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‘In the car?’ Liv repeated. Surely he hadn’t left a ring worth a couple of thousand euros sitting up on the dashboard of his car?
‘Yeah, well, it’s just – if I’d known that you’d be still there…’ he said.
‘Perhaps it’s for luck.’ She couldn’t imagine anything less romantic than opening it up here alone over the remains of her beans on toast Christmas Day lunch and being on the receiving end of a hurried, half-baked proposal from Eddie who sounded as if he was too steamed to actually remember any of it the following day.
‘It’s teatime, Eddie?’ Barbara Quirke had a long habit of trying to cut off their conversations if she could.
‘Well, I’d better be going. Mum’s soaps are starting on the TV here, so you know…’ He managed to sound slightly put out that she’d rung him.
‘Okay, I just really rang to wish you a happy Christmas, see how you got on for the day.’
‘Eddie.’ Barbara sounded irritated in the background.
‘Yeah, it was grand. The dinner was good. Your mum knows how to keep the glasses filled; sure, what more do you want on Christmas Day?’ he said. ‘Better be going now.’ And then she was left holding her phone with only the silence of his abrupt call ending for company.
6
‘So Pete has finally seen through his arm candy?’ Maya asked as she tugged a huge scarf about her neck. She’d let the dogs off. All three ran excitedly in circles around the car, waiting for the sisters to wrap up against the cutting north-westerly wind. Once on the beach, they could take off and run for miles before turning back to repeat the same lap again and again until finally wearing themselves out. It was a perfect day for it. This stretch of beach was empty. The tide was out and although the temperatures were low, there was no breeze; the air had an icy stillness to it that quietened the usual roar of the waves.
‘Well, apparently, she’s been fooling around behind his back, so…’ Liv said. It wasn’t a secret, well not from Maya at any rate.
‘Does he know who she was seeing?’
‘I don’t know. I mean, I don’t think he does. From the way he spoke about it, I’m not sure there was anyone serious. It was just a fling, but…’
‘Who needs that in their life? Right?’
‘Absolutely.’ It was the one thing Liv couldn’t imagine having to put up with, but she was lucky with Eddie that way; all he ever did was go to work or meet up with his mates. ‘It’ll be awkward though, what with the business and her living in his apartment and everything.’
‘I’m sure Pete will extricate himself from it fairly quickly.’ Maya smiled.
‘What?’
‘Well, they weren’t exactly a match made in heaven.’ Maya shook her head. ‘I was just surprised that he’d made that sort of commitment with her to begin with. Everyone knows he’d drop her in a second if you needed so much as a fresh cup of tea.’ She stopped then.
‘Ah, don’t say that.’ Pete was one of her best friends; she couldn’t bear it if that friendship was somehow standing in the way of his happiness.
‘Don’t beat yourself up about it, sis. He deserves much better…’ Maya stopped now, lowered her voice; she’d never been one to gossip. ‘And Anya… well, Anya will probably always drift from one man to the next. Anya will always make sure she’s taken care of.’
‘Ugh.’ Liv shivered, although she was too wrapped up to feel the cold. ‘Do you really think she’s like that?’
‘Well, when you told me I wasn’t exactly surprised.’ Maya didn’t appear to take any pleasure in admitting it.
‘I’m sure you’re wrong. I’m sure she’s just fallen for someone else. That’s love, isn’t it? Maybe Pete wasn’t the one for her, but maybe she’s met someone else who is.’
‘You really refuse to see anything but the good in anyone, don’t you?’ Maya said almost with pity in her eyes.
‘No, not at all. Well, maybe. I thought Pete was utterly crazy about her.’ Liv thought about them together. Actually, although she hated to admit it, in the beginning, she’d almost been a little jealous of the way he seemed to adore every syllable that slipped from those perfectly pouting lips. By comparison, she and Eddie felt like old socks: they went together, sure, but there was never any great sparkle about them. Certainly, there had never been that adoring puppy phase where he’d looked at her as if she was the best thing since ripe bananas. ‘It just seems like such a shame; I can’t imagine why she’d want to go seeing someone behind his back.’
‘He’s too bloody nice, that’s why. Now stop thinking about it. Pete would never want to spoil your holiday with feeling sorry for him – you should know that better than anyone.’ Maya shook her head and of course, Liv knew – as usual – her sister was spot on.
‘You’re right, of course you’re right,’ Liv said. She’d call him later – before she met up with Eddie in Flannelly’s; maybe she’d talk him into coming out to the pub with them too.
The beach was lovely. Here the fresh morning snow iced along the edge of the village but didn’t manage to slip onto the sand. The two sisters walked at a smart pace, and it felt good to breathe in the fresh sea air, cold and biting against her face, but reviving too after the day before when Liv felt as if she’d eaten too much and spent her day waiting for it to start, which it eventually did only after she watched Barbara Quirke’s car drive out the farm gates.
‘Is it just me or does the notion of having to go into Flannelly’s pub on such a lovely day just seem all wrong?’ Liv said as they turned back after walking to the end of the beach.
‘No, I wouldn’t fancy it either,’ Maya said, and of course, Liv knew that her sister would spend the rest of the evening reading one of the hardback books she’d stockpiled for the Christmas break next to her favourite chair in the cosy sitting room at home.
