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When he arrived at the Shamrock, Dan’s red buzz cut caught his eye straight away, secreted in their usual spot at the bar. Sure enough Carts was next to him, shoulders stooped in the abject manner of a man who’d been right royally fucked over by a woman.
Aaron’s ribs constricted.This.This was exactly why he didn’t let himself get involved. Look at the guy. He was a train wreck. You had to make the choice to never let a woman mess with your heart. Not that he’d ever seen it as a conscious choice. His indifference to all that mushy stuff was just there, like his arms and legs were just there, a part of what made him who he was. Almost in protest at Carts’ posture, Aaron bracketed his shoulders wide and strode over to the bar.
“They are never worth it, mate.” He slapped a hand on Carts’ shoulder. Carts looked up at him with flat eyes. “Who told you?”
“Dan texted me as I was leaving the gym.”
“You didn’t need to come.” Carts sighed heavily and downed the dregs of his glass.
“Yeah, I did. What happened?” Aaron swung his butt onto a stool and motioned to Paddy.
Obviously it was Guinness night. A few pints of draft black diamond would hopefully drown Carts’ sorrows.
Carts bent down and placed a plastic bag onto the bar. He turned it upside-down and shook it and out spilled a tiny little pair of lace briefs and a miniscule matching bra. “I went over to give her these. Tell her I’d made a huge mistake not being there for her enough, that I wanted to make it up to her.” He delved into his pocket. “Oh, and this…” A small blue velvet box skidded across the bar.
Thiscould only mean one thing…
Carts waved a hand dismissively in the direction of the box. “Go on, open it.”
Gingerly, Aaron picked it up and flipped the top. In the light from the bar the large diamond ring seemed to gloat back at them.
“Oh, fuck,” Dan exclaimed. “Is that thing for real?”
Carts nodded, his lips tinged green.
“Well, at least you didn’t give it to her,” Dan said, trying to find the silver lining in a cloud of plutonium.
“It gets worse.” Carts gave a visible shudder. “I rolled up at her place. She opened the door and she was wearing her—her dressing gown.”
“What time was that?” Aaron asked.
“Just after work. I dunno, sevenish, I guess. Anyway, I didn’t think too much of it, Lucy always has a shower and changes after work. I handed her the bag and she lifted out the undies and kind of made this weird little noise, which I thought was, like, a happy sound. I took that as my cue, went down on one knee and brought out the ring. It was nerve-racking, I just wanted to get it over and done with. And then I heard the toilet flush.”
Dan’s brows beetled down. “So?”
“She doesn’t have a flatmate,” Carts replied. “So, in the midst of my proposal there it is, the fucking toilet flushing, and she’s, like, trying to slam the front door, and she’s going all red and blotchy in the face. Except she jams the foot of my bent leg in the door, which hurt like hell, so I’m howling and she’s squealing and the next thing I see are these great big hairy calves strolling out of the bathroom at the end of the hallway.”
Carts’ voice had risen almost to a shout and by now quite a few heads had turned their way.
“Whose were they?” Dan looked like he was waiting for the next episode of his favourite Netflix show.
“Her freakin’ personal trainer. Joey, or Joshy, or Joss-stick or whatever his fucking name is.”
At that moment Paddy landed three more pints on the bar with an expressive eyebrow raise. Aaron grimaced a reply. Carts would likely regret his rant later when he realised most of the Shamrock regulars had witnessed his humiliation. Maybe it would be good to remove him but it was still bucketing down and the beer garden would be a swimming pool by now, so Aaron guessed they’d just have to ride it out. Carts stopped and gulped in a breath. “Why didn’t she tell me?” He looked at Aaron as if he was the Oracle.
Aaron shook his head. Why couldn’t women be more honest? Why had Lucy carried on about just needing some space, when what she should have said is, “Dude, it’s over.” It would have been hard to hear, yes, but kinder in the long run.
But who was he to judge? He’d never done that, had he? Never been truthful. He’d ducked and weaved and not returned their calls in the hope they would get the message. He’d been confronted by teary-eyed women and done the “it’s not you, it’s me” thing. He guessed at least he’d never been trounced with another girl. He hadn’t stooped that low.
But when all was said and done, he wasn’t a whole lot better than Lucy.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Carts asked morosely. “Usually I can count on you to make me feel better.” He gave Aaron a suspicious look. “Except you’ve been seriously weird lately.” He peered over his Guinness and Aaron found it hard to meet his eyes. “Are you up to something? Is that why you’re keeping schtum?”
“W-what?”
“You heard me. Something’s going on between you and Alice, isn’t it? You put your arm around her at Oliver’s talk. I had it in mind to call you and say what the hell… but the Lucy stuff took over.”
There was no way he was letting Carts deflect to the Alice issue. “Maybe right now we should focus on what’s going on for you, eh, mate?”
