Sushi for Beginners - Marian Keyes [61]
‘Because it’s… um… fun.’
‘I have to go.’ Joy rescued the situation. ‘I’m afraid I’m going to die. See you later. What time are we going to the River Club?’
‘I said I’d meet Lisa there at nine.’
‘You have all these friends that I don’t know.’ Clodagh stared resentfully after her. ‘Her, and that Ted. I’m buried alive.’
‘Well, why don’t you come out with us? I keep inviting you.’
‘I could, couldn’t I? Dylan can bloody well babysit for a change.’
‘Or Dylan could come too.’
18
Ashling had been wrong – Marcus Valentine didn’t ring her. She could hardly believe her luck. All week her answering machine had crouched in her flat with the menace of an unexploded bomb. If she came in from work and the light was flashing red, her heart leapt into her mouth. But, though there was a message from Cormac saying that a skip for the dead branches would be delivered on Tuesday and another to say that the skip would be collected on Friday, there was not a word from Marcus Valentine. By Saturday evening, when she got home from her day’s shopping with Clodagh, she knew there wouldn’t be.
But as she painted her fingernails (and a fair portion of her surrounding fingers also) light-blue in honour of the gig at the River Club, she realized there was a small chance Marcus would notice her in the audience. She hoped he wouldn’t, she really hoped he wouldn’t. The spoils from her day’s shopping were spread out on her bed – light-blue Capri pants, killer sandals, white waist-tied shirt. Maybe she shouldn’t wear them tonight – after such a lucky escape wouldn’t it be foolhardy to look nice?
But she’d only be cutting off her nose to spite her face. There’d be other people there – she had to think about them.
Around nine o’clock, Ted and Joy showed up. Joy complimented Ashling on her funky pastel glamour, but Ted was agitatedly whispering, ‘My owl has got no wife. Shit, that’s wrong! My wife has got no nose. No! Shit, shit, shit!… We might as well stay at home,’ he said tearfully. ‘I’m going to be atrocious. People have expectations of me now. It was different when I didn’t have a following. My owl has got no nose…’
Already Ashling was plopping a drop of rescue remedy on his tongue, rubbing lavender oil on his temples and shoving the Serenity Prayer under his nose. ‘Read that, and if it doesn’t do the trick, we’ll move on to the Desiderata.’
‘Bring me the lucky Buddha,’ he hyperventilated from the couch.
‘How’s Half-man-half-badger?’ Ashling asked Joy, as they hefted the statue to Ted.
‘Mick is fine.’
Things must be serious, if Joy was now calling Half-man-half-badger by his real name. Next they’d be visiting garden centres together.
Ted perked up after he’d polished the lucky Buddha, located a comforting tarot card and had his horoscope read to him. (Ashling read out Aries even though Ted was a Scorpio, because Scorpio wasn’t looking so hot.)
‘Now, the pair of you are to be on your best behaviour tonight,’ Ashling warned. ‘You’re to be very nice to Lisa.’
‘She needn’t think she’ll be getting any special treatment from me,’ Joy said defensively.
‘Is she a total bitch?’ asked Ted.
‘Not as such.’ Not always, in any case. ‘But she’s tricky. The trickiest of tricky biscuits. Let’s go.’
Looking their very best, the three of them clattered and chattered down the stairs. Buoyed up by that bright Saturday-night sensation of standing right on the very fringe of their future. The exhilarating anticipation that the rest of their life was ripe to reveal itself.
The homeless boy was sitting on the pavement outside, with his ever-present orange blanket, which wasn’t very orange any more. Ashling ducked her head – every time she saw him she felt obliged to give him a pound and she was beginning to resent it. Then she snuck a glance at him and he wasn’t even looking, he was reading a book.
‘Hold it, lads, I just want to…’ She trotted back to him.
‘Howya!’ He looked up, pleasantly surprised, as if they were old friends who hadn’t met for ages. ‘You’re looking well. Off out?’
‘Er, yes.’ She held out a pound which he didn’t take.
‘Where to?