‘Did you just saytake it easy?’ she laughed. ‘You were always the sensible one out of the three of us, weren’t you? Always looking out for us. Such a good friend.’ She looped her arm in his, managing to pour another glass as she guided Oliver down a short hallway, passing the lounge. They stopped at her bedroom door.
Oliver turned to her. ‘What’s going on?’
She tugged him inside, set the bottle down on the bedside table, drained another glass, put that down next to the bottle, and turned to him. ‘We’re having sex,’ she said matter-of-factly, unbuttoning her shirt. ‘It’s what you always wanted, isn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ he said carefully. ‘But not like this.’
‘Like what? Oh, you don’t like it here in the flat?’
‘No, not at all. It’s not your flat – it’s you.’
‘Oh,’ Bridie stopped fumbling with her buttons and looked up at him. ‘But I thought you wanted me?’
‘I do. But only if you want me, Bridie.’
‘But I do!’ She reached for the bottle again.
Oliver gently took the bottle out of her hand and reached for her blouse.
‘Good idea,’ said Bridie. ‘My fingers are not working for some reason. You undress me.’
Oliver did up the buttons on her shirt.
She laughed, ‘And I thought I was the one who was a bit tipsy – you’re going the wrong way.’
‘I don’t think so, Bridie. Why don’t you lie down?’
Bridie lay down on her bed.
‘Let me take off your shoes.’
‘All right,’ Bridie said, yawning.
He removed her shoes.
‘I don’t want to be alone tonight,’ she murmured.
And there it was – just what Oliver suspected. She was lonely, and no more so than now she’d found out the real love of her life had betrayed her. Oh, how he wanted to punch Jack’s lights out. But it wasn’t Jack’s fault that she loved him and always would.
Oliver gently covered her with the duvet and lay beside her on top of it, fully clothed. Barney appeared, paws on the bed, whimpering. They both lay there, staring up at the ceiling.
‘This is nice,’ she said before turning over onto her side.
Barney appeared, paws on the bed, whimpering to join them.
Oliver leaned over the bed and reached for the pup. Barney wormed his way between them.
Bridie and her pup fell asleep moments later.
Oliver turned off the lamp. And with it, the last fragile hope he’d been clinging to for so many years.
Outside, Jack made the mistake of looking back on his way out of the yard. He saw the lights upstairs go out. His dream of a second chance with Bridie, no matter how fantastical after all these years, shattered in an instant.
Chapter 50
Rehearsals intensified as the days crept closer to opening night.
What had once felt tentative now carried urgency; voices sharpened, movements tightened, cues were called louder and more often. Bridie threw herself into it with ferocious energy, as if the show were the only thing keeping her upright. She prowled the stage, correcting blocking, reworking dialogue, sketching notes in the margins of her script until the pages curled and smudged beneath her fingers.
