Holly laughed. ‘Is she there?’
‘Yes, absolutely,’ Sharon continued.
‘OK, well, I won’t keep you very long then. The details are that we’re all meeting up in Hogan’s on Wednesday night to watch it so you’re welcome to come.’
‘That’s great … OK.’ Sharon pretended to take her details.
‘Brilliant, we’ll have fun. Sharon what will I wear?’
‘Hmm … brand new or second-hand?’
‘No, I really can’t afford anything new. Even though you forced me to buy that top a few weeks ago I’m refusing to wear it on the grounds that I am no longer eighteen. So probably something old.’
‘OK … red.’
‘The red top I wore to your birthday?’
‘Yes, exactly.’
‘Yeah, maybe.’
‘What’s your current state of employment?’
‘To be honest I haven’t even started looking yet.’ Holly chewed the inside of her mouth and frowned.
‘And date of birth?’
‘Ha-ha, shut up, you bitch,’ Holly laughed.
‘I’m sorry, we only give motor insurance to ages twenty-four and older. You’re too young, I’m afraid.’
‘I wish. OK I’ll speak to you later.’
‘Thank you for calling.’
Holly sat at the kitchen table wondering what she should wear next week; she wanted something new. She wanted to look sexy and gorgeous, for a change, and she was sick of all her old clothes. Maybe Denise had something in her shop. She was about to call when she received a text message from Sharon.
Hag rite bhind me
Tlk 2 u l8r xxx
Holly picked up the phone and called Denise at work.
‘Hello, Casuals,’ answered a very polite Denise.
‘Hello, Casuals, Holly here. I know I’m not supposed to call you at work but I just wanted to tell you that Declan’s documentary won some student award thingy and it’s gonna be aired on Wednesday night.’
‘Oh, that’s so cool, Holly! Are we gonna be in it?’ she asked excitedly.
‘Yeah, I think so. So we’re all meeting up in Hogan’s to watch it that night. You up for that?’
‘Of course! I can bring my new boyfriend too,’ she giggled.
‘What new boyfriend?’
‘Tom!’
‘The karaoke guy?’ Holly asked in shock.
‘Yeah, of course! Oh, Holly, I’m so in love!’ she giggled childishly again.
‘In love? But you only met him a few weeks ago!’
‘I don’t care; it only takes a minute … as the saying goes.’
‘Wow, Denise … I don’t know what to say!’
‘Tell me how great it is!’
‘Yeah … wow … I mean … of course … It’s really great news.’
‘Oh, try not to sound too enthusiastic, Holly,’ she said sarcastically. ‘Anyway I can’t wait for you to meet him. You’ll absolutely love him. Well, not as much as I do but you’ll certainly really really like him …’ she rambled on about how great he was.
‘Denise, aren’t you forgetting that I’ve met him already?’ Holly interrupted her in the middle of a story about how Tom had saved a child from drowning.
‘Yeah, I know you have, but I would rather you meet him when you’re not acting like a demented woman hiding in toilets and shouting into microphones.’
‘Look forward to it then …’
‘Yeah, cool, it’s gonna be great! I’ve never been to my own premiere before!’ she said excitedly.
Holly rolled her eyes at her dramatics and they said their goodbyes.
Holly barely got any housework done that morning as she spent most of the time talking on the phone. Her mobile was burning and it was giving her a headache. She shuddered at the thought. Every time she had a headache it reminded her of Gerry. She hated to hear her loved ones complaining of headaches and migraines, and would immediately launch herself at them, telling them how they should take it more seriously and go see their doctors. She ended up petrifying everyone with her stories and they eventually stopped telling her whenever they felt ill.
She sighed loudly. She was turning into such a hypochondriac even her doctor was sick of the sight of her. She went running to her in a panic over the tiniest little things: if she had a pain in her leg or a cramp in her stomach. Last week she was convinced there was something wrong with her feet; her toes just didn’t look quite right. Her doctor had examined them seriously and then had immediately started to scribble her prescription down on a slip of paper while Holly watched in terror. Eventually she handed her the piece of paper, and scrawled messily in that handwriting only doctors can perfect was: ‘Buy bigger shoes.’
It may have been funny but it cost her forty euro.
Holly had spent the last few minutes on the phone listening to Jack ranting and raving about Richard. Richard had paid him a little visit too. Holly wondered whether he was just trying to bond with his siblings after years of hiding from them. Well, it was too little too late for most of them, it seemed. It was certainly very difficult trying to hold a conversation with someone who hadn’t yet mastered the art of politeness.
Oh, stop, stop, stop! she silently screamed to herself. She needed to stop worrying, stop thinking, stop making her brain go into overdrive, and she certainly needed to stop talking to herself. She was driving herself crazy.
She finally finished hanging out the washing more than two hours later and piled another load into the machine. She switched the radio on in the kitchen, had the television blaring from the living room and went about her housework. Perhaps that would drown out the whinging little voice from her head.
Chapter Seventeen
Holly arrived at Hogan’s and pushed her way through the old men in the pub to the stairs to Club Diva. The traditional band was in full swing and the crowd was joining in with all their favourite Irish songs. It was only seven thirty so Club Diva wasn’t officially open yet, and the empty space looked like a completely different venue from the one where she had been so terrified in a few weeks ago. She was the first to arrive and settled herself at a table right in front of the big screen so she would have a perfect view of her brother’s documentary.
A glass smashing over by the bar made her jump, and she looked up to see who had joined her in the room. Daniel’s head emerged from behind the bar with a dustpan and brush in his hand.
‘Oh, hiya, Holly. I didn’t realise anyone had come in.’
‘I came early, for a change.’ She walked over to the bar to greet him. He looked different tonight, she thought, inspecting him.
‘God, you’re really early,’ he said. ‘The others probably won’t be here for another hour or so.’
Holly looked confused and glanced at her watch. ‘But it’s seven thirty – the show starts at eight, doesn’t it?’
Now Daniel looked confused. ‘No, I was told nine o’clock but I could be wrong …’ he reached for that day’s paper and looked at the TV page. ‘Yep, nine o’clock, Channel Four.’
Holly