Last Chance Saloon - Marian Keyes [195]
‘Er,’ he said awkwardly, wondering why he was always the one who cleared up Lorcan’s messes, ‘it just goes to show that there’s only thirteen people in the world and they do the rest with mirrors. But I suppose we should be off. Amy? Tara? Lorcan?’
‘Yes, we should.’ Amy’s voice was choked.
Lorcan made no sign of having heard anything.
‘Lorcan?’ Benjy repeated, meaningfully.
‘But it’s nice here,’ Lorcan said softly, cruelly. Then he smiled at Katherine, who was lifelessly wedged between him and Joe. And the smile said, I’ll be back.
With lazy grace, Lorcan kept everyone waiting while he slowly unfolded himself from beside Katherine. ‘’Bye,’ he drawled, swinging himself towards the door.
‘’Bye,’ Tara and Benjy squeaked, unable to get out fast enough.
Amy opened her mouth to say goodbye but all that came out was ‘Aaarrr.’
The door slammed, the silence hummed and the room was almost empty of people yet full of malevolence.
‘How do you know Lorcan?’ Katherine asked Joe, in a death-knell voice. She didn’t turn to look at him.
‘I worked with him on an ad. Or, rather, didn’t work with him.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘He was such a handful we had to get another actor.’
‘Figures. That’s Lorcan. The big star.’ He didn’t know whether or not she was serious.
‘How do you know him?’
‘I lost my virginity – and a whole lot more – to him,’ she said hollowly.
The way she said it chilled him with real fear. He tried to put his arm around her and she writhed away. ‘No.’
‘No?’
‘I want you to leave,’ she told him coldly.
‘Don’t do this,’ he begged.
‘I want you to leave.’
Joe didn’t understand. He just knew something had shifted ineluctably; that he’d lost Katherine. Was it because she was angry about Angie? Or was it to do with Lorcan? He suspected it was more Lorcan than Angie. While Lorcan had been in the room, Joe had felt like he didn’t exist.
‘Go now,’ she ordered.
In despair, he tried again, but she was unreachable.
‘I’ll call you tomorrow,’ he promised, then reluctantly left.
Tara was mortified when she returned an hour later. ‘Katherine, I am so, so sorry. What a terrible coincidence. If I’d had any idea, any sort of inkling, that you knew Lorcan I wouldn’t have brought him near the place.’
‘You’re home early,’ Katherine said heavily.
‘Yeah, well…’ The evening had gone off-the-chart downhill after they’d left because the tension between Lorcan and Amy was so toxic. ‘So have I got this right?’ Tara asked. ‘Lorcan is Beaker from The Muppet Show? The one who was your boyfriend when you lived in Limerick?’
Katherine tipped her head slowly.
‘And he ditched you?’
‘Yeah. He ditched me.’
‘Fintan and I suspected at the time that your heart had been mashed.’
‘But I didn’t want to talk about it.’
‘We noticed,’ Tara said drily.
‘Sorry.’
‘He’s very good-looking,’ Tara said. ‘No wonder you were so upset when you came back to Knockavoy. But he’s a right prick at the same time. Thinks he’s God’s gift. Look at the way he flirted with you in front of his girlfriend.’
‘Yeah, that’s Lorcan.’
The weary way she near-groaned instead of speaking alerted Tara. Alarmed, she took in Katherine’s demeanour. She looked drugged. ‘Have you been smoking spliff?’
‘No.’
‘Are you drunk?’
‘No.’
‘Are you all right?’
‘Fine.’
‘You seem… not very with it. Are you upset? Was it a big shock to see Lorcan?’
‘Why would it be a shock?’
‘You tell me.’ Tara watched her carefully, then realized something. ‘Where’s Joe?’
‘Fuck Joe.’
Tara gasped. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Joe slept with a girl from work.’
‘Oh, no. Oh, no. Please tell me you’re joking.’
‘I’m not joking.’
‘He just didn’t seem the type. And he seemed to be crazy about you. Men, they’re all bastards, every single last one of them. And has it been going on all the time you’ve been seeing him?’
Katherine opened her mouth, but didn’t speak. Ah, feck it, there was no getting around it, she had to tell the truth. ‘Well, it actually happened before I got off with him. But all the same. He never told me, and I’ve been working in the same office