The Heartbreak Cafe (36 page)

But she
would watch her weight from now on, of course she would. After all,
she’d have to get in shape for The Soldier’s Daughter.

And oh my
goodness, wasn’t it just wonderful that the baby didn’t seem to be
affecting any of this? Granted, she’d have to reschedule some of
the filming for Glamazons so it wouldn’t clash with the feature
film, but she knew Erik probably already had all of that under
control.

It was
incredible – all of a sudden it seemed like she really could have
it all – the movie-star career and the baby! How lucky was
she?

‘
I just can’t believe this, Erik,’ she cried, yelping
enthusiastically. All those stupid ideas she’d been having about
giving up on Hollywood to stay in Lakeview had suddenly vanished,
and as she got more and more details from Erik, she noticed Charlie
stand up and begin to pace the room. She looked away, trying to
ignore him.

‘
Hey, I’m dead serious babe. They want you, so hurry up and get
your ass back to LA. And what the hell have you been doing in some
stupid Irish backwater all this time anyway? We could have had you
rolling in it a long time ago if you’d told us about Valentine’s
baby. The press are going crazy over this – what the hell were you
thinking leaving us out of the loop?’

She chose
to ignore the faint warning signals at the mention of her pregnancy
as a PR coup and immediately pushed them to the back of her mind.
‘I’m sorry … I should have taken your calls…and yes, I’ll be back
as soon as I can … thanks Erik – you’re amazing!’

‘
Yep, that’s what they all say,’ he chuckled, before
disconnecting.

Ruth hung
up, completely elated and a million miles away from the state of
mind she’d been in just moments before Chloe’s phone
call.

She threw
the phone on the desk and looked at Charlie. ‘Oh my goodness, you
are not going to believe this!’

‘
Actually, I think I heard most of it,’ he said
flatly.

‘
I mean, can you imagine? Me, the leading lady in a major
Hollywood feature? Maybe even in with the chance for an Oscar?’ she
felt slightly crazed; as all the glamour and promise of the
Hollywood lifestyle came rushing right back to her. ‘Oh this is
just amazing.’

‘
Amazing … yeah.’

‘
I just can’t wait to get back there now. Shove all their
stupid comments in their faces and let them know exactly who
they’re dealing with!’

‘
What are you talking about? Shove what in whose
faces?’

‘
Well the media, of course. And all the other smug assholes who
dismissed me as a talentless slut.’

Charlie
stared at her, dumbfounded. ‘I don’t believe this. You’re really
going back there – for good?’

‘
Of course. How can I not? You heard what Erik said –
’

‘
But what about us? What about making the right
choices?’

‘
Charlie…’

‘
No, answer me, what about us?’

She bit
her lip. ‘Honey, I know it might seem confusing, but I don’t think
you understand. This kind of thing doesn’t happen that often, a
call out of the blue with an offer of a lifetime. It’s what I’ve
been working for my entire life.’

‘
Oh, I understand all right. But you’re the one who’s confused.
Don’t you realise what they’re doing? Where was their interest in
you before they knew there was a story around you? Until you
started sleeping with someone “interesting”?’ His voice was a
sneer, and Ruth looked away, not wanting to hear this now. It
wasn’t fair of him to make her sound like that; she was a good
actress, a dedicated hardworking actress, and this wasn’t because
of whom she was sleeping with.

Was
it?

‘
See,’ she cried, stung, ‘this is exactly what I was afraid of
last time – you, holding me back.’

‘
A couple of hours ago we were talking about how we should
raise this baby!’ he yelled.

She felt
a pain in her heart. ‘I know.’

‘
Are you really going to do this to me again?’ The
disappointment in his eyes was almost unbearable.

‘
Charlie…’ she moved to embrace him. ‘I really don’t know what
to do. This is everything I’ve ever wanted.’

He looked
down at her. ‘This is everything I’ve ever wanted.’

She felt
as if he had plunged a knife directly into her heart. ‘But … you
said you would have done all this with me before, gone with me to
LA, if I’d asked.’

He shook
his head. ‘All I want is you and the baby – our baby. Although,’ he
gave a short laugh, ‘I know I have no claim on either one of you
’cause I’m just an unknown Irish nobody, yeah?’ He pulled away from
her. ‘Ruth, I don’t know if I can stand by and watch you trade on
your pregnancy.’

‘
That’s not what it’s about, and of course that’s not what I
want.’

‘
I know it’s not what you want, but the only person that needs
to be convinced of that is you.’

In her
mind, Ruth skimmed back through the last few months. She’d been the
one who’d been hiding, so of course there would have been offers if
she’d only gone back to L.A soon after. Granted the publicity from
the thing with Troy might have helped bring her to a lot of
important people’s attention but that was often the way Hollywood
worked.

And Peter
Jackson …wow….

‘
Look, I really think that I should at least go back and talk
to them, see what they have to say. It’s not totally in the bag yet
and I need to talk things over with Erik to see what’s involved. I
could go tomorrow and be back within days, it’s no big
deal.’

Charlie
threw his hands up in the air. ‘Come on, Ruth!’

‘
Just let me talk to them at least,’ she pleaded. ‘Nothing has
changed between us, I promise and nothing will. But if I don’t go,
I’ll wonder about this forever.’

He
nodded, but his eyes were sad. Ruth’s heart swelled. She loved
Charlie, and up to recently had loved her career and wanted to
prove to him that she could do both. Or that she could have both?
the little voice inside her ventured.

Ruth
ignored it. She was silly to even consider settling down in
Lakeview and throwing away long hard years of a career because of
one stupid mistake.

A mistake
that, with the way things were going, could well turn out to be the
making of her.

