Two For Joy (16 page)

The lobby was elegant, convent silent and smelling of polish. Lorna couldn't help but be impressed as the lift sped silently upwards to the third floor. ‘This is us,' Carina declared as she stepped out on to a small landing and fitted her key into a door facing the lift.

Lorna followed her eagerly, dying to see the interior.

‘Our kitchen,' Carina said with a flourish as she switched on the lights and led her along the wooden-floored hall with its elegant pine-framed mirror. Lorna gazed at the compact fitted white and grey kitchen with its breakfast counter, gleaming wall oven and sparkling hob and thought of the poky, chipped-tiled, ill-equipped hovel their landlord had the nerve to call a kitchen. She couldn't live there another second, Lorna decided there and then. She was moving in here as fast as she could.

‘This is the lounge. We have our own balcony overlooking the estuary, it's really nice in the summer to have supper or drinks outside.' Carina led the way into a large rectangular room, switching on lamps here and there. Decorated in shades of lemon and blue, it oozed class. Two stylish pale blue sofas dotted with lemon and blue cushions that matched the curtains on the French doors and windows looked inviting. Various-sized smoked blue glass coffee tables held cream candles and some glossy monthlies. A vase of pampas grass and a large blue-framed mirror completed the decoration. A small circular cream table and six chairs fitted neatly into a lamplit corner at the other end of the room. Ideal for select dinner parties, Lorna thought in ecstasy.

‘I have the ensuite,' Carina said gaily as she moved back into the hall.

Quelle surprise!
Lorna thought enviously. Carina Carmody would always be the one to get the ensuite. She had a bossy way about her and an
I Come First
attitude that could be a bit grating. Still, Lorna could put up with it if it meant living in a palace like this.

‘That's Lisa's bedroom, beside yours, which is here.' Carina opened the door and Lorna peered in. It was small. A boxroom with a single divan and a drawer and wardrobe unit. Mint green patterned curtains with a hint of lilac that matched the duvet cover hung on a small window. It was very pretty, even if it was tiny, far nicer than the big untidy bedroom with its mismatched furniture and threadbare carpet that she shared with her cousin. Having a bedroom to herself, even if it was small, would be bliss. Some day
she'd
be the one with the ensuite.

‘Well, what do you think?' Carina beamed.

‘I love it,' Lorna enthused. ‘I don't have to wait until Sunday to tell you. I can move in tomorrow.'

‘Tomorrow! Brilliant. But what about your cousin? Will she go and live with her sister?' Carina looked surprised at her impetuosity.

‘Oh, I'm sure she will. She'll be fine,' Lorna said breezily, trying to ignore the lurch in her stomach. It so happened that Heather was going home for the weekend. In fact she was probably on the bus to Kilronan right this minute. Lorna could go back to Drumcondra tomorrow and pack at her leisure without having to give any awkward explanations. She'd leave her a note and say the vacancy had come up suddenly and it was too good an opportunity to miss. It being easier to get to work and all.

‘Let's shower and change and have a quick bite to eat. I have some chicken wraps and salad. And then let's hit the town,' Carina suggested. ‘Lisa's in London for the weekend, but you'll get on fine. You've met her. She's a pet.'

‘Ya, she's very nice,' Lorna agreed. (She'd taken to saying Ya, like the southsiders with their posh ‘Dort' accents. She must remember to keep it up now that she was ascending the social ladder.) Carina's flatmate was a human resources manager in a big multinational insurance company. She often had to travel. A quiet girl, with curly chestnut hair and a pretty face, she was no threat to Carina in the glamour or personality stakes.

Actually, Carina and Lisa reminded Lorna of herself and Heather. Thinking about her cousin caused another pang of guilt. It wasn't very nice, sneaking off in the dead of night so to speak, but Lorna couldn't quite bring herself to say it to Heather face to face. There'd be a row. Heather would be hurt, she might even start to cry, and it would be all too emotional! Better this way. She'd get over it, Lorna assured herself. And they could always meet for a drink or a meal every so often. It wasn't as if they'd never see each other again. But this type of lifestyle was much more her and at the end of the day, life was all about moving up the next rung of the ladder. If she stayed with Heather, she'd end up collecting her pension before she knew it, with nothing done with her life. It was unthinkable. She had to take the opportunities life presented her with, and this was a peach of an opportunity.

