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Diane watched Emily come to a standstill next to an elderly man who was reading the paper from the comfort of his deckchair. As she watched, her friend removed a tall glass from the tray she was carrying and set it down on the small table next to the stranger.
She stayed chatting to him for a minute, before picking her way across the paving slabs to where Diane awaited in the decked corner they had appropriated for their private use. She was wearing a pair of cut-off jeans and a halter neck top. As she sashayed along, her long, tanned legs glistened in the sunlight.
‘Have you been flirting with an oul fella?’ Diane enquired curiously, as her pal drew closer.
‘Not just any oul fella,’ Emily grinned, as she handed the other girl a tall glass. ‘His name’s Raymond Pearse. He lives on the second floor, and he’s no less than a circuit court judge. I thought the poor old dear was looking a bit cheesed off so I offered him a drink. He says I remind him very much of a woman he used to be deeply in love with when he was a young fella. Evangeline Elliot was her name. He says she was an actress.’
‘Wow,’ Diane grinned. ‘Maybe she’s a distant relative, you should check with your mum. Did he say what happened to her?’
‘She was twenty years older than him, and in those days respectable young men did not marry actresses twenty years their senior,’ Emily replied in a ponderous tone, in what Diane assumed was an imitation of her new friend.
By now, Emily had shoved the tray safely under a convenient table and made herself comfortable in the sun lounger next to her pal. She took a sip of her drink and sighed happily, saying, ‘I can’t believe your ma let us move in here for the week she’s at the races.’
‘Did you not think the boys’ reaction was strange when we told them?’ Diane frowned. ‘It’s like they didn’t even care. Deco’s staying in my room in Santry as if he’s never lived anywhere else. I warned him not to shift any girls in it.’
‘Sure as long as they’re not bothering us, what does it matter what they get up to?’ was the sensible response from Emily. ‘You can always sterilise the sheets when you get home. Better yet, buy new ones.’
‘You know, Ems,’ Diane turned her vivid green eyes on her friend. ‘Since we got here, I’m starting to wonder if Josh turned down the apartment Mum offered him because of me. Do you think he feels under some sort of weird obligation to take care of me?’
‘Absolutely not,’ Emily lied cheerfully. ‘I know for a fact he couldn’t be arsed to go looking for his own place. He’s far too busy spending his money and pissing about with that other eejit making a tool of himself.’
‘I guess you’re right,’ Diane sighed. ‘I’m definitely going to start apartment hunting at the end of this year. Josh would much rather live with Deco than me, and it’s not fair to get between them.’
‘You make them sound like star-crossed lovers,’ Emily giggled.
‘Not lovers,’ Diane frowned. ‘More than that. Sometimes I think Deco is Josh’s real twin, and I’m the spare part.’
‘If you’re going to start talking like your ma, I’m going to have to ban you from all further alcohol,’ Emily’s blue eyes twinkled in merriment. ‘Crazy chick.’
‘Speaking of alcohol,’ Diane indicated the glasses. ‘How did you get these past Jamie?’
‘It was no trouble at all. He says we’re to eat and drink anything we like. He’s going to do a big shop before your mum gets home and replenish all the stock. He didn’t even care I used half the bottle of Bacardi, although he says he’s under orders to confiscate any drugs he comes across.’
‘I’ll make sure Josh sorts him out with a few joints,’ Diane stretched like a kitten and pointed her toes. ‘That will keep him sweet. Jerome is amazing looking. It’s such a shame he’s gay.’
‘Amen to that,’ Emily chuckled. ‘I got him on his own earlier and took off my top to see if I could get a reaction from him.’
‘Why would you do such a weird thing?’ Diane demanded incredulously. ‘You do understand what a homosexual is, don’t you?’
‘I wanted to see his face,’ Emily sniggered. ‘He wasn’t even embarrassed. He asked me if I ever thought about posing nude for life drawing classes. He has a couple of friends who are artists. Then he called Jamie to come and check out my tits, and they both started mocking the female form, and saying mean things about the way women smell. Needless to say, I won’t be trying that little stunt again any time soon.’
‘Serves you right,’ Diane said firmly. ‘Leave the queers alone, there are plenty of straight fellas for you to torment.’
Just then her phone beeped and she lifted her sunglasses and peered at the message. It was a picture of Dorothy and Bel with their arms entwined, clutching glasses of champagne and grinning widely.
