The restaurant was picked with some care by Con. He believed the occasion was going to require all his charm and skill to carry off properly. He didn’t want to have to worry about the food or the service and so he decided that the Liffey Bar and Grill would be just perfect for the job. He had had the pleasure of several lunches there over the previous months and he had never been anything but impressed by the place. It was pricey, of course, but it most definitely wasn’t the time for penny-pinching. It wasn’t every day that your only son came to you and said he wanted you to meet his girlfriend. Con was sure that Dan had been out with loads of girls since he began his degree. He had wheedled some information out of him but Dan tended towards discretion and was not the type to brag – well, not to his father anyway. Obviously Alison Shepherd from Caharoe had struck a chord with his son that other girls had not and so an introductory lunch had been arranged with Dan’s consent. The only downside, and Con considered it a fairly steep descent indeed, was that Dan had insisted that his mother be invited also.
‘Ah why, Dan? You know what she is like. She will be picking fault with the food, with me, with your girlfriend even. Would you not let me meet Alison first and when we have built up a bit of a rapport we can bring your mother into the proceedings?’
‘Look, I would really appreciate it if we could act like a normal family for a couple of hours. She knows things aren’t great between you and Mam so she is not expecting sweetness and light but it’s important to me that you both meet her. She is lovely and smart and I am mad about her. Please, Dad, for me? I will talk to Mam too and make sure she is on best behaviour. I will tell her that she has to be nice to you for my sake.’
Con laughed. ‘Jesus, you better shake the holy water and take a rub of a relic because I cannot remember the last time your mother was nice to me. For you and this Alison of yours I promise to turn myself inside out and I can’t do better than that.’
‘Thanks. Um, there is just one other thing.’
‘Don’t worry, I will pick one of the best restaurants in Dublin—’
‘No, it’s not that. Any restaurant will be grand, we are not fussy at all. The thing is, Alison’s flatmate is Ciara Clancy from Leachlara. As in Leda Clancy’s sister?’
Dan looked for revelatory shock in his father’s face but he seemed relaxed and unperturbed by the news. ‘I know who she is. Sure, I rented her a flat last autumn. She hightailed it without so much as a by your leave. I take it Alison won’t be mentioning her in the course of conversation? You must tell her that it is a delicate situation and likely to make your mother blow a gasket.’
‘No, she knows that Mam doesn’t relish the Clancys so she won’t say a thing. I just thought that you should know, that’s all.’
‘That would be the wisest move all right. We may have to start block-booking the fire brigade if she gets wind that your new girlfriend could be contaminated by riff-raff from Leachlara.’
Con was a little shocked. He wasn’t sure if Leda was on speaking or confiding terms with her sister but if she was she wouldn’t have been painting a pretty picture, based on his shabby treatment of her recently. He decided that Leda must be staying quiet about their little arrangement. The fact that she was prepared to protect him by her silence made him a bit guilty for the way he had begun to ignore her a little more and like her a little less. He had begun to think that landing her in dangerous proximity to his highflying Dublin life had been a serious error of judgement. He had underestimated how many people he knew in Dublin and he didn’t want the gossipmongers who dealt in the abundant details of who was sleeping with whom ever turning their forensic attention on him. Still, besides turning up at the railings of Leinster House shouting his name like an imbecile, he couldn’t say she had put a foot wrong. Even then he had passed the girl at the gate off as a young constituent who was a little star-struck and a few slices short of a full loaf. His solicitor said she was a demon of a worker who would turn her hand to anything and seemed very mature in comparison to some of the other girls who worked in the office.
Con decided he would make an effort to call at the flat more often, take her some of that chocolate she liked and maybe slip her a bit of money for new clothes to show his appreciation for her patience and her silence. With an election campaign looming he wanted everything in order and he had to admit that sleeping with Leda made him feel young again. Six months ago he had felt depressed that his life was winding down to an inexorable miserable end. He wasn’t sure if his seat would be safe in the next election nor whether he had the bottle to fight for every last vote to make it so; and if he didn’t win, the thought of an open-ended retirement in Leachlara sank his mood further. All that had changed the night he had taken his life by the scruff of the neck and decided to think just of himself and put his own pleasure first for a change. Leda was getting her pay-off and he was getting his. He felt alive and ready for anything and everything that might come his way.
The prawns were tough and the sauce was watery and under-seasoned. Mary Abernethy was not impressed by her husband’s choice of restaurant. She could think of at least half a dozen places in nearby streets that could top his choice but lack of taste and poor judgement were traits she depended on in her husband. In fact she found it comforting that he so often got so much wrong. Still, it was lovely to see Dan and she had to admit that his little slip of a girlfriend seemed sweet and was very attractive. Her features were delicate. She was well groomed in a way that pleased Mary Abernethy. Her long dark hair was swept back from her face in a chic pleat, her fingernails were polished and her dress, though a little on the low-cut side for Mary’s liking, was elegant and looked expensive. Dan had chosen well but then again she expected nothing less. She had taught him to recognize class when he saw it. Dan seemed very proud of Alison. He scarcely took his eyes off her and in the interests of keeping her son happy Mary decided that she would do her best not to show how much she detested her husband. She would try to conceal how her skin prickled with disdain when he opened his mouth. It was only right that young people should believe in love and believe that another person could make you happy. She had believed in all that once too, believed that Con Abernethy would never let her down. She ate the turgid prawns as her way of committing to an acceptably pleasant afternoon.
