Page 104 of Between Us

‘Nothing went on behind Joe’s back, Fay.’

Nevertheless, she writhed. Roisin wasn’t proud of the fact she’d fallen for one of their mutual friends. The reason she was able to, was because she and Joe had already imploded.

The right and proper way for her romantic life to continue was a respectful six months to a year of singledom, and then seeing someone wholly unconnected to Joe. But life was a chaotic, inconvenient bastard, and there it was. Love was love. Joe certainly couldn’t say she had stolen his bosom buddy, with her bosoms.

Fay asked a few more questions about her welfare that had answers she couldn’t possibly care about. It became clear that she wasn’t issuing an elegant and affectionate farewell; she was so appalled that she couldn’t resist hearing Roisin’s accountfor herself. She was forcing Roisin to own her infamous treatment of her son, in the style of an officer reading out the charges. To make it clearThey Knew.

Roisin was surprised by how upsetting she found it. All those years of scraping carrots for the festive lunch, sending them press clippings aboutSEENand remembering which small-batch distillery gin Kenneth liked, for nothing. She had been a near-faultless daughter-in-law and it all evaporated after a few choice, butthurt words from Joe.Mothers and their sons.She thought about Lorraine and Ryan.

After she ended the call, Roisin saw Dominic, Joe’s best friend, was on Call Waiting. Was this a ‘Line Up To Kick Rosh’s Arse’ queue? She very nearly declined. Only the momentum from having faced Fay made her take it. Her blood was up.

‘Hi, Dominic!’ she said.

‘Roisin, darling. How are you?’ She found Dom’s patrician manner with women the same age as him irksome at the best of times.

‘You know what, IwasOK until Joe’s mum rang to insinuate I’m a greedy jezebel. If you’re offering anything on that theme, can I ask that we don’t? The meeting could be an email, as they say.’

‘Oh goodness! Mums! Sorry to hear,’ Dom said, emollient.

Roisin had expected him to take offence and fell quiet.

‘Vic and I are quite gutted, and we wanted to let you know that, and check you’re OK. Also, please keep this between us, but I think young Joseph does himself no favours with thecocksure, invulnerable routine. He’s an absolute mess over losing you, whether he shows it or not.’

‘Ah,’ Roisin said.

‘When he talks about you, what always shines out is the immense respect he has for you, Roisin.’

Aye, does it,she thought. She knew there’d be an angle, and here it was. ‘Give Joe another chance’, as heavy subtext.

‘You’re the only woman in the world as far as he’s concerned. He thinks you’re a powerhouse. That’s the word he uses.’

Roisin tried to sound appreciative. She knew Dom meant well, and maybe it was his manner that grated. But she was being mansplained on how she should perceive Joe, being mansplained on his true amour for her. Did it not occur to Dominic to ask what Roisin thought? Her break-up had become others’ property.

There was no point saying any of this: Dom would merely insist he wanted Roisin to know how cherished she was.

‘… I’m doing a mercy dash to stay with him tonight so he’s not on his own. I expect there will be Tom Waits and whisky. Listen, this is none of my business …’ Dom said.

Youcan probably stop there, then?Roisin thought, waspishly.

‘Joe mentioned someone you both know putting moves on you. He feels this man is very much not to be trusted. He doesn’t have your best interests at heart. Joe was very agitated and worried that you think it’s mere possessiveness. He discussed it for some time when he called in the other week.’

It was the tiniest of tiny things, a snagged thread on a table edge. Roisin could easily dismiss it.

But, ‘called in’? When Joe had said he’d stayed over?

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Roisin’s mind raced as Dom continued on the nebulous and shadowy evils of a fictionalised version of Matt McKenzie.

If she directly questioned Dom on this ‘called in’ terminology, he might sense Joe was being caught out and deploy male solidarity emergency mode: bluster to Roisin that Joe’s version was right, then question Joe later.

She had to be smarter than to simply say, ‘Didn’t he stay at yours?’

‘I hope he didn’t stagger in too drunk from that lads’ night and wake his parents, after hecalled inat yours, by the way,’ Roisin said, flying a kite.

‘When? The other week? Oh no,’ Dom said. He paused, and Roisin thought he was about to change the subject. ‘He was off by half eight – he was taking them for dinner.’

‘Ah, of course! I think he said,’ Roisin said smoothly.

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