‘That’s the sort of hat Victoria Beckham would wear,’ Emily sounded admiring, as she peered over her friend’s shoulder. ‘Bel looks pure fab. Shame your mum never wears hats, she’d look great in most styles.’
‘Looks like they’re wearing the dresses they bought in Rome,’ Diane squinted at the miniature screen. ‘I wonder if Mum met any hot fellas.’
‘She’s bound to have met a few,’ was the dry response from her friend, ‘whether or not she did anything about it is a different matter.’
‘Do you think it’s weird? Diane regarded the taller girl seriously. ‘That Mum is single, I mean.’
‘Totally,’ Emily replied firmly. ‘What would be the harm in dating a few fit fellas when she has the chance? She doesn’t have to marry any of them if she doesn’t want to. What’s she saving herself for? Do you know?’
‘I used to think it was odd when I was a kid,’ Diane sounded hesitant. ‘But I understand her better now. She doesn’t trust her choices any more. I think she did when she was younger, but now she’s very wary about getting into a bad situation again.’
‘What happened between her and your dad?’ Emily probed.
‘I think she was madly in love with him and he broke her heart,’ Diane sighed sadly. ‘Sometimes my nan and granddad talk about the way Mum and Dad were when they were our age. Mum was head over heels in love with Dad, but he wasn’t ready for marriage and children, and it all went south when they moved away. They still blame Lelia for breaking them up.’
‘They do not!’ Emily looked shocked. ‘It was hardly her fault.’
‘Nan and Granddad think it was. I’ve often heard them say if not for Lelia getting pregnant, Dad might have persuaded Mum to go back to him, and we would all still be together as a family.’
‘So you think that’s the main reason your mum never remarried?’ Emily was all agog. ‘Your dad broke her heart so badly, it’s never really healed?’
‘I think it has a lot to do with it,’ Diane nodded. ‘She hardly ever mentions him, and when she does it’s never complimentary, although I think that’s her way of hiding her true feelings. Sometimes I wonder if she ever really got over him. Maybe there’s a small corner of her psyche that still loves him and it stops her from moving on.’
‘I guess that’s possible,’ Emily sounded doubtful. ‘Or it could be she hasn’t met the right fella yet. Victor wasn’t much of a catch, but now she has the world at her feet, she’s bound to meet somebody more worthy of her. Maybe even a guy with money. That would be better, because she wouldn’t have to worry if he was only after her for what he could get.’
As if on cue, the phone beeped again. This time the photograph was of Dorothy surrounded by a bevy of well-dressed men, all clutching flutes of champagne and grinning down at her flirtatiously.
‘She won nine hundred and fifty euro on a horse called Otter and treated them all to champagne,’ Diane smiled fondly at the image. ‘She looks happy. I bet she’s playing them all off against each other.’
‘Fair play to her,’ Emily looked excited. ‘I’d love to see her with a real hunk of a man. I thought there was talk of a date with some English fella. Did nothing come of it?’
‘I’m not sure it was a date exactly,’ Diane shrugged. ‘I don’t know anything about him except he lives in London, so it wouldn’t exactly have been convenient for them.’
‘I don’t see why not,’ Emily disagreed. ‘He wouldn’t be hanging around all the time annoying her, and she could pop over to see him any time she fancied a shag.’
‘What do you mean pop over?’ Diane poked her friend in the arm. ‘She can’t just magic herself to London at the drop of a hat.’
‘I’m talking about a helicopter,’ Emily explained patiently. ‘It’s not as if she can’t afford one.’
Diane threw back her head and laughed in delight. A couple of the other sunbathers smiled to hear the joyful sound in the rather staid environment of the Falcon roof garden.
‘Imagine travelling between Dublin and London by helicopter every few days just to maintain a relationship,’ the girl gurgled. ‘The guy would really want to be something special to go to all that trouble.’
‘Stranger things have happened,’ Emily replied huffily. ‘The day might come when even you might be grateful to see a chopper hovering in the sky, knowing it’s come to whisk you off for fun and sex with some gorgeous hunk. Do you think your ma will build a helipad at the new house?’
‘Don’t go filling my mum’s head with crazy notions of helipads,’ Diane hissed. ‘I’m looking forward to using the tennis courts. How much fun do you think we’re likely to have on a hunk of asphalt with a giant red H painted on it?’
