She sensed him stiffen beside her. “I’m sorry – forget I said anything … ” Then recalling his reticence to discuss it, a sudden realisation dawned. “You’re married?”
Mike said nothing in reply for a moment and Jenny felt a rush of disappointment.
“Iwas,” he confirmed then, “but not any more.”
“Oh.” She wanted to know more, but yet didn’t want to pry. Was he a widow, separated …?
“I’m divorced,” he answered her unspoken question.
“Oh.”
“No big deal. It was a long time ago. But the experience has made me more than a little cynical.”
His wife must have left, or cheated on him, maybe. “I’m sorry, I feel really bad now. I didn’t mean to pry, I hardly know you …”
“Forget it. But,” he added, with a grin. “Tit for tat. You mentioned earlier that you’d just come out of a serious relationship. What’s your story?”
She sighed. “No story as such, and it wasn’t that serious – not to him anyway,” Jenny added darkly. “In the end I caught him cheating, but I think all along I knew it wasn’t the first time. I just wouldn’t admit it.” To her surprise, she felt liberated by her own words, relieved that she could finally admit out loud, not just to herself, but to a stranger that her and Roan’s relationship had been a sham.
“Well, I know it sounds cliché,” Mike said, giving her a sideways glance, “but he’s a fool – whoever he is.”
She laughed, gratified. “You’re right – it is clichéd. But thanks anyway.”
They chatted for a while longer and Jenny discovered that she had been correct in guessing that his wife had left him.
“We’d been together for years before we married – I studied in London and we met in college,” he told her. “Rebecca was one of my lecturers. I set up the company not long after our wedding and it was difficult for a while – I was rarely home and under a lot of pressure – and I suppose Becky was bored. She seemed to have her heart set on starting a family too. I thought she understood that InTech was my priority, for a while at least. We argued a lot, mostly about that …”
“You didn’t want kids until the business was fully up and running.”
Mike nodded. “I thought that was reasonable but Rebecca is a few years older, and her biological clock was ticking, as it were.” He looked sadly into the distance. “Plus I just wasn’t ready. Having a family would put me under twice as much pressure to make the business work. She agreed to wait at least until I was sure InTech was viable. When I say agreed, I mean reluctantly,” he added. “And then ... then it wasn’t long before things got strained.”
Jenny thought she could guess the end of the story. “She resented having to wait?”
“Something like that,” he said hoarsely. “Anyway, tocut a long story short, she ended up leaving me for someone else.”
He said this in such a way that despite his earlier protests, Jenny knew he was still hurting.
Seems she and Mike Kennedy had a lot more in common than they thought.
33
Shane nudged Karen’s feet as he tried in vain to vacuum the carpet beneath her while she lounged on the sofa. “Will you get a move on? They’ll be here soon.”
“Honestly, you’re like a mother hen going around with your polish and duster.” She flipped a page of the magazine she was reading, looking up at him through narrowed eyes.
“Ah, make a bit of an effort, will you? I’m trying to make this place look respectable.” With feigned sternness, he handed her a cloth and a bottle of Mr Sheen. “Here – move your ass and get going on that coffee table.”
“All right, Mammy.” Karen reluctantly got up and checked the clock on the mantelpiece. “Shane, it’s only two. They won’t be here for another hour at least, and you know what Tessa and Gerry are like for timekeeping. Relax.”
Just then the doorbell rang on cue.
“Feck.” Shane shooed her out of his way and went to answer the door.
Karen shook her head in amusement. Sod the newlyweds, he was obviously trying to make an impression on Mike Kennedy. Shane had really taken to him on the day of the wedding. Mike too was an avid Liverpool FC supporter and her fiance was thrilled to find a like-minded soul. Not to mention a season-ticket holder at Anfield.
She heard a shriek from the doorway and went out to see a very tanned and overexcited Tessa engulf Shane in a bearhug, while Gerry looked on.
“Mr & Mrs Burke,” she greeted, kissing Gerry on the cheek. “Welcome home. How was Bali?”
