Mr Right for the Night (14 page)

But it had been worse for Anna. Victoria once
stuck chewing gum to her lovely long hair and she’d
had to get it all cut off. Victoria had then called her
a lesbian for weeks after that and although nobody
had even known what lesbian meant, they presumed
it wasn’t very nice.

Everyone in the year had a story about Victoria
Reilly. One girl had even been taken away by her
parents after Victoria had emptied a bin over her
head then made her pick up all the rubbish. It was
baffling how Victoria had never been expelled. But
later it came out that her parents had donated a
substantial amount of money towards the upkeep of
the school sports grounds. And therefore she stayed.
A bit like politics really. School politics.

The assistant placed the anti-wrinkle cream in the
t
raditional black and white Brown Thomas bag.
Claire thanked her and made her way up the escalator.
She was looking forward to viewing the new
Spring Collections. Being a weekday, there were no
crowds in the store. It was pleasant walking around.
She made for the designer wear and fingered some
of the soft new fabrics. Then glanced at the prices.
Uh oh, maybe she should purchase a lottery ticket
before the day was out.

‘Claire Fiscon, I don’t believe it!’

Claire jumped. She swung around and blinked
hard, unfolding her brain into reality. She didn’t
recognize the slender blonde dressed in a classic
cream suit.

‘It’s Victoria!’ The girl smiled, revealing snow-white
teeth behind blood-red lips.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph! The colour drained from
Claire’s face. The two women stood on either side
of the clothing rail, facing each other. ‘Hi,’ Claire
flashed a wary smile, ‘what a . . . a nice surprise.’

‘Thank you.’

‘You, er . . . look . . . great. Love the scarf. Er . . .
where did you get it?’

‘Paris.’ Victoria smiled triumphantly.

‘Oh I love Paris . . . in fact I love many parts of
France.’

‘Yes,’ Victoria said.

Claire could feel the colour rush back into her
cheeks. It was ridiculous the way this other girl was
affecting her. She’d better regain some self-control
before she made a complete fool of herself.

‘I’m married now,’ she told Victoria. ‘I’m not
Fiscon any more,’ she added.

‘Who did you marry?’

‘Simon Adamson.’

‘Would I know him? What does he do?’

‘He’s in Finance,’ Claire said, wondering if she’d
have told the truth if her husband was a bin man.

‘Oh.’ Victoria presented sudden interest. ‘Well, I’ll
look forward to seeing him at the party so. You’re
both coming, I hope?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘Are you shopping?’

‘I haven’t found anything I like yet,’ Claire lied,
taking note of Victoria’s several shopping bags.

‘I know the feeling,’ Victoria sighed. ‘You really
have to go abroad for variety.’

‘Yes,’ Claire agreed uncomfortably.

‘Any plans for kids?’

‘Sorry?’

‘Do you hear the patter of little feet yet?’

‘I have a son,’ Claire said proudly and groped in
her bag for Andrew’s photo. ‘That’s him.’

Victoria peered at the photo of Andrew sitting up
in his cot surrounded by furry friends and looking
totally adorable. ‘Very nice,’ she said unfeelingly.

Claire swiftly placed the photo back in her bag.
She was furious. Very nice indeed! You’d describe
a car as very nice. Or a garden. Not a child who
was as stunningly beautiful as Andrew. She wasn’t
going to waste a single second more with this cold,
condescending woman.

‘I’d better be off,’ she made a big show of checking
her watch, ‘Simon will be home looking for his
dinner.’

‘Oh that’s awful.’ Victoria heaved a theatrical
sigh. ‘Vincent and I rarely eat in.’

Claire felt her throat constrict with annoyance.
‘Well, you’ll find once you’ve children it won’t be
so easy to go out any time you feel like it.’

‘That’s why we’re not intending to start straightaway.’
Victoria gave a silvery laugh. ‘We want
some time to enjoy each other before we get tied
down. After all, everybody knows once you start
having kids your life is practically over.’ She paused.
‘Well goodbye,’ she said eventually. ‘It was fantastic
bumping into you after all this time.’

‘The bitch,’ Anna agreed heartily.

‘You don’t think I’m being paranoid, do you?’
Claire demanded over the phone.

‘Not at all, Victoria’s just jealous,’ Anna reassured
her. ‘Andrew is a divine baby. By the way, did you
set me up with Jake?’

‘Jake?’ Claire sounded amazed. ‘Of course I
didn’t.’

‘I went out with him last night.’

Claire nearly dropped her baby in shock. She’d
never have put Anna and Jake together. Still, no
harm. It’d be nice to hook up with the pair of them
on a double date.

‘That’s great,’ she told her friend. ‘Will you be
seeing him again?’

‘Next week,’ Anna told her. ‘Time enough.’

‘You don’t sound too enthusiastic.’

‘I am, it’s just that . . .’

‘Ow!’

‘Do you want to put Andrew down and get back

to me?’

‘No . . . Stop it, love . . . He needs his bath,
it’s late.’

‘Right, well it’s like this: Jake flatters me and
thinks I’m funny and all but . . . I’m not sure he’s
the one.’