‘I take your point,’ Emily yawned and stretched all at the same time. ‘I won’t say a word about it. I can’t wait for the house to be finished. Deco says there’s going to be a sauna and hot tub.’
Emily’s phone rang and she leaped off the sun lounger to answer the call. She gaily greeted her mother and skipped off like a gazelle to talk to her. Diane drank more of her Bacardi and watched her friend twirling like a ballerina as she listened to her mother’s voice.
They had taken ballet classes together for many years, and her pal still regularly used the moves she had learned to keep limber. Diane had persisted with the lessons long after she had grown bored of them. Partly because Emily loved to dance and hated the idea of going alone, and partly because Dorothy encouraged her daughter to stick with it for the exercise benefits.
When Emily finally grew too tall for ballet, they moved on to horse riding, swimming and tennis. These lessons suited Diane better, and she quickly became proficient at all three. She had not expected anything to overshadow the pleasure these activities provided until the fateful day she discovered chess. Prior to that, she had never thought of herself as a tactician. The game had quickly become her one true passion. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it.
She snatched up her glass and downed half the contents. Emily came skipping back and saw what was happening. ‘What’s the matter? Why do you look so weird?’ she sounded scared.
‘I was thinking about my mum being alone for the rest of her life because she’s scared of getting hurt again,’ Diane replied in a small voice. ‘I think I’m going to need another drink. Is your mum okay?’
‘She wants to know what you think of this roof garden,’ Emily held up her phone and jiggled it.
Diane snorted and said, ‘It’s boring and, come winter, it will look like shit. Everything they’ve planted flowers between April and August. It’s like the designers live in a world where the year is only six months long.’
Emily put the phone to her ear and skipped off again to regale her mother with Diane’s opinion of fair weather roof garden designers. She was soon back asking, ‘Mum wants to plant something in the shady corner of our garden. Any ideas?’
‘Bizzy Lizzies love shade,’ Diane said helpfully. ‘Tell her to make sure she buys the disease resistant variety, that’s really important.’
Once again her friend relayed the message to her mother. She eventually disconnected the call and returned to reclaim her drink. Clearly feeling she deserved it, she knocked back a large portion of the cocktail.
‘Any news apart from the Bizzy Lizzies?’ Diane enquired casually.
‘My great-grandmother’s stage name was Evangeline Elliot,’ Emily chortled. ‘Mum says we’re to bring Raymond to our barbeque on Sunday so she can show him some old photos and chat to him about her granny. She’s thrilled at the idea of enticing a judge into her circle of friends.’
Diane opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish. ‘He was madly in love with your great-grandmother?’
‘Yep. How cool is that?’
‘It’s very cool, but why does your mum want to get to know a judge? It’s not as if she’s a criminal. They still run the PR company, don’t they?’
‘Business is booming,’ Emily grinned happily. ‘You know what she’s like. She loves the idea of high powered folks hanging around her house. She’s very like Bel in that respect. A bit of a name dropper.’
‘Gosh,’ Diane was unsure how to respond to this. ‘Well, we don’t want to disappoint her if her heart is set on it. We’d better go and have a word with Raymond and begin the enticement process.’
‘Let’s finish these drinks first,’ Emily shifted to get more comfortable on the lounger. ‘Maybe we should take up genealogy. We might discover we’re related to a duke or a lord, and have blue blood running through our veins.’
‘Evangeline and Elliot are wonderful names,’ Diane sighed dreamily. ‘Evangeline would be lovely for a girl, and Elliot would be perfect for a boy.’
‘Only two children?’ Emily teased.
‘Two is plenty,’ Diane replied firmly. ‘I don’t understand these couples who have enormous families. Where are they supposed to find the time for each other, to say nothing of their careers?’
Emily sniggered in amusement at this caustic comment. ‘There speaks the post-feminist. Let’s drink a toast,’ she raised her glass. ‘To Evangeline Elliot. My great-grandmother and your future children.’
Diane raised her own tumbler and the girls gently clinked their glasses together. ‘Evangeline and Elliot,’ they recited in unison.
They polished off the last of the Bacardi, then relaxed back into the loungers feeling rather giddy. They noticed Raymond throwing covert glances in their direction and waved gaily at him.
