Falling in Love in New York (19 page)

“Yes, well anyway,” Abby didn’t really want to get into that just then. “What about you? Anyone interesting in your life?”

When Dermot reddened slightly at this, her eyes widened. “What? You mean there
is!
Well come on, tell me more, who is she and why haven’t we heard anything about her?”

“Well, it’s nothing really,” her brother said gruffly, but Abby could see that inwardly he was squirming at having to discuss his love life with his older sister.  “I’ve known her for a while so… as I said, it’s nothing really.”

“Nothing my ass. You should see your face!” Abby couldn’t resist milking this for all it was worth. It was obvious her baby brother was smitten with this girl, whoever she was. “What’s her name and when do we meet her?”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, it’s nothing like that. As I said, it’s just a casual thing and that’s all there is to it. But look, whatever you do, don’t go blabbing to Mam about it. She’d have me driven demented going on about like you are, and I don’t want that.”

“OK.” Abby nodded. She was actually hugely gratified that he’d confided in her in the first place, and she wasn’t going to risk losing that trust. “But if it becomes more than a just casual thing, then I want to meet her.”

“I’ll think about it,” Dermot grinned before deftly changing the subject. “Fancy a coffee?” he said, getting up from the table.

“Sure.” Abby was enjoying their chat and was in no rush back to Dublin.

“So, tell me more about this road-trip you and Erin are planning,” Dermot asked then, coming back with a couple of coffees.

Abby smiled at the notion of her and Erin cruising around America in a convertible.

God, it had been such a great idea, this whole exercise had been such a great idea! She was only a little way through the list and already her attitude and spirits had improved no end. And to think it had all started when she’d finally cast aside
one
of her neuroses and got on a plane to New York.

The trip was still so fresh in her mind, she could almost picture it. All the family together and having a laugh around the dinner table on Christmas Eve…Claire’s beautiful Christmas tree, little Caitlyn’s gummy smile… it had been brilliant.

A full account of that visit, as well as her adventures with Caroline in London, along with a multitude of a photographs had been transferred and saved to her computer in a way similar to what Zach had done for baby Caitlyn.

Abby kept telling herself she was doing this because it was a great idea in any case, but despite her protests that all of this was working, she realised too that she was saving and storing-up all these great experiences and all these great memories, because somewhere deep down she was afraid that they might, in the end, be lost to her. It wasn’t something she would admit out loud to Hannah, or indeed to anyone else, but there was no denying that she still felt better,
safer
, doing this instead of just leaving things to chance.

“It just seems so weird,” Dermot was saying. “I don’t know what I’d do if something like that happened to me. And I really think you’re right to do what you’re doing with the Memory Chest and dive-bombing your head with all this great stuff.  Don’t tell her I said this but it was a brainwave of Caroline’s to have us arrange things for you too. I had such a good time trying to come up something cool for you, that now I’m half thinking of making my own list, a sort of ‘things to do before I’m thirty’ or something. ”

Abby smiled. “You should, and yeah I have to admit I
am
really enjoying it.”

“Good, it’s really given you a new lease of life! Everyone was so worried when you …” then he reddened and the rest of his sentence trailed off.

“I know, I know,” Abby said easily, “you might have all been worried about me when Kieran dumped me, but don’t pretend that you weren’t relieved too.”

Dermot seemed to breath a sigh of relief. “Well no – it wasn’t that we
hated
him or anything, it’s just that he … well he was a bit square, wasn’t he? And you guys never seemed to do anything except sit in and watch TV.”

“And look down our noses at the rest of you, of course,” she teased.

“Ah, don’t be like that ...I only meant– ”

“It’s OK, I was joking,” she reassured him and Dermot smiled bashfully.

He’d really grown up in the last while, Abby mused. While he was still a complete messer and very much one of the lads, there was now a faint maturity about him that she’d never noticed before. Then again, wasn’t she noticing lots of things about her family she hadn’t before, or perhaps more likely, had never bothered to?

She picked up her coffee mug and drank from it. “I’ll tell you, it’s a good thing the insurance money is coming through soon, otherwise I’ll be broke by the time all this travelling is finished and … ugh!” 

“What’s the matter?” Dermot asked, seeing her grimace.

“This coffee is like poison!” It was so bad; Abby’s first instinct had almost been to spit it out.

“Sugar might help,” her brother said, waving an unopened packet in front of her. “You forget to put it in. Here, two is your usual isn’t it?”

At this, Abby felt a bead of trepidation. But she didn’t take sugar in hers … did she? Seeing Dermot’s suspicious frown, she quickly opened a couple of packets and stirred them in, before raising the mug to her lips once more. She’d
never
taken sugar in her coffee, she was sure of that …

But as the liquid hit her tongue and she discovered it tasted absolutely fine, her skin broke out in a cold sweat. This was weird…

“Better?” Dermot asked, and Abby simply nodded, almost afraid to say another word.  

