slapping which suited his mood. The traffic on the street below had ground to a halt, and he saw a woman in a blue Focus talking on her mobile as she stood beside her car at a junction, the flashers on. Behind her was a stream of traffic waiting to turn left, horns honking in impatience.

Two men got out of their cars to give her a push, and Bryan brushed his fingers through his silky black hair and turned back to his worksheet, glad that it wasn’t him stuck at the lights. He stared at the figures in front of him but couldn’t concentrate. Work was the last place he wanted to be.

At least it was payday. It had been a great idea of Debbie’s to come back to work on a payday and get that horrible first day back over with. They were planning to eat out after work, and even her hospital visit shouldn’t interfere with their plans. Eden was his restaurant of choice, with a few drinks in Farringtons first, with any of the gang who were going to a film in the Film Centre.

He picked up the phone on his desk and dialled 11890, got put through to the restaurant and made a reservation for eight thirty. If he and Debbie couldn’t enjoy a night out on their first day back at work, it would be a poor life indeed, Bryan felt, starting to text a few of his mates to let them know they should meet up for drinks after work. Slightly cheered up by the prospect of a night on the tiles, he bent his head to his work and tried his best to concentrate.

Any chance you could meet me in Meadows & Byrne tomorrow morning? Was thinking about getting a new table for the kitchen. Would like your opinion. And we could have a cup of coffee.

Connie keyed in a text to Debbie as she sat in the supermarket car park, having done her weekly shopping. The nap she’d had earlier had revived her, and she thought she might take a walk on the beach as soon as she’d put away her groceries.

She’d promised Barry she’d facilitate a meeting between Melissa and Debbie. It wouldn’t take up too much of her morning, or Debbie’s either. It was so handy that they all lived on the Dart line. Debbie would be in Dun Laoghaire in five minutes, and Barry and Melissa were only a stone’s throw from the station.

Her phone rang.

‘Hi Mum, it’s me,’ Debbie said. ‘I’m just on my way in to visit Judith Baxter in hospital; my name was picked out of a hat, unfortunately. But I’d love to meet you in the morning. What time?’

Her daughter’s cheerful voice crackled on the mobile.

‘Will you be having a lie-in, seeing as it’s Saturday? How about ten thirty? Would that suit? I’ll ramble around the store until you get there.’

‘Perfect, I’ll look forward to it, Mum, I’ll see you then.’

‘Bye, love.’ Connie smiled as she hung up. It was great to have Debbie home again; she’d really missed her when she was in New York. They had been such a tight little unit for so long, just the two of them, it was hard to believe she was now a married woman with a home of her own.

It had been a real wrench when Debbie had moved out of home the previous year. It had taken Connie a long time to get used to the silence in the house. She still hated eating on her own, especially in the evening after work, or on Sundays at lunchtime.

She loved meeting Debbie for lunch or dinner when it was just the two of them. Bryan was a different kettle of fish. Connie shook her head as she put her phone back in the handset and straightened up her steering wheel. She still couldn’t take to her new son-in-law. He was far too laidback for her liking. And he spent money like it was going out of fashion. That ridiculous sportscar, for one thing, and those designer sunglasses he wore. Debbie had told her they cost 280 euro. He spent a fortune on grooming products, she knew that for a fact because, when she’d asked Debbie what to get him for birthday and Christmas presents, Debbie had told her the moisturizers and hair products he used, and they weren’t cheap. Where was he getting his money from, with a big mortgage to pay off and their wedding and honeymoon expenses?
I see and I want
seemed to be Bryan’s motto.

Debbie had let slip when she’d come back from her honeymoon that their Visa card was maxed out. Bryan would really want to be reining in his spending and getting on with decorating the house, Connie reflected as she switched on the engine and began to manoeuvre the car out of the parking space. Her phone rang, and the Bluetooth kicked in.