Finishing Touches (30 page)

‘It’s OK, Laura, it’s nothing I’m proud of anyway,’ Aileen murmured. To tell the truth, Laura’s angry words had given her a lot of food for thought. Maybe
Liam Flynn
was
being unfair to his wife. Maybe she was causing that woman a great deal of pain and grief. She felt so confused.

‘Well, I’m really sorry, anyway. Are we still friends?’ Laura asked anxiously.

‘Of course we’re friends. My God, if we can’t have a row and get over it, it wouldn’t be much of a friendship, would it?’ Aileen leant over and gave Laura a
hug.

Laura turned to Cassie. ‘I’m sorry for what I said about you and Robbie.’

Cassie smiled. ‘Laura, you were perfectly right. I’m the one who has to apologize. I
have
been neglecting my friends, I promise it won’t ever happen again.’

Cassie was relieved the row was ended. She should have known better than to be worrying. It took a big person to say sorry. And Laura was that. It wouldn’t be in her character to hold a
grudge. Pettiness was not part of her friend’s nature.

Laura smiled with relief. ‘Boy, I’ve been so miserable, I couldn’t even eat. Now I’m starving.’ She bit into a crusty roll. ‘This is scrumptious.’

‘Where did you go?’ Aileen asked curiously.

Laura put her coffee cup down and made a face. ‘Well, I’ve a confession to make now, Aileen. It’s something I’m not that proud of either.’ She took a deep breath.
‘I spent the last two nights and yesterday with Costas.’

‘Lucky you!’ Aileen grinned.

‘Close your mouth, Cassie,’ Laura said, half-laughing.

‘Sorry!’ smiled Cassie. Laura was full of surprises these days!

‘I was really mad when I left the other night, as you know, and I went into Mandraki.’ Laura ran tanned fingers through her silky black hair and sighed. ‘I suppose as well as
everything else I was feeling a bit jealous. You and Aileen were in relationships and, as Aileen pointed out, I’d never had one. That stung.’ She smiled at Aileen. ‘You’re a
tough cookie in a fight.’

Aileen laughed. ‘You’re no slouch yourself!’

‘Anyway, I went into our taverna on the harbour and Costas was there and he could see I was on my own and upset and he was really nice to me and . . . and I can’t believe that I
actually went to bed with him. I just wanted to get the first time over and done with, I suppose. I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Isn’t that pathetic?’ she sighed
ruefully. ‘I guess what’s even more pathetic is that I still don’t know!’

‘Oh Laura!’ Cassie exclaimed sympathetically. ‘When it’s the right time for you it will happen, honestly. How can you expect yourself to have time to work and study and
have a relationship? It would be impossible. You always expect far too much of yourself!’

‘Well, I made a complete idiot of myself this time. Didn’t I?’

‘Don’t be daft!’ Aileen said stoutly. ‘And besides, Costas is too much in love with himself to have time to make sure you were enjoying yourself, so forget about it. All
you need is the right man and, girl, he’s out there somewhere.’

‘Maybe, maybe not. Who cares anyway, I’ve got you pair,’ Laura declared as she buttered another roll. ‘What’s on the agenda today, then?’

The rest of the holiday passed very pleasurably. It seemed as though their brief bust-up had brought the three girls even closer together. It had strengthened their friendship,
made them more aware of one another’s needs. When, tanned and glowing, they boarded the plane to go home, it was with a great sense of reluctance and regret. Rhodes had been a paradise to
them, a haven from their cares and responsibilities. The night before they left, they sat sipping ice-cold beer and watching the red-gold sun turn the Aegean Sea and the Greek sky a dusky red as it
dipped below the horizon and extinguished itself.

‘Let’s make a pact that the three of us will come back here in ten or twenty years’ time,’ Aileen proposed. ‘Just the three of us, OK? No husbands or
boyfriends.’

‘You’re on!’ laughed Laura.

‘It’s a deal,’ smiled Cassie as they raised their glasses to toast their promise.

‘It’s hard to believe it’s over, isn’t it?’ Laura murmured as they stood waiting for Aileen, who had had the misfortune to be stopped by the
customs. They were now informing her that she was well over the duty-free limit and she could either pay the duty or have her excess drink and cigarettes confiscated.

‘Trust Aileen to get into a fix!’ Cassie remarked, trying to hide her grins at the faces the redhead was making.

