Page 96 of The Snag List
Danny paused by Roe’s dressing table and leaned down to her ear.
‘And fifty minutes tono-show timefor you, missy!’
‘Can you not make light of my relationship right now?’ Roe was blending her make-up violently, fighting her nervy nausea. She couldn’t decide which was making her feel more sick: the thought of curtains going up and her standing in front of a packed house; or the thought of curtains going up and her standing in front of a packed house that did not contain Eddie.
‘Danny!’ Róisín appeared out of the gloom beyond Roe’s dressing-table lights. ‘How dare you be so insensitive!’ Roe felt a burst of affection for their domineering director.She actually gives a crap. ‘If you psych out my star and this show flops like her relationship, I will maim you. Or at least be putting you on probation – no solos for a YEAR. I mean it.’
OK, so giving a crap is a reach …
‘I’m sorry, Róisín!’ Danny protested. ‘I was just joshing. Trying to lighten the mood. Roe knows we’re all rooting for her.’ Róisín disappeared and Danny’s voice dropped to a whisper. ‘What the Helena Bonham Carter! Does she just manifest anytime someone threatens her precious little production?!’
‘Do you really think Eddie’s not going to come?’
Danny turned towards her with the same look he gave her the first time she’d drunk Malibu and gotten sick on Junior Cert results night. It was a look of awkward pity and seemed to say ‘I suppose I’ll be the one cleaning up this mess, will I?’
‘Do you definitely want him to come?’ Danny fixed her with a look.
‘Yes! Of course I do.’Do I?
‘Do you?’ Danny looked doubtful. ‘Maybe you need to sow your slutty oats for a while. You could be free and easy in London.’
Roe dropped her foundation brush and started lining her eyes. ‘I can’t just break up with Eddie. We’ve been together forever.’
‘Just because something’s been that way forever doesn’t mean it’s a good relationship …’ He leaned in to her mirror to fluff his Flatley Mullet – or the Flullet as they now affectionately called it. ‘I think if you were in a relationship that was good you wouldn’t be having to hide your feelings or having tolieabout … well … anything, Roe!’
She smudged the liner and scowled at him. ‘Look what you made me do.’
His words were drawing out the doubts she had been trying to push down for the last couple of weeks. To her relief, he shrugged and stormed off.
Since things had fallen apart with her and Eddie, she’d noticed herself becoming more and more curious about what it might feel like to not fix them. The thought made her feel sad and vulnerable but also excited. Life in London on her own would be so hard but, on the other hand, it could be anything she made it.
‘Roe, what have you done?’ Ailbhe appeared and grabbed her face. ‘This is a mess – why didn’t you wait for me?’ Ailbhe pulled up a nearby stool and began carefully removing the offending smudge.
‘I didn’t know you were here! When I left you earlier at the house, you were saying you might just flee the country.’
‘Oh, I know! But that’s just how everyone gets right before their two possible baby daddies are about to be in the same room together,’ Ailbhe said airily. They looked at each other and laughed.
‘Seriously, though. What’s the plan?’ Roe leaned in.
‘What’syourplan?’ Ailbhe countered.
‘I asked you first!’ Roe cocked an eyebrow.
‘My plan is to fix your face before this shine,’ she indicated Roe’s forehead, ‘blinds any members of the audience. And, OK, my second plan is to tread extremely carefully with Tom. We agreed to meet after the show.’
‘I can’t believe you’ve spent all summer literally pretending you don’t have a family in front of Seb Knox and now you’re just casually walking in with a husband and child?’
‘No child, just husband,’ Ailbhe clarified.
As if that’s better somehow!Roe thought.
‘Look,’ Ailbhe continued, ‘Tom finally agreed to stop the screaming sessions in the sad dads pad and meet me, but only on condition that I told him who the other potench dad was. I literally couldn’t risk another lie and I’m trying to show him that I’ve changed. So I told him it was Seb and then he announced he wanted to come down here and get a look at him.’ Ailbhe winced extravagantly then carried on. ‘So, yeah, it’s a disaster in the making. All I can hope is that he’s all screamed out and might, through some miracle, have decided to forgive me.’
‘I’m sure it’ll be OK …?’ Roe tried to sound convincing, twisting her hands in her lap nervously. ‘Looks like we both have a lot on our plates tonight.’
‘Places, everyone,’ Róisín called. ‘Ten minutes to curtain.’
As if summoned by Satan himself, Gavin suddenly descended on Roe and Ailbhe, camera hoisted up on his right shoulder.
