It didn’t feel one bit OK, but she reasoned that, if it was going to happen sometime, it might as well be now, while she was looking her best. Taking her by the hand, Pete led her through the crowd – past Francis, who seemed to have struck up an intense conversation with Eloise – to meet his ex-partner and his ex-business partner. Up close, Tanya was just as intimidating – a platinum blonde with an hourglass figure and a level ofgrooming that left no chink of vulnerability – while Tony flashed a smile showing his exceptionally white teeth. They both looked like they’d been airlifted in from a Beverly Hills reality show.
‘Tanya, Tony – this is Ally,’ he announced. She felt like a baby antelope being introduced to a pride of lions.
Tony, who’d decidedly shrugged off any trace of his Monaghan accent, spoke in a slight American drawl and held out a brown hand, sporting a hefty gold signet ring with a sizeable diamond embedded in it.
He gazed at her appraisingly. ‘Very nice to meet you, Ally.’
Tanya reached out a long manicured hand with a whopping pink diamond that Ally felt sure was real. She’d never met anyone like this – so groomed, so polished, so fake.
‘Hi,’ she said in a tone that sounded like ‘fuck you’. ‘Nice place. Fun. I gather you were a waitress here.’
There was no mistaking it – despite her carefully curated smile, this woman was raging. She reminded Ally of the most popular girl in the class, who people secretly feared, yet longed to be close to.
One thing was clear: Tony and Tanya had one thing in common – hunger.
Ally glanced at Pete to gauge his reaction, but his gaze was fixed on Tony and he seemed not to have noticed. What part of him related to these people? she wondered. Was there a part of Pete she didn’t know?
Suddenly, Tanya’s mood seemed to lift, and her high-gloss, engaging persona slipped back into place. ‘This place is wonderful! Congratulations, of course, Pete is so clever.’
She reached out an artfully manicured talon and stroked his arm. It was for Ally’s benefit, nobody else’s. Ally felt a jolt of impatience. Enough of this crap, she wanted to shout, but somehow there wasn’t the opportunity.
‘Right, guys, we’re off,’ said Tony abruptly, as Ally spottedKathleen’s eyes boring into his back. ‘We’ll see you both again soon, I hope.’
Nothing untoward had taken place to the casual observer, but Ally felt like she’d been crawled over by spiders.
‘OK?’ Pete smiled at her.
‘I’ll talk to you later,’ Ally gasped before Dave dragged him away to talk to some friends.
‘You OK, girl?’ Rosemarie put her arm around her shoulders.
‘I’ve never met anyone quite like her before, Ros.’
‘Me neither. People like that don’t tend to hang around these parts.’
‘I mean, you and Fergus, you’re normal, Pete’s normal .?.?. at least when he’s with me. But those people, honestly, they scare me.’
She looked at Rosemarie, who could normally cut everyone down to size, but this time she just nodded.
‘They’re what my granda used to call high-rollers.’
Ally nodded back, grateful for her friend’s presence, even if she didn’t have any answers.
‘By the way, newsflash .?.?. You haven’t forgotten, have you? Next Saturday at noon we’re going wedding-dress shopping.’
‘Are you kidding, Ros? That’s what’s keeping me going. True love.’
‘Yep, when you know, you know.’
Just then Mum rocked up, a few Proseccos over the speed limit.
‘Darling, this is the best night ever,’ she hissed. ‘Your dad and I have been doing the tango. We cleared the floor. He’s such a sexy mover. We were magnificent.’
Uh, that was just a teeny bit more detail than Ally needed, but still, she was delighted to see Mum and Dad glowing.
Mum pulled her aside and whispered, ‘I can come back with Allegra Carmichel on Thursday night, since I’m a VIP now thatmy fabulous daughter is the proprietress! It’ll be a hoot. Darling, I always knew you were going to show them all!’
‘Right, we’re off, love,’ boomed Dad. ‘The taxi is at the door .?.?. Very proud of you!’
