Page 53 of One Moment in Time
There was a justice in that.
‘Me too,’ Brenda agreed.
Eileen decided that felt like the right note to leave this on. There didn’t seem to be anything else to say and she was terrified that she’d mess up what felt like a resolution by saying something wrong.
‘Thanks for listening to me, Brenda. You always meant the world to me, even though that night, I didn’t show it. I know we loved those men, but I always thought we loved each other more. I’m glad we had that back then. I just wish we’d still had that for the lifetime we’ve lived since.’
It was time to go, even though there was nowhere else she’d rather be right now than sitting here with Brenda. It was as if she’d just found the sister that she’d been missing for thirty years. There was one question that was playing on her mind, that escaped before she could stop it. ‘You’ve had thirty years with Colin and it’s all worked out for you, so if you could go back, would you change it?’
Brenda raised her eyes to the ceiling, maybe thinking about the answer, or perhaps just sending up a prayer that Eileen would leave. Just when Eileen thought she was out of time and had pushed it too far, Brenda came back down to earth, reached over, lifted the bottle from the ice bucket, shook it, then dropped it back in.
‘I’m not usually a day drinker,’ she said, with a rueful sigh, ‘but I think we’re going to need more wine if we’re going to discuss that question.’
26
ZARA
The daytime mood in the bar in the middle of the casino floor in Planet Hollywood wasn’t quite as jubilant and exciting as it had been on that first night in the Chandelier Bar in the Cosmopolitan. Although, thankfully, it was also slightly less of a middleweight boxing match than the restaurant at the Bellagio that morning.
There were a few people at individual tables, but Zara and Aiden sat next to each other on stools at the bar counter, ignoring the other guests who were there. The guy staring into his bourbon a few seats along. The couple, giddy with love, snogging the faces off each other further around the bar top. The two elderly ladies giving their arms a rest after a few hours on the slots. And at least a dozen other people that Zara hadn’t worked out a backstory for yet.
‘Do you ever look at people and try to suss out what their lives are like?’ she asked Aiden, while they were waiting for their beers.
‘All the time. It’s my favourite thing to do. Especially when a new client walks into the office. I like to see how much of their story I can guess before they tell me. It’s deeply unprofessional.’
Zara smiled. ‘Do you ever get it right?’
‘Sometimes. I had a school teacher who’d just found out she’d married a quadruple bigamist last week. Didn’t see that coming.’
‘See, that’s always my first guess when I meet someone,’ Zara joked, laughing. ‘Do you think anyone in here is looking at us and thinking, “There’s two virtual strangers whose parents all slept with each other?”
Aiden nodded. ‘Most definitely. It’s completely obvious. We can put it on billboards for anyone who doesn’t spot it straight away.’
Zara let her head fall down on to her forearms on the bar. ‘Aaaargh, what a disaster. How unlucky do you have to be to arrange an anniversary trip for your parents and then find out that not only did they not actually get legally married when you thought they did, but they weren’t even in love and only did it because they’d both just had their hearts broken by other people.’ That explanation would do for now – she wasn’t going to tell him the whole story about her mom being pregnant because it wasn’t her story to tell. She lifted her head and challenged him with, ‘I mean, that has to be the unluckiest plan ever, right? Tell me one thing in your life that’s unluckier than that.’
‘I was supposed to get married three weeks ago and my fiancée, Layla, didn’t show.’
‘No. You’re making that up to make me feel better.’ Zara felt dread oozing from her pores. He was either a really good liar or she’d just come out with the most inappropriate, foot in mouth, stupid thing ever.
Aiden shook his head, shrugged. ‘’Fraid not. Beach wedding. Guests. String quartet. Free bar. Me in a suit at the end of the aisle. No Layla.’
Zara scrunched her eyes closed for a second, then opened them. Nope, still in the same place. Foot still in mouth. This was getting worse by the minute. ‘I’m a nightmare. I’m sorry. Run while you can in case I say more stupid things. I’m clearly a jinx that just goes around unleashing people’s most painful memories.’ The dread had now elevated to full DEFCON 1 regret. ‘I’m so sorry. Have you spoke to her since? Have you found out why she didn’t show up? You see things like that in movies, but you never think it’ll happen in real life.’ In her head that sounded great, but as soon as it came out she realised… ‘And yet it happened to you and I’m now pointing that out and making the situation even worse. I shouldn’t be allowed out. Have I mentioned that I’m a jinx?’
Weirdly, he seemed amused by her lack of tact and general hopelessness. ‘Could be worse. Most people I know just don’t mention it because they’re embarrassed and they don’t know what to say. It’s not the best look for a lawyer that specialises in divorce. Even the crappiest of relationship specialists usually manage to get married before their bride does a runner.’
Zara’s hands were both over her mouth now, mostly because she didn’t want to say anything else idiotic. What the hell was going on in this world? Her parents had a whole bucket of secrets. Her mum used to sleep with a bloke who looked like Tom Selleck in his prime. Her dad had just punched Mr Selleck in the face. Her boyfriend couldn’t be arsed speaking to her. Her sister wanted to leave their partnership. And in among that whole bunch of crazy, someone made the absolutely moronic, unfathomable decision to jilt this gorgeous, sexy, successful sweetheart of a man at the altar. The universe had gone mad. It was official.
Aiden ordered two more beers for them. ‘Okay, so your turn,’ he told her. ‘Tell me your most tragic love story. Make me feel better about being rejected and humiliated in front of everyone I’ve ever known.’
She could see he was teasing, but at the same time, he had a point.
‘Okay… well…’ She had to make this good. ‘I’ve been going out with the same guy for eight years.’
‘Really? That’s the best you’ve got? That’s supposed to make me feel better?’ His grin gave the tease away, but nevertheless, she took a chug of beer, then put her hands up.
‘Hang on, hang on. I’m not done. We’ve been together so long that sometimes I think we’re only still hanging on out of habit.’
Her hand flew to her mouth again. Bugger. Had she really just said that out loud? This called for more beer.
