The Heartbreak Cafe (13 page)

‘
So, the guest of honour must be on the way,’ Dave said, as
some commotion looked to be happening out front. ‘Did you hear
about her and yer man?’

‘
Well of course, who hasn’t?’ Trish laughed, but then met
Nina’s disapproving gaze. ‘But at the same time, who cares, she’s
an adult isn’t she? Besides, people who live in glass houses
shouldn’t throw stones – you know, bad karma and all
that.’

Then all
conversation in the room stopped as at that moment, Ruth made her
entrance. She was wearing a strapless white dress with a scarlet
sash around the middle and bright ruby red stilettos. Her glossy
hair was pulled back into a loose, romantic knot, and she had a
smile on her face and looked every inch the star.

The room
erupted in applause and Ruth made her way through the crowd,
shaking hands and pausing for pictures.

‘
Doesn’t she look beautiful?’ Trish said enviously and Nina had
to agree that yes, there was indeed something ethereal, almost
fragile about Ruth’s beauty, and there was no doubt that she was
pure star quality.

A few
minutes later the official ceremony began and Ruth was invited
onstage by the local MC to accept her award, a piece of Waterford
Crystal. Although she looked delighted with her reception and gave
a lovely acceptance speech, Nina noticed the shadows under the
actress’s eyes, and the beaming smile she wore seemed
tense.

Nina’s
heart went out to her. She couldn’t imagine having to live under
that sort of scrutiny. While she knew she’d made her fair share of
mistakes (and was actually living with one right now), she could
deal with them in private and never had to experience having her
secrets spilled across the gossip pages for all to see. How could
anyone deal with that sort of embarrassment?

The
official part of the ceremony completed, Ruth descended the stage
and eventually began to circulate through the crowd. As the actress
neared closer, Trish grabbed Nina’s arm and thrust the two of them
forward.

‘
Ruth, Ruth, hello, do you remember us?’ Trish asked, smiling
wildly. Ruth turned their way and Nina could tell she was on
sensory overload at the moment, but still she remained the true
professional.

‘
Oh yes, yes of course! We went to school together…?’ As they
were about the same age, it was no doubt a guess on Ruth’s part,
but she handled it beautifully.

‘
That’s right,’ Trish grinned. ‘It’s so wonderful to see you!’
To Ruth’s obvious surprise, Trish threw her arms around her and
welcomed her with a big hug. Nina could see the poor girl’s eyes
racing back and forth as she tried to take in everything, the
distinct look of a caged animal.

‘
I’m not sure if you remember Nina Hughes?’ Trish offered as
the two women turned to face her.

‘
I was only ever here on occasion,’ Nina offered shyly,
extending her hand.

‘
Oh but of course. You used to come and visit your dad,
right?’

‘
That’s right.’ She felt stupidly pleased that this
ultra-glamorous woman had in fact remembered her.

‘
Well it’s wonderful to be home,’ Ruth went on. ‘Although, it’s
changed a lot, hasn’t it? I can’t believe it’s the same
Lakeview.’

‘
I know, I haven’t been back in years so I couldn’t believe it
either.’

‘
Did you see all those new houses on the way in? For a minute
there, I thought I was back in Beverly Hills,’ she laughed, and
Nina was struck by how normal she seemed. Sure, her outfit probably
cost more than what she herself had in her bank account, but she
couldn’t help thinking that Ruth wasn’t all that different from her
really; she just happened to live her life on a much grander
stage.

She tried
to recall what she knew of Ruth from their childhood. Incredibly
pretty, she had always been the centre of attention, and drama and
action tended to follow her from one place to the next. She’d been
one of the most popular girls around and was the type of person who
drew people to her, with a natural charisma that most people didn’t
have. No wonder she’d ended up a star, Nina thought. Although in
truth, everyone was surprised at how long it had taken.

‘
So, boring old Lakeview must be a big change from LA?’ Trish
asked then.

‘
Oh my goodness, yes,’ Ruth sighed, and very briefly, Nina saw
a break in the façade, but just as quickly, she however. ‘I mean,
it’s all glorious, the weather, the shops, the restaurants and all
that… but you know, it’s nice to get away for a while too, escape
from the hustle and bustle.’