Alison had ordered the prawns too and thought they were delicious. She had never been to any place quite so posh and was doing her best not to show how overwhelmed she felt by the occasion and the restaurant. Caharoe didn’t really run to smart places to eat. Lovett’s was the mainstay of the Sunday-lunch crowd and apart from a sandwich bar and a small coffee shop and bakery at the end of Earl Street there was nowhere else. She wondered what Rose, probably now up to her neck in chip fat at the Daisy May, would make of the Liffey Bar and Grill. She might take her the single-sheet daily-specials menu as a souvenir. If Ciara were there she would more than likely lift the salt cellar, a few napkin rings or maybe a light fitting, but Alison had none of her bravery or lack of fear.
Ciara had sent her with the express purpose of finding out exactly what Mary Abernethy was like. She maintained that she knew all she needed to know about Con. All of Leachlara thought his wife was a stuck-up cow and nothing that Alison was witnessing was giving her much cause to disagree. Mary was cold and formal with her husband, hardly willing to look his way or wait for him to finish a point before interrupting him. She was different with Dan but her adoring gazes and acquiescent nods seemed overplayed and somewhat fake. The lack of natural warmth between them was quite startling. Dan behaved with her as if he was in the company of an ageing aunt who had to be indulged and tolerated. In contrast Dan and Con were a comfortable double act and Alison was finding it very hard to reconcile the idea of his father that she had garnered from Ciara’s damning reports with the man who sat opposite her making every effort to put her at her ease.
‘So, Alison, I promise not to hold it against you, but do you reckon your folks vote with my lot or do they line up with the chancers on the other side?’ Con winked at her so she knew he really didn’t give two hoots what way her parents voted.
Before she had a chance to reply Mary was in like a shot. ‘For God’s sake, Con, will you let the girl alone? Do you really think she cares one iota about politics? A young girl has other things on her mind and, just in case you think the fame of Con Abernethy has reached our neighbouring counties, I doubt very much if Mr and Mrs Shepherd have ever heard of you. You might think you are a sniff away from the cabinet table but you are just a big fish in a small pond. Now, if you will excuse me, Alison and Dan, I must go to the bathroom.’
When she left the table the air of tension that had settled around them like a coiled spring relented and Alison knew that in this dynamic she would always feel more at home with the Abernethy men. Ciara was right. Mary was a stuck-up cow and she felt sad for Dan that every time his mother opened her mouth he seemed to freeze in anticipation of another bitter comment to follow on from the last. Con chatted to her about Caharoe; he had worked there straight after he left school but she thought the business he spoke of must no longer exist because its name didn’t ring a bell. She told him about her father’s practice and how her mother looked after all the practicalities of running it so her father could concentrate on the patients. As she talked to Con she could feel Dan watching her with admiring warmth, adding in details which she had forgotten and making sure the flow of conversation continued. She felt she was doing OK, giving a good account of herself as Rose had urged her to do in her pep talk the day before. By the time Mary came back from the bathroom Con had gone ahead and ordered desserts. He was due back at the Dáil for an important vote for which he had no pairing and so could not linger with them. In her absence he ordered crème brûlée for his wife. ‘It’s her favourite,’ he explained to Alison, ‘or used to be anyway,’ he added a touch wistfully.
Mary didn’t lift a spoon to her dessert. ‘Far too warm a day to think of eating sweet things,’ she said, though no one at the table, devouring their delicious desserts, was sure what exactly that was supposed to mean.
Con kissed Alison on the cheek, said how delighted he was to meet her and thanked her for making Dan look so happy. Dan hugged his father warmly and watched with practised resignation as his mother refused to catch his father’s eye as he left the restaurant. Mary settled a little when Con had left and she seemed to make a renewed effort to be pleasant and engaging.
‘I hope you will come to see us in Leachlara now, Alison. We are quite convenient to the town, so you and Dan could go out although quite what there is to do in Leachlara of a night remains a mystery to me. Still, we would love to see you. Let’s arrange it soon, Dan.’
‘Yeah, Mam, but we both have exams coming up so it might be the summer before we can get down.’
‘Right, well, whatever you say, pet. Anyway, I have to make the three-thirty from Heuston. Would you ever be an angel and get them to call a taxi for me?’
With his mother packed off to the train Dan led Alison for a meandering stroll through Stephen’s Green. He was subdued and when pressed he admitted that he had found his parents’ brittle behaviour and the resulting awkwardness difficult to bear because he had wanted it to be easy for Alison.
‘It wasn’t that bad, Dan. They both made an effort, especially your dad. I thought he was quite sweet, to be honest, and I wasn’t really expecting that. I thought he would have at least one pair of horns and a tail to swing.’
‘It’s Mam who always makes things difficult. I know he isn’t always right but she could bear a grudge for an entire continent. Anyway, thanks for meeting them. You were absolutely brilliant. Promise me one thing though.’
‘Anything.’
‘Really? Anything at all? Well, I know the very thing that would make me blissfully happy but seeing as you are blushing now we can negotiate that later.’ He touched her face gently with his hand, feeling the soft lushness of her skin. Alison was willing her face not to redden any more.
‘What do you want me to promise, Dan?’ she asked as coolly as she could manage.
‘That we will never end up like them and that even if it’s the last place on earth we will never live in Leachlara. I will live anywhere else as long as I am with you. I might even risk life and limb and chance a stint in Cork,’ he added with a wink.
‘I promise.’
They found a seat by the duck pond and Alison cuddled into him to share another of their gorgeous kisses. She was grateful that he wasn’t putting pressure on her to sleep with him but if she were truthful she would admit that she wanted to more than anything. Everything about Dan made her want to get in deeper and to know him better. She trusted her judgement and she trusted him. She kissed him passionately and as the April afternoon sun slipped from the sky she knew she was in love and that life could not possibly offer anything else that would make her happier.