Page 32 of The Snag List
‘Well done, honey! Maia is going to get you on a schedule of meetings. They say ninety meetings in the first ninety days is the best aim.’
‘Tom! What? I don’t have time for that – I have a baby! And I’m supposed to be helping Holly out until we leave. I’ve got a meeting with her and the producer on set this afternoon!’
‘Don’t worry, I’m here now! And it’s just an hour out of the day, Ailbhe – a really important hour. Plus, me and Tilly have so much catching up to do.’ He wiggled his nose against the baby’s.
Ailbhe sighed. ‘I’d better get dressed. If I’d known you were flying in I wouldn’t have arranged to meet Holly. The first official scenes for the show are shooting this afternoon.Glee Meit’s called. I’m picking her up from the Luas in twenty minutes.’
‘No problem, I’m gonna bring Tilly in to show her the Dublin offices.’
Ailbhe couldn’t help but laugh. ‘She is barely sentient! Are you gonna do the whole “one day all of this will be yours” speech?’
‘Absolutely, never too soon to be thinking about succession plans. We don’t want a Kim Jong-un situation on our hands.’
‘Of course.’ Ailbhe grinned, making her way to the sink to resume her ablutions. ‘Take one of the bottles of pumped milk from the fridge.’
‘If you have the forms for the tourist entry to the US ready, I can send them from the office. Great to get them sent in good time. The next four weeks are going toflyby.’
‘Yep, I’ll finish them before I leave. There are someintensequestions on there. They ask if you’ve ever committed genocide. Could anyone possibly be answering that truthfully if they had?’
Tom chuckled. ‘I love you, Ailbhe, you are one funny fucker! I can’t wait for you to meet all the crew in Cali. It’s finally feeling real.’ He stood and put his arms around her again and lowered his face to hers. Ailbhe closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax.I am so lucky. He loves us so much. He was a gorgeous kisser, somehow gentle but also shot through with an urgency that was extremely sexy.
After a couple of minutes she pulled away, feeling him getting hard. ‘OK, Tilly is way too close for this to be anything but yuck. You go walk that off.’
He laughed and jogged a few feet away to where the imposing free-standing granite bath stood, Tilly still flopped contentedly in his arms. ‘Am I a safe distance? We’re not going to traumatise her. You’re the one who’s always saying she’s got the awareness of a handbag.’
‘Well,’ Ailbhe grinned, ‘I was sensing things could have escalated very rapidly there. We haven’t IE-P’ed in person in a very long time and you are an extremely hot kisser. Is it a Christian thing?’
‘Oh yeah, cos we don’t do anythingbutkiss till we’re like thirty!’
‘Right, we will resume later. Off you go, I have to get dressed.’
As she carefully applied her make-up – you had to look the part on set – she picked up the phone to check on the Snag List group. She replied to Roe’s coke fiend message.
AILBHE: Shut up. Stop.Thanks for talking me down yesterday, I was all over the shop. Head’s doing better TG. Though Tom is acting like I have a drink problem – he’s talking about getting me ‘some help’. So obvi now my fucking Ket-at-the-airport-arrest-warrant-mess – if it comes up – will look ten times worse. It was a bit of J1 high jinks and now it might totally screw me.
ROE: So you haven’t told him yet?
AILBHE: No, are you joking? The man thinks I need AA meetings for a few drinks at a party. Don’t worry, I’ll be getting out of that one.
ROE: It was afive-year-old’s party. And it was coke not drinks. Just playing devil’s avocado here.
AILBHE: PutFielding’s parentsin rehab. I put the class in Class As! I’m a new mother, I was just thrilled to be out – what’stheirexcuse?
LINDY: Of course you were over-excited. We’ve all been that woman. What are you going to do about the flights?
ROE: Wing it?!
AILBHE: Actually, yes. I’ve been bet into Reddit and the consensus is you’ve about a 50-50 chance of getting away with it. According to a one lad called @MeSoHarney, it’s possible that the unpaid fine just faded away. I know there was some official-type letter asking me to appear before a judge but they’d hardly be bothered putting a warrant out for the arrest of some J1 student in high spirits?
LINDY: Ailbhe, hun. Is it not just better to explain it to Tom? He won’t be mad. It’s not like this just happened – it was years ago. You’re an adult woman now. You’re a business owner! A mother! Surely, just be honest.
At Craghanmor Community Centre, Ailbhe scanned the crowd for any sign of theGlee Meproducer. She pressed through the packed hall, holding her breath to protect her from the fumes of hairspray and bald, feverish ambition that emanated from all musical-theatre people. The entire building clanged with singers tuning their vocal chords and holding nothing back on the high notes. As Ailbhe had neared the Luas stop, Holly had texted to say she was late and for Ailbhe to go ahead without her. Now, Ailbhe loitered in a quiet spot beside the water fountain and opened her emails to finally catch up on the brief for the show.
Glee Mecentres around the Life and Soullers, a little community choir with BIG DREAMS. This reality show will take us from tense tryouts to the big night – the world première ofVoices of Glory, a musical charting Ireland’s historic Eurovision winning streak.
Fuck off!Ailbhe laughed to herself, quickly firing off a text to the Snag List.
AILBHE: Too funny! I think I’m working on your choir thing, Roe! Are you here at the auditions?