Finn knocked sharply on the door of his old home, but getting no immediate reply, eventually let himself in with his own key. Although he’d grown up in this house, he still didn’t believe in just barging in on his father whenever he felt like it–despite Pat’s repeated protests. “Sure ‘tis your house too!”

Still, since the discovery of Pat’s health problems, and his yo-yoing PSA count, Finn now had this irrational fear of his father maybe collapsing in the house on his own, despite the knowledge that this was highly unlikely with such a non-threatening condition. But now that the prospect of illness and old age had raised its head at all, Finn couldn’t help but feel worried about his father and these days made sure he checked in on him at least every other day.

He hadn’t been at all comfortable leaving Pat for the few days near Christmas that time, even though he knew that Nora and some of the other neighbours would be checking in on him, and of course he had Lucy too, but still …

The funny thing was that from Pat’s point of view, nothing at all had changed. As far as he was concerned, he was still as fit as a fiddle, although Finn knew that the repeated visits to the hospital to check his PSA count did have a negative effect on the older man, temporarily at least. Otherwise, he was the same easygoing happy-go-lucky man he’d always been and seemed to find Finn’s over-concerned behaviour amusing.

“Will you ever go away, and stop treating me like an ‘oul fella?” he’d joked, when shortly after the first hospital visit, Finn had kept checking on him on an almost twice-daily basis.

Today though, Finn wasn’t just checking in on Pat, he was going to a DIY shop in Blanchardstown and had called in to see if his father needed anything. The two of them had recently installed some decking at the rear of the house, which was probably exactly where Pat was at that moment, Finn thought, and why he hadn’t heard the door. His father loved having breakfast out on the decking; as he was such an outdoors man, this was no great surprise and seeing as it was such a fresh Spring day…

Heading in the direction of the kitchen, Finn thought he heard voices. Ah, Nora must be there too, he thought. Their sixty-odd year old neighbour and long-time friend was great for fussing over Pat and often popped in for a visit, especially since her own husband passed away a few years back. A heavy smoker all her life, Nora had an unusually deep and coarse voice–particularly for a woman, so Finn could tell it was her a mile away.

The back door was ajar, so Finn bypassed the kitchen, planning to go straight out to them, but just as he was about to call out and announce his presence, something Nora said made him pause.

“I really think you should tell Finn, Pat.”

Finn stood rooted to the spot and frowned.
Tell him what?

“Ah, I don’t know Nora, you wouldn’t know how that sort of thing would affect him. He’s bad enough as it is, fussing over me left right and centre.”

“Reason enough for to him to know then.”

An icy fear crept down Finn’s spine. What the hell were they talking about? What was he supposed to know, and more importantly why didn’t he know it already? Then his stomach dropped as the realisation hit him and he closed his eyes. Evidently, Pat was a lot sicker than he was letting on.

“No, the timing isn’t right,” his father was saying now, as Finn remained standing in the hallway, immobile.

“When will it ever be right though?” Nora replied. “Pat, he’s a grown man, well able to handle anything that comes his way.”

“Ah he is and he isn’t,” his father said, which made Finn wonder what the hell he meant. He soon found out. “I know he’s still a bit cut up over your woman, Danielle.”

Finn’s eyes widened. Well, that might be true but he didn’t think he’d ever given his dad that impression.

“But that was ages ago surely? What makes you think that?”

“You don’t think it’s strange that a fella his age isn’t out on the town enjoying himself?”

Nora chuckled. “And surrounding himself with good looking woman instead of dogs, you mean?”

Cheers Nora, Finn thought. I don’t see them exactly lining up at your door either. But as he knew well she wasn’t being cruel, he couldn’t resist a smile. That made him sound fairly pathetic really!

“I don’t know, but I’d like to see him settled all the same. There was a bit of a spring in his step when he came back from America that time, which made me wonder, but obviously it came to nothing.  At this, Finn’s eyes widened, amazed that his father could read him so well. Well yes, he had
enjoyed meeting that girl in New York at Christmas, but with the jetlag and everything, he didn’t think it showed
that
much!

“Well, I wouldn’t be using that as an excuse not to tell him,” Nora went on. “As I said, he’s a grown man and he deserves to know. But that’s just my opinion. Anyway will we go in? I know you like it out here, but it’s still only March and the wind is going through me!”

At this Finn stepped back, unsure what to do. He wanted to go right out and let them know he’d overheard, and demand that Pat confess whatever it was he was keeping from him. But at the same time he was almost afraid of hearing it. What if his dad was seriously ill? How would he handle that? Finn didn’t know.

And as he heard the two of them make their way inside, he couldn’t help but fall back once again on that awful trait of his mother’s and deciding to avoid the subject altogether, Finn sneaked back up the hallway and out the front door.