‘God, Anna,’ Claire sounded exasperated, ‘not
every man you meet is going to be the one.’

‘That’s all right for you,’ Anna said sulkily. ‘You’re
happily married.’

‘Yeah.’ Andrew was dribbling onto Claire’s silk
blouse and pawing her hair with chocolate-covered
fingers, ‘I forgot, you’re so right.’

‘Put Simon on to me,’ Anna demanded, ‘I’m going
to kill him for setting me up like this.’

‘He’s not here,’ Claire sounded subdued.

‘Right . . . by the way, did Victoria mention me?’

‘No.’

‘Silly cow.’

‘Yeah.’ Claire had gone all quiet.

Afterwards she sat in the kitchen, slowly watching
Simon’s shepherd’s pie going cold. She’d spent the
last two hours making the kitchen sparkle. The
heart-shaped candle she’d bought had practically
melted. She blew it out. It was late. She really
should go upstairs and take off her make-up. She
was looking forward to testing her new cream.
Simon showed no signs of coming home. The only
messages on the answerphone were from her mother
and a neighbour wondering if she was interested in
joining the neighbourhood watch scheme.

By midnight there was still no sign of Simon. She
dialled his office. The phone rang off unanswered.
Claire was beginning to feel sick with worry. All
the goodness had gone out of her day, what with
bumping into Victoria and her husband’s no-show.
She climbed into the big empty double bed and
switched on the television to try to take her mind
off things, but every time she heard a noise her ears
pricked up, expecting to hear the key turn in the
front-door lock. Sometime in the early hours of the
morning she drifted into a restless sleep.

Anna decided on a plain navy suit. She’d been given
a half day to go to the head offices near O’Connell
Street for her interview. As she marched past the
Molly Malone statue, all high heels and business
she asked herself what the hell she was doing.

She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be sent to
Ballygobackwards for six months and limit herself
to nights out in one of two pubs where the local
lads would be aged either eighteen or eighty. Okay,
she’d be an assistant manager of Lolta’s but was that
what she really wanted? Surely it would be better to
s
tay in Dublin with all her friends? Hmmm. What
friends?

Anna checked her watch and quickened her pace.
It wouldn’t do to be late. She crossed O’Connell
Street thankful her skirt was nun’s length. The wind
was biting. She passed one of the pound shops
and was assaulted by the display of Valentine’s
Day merchandise. Valentine’s! What a horrendous
occasion. Yet again she wouldn’t be receiving anything.
There was a time she’d sent herself cards . . .
but she was too old for that now. Way too old. She
bumped into Elaine coming out of the offices looking
like death.

‘Elaine, how did it go?’ Anna was concerned.

‘Awful.’ Elaine’s face was a worrying grey. ‘I didn’t
get a wink of sleep last night worrying about it and,
after all that, they didn’t ask any of the questions I’d
prepared.’

‘Oh dear,’ Anna was at a loss for words. She
couldn’t understand for the world why anyone
would lose a night’s sleep over something like
this.

‘I desperately need the pay rise,’ Elaine wailed.

So do I, Anna thought. But not at that price.
‘Listen, I’ll ring you later,’ she said, ‘and we’ll
go for a drink. I’m sure it went a lot better than
you think.’

‘Good luck.’ Elaine gave her an awkward hug
and went off up the street.

Crikey, Anna thought as she touched up her
make-up in the Ladies. Some people took life far
too seriously by far. Elaine really would need to
chill out. Or maybe, an uncomfortable thought
suddenly struck her, just maybe Elaine was right.
Perhaps Elaine had her priorities all in the right
order. Was Anna the eejit here? Someone who just
went with the flow? People who went with the flow
kept flowing down the river. Right? And drowned
at the end of it, she supposed. Not a nice thought at
all. She took three deep breaths, strode purposefully
out of the Ladies and braced herself for a successful
interview.

‘Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?’
Mr Walton the grey man from Personnel barked at
her.

In your chair not
, she thought.
Hopefully on a beach somewhere in the Bahamas with a handsome husband rubbing oil onto my back, having made my fortune in private retailing
.

‘I’d like to see myself reaching my highest potential
within the company,’ she said, trying not to
gag.

Walton drummed his Bic thoughtfully on the
desk. He was impressed, she could see. The young
colourless woman at his elbow was scribbling like
something on Speed. Anna wondered what the hell
she was writing.

‘Do you see yourself as a leader?’

Anna took a deep breath and frowned as she
prepared to consider the question seriously. ‘Absolutely,’
she said eventually. ‘I’d like to motivate my
staff so that as a team we make Lolta’s grow as
a company, encourage business and deliver high
customer satisfaction.’

God, if anyone could hear me talking like this I’d die
, Anna thought.

Walton lashed out a few more, obvious questions
before he gave a fraction of a smile and wrapped
up. ‘Have you any questions, Fidelma?’

Fidelma did. ‘Describe yourself in three words.’

‘Cool, calm and calculated,’ Anna beamed. That
was an easy one.

Fidelma’s eyes widened, horrified. Walton’s blank
stare swiftly became mild alarm. He gave a short
cough that seemed to get caught somewhere in the
middle of his throat. Anna swallowed in disbelief.