It was
Friday afternoon and Jess sat in the living room of Emer’s house,
playing with Amy.

Her
friend had invited her to stay over for the night, and Jess
complied, happy to have something to do. While she wasn’t yet sure
if she was ready to confide in her friend about the problems she
was having with Brian, she felt it was better than sitting around
at home, staring at the walls of her bedroom. Her husband was again
away at a work event and at this point Jess had started to wonder
if he was volunteering for any trip that came up, so that he
wouldn’t have to spend time with her. It was a horrible thought,
but she knew her husband well – or at least she thought she had,
before all this baby stuff had started.

Emer was
doing something in the kitchen, and for once Dave was home.
According to her friend he was supposed to have been working late,
but had obviously finished whatever he was doing earlier than
expected.

But
almost as soon as Jess arrived at the house shortly after six, she
started wishing she was somewhere else because neither one of them
seemed to be in the best mood.

Frankly,
considering the circumstances, she didn’t understand why Emer had
invited her over today, especially since she was always complaining
about how Dave was never home, so you’d think she would want to
spend time alone with her family.

“
Emer, are you sure there’s nothing I can help with?” Jess
called out to the kitchen.

“
No everything is fine,” Emer said, overly cheerfully, but Jess
could hear sharp whispers coming from the kitchen, as if the couple
were trying to have an argument but didn’t want her to feel
uncomfortable.

So much
for that Jess thought, wondering if people really thought they were
being quiet when they did that?

Then she
heard the sound of a mobile phone ringing on the chair beside her
and thinking it was Emer’s, she picked it up and brought it through
to the kitchen.

‘
Here you go,’ she said absentmindedly handing it to Emer,
‘someone called Trish?’ She couldn’t help but catch sight of the
caller display on the way out, but by the look on her friend’s
face, immediately wished she hadn’t said anything.

Emer
grabbed the phone from her, all the while staring furiously at
Dave, whose face had gone white.

‘
Why are you calling my husband?’ Emer barked into the phone,
and Jess winced, all at once realising she’d done something she
really shouldn’t have.

‘
Give me that,’ Dave said through clenched teeth, and Jess
wanted the ground to open up and swallow her. Oh no.

‘
I’m asking you – why are you calling my husband?’ Emer
demanded. ‘Oh, don’t give me that claptrap, why would the Lakeview
News be interested in the sales manager of a stupid brewery? You
must think I came down in the last shower.’

‘
Emer, I swear….’ Dave reached again for the phone but his wife
sidestepped him, while Jess stood there watching, aghast. Then all
of a sudden, Emer disconnected the call and flung the handset
across the room.

‘
What the hell is going on here, Dave? Why is that silly cow
phoning you on a Friday night? Is this the change of plan you were
talking about earlier? Was it that she let you down, and wasn’t
able to meet you for one of your trysts?’

Emer was
practically screaming now, and Jess was mortified. She’d heard the
name before and tried to recall who Trish was – one of Nina’s
friends, wasn’t it? Hell, was Dave sneaking around?

‘
Oh for goodness sake – you’re completely overreacting,
probably your hormones.’

‘
Don’t you dare blame my hormones, I know something’s going on.
I called the office on Monday, and they told me there was no client
dinner that night. You must think I’m an idiot, Dave – I knew you
were with someone. And thanks to Jess, now I also know who
with.’

There was
a heavy tension-filled silence, and not sure what else to do – Jess
backed out of the room silently and made her way back into the
living room to check on Amy, who despite all the noise was now
sleeping soundly in her playpen.

Jess
couldn’t believe it. Of all the stupid … clueless things to do. She
should have at least made sure it was actually Emer’s phone before
gullibly handing it to her. But then again, why should she assist
Dave in his cover-up if in fact that was what it was?

Because
that was certainly what it sounded like. She picked up her handbag
and tiptoed out into the hallway, on the way to the front
door.

She
shouldn’t be here for this; she’d already done enough damage as it
was and she knew Emer would hate her later on for witnessing what
was happening.

She
opened the front door and began to make her escape, just as Dave
started to bellow. ‘OK, yes, I admit it! I have been seeing Trish
but what the hell do you care anyway? The only time you have any
interest in me is when you want to get pregnant, and clearly you
don’t care what I do as long as I keep paying the
bills!’

Oh no,
poor Emer, Jess thought, shaking her head, and forgetting about
being quiet, she scurried out the door, letting it close behind
her.

Dave was
having an affair. She couldn’t believe it. Yes, it had been evident
that there was some tension lately between the two of them, but
ultimately, she never believed that it was anything more than money
worries, or the adjustments involved with the new baby, and the
move away from the city …

She
certainly hadn’t anticipated anything like this. To think that Dave
would be so heartless as to cheat on Emer when she was doing her
best to bring up their child… Not to mention sleeping with her as
well as his mistress.

Once
again, the reality of the last few months came rushing back to
Jess. All this time, she’d been operating under the illusion that
her friends had the perfect lives, and ironically now it seemed
like the more time she’d spent with them wanting to be like them,
she’d achieved exactly that.

She felt
so sorry for Emer though – regardless of how full-on her friend had
been about motherhood towards her, Jess’s heart went out to her. No
one deserved to be cheated on, betrayed on the grandest level. And
to think that only a couple of weeks ago, she’d been so overjoyed
about her new pregnancy.

In the
same way that she herself had been about her big announcement, Jess
realised worriedly.

Now,
thinking of Brian’s recent withdrawal , and Dave’s obvious betrayal
of Emer, she began to draw some very uncomfortable
parallels.

All this
time, she’d wanted to be like Emer, to share in her life and the
choices she’d made.