Sushi for Beginners - Marian Keyes [184]
‘And I would have called over the weekend but I was working. Mental shoot in Glasgow with psychotic models. Twenty-hour days.’
‘It’s OK.’
‘So, um… even though we knew this was going to happen, it doesn’t feel too hot, no?’
‘No,’ she gulped.
‘But one of us had to do it.’ He sounded very uncomfortable. ‘To be honest, babes, I thought it’d be you. I was wondering what was taking you so long.’
‘Busy,’ she swallowed. ‘New mag and all that.’
‘Right! But, hey, I felt a total toe-rag putting those five things on it. I don’t mean to bad-mouth you, you know that, right? Like, I was pissy at the time but not now, know what I’m saying? But they’re the rules. We’ve not been separated two years and adultery wasn’t the reason we split, so we have to give some reason to the court.’
Lisa wasn’t quite ready to speak. She was waiting for the storm of crying that was happening in a locked place within her to pass. If she opened her mouth now it would all come out.
‘Lees,’ he pressed. He sounded concerned.
‘I…’ she managed.
‘Heyyyy,’ he cooed.
‘It’s very sad,’ she shook.
‘I know, I know. Tell me about it!’ After a pause, Oliver seemed to be thinking aloud. ‘Why don’t I visit you? We can sort it, put it to bed and all that.’
‘You’re loco.’
‘I’m not loco. Look at it this way, we can both save ourselves a wedge in solicitor’s fees if we sort out things like the apartment face to face. Any idea how much it’ll cost each time my brief writes a letter to yours? Lots, Lees, I’m telling you.
‘C’mon babes,’he coaxed. ‘We can do this totally, like, amicably. One on one. Mano a mano’ When she didn’t speak he cajoled further, ‘Hombre a hombre.’
With the tiniest of laughs, she managed, ‘OK.’
‘Yeah? For real? When?’
‘This weekend?’
‘You won’t be working?’
‘No.’
‘Well, well, well,’ he said, in a tone she wasn’t quite sure of. Then he lightened up. ‘I’ll try and get a flight on Saturday and I’ll bring all the bumpf.’
‘I’ll meet you at the airport.’
Just one night, she promised herself. One night pressed up against him, then she’d get over it.
She hung up the phone, unsure of what to do next. She could go back to bed, but instead, on a wild whim, decided to ring Jack.
‘Thank you for the flowers.’
‘Don’t mention them. They were just to say that we… I… have the greatest respect for you and that –’
‘Jack, apology accepted,’ Lisa cut in.
‘Ehm, what are you talking ab –’ Then Jack stopped and sighed. ‘OK, thank you.’
‘So what’s been happening?’ She almost managed to sound interested.
Jack’s tone cheered. ‘Lots of good stuff, actually. The magazine’s gone into reprint. I don’t know if you saw them but pictures of the party were in five papers over the weekend and we’ve had requests for you to go on national radio during the week. We’ve had four unsolicited applications to replace Mercedes. Dublin’s a very small place. And I found out which magazine Mercedes has gone to. It’s not Manhattan, it’s a teen weekly called Froth’
It could have been because Oliver was coming, it could have been the good reports about Colleen, it certainly could have been the news about Mercedes, but something had shifted in Lisa, because when Jack then asked, ‘Any chance of you coming back to work?’ she was able to answer, ‘S’pose.’
‘Good.’ he said. ‘That means I can stop writing this article on men’s skincare.’
‘???’
‘Trix made me do it. With yourself and Ashling out and Mercedes gone, she’s the most senior member of Colleens editorial staff who’s in. The power has gone to her head. She’s talking about sending Bernard for a facial just to see if she can make him cry.’
‘I’ll be in in an hour.’
En route to the bathroom for a much-needed shower, Lisa passed her bedroom and was shocked at the state of it. What had she been thinking of? She just wasn’t the kind of person who lost it. Other people did, and good luck to them. But not Lisa – like it or not she was a survivor. Not that she didn’t feel raw and wretched. She did. But nervous breakdowns were like coloured contact lenses – fine for other people, but they weren’t really her.
57
Ashling shifted