Lorna pushed all thoughts of Heather out of her mind as she stepped under the powerful shower spray in the tastefully appointed terracotta and cream tiled bathroom, which was a hell of a lot more inviting than the grotty, dirty hole with its old-fashioned, stinky, rubber-hosed shower that fitted on to the taps of that chipped and stained bath. She wrinkled her nose at the memory. How she loathed that bathroom. Well, no more distasteful baths there! she thought happily as she lathered foamy bath gel on to her smooth skin. This was it. There was no going back.

13

‘Gone! What do you mean gone!' Ruth exclaimed. ‘How could she be gone? Where's she gone to?'

‘Her note says she's moved to an apartment in Malahide Marina. Everything's gone, Ruth. Her clothes, her make-up. The portable TV and vid—'

‘The little yellow-bellied coward,' Ruth ranted. ‘She couldn't tell you to your face. I warned you not to move in with that wagon—'

‘Look, I have to go, I'll be late for work. I'll talk to you later. OK, I just have to collect a set of keys from a tenant and I'll be back in the office by eleven,' Heather interrupted hastily. Right this minute she wasn't interested in her sister's blistering I-Told-You-So's.

‘OK, talk to you later.' Ruth was clearly furious and Heather knew there would be a day of reckoning with Lorna some day and her twin would take no prisoners. The thought made her feel marginally better.

She gazed around the bedroom, now denuded of Lorna's possessions. It was hard to take in. She still felt a little bit sick at the shock of it. She'd come back from Kilronan on the early bus, and because she didn't have to go directly to the office had taken the opportunity to drop off her weekend bag. She wasn't expecting to see Lorna as she was on the early shift at work, so she'd simply gone into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. The kitchen was strangely tidy, she'd noted. Normally when Heather came back to Dublin after a weekend at home she'd be greeted by a pile of half-washed crockery on the draining-board. Lorna's attitude to housework was ‘Why bother?' It was only when she'd gone into the bedroom to unpack her bag that the uneasy sensation of something being amiss hit her. All Lorna's side of the room was bare, the open wardrobe door displaying empty hangers. The only reminder that Lorna had ever lived in the flat, her rumpled, unmade bed.

Then she'd seen the note stuck to the dressing-table mirror with Sellotape. Shock was her first emotion as she read her cousin's breezy missive, followed by hurt and then a red-hot anger. How low could Lorna stoop? How gutless of her not even to tell Heather to her face that she was moving out. It was unbelievable. Where was the friendship, the loyalty? Even kinship hadn't meant anything, Heather thought in dismay. She'd been dropped like a hot potato and Lorna had moved on to pastures new. Even if Lorna had spoken to her and given her some warning that she was moving out, it wouldn't have come as such a shock.

Tears stung her eyes. Now what was she going to do? If she wanted to stay living here she'd have to get another flatmate quickly. Her heart sank. Where would she get a flatmate? She didn't know anyone looking for a flat. She'd have to advertise. It would be horrible having to share with a stranger. Sharing a bedroom with Lorna had been bad enough. It didn't matter if Heather was asleep or not when she came in late at night, Lorna always switched on her light. And she'd hogged most of the wardrobe and the dressing-table. She wouldn't bloody miss her, Heather scowled as she shoved her weekend bag into the wardrobe.

What a way to start the week. It was bad enough coming back up to Dublin at the crack of dawn on a Monday morning. If she hadn't listened to Lorna she'd still be in Kilronan in a job she enjoyed, not stuck up in the capital working for a company she disliked and now facing a whole load of hassle.

That's what you get for being a doormat,
she thought angrily. Lorna had once more walked all over her, because she'd let her. She had no one to blame but herself. She was going to have to cop on to herself and live her own life.