15
th
April,  Las Vegas, Nevada.

Viva Las Vegas!

Really surreal to drive through the desert at night and watch this huge neon metropolis appear as if out of nowhere. I’d seen the Vegas skyline so many times on films and TV that somehow it didn’t feel real.

Erin and I are loving, LOVING the convertible!  There’s nothing quite like driving along, feeling the wind in your face, and looking up and being able to see a blanket of blue sky above. Although the major downside is that the wind is playing HAVOC with our hair. So much for getting my beloved curls back, at the moment it’s just a ball of frizz! Late last night after another
very
long flight, we arrived in LA but only spent the night at an airport hotel before picking up the car this morning. Then it was straight out of the city (
very
scary sixteen-lane highways which unbelievably, Erin just breezed through) and straight on to Vegas!

Having stopped off at loads of different places along the route, we arrived in Vegas late evening and driving onto the South end of The Strip, we immediately spotted our hotel.  The Luxor is laid out as a huge black pyramid and on top of this is a tall beam of shooting light, so bright it can be seen from space, apparently. Right alongside it were the colourfully-lit skyscrapers of New York, New York, which (much to my relief!) immediately triggered memories of Manhattan. Another sign that all of this must actually be working!

Anyway, difficult to describe accurately how big, brash and utterly MAD this place is – I suppose you could say it’s like visiting a different planet. For example, when we pulled in to fill up on gas on the outskirts of the city, we were instantly greeted by the sight (and sounds) of slot machines – at a
gas
station! ! I couldn’t help but wonder why anyone would drive all the way out into the desert to just spend their time gambling in a service station
outside
Vegas but as there were people doing just that, what do I know?

“Well it is Vegas,” Erin kept saying over and over, as if either of us could forget. (Then again, I suppose in my case, this could well be possible!).

The hotel though, was simply jaw-dropping–a humongous thirty-storey black glass pyramid with a huge sphinx guarding the entrance and inside were huge statues of various Egyptian Pharoahs. And in keeping with the theme, the entire hotel staff were wearing Egyptian-themed clothing!  Just as we’d expected, it was big, bold and so unbelievably tacky that I fell in love with it on sight. The lift taking us to our rooms travelled along an incline along the pyramid too, which felt weird at first but soon had us both in fits of giggles.

We dropped off our bags and freshened up a little, and were just getting ready to head straight back down to the casino, when Erin looked at her watch and said she needed to make a phone call.

“Sure,” I said easily, plonking myself on the bed.

Which was when things got a teeny bit weird.

“Um, actually,” she said blushing, “It’s kind of private.”

Well! At first, I didn’t know what to make of that, but then I thought again about how bubbly and happy she’s been over the last while, and I started to wonder if maybe she’s started seeing someone? And that she doesn’t want to admit this to me yet in case I’d get upset over not having Kieran?

After all, up to a year and a half ago
, I
was always the one in a relationship, while she was single, so maybe she’s worried I’ll get upset again if the tables are turned? If so, she really shouldn’t worry about that. I’m becoming more and more removed from Kieran as time goes on, but because I turned into such a boring weirdo after we broke up, then maybe I can’t blame Erin for thinking that her meeting someone might set me back!

I don’t know, either way, she seemed so uncomfortable that I didn’t want to push it so I told her I’d head off and meet her downstairs when she was ready. Hopefully whatever it is – or more likely
who
ever it is, I’m sure she’ll tell me in her own good time.

So the casino – wow. It’s an absolutely massive area that seemed to me to be about the size of a medium-sized football pitch, all bursting with slot machines, roulette tables and poker rooms.

To be honest, at first I felt a bit intimidated and disorientated by all the flashing lights, dinging bells and brightly patterned carpets.

Before we left, Dermot told us that the hideous carpets are part of a psychological ruse used by the casino owners to ensure that your eye is drawn away from the carpet and upwards to the slots, which I suppose makes sense. Also there are no windows in the casinos so gamblers have no idea what time it is – day or night – which is another trick to keep them spending more and more money and not noticing the time.

When Erin came back down, the two of us decided that we’d spend most of our money on the slots, as the gaming tables looked too intimidating and complicated, whereas the slots seemed a no-brainer.

But unfortunately they turned out exactly that– boring and uninteresting and I felt like a bit of a drone sitting there pressing buttons and hoping for the right combination to come up and the machine to ring. 

So as this didn’t happen and the slot machines didn’t float my boat, I eventually left Erin to it and wandered across to the gaming tables where a roulette game was in full swing.  Judging by the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahhs’ coming from the players and onlookers this seemed way more exciting and much more ‘Vegas’. 

Coming up to the table, I spotted players piling their chips high on red and black numbers, and was trying to figure out how the game was played when some guy passing by elbowed his way past me and casually placed a hundred-dollar bill on the table. A hundred dollar bill!

