CHAPTER13
‘Before we begin, I’d just like to say how thrilled I am that you all came. I also want to thank all of you for your kind words after Scott passed. It was rude of me not to respond to your cards and flowers; I just wasn’t in a good place. Anyway, you’re probably wondering why I asked you here. Why now?’
Erin had tried to prepare a speech in advance, something to welcome everyone without getting overly emotional. She knew in the first three seconds that she might fail spectacularly. Glass in hand, she continued.
‘The last time we gathered here, we were all—’
‘Hammered!’
She laughed and nodded at Tara. ‘Indeed. There was that. But we were also so young and so eager to get on with living, that we quickly forgot about the life we had together in Dublin. God, the laughs we had, I’m not sure I’ve laughed so hard since… but as you know, I’m selling the house. So, this weekend, I just want to say goodbye to it in style. With my oldest mates. I’ve missed you all so much.’
‘I’ve missed you all too,’ Alex replied, raising her glass to a wobbly-lipped Erin. ‘And I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.’ The others repeated the sentiment as they toasted the weekend.
Erin took a deep breath and composed herself. ‘For dinner, we have spaghetti and meatballs for the meat-eaters and veggie spaghetti for the vegetarians, which I believe is also vegan although I might have used the butter spoon to give it a quick stir at some point. Help yourself to wine, there’s plenty more in the kitchen.’
Erin took her seat at the head of the table. For the first time in a decade, they were finally all together and for the first time since Scott died, she didn’t feel quite so alone. As she watched them pass the dishes around the table Erin felt a sense of relief that these women were still willing to make the journey, however far, to be together again.
‘This really is the most gorgeous dining area,’ Beth remarked. ‘Absolutely beautiful. You’ll love the beach, Paul, it’s proper lush.’
Paul grunted in agreement through a mouthful of pasta, his eyes already focused on the bread basket.
‘Are you teaching, Beth?’ Erin asked. ‘I remember you were quite the technical genius.’
Beth bobbed her head. ‘Yeah, at Cardiff. Computer science, though some of the kids there are much smarter than I ever was at that age.’
‘So, you’re Welsh?’ Aiden asked. ‘Sorry, I’m still trying to get my head around UK accents.’
‘I am,’ Beth chirped in response. ‘I’m a valley girl, Pontyberem originally. What about you? I’m guessing Texas?’
‘Correct,’ he replied, delighted she recognised his accent. ‘Born and raised in Austin.’
‘Amazing! Did work bring you over here?’
‘Family,’ he replied, twisting spaghetti around his fork. ‘My brother married and moved to England in the nineties. When he got sick, I decided to be nearer to him.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry. How old is he?’
‘He’s forty-five, so ten years older. He’s alright at the moment,’ Aiden replied. ‘But thank you. I work as a vet so it wasn’t too hard to find a vacancy at the time. Doesn’t matter where you go in the world, people still love their pets.’
Alex found herself staring at her dinner plate as he spoke, hoping to avoid eye contact with Aiden, in case her face erupted into one great flaming ball of shame.
‘How’s your folks, Beth?’ Alex enquired, trying to pull the focus away from Aiden and his stupidly charming voice. Coming from Wales, Beth’s parents had visited her in Dublin as often as they could. Everyone loved them.
Beth beamed. ‘They’re fantastic. Mum and Dad are still in Glamorgan, though they downsized last year. Dad retired, but Mum’s still working at the post office. I don’t think she’ll ever leave; she’d miss the gossip too much.’
‘How about your brothers?’
‘They’re very well. They’re all married now which I still find mindboggling. They obviously don’t annoy their wives as much as they annoyed me growing up.’
‘How many brothers do you have?’ Aiden asked.
‘Three older,’ Beth replied. ‘Leo and Richie are twins, they’re thirty-nine and then there’s Rhys who’s just turned thirty-six. They all live abroad, but we FaceTime quite often. I have two nieces who are also twins.’
‘That’s lovely,’ Becky said. ‘You must miss them.’
Beth nodded. She missed them terribly. Leo had married a Korean woman and moved to Seoul. Richie had immigrated to Australia, and Rhys and his wife just floated around the globe like farts in the wind. Last she’d heard they were in Amsterdam. She was surprised at how badly they’d taken the news of her MS, Richie especially, but slowly, she’d managed to assure them that it really wasn’t that bad at all. Only her parents knew the reality. That she’d had to reduce her working hours, that her mobility was bad, even on her good days, and that the unpredictable nature of it all was terrifying. Her parents seemed to be able to handle the news much better than her brothers could, maybe even better than she did.
‘Beth’s parents are so lovely,’ Tara informed Aiden. ‘In fact, I think she’s the only one who had a semblance of a normal family life. I think we all wanted to be her at one point, especially when her dad brought her trays of his homemade lasagne. My mother probably couldn’t even spell lasagne.’
