Page 68 of One Day and Forever
A young man came over from the concierge desk with a brass luggage trolley. ‘Would you like me to take your luggage up to your rooms?’
‘Yes please,’ Cillian nodded, helping to transfer the cases onto the hotel trolley, before giving him the relevant room numbers.
‘No problem at all,’ the bellboy told them. ‘The bar is still open, if you’d like a drink.’
Cillian didn’t need much persuasion. ‘I think I could definitely do with a pint after all that. Alice? Zac? I’m not trying to lead you astray, but would you like to join me?’
Zac shook his head. ‘Sorry, Dad, but I’m knackered. I’m just going to go on upstairs.’ He reached over and gave his dad a hug, and then made Alice smile, by hugging her too. ‘I’ll see you in the morning. And, Alice, thank you so much for everything today. I would have been lost without you, and I’m so grateful. I’m glad we got everything sorted out.’
An unspoken agreement passed between them when he didn’t use specifics.
Neither of them would ever discuss Larry McLenn again. It was over. Done. As far as they were both concerned, it had never happened. Which was how she viewed her time with Larry too. Done.
‘I am too, and I’m so glad that our paths crossed. You know that divine intervention we were talking about? I can’t help thinking that your mum planned that for a reason. Goodnight, Zac.’
He went off in the direction of the lifts, leaving her with Cillian in the lobby.
‘Drink then?’ Cillian said. The fact that she was still there probably gave her decision away. She might not have made it to her new life with Rory and Sophie tonight, but that didn’t mean she should delay her new attitude, new optimism and new determination to enjoy every second of the rest of her life.
‘You know what, Cillian, I think I’d like that.’
They made their way into the bar and found a corner table, over by the fire on the far wall. A waiter took their order of a pint and a gin and tonic straight away.
‘You’re smiling,’ Cillian said.
Alice nodded. ‘I guess I am. I was thinking about Morag. I hope she heard everything we talked about tonight. I hope she knows how much we’d love her to be here. In a way, I feel like she is. Is that weird?’
Cillian shook his head. ‘I was thinking the same thing when we were at the bar in the airport. You know, I’m not embarrassed to say it’s been a tough year. Morag and I were married for near on thirty years, and we were happy. We had a good life. I just never thought that I would lose her while we still had lots of it to live and it floored me. But so many times I’ve felt her around me…’ He paused, then smiled. ‘She wasn’t one for moping or feeling sorry for herself, so when I hear her in my head, she’s usually telling me to get my act together and get out and enjoy myself. Maybe it’s time I started listening to her.’
The waiter arrived with their drinks, and as soon as he’d left them, Alice held hers up. ‘To Morag,’ she said softly.
Cillian raised his glass to meet hers. ‘To Morag. And to the rest of our lives.’
They’d just taken their first sips and put their glasses down on the table when they were distracted by the sight of a young woman rushing into the bar.
Alice was surprised when Cillian raised his hand and waved, a gesture that brought the red-haired girl tearing over their way.
‘Hi. We met earlier,’ she said to Cillian, her cheeks flushed and her words breathless.
His tone was welcoming and kind as he acknowledged that he remembered her. ‘Jacinta’s lass.’
‘Yes. Only at the time, I didn’t realise that you were Zac’s dad. Crazy coincidence, but he’s an…’ she paused, as if she didn’t know quite what to say next, then settled on, ‘He’s an old friend of mine and I just need to ask him something. Would you happen to know where he is right now?’
Cillian gave her a beaming smile. ‘I certainly do. Room 203.’
35
ZAC
As soon as he got to the room, Zac stripped off and went into the shower. It was one of those huge ones, with sandstone tiling and jets that came out of both the ceiling and the walls. Right now, he needed all of them and he wanted them to hit his body hard enough to distract him from everything that had happened today, both good and bad. The sadness of saying goodbye to Audrey and the reminders that brought of losing his mum. The confusion of the things he’d found among his mum’s mementoes. The kindness of Alice and Val. The devastating suspicion that Larry could be his father, and the utter horror of meeting him. And then the biggest joy of all – learning that his father was the person he’d always believed him to be.
He’d thought nothing else could add to the emotional tornado that had spun right through the last twenty-four hours, but then there she was at the airport.
But she wasn’t alone.
Hands against the wall, he raised his head to let the jets hit his face, then lifted the shampoo and ran it through his hair, barely aware of what he was doing, his actions on autopilot because his mind was elsewhere.
Kara. And Ollie Chiles. The first time they’d met, she’d mentioned her friend, the struggling actor. By the second time, he was a big name. But at that point she’d told Zac that she was engaged to someone else. Tonight, it was absolutely obvious that Ollie and Kara were a couple – the way they were holding hands, the way Ollie looked at her and the way he spoke about them looking forward to their trip to Hawaii. She must have split up with her fiancé and then got together with Ollie.