Well I was hugely impressed at this display of recklessness – it seemed a real ‘Vegas’ thing to do – so eager to get right into the swing of things I decided to do the very same thing myself, and casually dropped a hundred on the black panel right beside himself’s red. I was so cool, you’d swear I’d been doing this kind of thing all my life, although my heart was thumping like mad, as I hadn’t a notion of what I’d actually done.

So, imagine my delight (and relief!) when the ball landed on the number seventeen and the croupier calmly placed two hundred dollars worth of chips in front of me!  Just like that, I’d doubled my money! Erin’s eyes nearly popped out of her head when she came up alongside me and saw what had happened. Needless to say it wasn’t long before she joined me at the table and the two of us were casually laying chips and bets like a couple of high-rollers.

The croupier, who was obviously well- used to gobshites like ourselves eventually decided to give us a crash course on how to play the game; she was no doubt sick to the teeth of warning us over and over again not to start eagerly laying fresh bets before the previous spin’s winnings had been paid out – a terrible habit of Erin’s.

In the end, I think I lost something like five hundred dollars in the space of the next hour but it felt like the best five hundred I ever spent. Because of my great beginners luck with Black 17, I then went gung-ho placing huge bets on it in almost every round, but for some reason my so-called lucky number refused to come up again, and much to my annoyance, seemed to only reappear at nearby tables. Typical!

Still, I kept telling myself that gambling in Vegas is less about the money and more about the experience, although I can’t deny the thrill I felt every time the little white ball fall on one of my numbers, or the disappointment when the croupier took back every penny of my hard-earned winnings.  House always wins.

On the first night, I slept like a baby, the combination of jetlag and I suppose the euphoria at having an early run of luck in Sin City proving a great sleeping pill, not to mention the never-ending glasses of complimentary alcohol the hostess kept serving us at the table. Now I understand why people love this place so much!

And from then on in, the slots didn’t get a look in. For the next two days, we went from hotel to hotel, trying our luck at the roulette tables in the different casinos and marvelling at how each place seemed even bigger and even more extravagant than the last. At the MGM Grand, real live LIONS watched us from their huge glass-fronted habitat area right on the casino floor (a bit cruel I thought, especially amidst all those flashing lights) but they seemed to really enjoy the attention and it all looked pretty spectacular nonetheless.

At New York, New York we took a ride through ‘downtown Manhattan’ on the hotel’s huge roller coaster before blowing another couple of hundred in the casino. I lost particularly badly in both places and was convinced that my luck lay only in the Luxor and for a while, flatly refused to gamble anywhere else.

But it’s so difficult to restrict yourself to one place in Vegas, particularly when there’s so much to see and do, and so I eventually allowed myself to be dragged along the Strip to see some of the other hotels’ attractions, such as the Paris hotel’s Eiffel Tower (a half-sized replica of the real thing) Siegfred and Roy’s Secret Garden at the Mirage, a strange oasis in the middle of the desert filled with lush, tropical plants. We also took in a trip to the observatory deck of the twenty-storey Stratosphere Tower, where we got a magnificent view of the Strip at dusk.

Then, on the last night,( having gambled almost every penny we had and enjoyed every second of it, I think I lost a over grand in total – yikes!) we went for a walk along the Strip to take in some of the hotel’s evening attractions.

At the Mirage, scores of people including ourselves gathered outside on the street and waited for the hotel’s famous Volcano to erupt. After a few moments of foreboding silence, cascading water began to churn and a low rumble emerged from the heart of the volcano. Then, and to the crowd’s delight, an eruption kicked into high gear as bright orange flames dramatically leapt about a hundred feet above the water, illuminating the night sky. Again, tacky, but brilliant!

But for me, the highlight of our trip to Vegas (apart from my brilliant first-night never-to-be-repeated winning streak!) was the fountain display at the Bellaggio hotel. On that final night, we took our places amongst the hordes of people gathered in front of the quarter-mile-long lake in front of the gorgeous Italian-themed hotel.  And as the first bars of Sinatra’s ‘
Fly me to the Moon’
began, time seemed to stand still as the fountains came to life, and shot high into the air in time to the music.

Some of the movement was continuous as the fountains responded to the notes and passages of music, while other water jets pulsed high into the night sky, drawing gasps of awe and delight from us all.

“Wow,” Erin said, meeting my gaze. “It’s beautiful isn’t it?”

It
was
truly stunning and will surely be one of the highlights of my quest for unforgettable experiences. I know this is one I will really treasure and once again I’ve got the photographs (and a video clip) to ensure I’ll remember it forever.

So next up is a visit to the Grand Canyon. I really, really, can’t wait for this. It should be absolutely amazing, and I really think that if my brain can allow fantastic memories like these to just fade away and die, then there really is no hope for me at all! But I really hope this will not be the case.

Watch this space …