There was
no missing the emphasis she placed on the word escape.

‘
Oh, I can only imagine, especially now,’ Trish laughed. ‘What
with all this business with you and Troy, eh?’ she added jokingly,
and Nina shot a daggers look at Trish, unable to believe her
friend’s lack of tact.

Ruth’s
smile was gone in a flash, and too late; tears were forming in her
eyes. She blinked hard as if trying to hold them back, but there
was no denying she was under serious strain.

‘
Are you OK?’ Nina asked her gently, and Ruth bit her lip and
ever so faintly shook her head. She looked as if she wasn’t sure
which was worse, breaking down in front of a couple of strangers or
losing it in front of the entire town.

Nina
decided to act fast. ‘Trish, is there a backroom around here?’ she
asked.

‘
What?’ Trish hadn’t noticed anything amiss. ‘If you mean the
Ladies –’

‘
No, I meant somewhere private,’ she cocked a surreptitious
head towards a slowly crumbling Ruth.

‘
Ah Ruth, I’m sorry for upsetting you; I didn’t mean … I just
thought it would be a bit of a joke, you know, we’ve all shagged
people that –’

‘
For goodness sake, Trish,’ Nina groaned. ‘Is there a hallway,
or a back kitchen or something?’ Ruth was now seriously close to
losing it.

‘
Oh, uh, over here,’ Trish led the way, suddenly realising that
they needed to get Ruth out of there; and the last thing she needed
was to start crying in front of all the great and good of Lakeview.
Nina watched as they passed by locals and Ruth’s admirers, and she
noticed that the actress did a great job of keeping her head down
while she rifled through her trendy evening bag, pretending to look
for something. Trish ushered them down a hallway and turned the
corner, out of sight of prying eyes. Hearing noises from behind,
Nina looked to the left and spotted a door, which she hoped was
unlocked.

Her
prayers were answered and holding the door open for Trish and Ruth,
she waved them both inside. Trish switched on an overhead light and
the three of them looked around the small space, which was littered
with cleaning supplies.

‘
Ah, kind of reminds me of when we used to sneak into the
janitor’s closet at school for a fag, doesn’t it Ruth?’ Trish
offered, and despite herself Ruth smiled. ‘Hey look, that was a
really stupid thing to say back there. I mean, I just forgot really
–’

‘
What she’s trying to say is she left her manners at home,’
Nina scolded good-naturedly.

‘
It’s just been a tough couple of days,’ Ruth ventured, her
tone weary.

‘
I can imagine. I mean, the hangover alone must have been
horrible, let alone having to deal with your knickers, or lack
thereof, being splashed –’

‘
Bloody hell Trish,’ Nina’s mouth dropped open and she nudged
her in the arm. ‘Will you please shut up?’ Now tears were spilling
down Ruth’s cheeks. ‘Ah no sweetheart, don’t cry,’ she soothed.
‘You’ll ruin your lovely makeup.’

‘
I’m…so…sorry,’ Ruth gulped. ‘I’m just so stressed out, the
last few days been absolutely dreadful, all the questions
…accusations and cameras following me around. They’re all treating
me like some kind of common tart and I’m not. They have no right,
no right to say such dreadful things about me!’ She was getting
more and more animated by the second and Nina knew that they had to
try and calm her down, after all, you never knew who might be
watching or listening outside the door for that matter.

‘
Shh, shh, I know, I know, it’s all very unfair,’ Nina soothed
but Trish was too busy listening to the fresh, straight from the
horse’s mouth gossip that was coming out of Ruth to worry about
calming her.

‘
It’s just so hard, I mean, I’m a public figure, a celebrity
for Chrissakes, I deserve to be treated with some sort of
respect.’

Ah, so
there’s the diva, Nina thought. She grabbed her purse and fished
out a tissue. ‘Look Ruth, this will all blow over in the next few
days. I’m sure Britney Spears or Paris Hilton will do something
outrageous soon and this will all be forgotten about in no time,’
she said encouragingly.

