Kerrie O’Neill watched as Matt got ready to go home to Moyle House for the weekend.
‘Please, Kerrie, come with me?’ he pleaded. ‘I can’t face it on my own.’
‘No! I’m not going, Matt,’ she insisted stubbornly. ‘I’ve had enough of it! I’ve had enough of your parents and their problems. You are not going to be able to solve it, Matt, you know you’re not. Your dad is in far too deep. The bank told you that. His losses are enormous.’
‘He’s under huge pressure from them. I’ve got to try and help him. For God’s sake, he’s my dad.’
‘Matt, he’s no bloody saint. He got himself into this mess. He owes the bank a fortune. It’s a wonder they didn’t call his loans in sooner.’
‘Gerard Mullen is responsible for most of this,’ he shouted at her. ‘Dad would never have got involved in all this mad buying if Gerard and that bloody solicitor of his hadn’t encouraged him.’
‘Face it, Matt, your dad gambled and now he has lost! I feel sorry for him and your mum, but you know as well as I do that the banks just want to get some sort of settlement and repayment schedule set up.’
‘Come down, then, and help me explain it to them.’
‘No,’ said Kerrie firmly.
The past few weeks had been an utter nightmare, with Matt having to deal with the bank and the revenue and do everything in his power to try and sort out his dad’s finances. There were constant phone calls and messages, and Dermot Hennessy regularly visiting their apartment, trying to sort out some sort of viable rescue plan. Matt was up till all hours on his laptop going round and round in circles doing calculations and trying to find some way out of the quagmire his father had managed to get himself into. He looked exhausted, and was barely sleeping. She loved Matt for his kindness, and she knew he was just being a good son, but he was so wrapped up in his family’s affairs that she felt totally pushed aside. All he cared about was the Hennessy name and reputation, and trying to save it.
She was exhausted with it. Dermot Hennessy’s business with Gerard Mullen – ‘Goldsmith County Investments’ – had been put into receivership, and on paper it looked like Matt’s dad owed five to six million to the banks. What the hell had the Hennessys been up to? She knew if Matt had had the money himself he would have used every red cent of it to bail his father out, which irked her even more.
She saw it every day in work: clients who refused advice and just literally wanted to take a gamble on some company or other, or shares, or invest in an off-the-wall scheme. Sometimes their gambles paid off, but more often than not the money was gone and they had to accept that they had lost.
‘Just come down for a day, Kerrie,’ Matt persisted. ‘We’re having a big family meeting. Mum and Dad would want you there.’
‘Matt, they wouldn’t!’ she shouted back. ‘I’m hardly your parents’ favourite person. Your mother barely tolerates me!’
‘Don’t say that about her!’ he said defensively. ‘She’s been having an awful time of it, you know that.’
Kerrie bit her lip. She was not going to tell Matt exactly what she thought of his mother. ‘Listen, Matt, it’s far better you go down and try to persuade them about selling the house quickly before the bank does. You need to sit Ed and Georgina down and explain exactly what is going on to them. Get your dad to agree to appoint an auctioneer. Anyway, you are far better able to handle your parents without me around.’
‘But I want you there, Kerrie,’ he kept on angrily. ‘Why won’t you come?’
‘Every weekend it’s been the same,’ she retorted. ‘All we talk and think about is your parents and the house and what is going to happen to them. I’m not doing it this weekend.’
‘You are so selfish, Kerrie … so self-centred,’ he said, zipping his bag and grabbing his car keys. ‘This is just too messy for you. It’s like this apartment, and our wedding. You want everything perfect and clear-cut! Nothing out of place for perfect Miss Kerrie O’Neill, or you will tidy it up and put it away.’
‘I am being selfish,’ she shouted as he walked out the door and banged it after him. ‘I’m going looking for my wedding dress. I’m going to try and sort out the accommodation for our wedding. I’m going to phone that little French priest that we want to marry us …’