‘She’s not the only one who might be in a fix,’ Laura said forlornly. Cassie turned to look at her. ‘I was working out my dates on the plane home. I didn’t take
precautions when I slept with Costas. I hope to God I’m not pregnant!’

Jesus, thought Cassie to herself, that would really ruin everything for Laura. ‘You’ll be fine, don’t worry,’ she said reassuringly, wishing she could believe it. Robbie
and she were always so careful. He was very good like that, Cassie thought gratefully, and it wouldn’t be long until his arms were around her. She was dying to see him. Hurry up, Aileen, she
silently urged her friend.

Just a few yards away on the other side of the smoked-glass partition door, Robbie was waiting for them. At last, Aileen was ready and they pushed their luggage trolleys through the doors,
Cassie craning her head to get a look at him. There he was, head and shoulders above the rest! She waved vigorously. ‘Robbie! Robbie! Oh Robbie!’ She flung herself into his arms and
then felt as though she had been walloped by a truncheon, as a familiar whiff caught her nostrils.

‘Hi, Cassie,’ he slurred, his eyes focusing on her only with difficulty. ‘I’m glad you’re home.’

Cassie drew away from her drunken boyfriend, hating him.

Cassie, Aileen and Laura could never have foreseen just how much their lives would change in the next few years as their careers took shape and their romances had many ups and
downs.

Cassie worked hard in the bank. Her superiors saw from the start that she was interested in her work and was not afraid to show initiative. She had performed her secretarial duties very
efficiently, but her aim was to get a job on the counter, where she would finally be dealing with the public. One day while she was typing a letter for the manager, she noticed that he had made an
error that could have been embarrassing for the bank. She had brought it discreetly to his notice and he had complimented her on her attention to detail and also on the excellent quality of her
work. ‘I think it’s time, Cassie, that you got some experience as a cashier,’ he said, smiling at her, and she was thrilled with herself. At last! The counter. Some people had to
wait
years and years
to get a counter position.

Cassie took to the job like a duck to water. With her open, friendly nature she soon developed a great rapport with her customers and she thoroughly enjoyed the bustle of the cash desk. It was
great experience and her understanding of the customer side of things deepened as she became familiar with yet another aspect of banking.

By the time she was eligible to do the interview for the position of senior bank official, after five years in the job, she felt confident that she had got enough working experience to gain the
promotion. It was going to be a tough interview but Robbie tutored her for weeks beforehand and that was a great help.

‘You’ll walk it!’ Robbie assured her. But Cassie wasn’t over-confident. There were a lot of talented people going for the interview and not everyone would succeed. The
night before, Robbie sat her down in his apartment and went over in detail some of the questions that she would be expected to answer. After that, he took her notes and books away from her, spread
a sheet on the rug in front of the fire, told her to take off her clothes and covered her in soft fluffy towels as he warmed some massage oils. As his hands firmly but gently kneaded the tension
out of her bunched-up shoulder muscles, Cassie felt herself start to relax. A soothing Glenn Miller cassette played in the background. Robbie stroked her expertly. He could really give a good
massage. There were times, she had to admit, he was a tower of strength for her.

If Robbie MacDonald could stop his bouts with the bottle he would be absolutely perfect. It wasn’t that he drank every day or anything like it. Months would go by and Robbie wouldn’t
touch spirits, but then something would snap, particularly if he were under pressure, and he would go on a bender that might last four or five days. No-one at work knew of his problem because he
disguised it well. But it had caused rows in his family for years and Cassie came to understand that was why there was often tension in his home when she visited. His mother was blind to his
faults, wouldn’t hear a word against him and took his side always, alienating her husband, who felt very resentful about the way his wife protected Robbie instead of making him face up to his
problems. His sister, Lillian, who had lived with the hassle since Robbie had started drinking in his late teens, barely spoke to him and several times told Cassie that she was letting herself in
for trouble if she stayed with him. Cassie hated to see the friction and she knew it really upset Robbie, who behind it all had a heart as soft as butter. But she knew herself, from the pain, anger
and despair she suffered whenever he went off on his binges, that she couldn’t blame her boyfriend’s father and sister.

Every time Robbie went on a bender and let Cassie down, she broke it off with him, but then he would come back to her and say he was sorry and that he’d never do it again and she’d
relent because she loved him.

