‘You know what, Evelyn, I think I could do with doing some knitting myself.’
She glanced up at Ally over her glasses. ‘Is it your man?’
To her frustration, she began to feel her chin wobble. Evelyn pushed a serviette towards her.
‘Sorry, it’s not .?.?. only him. I just can’t hear myself think.’
Without looking, Evelyn turned the knitting and started on another row, her fingers seeming to move of their own volition.
‘There’s so many voices in my head .?.?. my mother, my friend, myself,’ gasped Ally.
‘So, who do you normally listen to?’
‘I’m not sure, honestly. I’ve just drifted into things – my job, my ex-boyfriend. But now everything’s gone crazy.’
She explained about the rogue email and losing her job,expecting either a laugh or a rebuke, but Evelyn kept working steadily.
‘You know, sometimes when people make mistakes or say the wrong thing, it’s because secretly they want something to change.’
‘That sounds like a line out of a fairytale.’
Evelyn smiled and nodded, without seeming to take the least offence.
* * *
Ally was back behind the counter when her phone pinged.
Sorry for being a cow. Can u talk?
Ally wedged herself round the side of the big fridge for privacy and made the call.
Rosemarie seemed to have completely forgotten their spat and started chatting as soon as she picked up the phone. ‘Jesus, you’ll never guess. I did a bit of rooting around online and you know what? I found paparazzi shots of Fitzmaurice’s ex, and she is seriously plastic.’
‘What?’
‘And she’s gone mad altogether with the filler in her cheeks.’
‘Ah, Rosemarie, loads of people get filler.’
‘Not like this. We are talking .?.?.Alvin and the Chipmunks.’
‘Calm down, Ros, she’s entitled to.’
‘I don’t want to be mean .?.?. but she’s also got an arse the size of Heuston station. BBL and that didn’t come cheap. He’s obviously been bankrolling her.’
‘Whatever, Rosemarie, but he’s allowed the situation to happen. Anyway, I don’t want to sit here obsessing aboutanother woman,’ said Ally wearily.
‘Which leads me on to my next point .?.?. We need to be in Ryans pub on Thursday night. I overheard William arranging it on the phone. So .?.?. look hot. Don’t, for God’s sake, be boring and tasteful – that’ll get you nowhere.’
Chapter 11
By 7 p.m. on Thursday evening, Ally was facing a massive pile of clothes on the bed. She’d gone through her hippy look, her slutty look, her preppy look, her fairycore, fetishcore, cottagecore and finally westerncore with a pink Stetson. In a burst of anxiety, she settled for a pair of well-fitting jeans as a starter.
She knew Rosemarie would be going for colour – probably some frilly off-the-shoulder top – so she couldn’t betray her friend by dressing down. The solution, she decided, was to show more skin. She pulled out a cropped denim waistcoat that looked casual but effortlessly sexy. At least she’d feel relaxed and confident, which she was going to need in spades to pull off ‘casually’ bumping into William and his hearty hikers. She added a pair of dangly retro earrings, plenty of smoky eye makeup and red, but not too vivid, lipstick – no point in looking like a lighthouse – all set off by her hair, glossy and thick, following a trim the previous day. Result! She swung round to catch sight of herself ‘accidentally’ in the mirror and acknowledged that she looked ‘fine’, which was a big deal for Ally. Throwing on her brown faux-fur coat, she swanned past the aquarium.
‘Don’t wait up!’ she called to Harry and Sally and vanished out the door.
* * *