Heather yawned. She was sorely tempted to ring in on a sickie and just get into bed and sleep her brains out. Then she remembered she'd promised a tenant she'd call at his apartment to get his keys. Her trouble was that she was too conscientious. Some of the other girls in the letting department didn't bother to check the apartments when the tenants were leaving, asking them to post in the keys. Heather was afraid of keys going missing in the post. And she didn't want to have to explain that particular scenario to a landlord who was paying good money for a so-called professional service, so she always made sure to collect them, or asked the tenant to drop them into the office.

She must check on the Internet when she got into work to see if there was any place suitable for a single tenant that would suit
her
pocket, she thought glumly, staring out through the off-white lace curtains on to the windswept street below. Renting accommodation in Dublin was prohibitively expensive. She knew that from working in an estate agent's and letting agency.

She'd had more money in her pocket when she'd lived at home.
And
she'd had a better social life, she had to admit. She wasn't comfortable in Dublin, she felt out of step somehow. She couldn't quite explain it. Maybe it was the pace of life, but mostly what Heather didn't like was the anonymity. She felt no connection. At home there was always someone to stop and chat with, people saluted you on the street. She felt she belonged. Here she was just Miss Anonymous. Ruth and Lorna thrived on city life but she felt diminished by it. It was always balm to go home to Kilronan. Could she go back to live, she wondered? Would it seem like she was running away? Running back to Mammy and Daddy. Not able to hack the big smoke. How Lorna would despise her. ‘Let her,' Heather muttered. It was nothing to the contempt she felt for her cousin right now.

She ran a comb through her hair, dusted her cheeks with some bronzing powder and outlined her lips with Mulberry Wine lipstick, the note lying on the dressing-table a stark reminder that Heather was on her own. She picked it up and read it again slowly.

Dear Heather,

I know this will come as a bit of a shock, but I've moved into an apartment in Malahide with a girl from work. It was an opportunity that came out of the blue and I had to make a fast decision unfortunately. It will be much easier for me to get to work, and I'm sure you'll understand. We'll sort out about the deposit, if you leave the flat. I'll phone you soon. I hope you don't mind but Malahide is much more convenient for work with that Tunnel thing being built,

Lots of love,

Lorna XXX

Heather shook her head. She didn't for a minute believe Lorna couldn't have waited to tell her personally of her decision to leave. It was such a flimsy excuse it was insulting. She really had no compunction about using people. Ruth had been right all along. Heather just hadn't wanted to see it. Well, it was staring her in the face now and she had to deal with it. As far as she was concerned, her cousin had done the hot potato act on her once too often. She was finished with her. From now on, Lorna was
persona non grata,
and she could go and whistle for her deposit. She'd broken the lease, Heather decided with uncharacteristic steeliness. If the shoe was on the other foot she was damn sure Lorna wouldn't refund her a penny. The nerve of her to even mention it! And how typical of her meanness. If Lorna came looking for a refund Heather would let her have it good and proper, she thought viciously as she slipped out of her tracksuit and put on her navy suit.

The traffic was heavy and she arrived at the apartment in Clontarf five minutes late. ‘I'm terribly sorry for keeping you,' she apologized to the young man who opened the door to her.

‘No problem, you're not that late,' he said cheerfully. ‘I'm still in good time for the airport.' He handed her the keys. ‘Here you go. I organized for a cleaner to come in yesterday and she did the place from top to bottom. The company pays for that kind of thing, they're good like that, so if you just sign the list of contents when you've checked I think you'll find I can have my deposit back.'

‘Sure, no problem.' Heather flashed him a smile. He'd been a dream tenant, no problems, no hassle. Corporate tenants were much easier to deal with generally. They knew the score, but with the downturn in the economy in the past few months they were getting scarcer and scarcer. Heather did a swift inspection of the apartment and ticked off the inventory. Everything was in order and the apartment was spotless. Some tenants left the apartments in terrible condition and kicked up ructions when they weren't returned their deposits. The grief they gave her was unbelievable, and then she had to deal with the aggrieved landlords as well. Well, at least this was one letting that had gone well. The manager of the lettings department would be on her back now until Heather had the apartment let again and Brooke, Byrne & O'Connell had secured a fine fat fee.

‘I'll head off now, I have the car packed, I have to give it back to the rental agency. Thanks very much, I hope I'll be as lucky in my next posting.' The man smiled at her.