At the interview she kept her cool and didn’t let the interviewers rattle her. The computer courses she had taken impressed the interview board. When, as Robbie predicted, she walked the
interview and was promoted to the position of senior bank official, he took her out to dinner to celebrate. They went to the Mirabeau in Sandycove, the poshest restaurant in Dublin, and over a
candle-lit dinner, Robbie proposed to her. Delighted with her promotion, happier than she had ever been, Cassie joyfully accepted. The following day they went into Weir’s of Grafton Street to
pick the ring. Cassie chose an elegant solitaire and then as she and Robbie kissed on a bench in Stephen’s Green he slipped the ring on her finger and held her tightly to him as he told her
he loved her. Nora was delighted at the news.

Two weeks later he went on the batter and she flung the ring back at him and told him she never wanted to see him again. She was devastated. ‘How can he keep doing this to me, especially
now that we’re engaged?’ she sobbed to Laura, who had been through this particular scene several times.

Concerned for her friend, Laura said, gently but firmly, ‘Cassie, I think Robbie’s an alcoholic and he needs to accept that and go for help. If he doesn’t, you’ve got to
face up to the fact that this is going to be the pattern of your life from now on.’

For a moment Cassie almost hated Laura. Who was she to stand there and say things like that? Things would always work out well for Laura! Filled with resentment, anger, confusion, she rushed out
of the flat and started to walk. How could someone bring you from the heights of happiness to the depths of despair, as Robbie repeatedly did with her? Was Laura right? Was this the way it was
always going to be?

Not if you end it and take control for yourself, a voice inside Cassie seemed to murmur. But she couldn’t imagine life without Robbie. He was so much part of her life now that she had
forgotten what it was like to be on her own. She stood on Portobello Bridge, looking down at the murky waters of the canal. She couldn’t even remember having walked through Ranelagh. The sun
was starting to set. It was a crisp cold winter’s evening as she walked along the canal, hands stuffed into her jacket pockets, her face creased into lines of worry. Smoke swirled from the
chimneys of the redbrick houses and the air had that faint acrid smell of sulphur. No longer adorned with their summer foliage, the trees that lined the canal bank were naked and bare, making the
canal seem bleak and lonely, and matching her mood perfectly.

She walked as far as Harold’s Cross Bridge and then on impulse took a bus into town. It was a Saturday evening and all around her as she walked along O’Connell Street there were
bustling crowds. People walked with a purposefulness that depressed her as they did Christmas shopping or met dates for a meal before spending a night on the town. They all had places to go, unlike
her. The Christmas lights, which would normally delight her, made her feel even more heavy-hearted. Listening to a group of carol-singers sing, ‘O, tidings of comfort and joy,’ brought
a lump to her throat so big that it almost seemed to choke her and to her horror she felt tears roll down her cheeks. Was this what Robbie MacDonald had reduced her to? Bawling her eyes out in the
middle of O’Connell Street? Passing the GPO, Cassie turned left into Henry Street and with a great effort managed to compose herself. She was cold. It had been freezing along the canal. A cup
of coffee in the Kylemore would warm her up. There was a queue and she was tempted to turn away but she couldn’t face the thought of queuing for a bus to go home. Neither could she see
herself going to a movie on her own. She hadn’t brought enough money to do any shopping, even if she wanted to.

Unhappily Cassie moved along the queue and selected a creamy chocolate éclair to eat with her coffee. She found an unoccupied table in a quiet little corner, sat down and cupped her cold
hands around her steaming coffee cup. She wondered what Robbie was doing. An ache of worry gripped her, a cold trembly sort of fear that made her intestines spasm and her throat constrict. It was
always the same, this horribly familiar nauseating feeling over which she had no control. Was he on the tear with his mates? How she despised some of those so-called friends of her boyfriend.
Leeches, who let Robbie buy drinks all night for them when he was on a bender. She hated too the barmen who gave him credit, knowing that he would always be back to pay his debts, not caring that
he was too drunk to drive or that he was causing grief and great worry to those who loved him. How long could she live with these feelings of futile rage and misery and helplessness? Could she go
on like this for the rest of her life? Would it really mean that if she stayed engaged to Robbie? Worn out and heavy-hearted, Cassie drank her coffee, ate a bit of her cake, which tasted like
sawdust and which she could scarcely swallow, and then went to queue for a bus outside Clery’s. If this was the best she could do at entertaining herself, it was a pretty pathetic effort, she
thought miserably.