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‘Hey,’ Liv said when Anya came over and stood next to them. She had no intention of falling out with anyone – Ballycove was much too small for that. Even though Pete was her friend, maybe her best friend, apart from Maya, it didn’t do any harm to say hello.
‘Hey, I wasn’t sure if I’d be welcome here today.’ There was something far more fragile about her than Liv had ever noticed before.
‘Public event, everyone’s welcome,’ Maya said, and she pushed over to make room for her along the bench seat.
‘Hullo,’ Eddie said through gritted teeth; he had inherited his mother’s sense of awkwardness around situations that needed defusing rather than further aggravation.
‘Hi, Eddie, have you finished playing already?’ Anya asked, which was nice, because Eddie was hardly the star player of the day.
‘Yeah, well, they brought out some of us more experienced players to get things going; otherwise some of those yobs would just hand the game over to the youngsters.’ He straightened up, managing to look embarrassed and pleased all at once.
‘Sorry I missed that,’ Anya said kindly. ‘I just thought I’d take a look-in, you know. There’s not a lot else happening in the village today.’ Her eyes were pinned on Eddie – well, he didn’t look anything like his usual self, doubled over and trying to catch his breath after his spurt in the soccer game.
‘We’re all going to Flannelly’s afterwards, if you fancy coming along,’ Eddie volunteered before sauntering off to sit on the sidelines in the hope of being brought on to play again.
‘Were you out with the hunt yesterday?’ Maya asked, keeping her eyes on the game at the same time.
‘No. I gave it a miss – not really in the form this Christmas, you know?’ Anya smiled a little apprehensively then: ‘Actually, I thought I’d go cabin crazy if I didn’t meet anyone I knew here today.’
‘It’s Ballycove; you’re always going to meet people you know,’ Liv said, although Anya hadn’t really lived here since primary school. After that she’d been sent to boarding school so most of her friends were spread across the county and probably the country. Her family had been really well off, well, until the whole country crashed and they lost everything so suddenly, Anya had to go out and work for a living, probably not something she’d ever planned on.
‘You know what I mean.’ Anya lowered her voice.
‘Yes, I’m sorry about you and Pete,’ Liv said. They were sitting next to each other now Eddie had moved. ‘None of us were expecting that; you seemed to be so perfect together.’
‘Really, it’s probably been over between us for a while. I just didn’t want to admit it, I suppose; we’ve so much tied up together…’
‘The coffee shop?’
‘Yeah, and the apartment…’ Anya said, talking about Pete’s super-plush apartment that overlooked Dublin Bay.
‘Gosh, yes, where will you stay when you go back?’ Liv asked and almost regretted it immediately.
‘I’m really not sure,’ Anya said and there was an uncomfortable moment when Liv wondered if she should offer her couch, but unlike with Eddie, Anya couldn’t stay forever and she was fairly sure she wouldn’t want her to. They really weren’t that close; actually, today was the first time Anya had ever really sought her out. They were chalk and cheese – nothing in common beyond Pete, and now that thread too had been ravelled away.
‘I’m sure something will work out and in the meantime, can’t you always stay over with some of your friends?’ Maya cut in and Liv was grateful to her sister for deflecting the conversation from that awkward unasked question.
For the first time, in Liv’s memory at least, the retired players won the match. It was up to Maya to present the prizes and there was lots of joking and cheering and, in the end, they’d all trooped to the pub and tucked into sausage rolls and sandwiches put on by the sponsors.
‘So Pete’s keeping a low profile?’ Anya asked Liv as they waited by the bar.
‘Yeah, he’s staying with his family; I think he’s set on a quiet Christmas this year.’
‘So, you’ve spoken to him?’
‘Of course, I speak to him all the time – you know that.’
‘And he didn’t say anything about…’ Anya stopped.
‘You know Pete, loyal to the end; of course he didn’t say anything. We’ve been friends a long time and I’ve never heard him say a bad word about anyone,’ Liv said softly, because regardless of what had happened between them, Ballycove was too small to go falling out with people – Barbara Quirke had done enough of that for everyone.
Later, when Eddie joined them, Liv asked if he’d checked in on Pete, just to say hello, make sure all was well; after all, if he did need to talk to someone, maybe he’d prefer to talk to a bloke rather than to Liv.
‘Eh?’ He looked at her blankly between popping cocktail sausages into his mouth. ‘Course I didn’t call into him. What would I do that for? Don’t we always run into him in the pub?’
‘Yes, but things are different this year. He might need a mate to check in, you know; have a chat, man to man, just let him know that people are thinking of him.’
‘Come on, Liv, what do you think we are – Brokeback Mountain buddies?’
