No Way to Say Goodbye - Anna McPartlin [52]
Penny made her way to Mickey Ned’s. The bar was busy and she waved at Tin and his wife before passing them in favour of Josie and Jamie, the beautiful black-haired Casey twins, Kerry roses who had gone on to become bored wives of very wealthy men in Kilkenny and Tipperary respectively. They waved madly, delighted that someone slightly less tedious than their present company had entered. Penny approached while signalling her drink order to Ger, the barman. He knew exactly what she wanted – the same as always: vodka on the rocks. Josie and Jamie both hugged her at once and told her how great she looked. Jamie managed to squeeze the bruise on her arm and Josie rubbed against the really sore one on her hip. She grinned through the discomfort and welcomed the girls home while nodding at their husbands who were deep in conversation about VAT. The three girls found seats near the corner of the bar. The twins were grinning insanely.
“So you’ve heard I’m an adulterer?” Penny said, matching the grins to disguise her humiliation.
“Technically he’s the adulterer,” Josie said.
“You’re the coveter,” said Jamie.
“And, yes –” Josie said excitedly.
“– we can’t believe it!” finished Jamie.
“Maire McGowen said it’d been going on in secret for years,” said Josie.
“I don’t know how you did it,” Jamie said in awe. “I mean, nobody can keep a secret in this town.”
“Yeah, well, I’m the Inspector Clouseau of sluts,” Penny said, chortling at her own joke. The sisters didn’t get it. “I wore disguises,” she qualified.
They laughed, but she could tell they still didn’t understand.
“You’re filthy,” Josie observed ruefully.
“You’ve no idea,” Penny said, and swigged her drink.
“You and Adam,” Jamie said, “even if we didn’t know you were actually doing it, there was always something between you.”
Suddenly Penny felt like crying. Clearly Jamie spotted this because she ordered her another drink, and Ger was quick to bring it.
“Is he gone for good?” Jamie asked.
Penny sighed and nodded. “I believe he is.”
“You’re better off without him,” Josie said.
“I’m really sorry,” said Jamie.
“Thanks,” Penny replied. “Me too.”
After that the twins spoke of their kids, and how their husbands played golf too much, and when they weren’t playing golf they were working, and when they weren’t working they were watching sport, and when they weren’t watching sport they were flicking channels as though they were brain-dead. The kids didn’t get a look in, as far as their fathers were concerned, and yet when the men did the smallest thing the kids considered them bloody heroes. Jamie was remodelling her house and the builders were her new nightmare. Josie was taking yoga lessons and her periods had become heavier since she’d started. Still, she was sticking to it because it was nice to get out on a Tuesday morning and her thighs felt firmer. Penny made jokes and they told her she’d always been a scream. All the while they drank and neither sister noticed that their friend was imbibing three drinks to their one, so delighted were they to offload their crap and so happy that she could make jokes to lift them from their perceived misery.
“Josie?” Penny leaned in, drink in hand.
“Yes?”
“I know your husband’s a dick but look at it from my point of view,” she drawled.
“And what’s that?” Josie played along.
“Men are like car spaces – the best ones are always taken and the rest are handicapped.”
The twins laughed, and Penny silently gave thanks for joke email.
Eventually they asked for her news but, aside from the scandal, she didn’t have any, which, for a journalist, was pretty sad. She could have talked about work but why bother? They could read that and, anyway, it wasn’t hers, it was someone else’s. Instead she stuck to making them laugh and drinking.
“So, is there anyone here you’re interested in?” Josie