Typical Conor! Rachel thought. He was so gung-ho, he thought you could have anybody you set your mind to. And her mother, sweetly but unrealistically, believed her children were good enough for anyone. Will didn’t fancyher, for Christ’s sake. What hope did Kate have?
But Grace was already fantasising about the wedding and what a perfect son-in-law Will would make. He was practically one of the family already. And she could use the occasion to bring him and Philip together, she thought dreamily. She would be like the American President standing between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, forcing them to shake hands.
For both their sakes, Grace wished Will would reconcile with his father. Despite his bravado, she knew Will missed Philip. She knew too that Philip profoundly regretted the way he had handled the situation when his first wife died. However harshly Will judged him, it was nothing compared to how harshly he judged himself.
Grace had grown fond of Philip, with whom she had struck up a friendship over the years since Will had come to live with them. They still spoke regularly on the phone, long, entertainingconversations which she faithfully relayed to Will, sometimes even mimicking Philip to give him the full effect. She felt an inordinate sense of victory whenever she made him laugh with something Philip had said. Will was stubborn and implacable, but Grace had proved herself his match in keeping Philip present in his life. Lately she’d thought she’d seen a softening in his attitude towards his father – only a tiny chink in his armour, but it gave her hope. ‘Conor’s right,’ she said now. ‘And even if there are leagues, my children are good enough for anyone. But we’ve got to make sure Kate takes the job in Tuscany so she and Will are thrown together on a more permanent basis. He needs a chance to discover his true feelings for her.’
Rachel groaned. ‘Mum, Will told us straight out that he wasn’t interested in Kate, remember?’
‘He just doesn’t realise how he feels about her,’ Grace told her. ‘Once he starts pretending to be interested, he’ll soon discover he has real feelings for her. It’s like when you’re acting – you wouldn’t know about this, darling – and you find yourself becoming the person you’re playing.’
‘Yes, but when the play ends, you go home and become yourself again,’ Rachel argued, knowing from experience that this wasn’t necessarily true. Her childhood years had been blighted by her mother’s stage success and they had had to live with a succession of tragic heroines from Lady Macbeth to Hedda Gabler. The worst had been a long run ofThe Glass Menageriewhen she was a teenager and had had to suffer the humiliation of bringing boys home to be confronted by Amanda Wingfield. Her mother had only just stopped short of referring to the gauche, pimply youths as ‘gentlemen callers’.
‘You may be right,’ Grace conceded, ‘but that’s all the more reason to get her to Tuscany. You said yourself the best way to separate her from the Tree-hugger is to get her interested insomeone else, and, if not Will, then maybe one of the boys in his band will fall for her. That Owen Cassidy, perhaps,’ she said dreamily.
‘Owen Cassidy!’
‘Yes, I know he’s a bit wild,’ Grace said, misunderstanding Rachel’s objection, ‘but Kate could calm him down and domesticate him. And the grandchildren would be stunning!’
Rachel couldn’t believe her mother thought Kate might actually land Owen Cassidy. Okay, so she couldn’t see that Will was out of her league, but surely she must know that Kate was definitelynotrock-chick material!
* * *
‘You make me feel so small and helpless,’ Brian whimpered at Kate, who was lying on the floor in a foetal position while Brian hurled abuse at her. ‘You stop me doing all the things I want to do. You stop me being the person I could be. Why do you make everything so difficult?’ he whinged.
Kate buried her face in the carpet and tried to comfort herself with the thought that this would be over soon and she would be at home eating dinner with the family and having a normal conversation.
‘I’m sick of you!’ Brian was shouting now. ‘I just want to be free of you!’
Kate knew it wasn’t personal. She was supposed to be embodying Brian’s ‘fear’. Earlier, she had watched Brian dance around in front of her like some kind of demented Village Person, then fling himself onto the floor in a foetal cringe, a performance she was required to replicate so that he could give his fear a good bollocking. She was glad none of her family was there to witness it – she’d never live it down.
Why can’t I have a normal boyfriend who’s into football or something?Kate thought. She wished the ground would open up and swallow her. She imagined herself sinking through the floorboards like Ewan McGregor inTrainspotting.
Opening her eyes a slit, she was shocked to see that Brian was almost in tears. Still, she knew how he felt – she was close to weeping herself.
* * *
Tina called Will on his mobile as he was driving back from the airport.
‘How’s it going over there?’ he asked.
‘Boring, I’ve spent all morning sitting around waiting for the light to change. The photographer’s a total wanker. And I miss you, darling.’
‘Sounds like you’re having a ball.’
‘Martinique’s beautiful, though. We should come here together some time.’
‘Maybe we will.’
‘Oh, and guess what! I met one of the producers ofIrish Supermodel Searchand she said there may be a vacancy for a new judge on the show next season! She kind of implied the job would be mine, if I wanted it.’
‘Anddoyou want it?’
‘Well, it would be a great introduction to working in TV – and very well-paid. But, even better, it would mean I’d be based in Ireland.’
Will didn’t say anything.
‘That’d be pretty great, wouldn’t it?’ she said.
