Minding Frankie - Maeve Binchy [111]
“Not really, but you do look happy,” the girl said.
Lisa decided to let Anton speak again. “Well, we are, I hope. I mean, who wouldn’t be happy in this lovely place and if there was a complimentary upgrade to the honeymoon suite, that would be the icing on the cake.” He smiled his heartbreaking smile and Lisa noticed the receptionist join the long line of women who fancied Anton.
It was so cheering to be here with him and to know that April was out in the wilderness, not posturing and putting her small bottom in her skintight jeans on Anton’s desk or the arm of his chair. April was miles and miles away.…
But then the trip was over and it was back to reality. Back to lectures in the college three nights a week, back to Frankie waking up all hours of the night, back to April, who was inching her way again into Anton’s life.
Lisa noted that a lot of free events had been arranged in Anton’s, occasions that would be written up in the papers, perhaps, but that did not put paying customers in seats, which was what they needed. She worried that too much was being spent on appearance rather than reality. The bottom line was the numbers of people you got in to pay for the meals and tell their friends, who would also come in and hand over money. Not just another charity press conference with minor celebrities who would be photographed for gossip columns. This was April’s world.
Lisa was not so sure it was right. But when Lisa was alone with Anton, she kept quiet about her misgivings. Anton hated being nagged. To tell him he was high on publicity and low on paying punters could well have been considered nagging.
Lisa was not happy to be home.
Emily was walking towards Muttie and Lizzie’s house when she saw Lisa, and she could judge Lisa’s mood from a long way off. She wondered was it going to be her only role in life from now on cheering people up and stressing the positive.
“How are things, Lisa? Noel told me you’ve been on a great trip to Scotland,” Emily said, without giving Lisa a chance to ask her about Betsy’s wedding.
“It was magic, Emily. Were you ever somewhere and wished that it would never end?”
Emily thought for a moment. “Not really. I suppose there has been a day here and there that I never wanted to end. My friend Betsy’s wedding day was one, and driving around Connemara was another. I suppose there were good days when I was teaching art too.”
“I had days which were all like that in Scotland,” Lisa said, her face radiant at the thought of it all.
“Great—you’ll have the memory of that to keep you going when you get back to your studies.” Emily knew she sounded brisk.
“Noel’s been marvelous; he has all his notes photocopied for me and he’s arranged for Molly Carroll to take Frankie for a walk in the park and he had to make sure that Bossy Boots knows all our plans. I’m just coming down here to make sure that Mrs. Carroll has cover for the thrift shop.”
“You can’t stand in the thrift shop all day—you have your studies to catch up on.”
“I have some of my notes here. It won’t be that busy,” Lisa said.
“I’ll look in after I’ve seen Muttie and Lizzie.”
“Not much good news there,” Lisa said, shaking her head. “Muttie’s chemo has stopped and Lizzie keeps making impossible plans for the future. Hey, you have enough to do getting over jet lag and visiting Muttie. I’ll survive in the thrift shop for a bit.”
“We’ll see,” Emily said.
· · ·
Muttie looked much frailer even after three weeks. His color was poor and his face seemed to have hollows in it; his clothes hung off him. His good humor was clearly not affected, though.
“Well … show us pictures of how the Americans do a wedding,” he said, putting on his spectacles.
“It’s not very typical,” Emily explained. “Fairly mature bride and maid of honor, for one thing.”
“The groom is no spring chicken either,” Muttie agreed.
“Look at the lovely clothes!” Lizzie was delighted with it all. “And what are all these Chinese signs?”
“Oh, we went to Chinatown for dinner,” Emily said.