‘What about a walk and lunch on Saturday?’ suggested Sally, as the three friends left the Monkstown parish fundraising coffee morning. ‘Hugh’s off playing golf most of the day.’
‘Well, I’ve nothing on,’ admitted Nina. ‘What about going to Powerscourt?’
‘I haven’t been there since the autumn,’ Alice said.
Alice certainly liked having something to do on a Saturday, and the old Powerscourt house and estate in Eniskerry, with its magnificent Versailles-type gardens, waterfall and pet cemetery, had some great walks. During the summer months it could be very overcrowded with tourists and overseas visitors, but this time of year it would be a bit quieter.
Sally collected them at ten o’clock, and they went for a brisk two-hour walk around the grounds. They laughed as they watched a crowd of young scouts trying to set up their picnic near the waterfall. In the Japanese garden the early spring blossom had begun to appear and, like snow, clung to the branches of the trees, and along the rest of the woodland paths the ground was covered with dainty snowdrops, their pretty heads bowed. Sally, who had taken up digital photography, tried to capture them on camera.
‘I’m starving!’ said Nina, as they headed back to the old house, part of which had been restored and converted into a busy café and gift shop, with a great garden centre housed separately outside.
They managed to get a nice table near the window with wonderful views, and all opted for the lamb hotpot, which looked great with its pastry topping.
‘Good, warming, hearty fare,’ declared Alice, as Sally entertained them with the antics of her beloved little granddaughter Ava.
‘You’re such a granny!’ Alice joked.
‘I love being a granny!’ Sally admitted. ‘Though Hugh keeps saying he wants the baby to call him Hugh when she’s older, not Granddad! Did you ever?’
‘I cannot believe Hugh being vain like that!’ teased Nina. ‘David would love to be Granddad except that our two somehow got the words mixed up, and call him “Gandy”!’
‘Gandy?’ shrieked Nina and Alice in unison.
‘I know! Poor David, as no matter what he says they will not budge from it, and no doubt he’ll be Gandy for ever!’
Alice told them about her cookery school.
‘I just can’t believe it’s going so well, and that I’m enjoying teaching so much.’
‘Lucy says she really looks forward to Tuesday nights,’ confided Nina. ‘She says you are so interested in what you are doing that you are passing that enthusiasm down to them.’
‘That’s nice to hear.’ Alice smiled. ‘Lucy’s great, really bright, and a natural at cooking!’
‘She’s testing all your recipes on us and her new boyfriend Finn.’
‘Well done,’ said Sally. ‘We’re proud of you, Alice.’
‘I know, a few months ago I was so nervous about it. But now, I can’t believe it, I’ve so many people wanting to join that I’m starting a new group after Easter on a Thursday night.’
They had all picked out a cake for dessert and Alice offered to go up and get the coffees.
She was walking down with the tray in her hands when she almost did a double take … oh no … don’t say bloody Liam and Elaine were here, too! She had spotted Liam in the distance, and he seemed to be carrying food for two on a tray.
Don’t let them be sitting anywhere near us, she prayed silently! She really did not want to ruin a good day by bumping into her ex and his girlfriend.
‘Here’s the coffee,’ she said, almost flinging the scalding mugs at her friends. ‘Nina, change seats with me!’ she ordered.
‘What?’
‘Change seats!’
‘What is it? Alice, what’s up?’ Nina questioned, standing up and moving to the other side of the table.
‘I want to have my back to the rest of the restaurant. There is somebody I don’t want to see.’
‘Somebody?’ they both asked, curious eyes darting in all directions.
‘Stop it, the two of you!’ she bossed. ‘He’ll see you.’
‘He’ll … you don’t mean Liam, do you?’ asked Sally.
‘Where is he?’ asked Nina, spinning around and earning a sharp kick under the table.
‘He was walking over to the far side with a tray,’ Alice whispered.
‘Is she with him?’ quizzed Sally. ‘I’ve never seen her. I’d love to see what his girlfriend looks like.’
‘Feck off, Sally!’ Alice hissed. ‘I don’t want to meet them. Hopefully Liam didn’t see me.’
Alice tried to concentrate on eating her slice of carrot cake and forget about her ex-husband’s presence. The restaurant was long and quite spread out, and as usual was very busy. Hopefully with any luck he’d be gone before they finished. Liam was a real eat-and-go person, while the three of them were out to relax and were happy to chill here for the rest of the afternoon chatting and having more coffee.
‘He’s coming,’ whispered Sally, pasting a smile on her face. ‘He’s coming over this way with Elaine.’
‘Shit!’ thought Alice, wondering if she could make a sudden bolt for the Ladies.
‘Sally, how are you?’ asked her ex, stopping at the table. ‘How’s Hugh? I haven’t seen him in months.’
‘He’s fine, Liam. Off playing golf today, so we said we’d treat ourselves to lunch.’
‘Hi, Nina! Alice,’ he said, looking uncomfortable.
‘What are you doing here?’ quizzed Nina, peering at him over her expensive designer frames.
‘Elaine and I stayed over in the Ritz Carlton last night, and decided to stroll up here for a bit of lunch.’ He sounded slightly embarrassed.
‘The hotel is meant to be gorgeous!’ said Nina. ‘I haven’t been in it yet.’
‘It’s lovely, with a great restaurant and some spectacular views from the terrace,’ offered Elaine. ‘And of course the rooms are enormous.’
Alice clenched her fists under the table. The utter bastard! Her ex-husband and his girlfriend were swanning off to one of the most expensive hotels in Dublin for a night when he kept moaning to her about how tight things were financially, and how the kids needed to cut back and economize!
‘Everything OK with you, Alice?’ he asked, almost as an afterthought.
‘Fine.’
She had absolutely no intention of having any form of conversation with Liam in front of the girls. She had seen Elaine only once before briefly, and that was on the night two years ago that she had decided to surprise her husband in his regular wine bar. As soon as she’d seen the anorexic-looking Elaine she had got a strange sense of foreboding. OK, it had taken almost another three months for Liam to come clean about the affair, and admit that it was Elaine that he was seeing and phoning and texting constantly. It was only when he told her that he loved Elaine that Alice had finally begun to accept the inevitable break-up of their marriage.
It wasn’t her fault! She hadn’t done anything wrong! Yet somehow she blamed herself for letting Elaine steal her husband away.
‘Well, Elaine and I are going to go look at the fountain and walk down by the lake. Tell Hugh and David I said hello!’ Liam said, leaving their table and exiting by the large glass door that led out to the open-air terrace.
‘Phew!’ said Sally when they had disappeared. ‘That was awkward.’
‘I thought you said she was really good-looking, Alice,’ accused Nina. ‘She’s totally different from what I imagined.’
‘I saw her very briefly,’ Alice reminded her. ‘She was just a skinny brunette with long legs and high boots, who, when I saw her, was wrapped around my husband, for God’s sake!’
‘Definitely anorexic,’ Sally said sagely.
‘Very harsh-looking … hatchet-faced,’ added Nina.
‘Great body, great legs, great hair,’ Alice admitted. ‘Very stylish. Did you see those boots she was wearing? And her jacket? Though maybe she is kind of hard-looking. Her face is so thin and kind of …’
‘Botox?’ suggested Sally bitchily.
Alice burst out laughing. Sally was not only loyal but hilarious.
‘Liam looks well,’ Nina blurted out without thinking.
‘Sex and Botox!’ laughed Sally.
‘What?’
‘Shut up, you,’ said Sally and Alice in unison.