‘
Yeah, after all, no one pays much attention to what happens in
Ireland,’ Trish offered.

Ruth
looked at the two women and Nina could see she was somewhat torn
about the idea of being old news, and the fact that for the summer
she would be geographically somewhere that no one paid attention
to. She wondered then if Ruth actually got a kick out of being in
the lion’s den that was Hollywood with paparazzi following her
everywhere. She was reminded briefly of her earlier thoughts about
that drama following Ruth everywhere, and now she wondered if the
woman didn’t actually feed off it, as opposed to actively try and
avoid it.

Ruth
sniffled into the hanky. ‘Thank you for being so nice to me,’ she
said, looking at Nina.

‘
Not a problem,’ she replied with a smile.

‘
Yeah, not a problem,’ Trish added, completely oblivious that
she’d caused much of the strife in the first place. ‘I heard you
were staying on here for the summer, is that true?’

Ruth
nodded. ‘That’s the plan anyway. Shooting doesn’t start back till
October, so I’ve got a bit of time on my hands.’

Nina
guessed that the notion of spending the summer in Lakeview basking
in the glory of her Hollywood success had sounded a lot better in
theory. Instead the poor thing had been thrown to the
wolves.

‘
Do you think you’re OK to go back out there?’ she
asked.

‘
I guess so.’ Ruth took a deep breath and Nina helped her up
from the stool she was sitting on. ‘Trish, why don’t you pop out
and make sure the coast is clear.’

‘
Of course.’ Trish did as she was bid, leaving Nina and Ruth in
the closet.

‘
Does my makeup look all right?’ Ruth asked
self-consciously.

‘
Absolutely – you look amazing.’

Ruth
stared blankly at the door ahead of her and Nina wondered what she
was thinking. Yes, she was beautiful, and had been blessed with
fame and fortune, but was she really happy? She wondered when was
the last time the girl had the opportunity to go out and be herself
or behave like a normal person. LA was renowned for being fake and
cutthroat, and from what she could tell Ruth had fought for a very
long time for her success. She couldn’t be sure but she got the
impression that Ruth wasn’t particularly used to people being nice
to her, and was genuinely grateful and hugely surprised by the
intervention.

Nina
considered how Ruth’s situation compared to her own. Nope, she
wasn’t a celebrity, but when she examined her life she was reminded
of why she herself was in Lakeview right now, she had got herself
in trouble and she didn’t have any other place to go. Strange that
she and Ruth had both ended up in Lakeview at the same time after a
long absence; Ruth in an unexpected state of self imposed isolation
and Nina in a state of self-imposed limbo.

There was
a knock on the door and Trish informed the two women that it was
clear to come out. Nina was about to turn the doorknob when Ruth
grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

‘
Honestly I mean it; thank you for being so kind,’ the actress
said gently. ‘It’s honestly the first time I felt like I’ve had a
friend in ages.’

Nina
smiled and squeezed back, thinking that the two of them had a lot
more in common than they thought.

Despite
herself, Jess just couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened
with Emer and her conversation with Deirdre.

Brian had
spent a lot of time over the weekend entertaining her and trying to
keep her mind off things, but still she couldn’t help but worry
about the problems that had surfaced between her and her
friends.

Now in
the office, staring at her computer screen, she couldn’t focus on
the projects at hand, namely the marketing strategy behind the
launch of Piccolo’s brand new energy drink. Her deadline hovered,
days away, but for some reason, all she could think about was
babies.

It wasn’t
a ‘biological clock’ response either; more like Jess was
concentrating so hard on the idea of a baby in an effort to try and
jumpstart the damned clock.

There was
no doubt that what had happened at the weekend, and her discovery
of friends’ purposeful alienation of her was bringing a lot of
things to the fore – namely children or more to the point, the lack
of them.

She
pushed away the material in front of her, unable to concentrate.
She couldn’t deny how troubled she was. She was thirty-five years
old and had pretty much taken it for granted that someday she would
be a mother. Someday.