Page 25 of Such a Good Couple
Clara ignored her. ‘Maggie, look at our debit cardtransactions.’ She shoved the phone over to Maggie. ‘There is some really strange-sounding shit on here.’
Maggie took the phone and tried not to look visibly shocked at the total on the account that was displayed up top.Maybe they have a savings account separate to this one?
She scrolled down but couldn’t see much of anything. ‘What am I looking for here?’
‘He spent 140 euro on a website called HardBodies.com. I looked it up. It’s like a sex shop with toys and outfits and everything.’
‘Maybe he’s got you a present?’
‘It was back in March. As you know, my birthday’s in April and I got an off-brand Dyson hoover-wannabe.’ Clara took the phone back to scroll further. ‘He doesn’t even like lingerie and dress-up stuff,’ she muttered, irritated. ‘Anytime I ever got a nice bra or knickers he’d just get them straight off like they were a nuisance. Now here he is spending money wesodon’t have, being spicy at last and it’s not even with me.’
‘Ollie is one of the good ones. I can’t believe he’d be sneaking around.’ Maggie felt certain there had to be an explanation for it all. ‘You have to have it out with him. What are you going to do?’
‘I honestly don’t know.’ Clara picked up her glass. ‘Fume? Confront him? Cry? Day-drink? All of the above?’
Clara was not a crier. Maggie hadn’t seen her shed a tear in two decades of friendship. She was more of a railer. She railed against injustices small and large with the exact same level of venom.
Maggie looked helplessly over at Annie, who gave an impotent little shrug.
Clara spied the exchange. ‘I’m sorry, gals, I realise discovering an affair while on a group holiday with friends isn’t exactly ideal for everyone else.’
‘Okay, but you haven’t actually discovered anything definite,’Maggie reminded her. ‘Ollie’s a softie, Clara. He was literally just saying to me earlier how he doesn’t know how I can cope with Fionn kissing actresses at work, that he’d lose his mind if it was you.’
Clara swigged at her cocktail, ignoring this. ‘I think more than anything, I’m just furious that he’s had the time for this when I haven’t had the time to so much as go to the toilet on my own in what feels like ten years.’
‘Babe,’ Annie reached across and rubbed Clara’s upper arm, ‘you need to talk to him.’
‘I know, I know.’ Clara’s look of rage was rapidly giving way to one of pain. ‘This is going to sound bonkers but I also just reeeeally don’t want to ruin the holiday. I was looking forward to this.’ She looked to Maggie. ‘I don’t suppose Brody could fly in Esther Perel at a day’s notice?’ She barked a rueful laugh.
‘Ugh, no thanks.’ Maggie crossed her legs, trying to ignore the wodge of knee fat that she’d lately become fixated on after hearing Eva had had hers lipo’d out. Maggie checked the time – it was coming up to 8 a.m.; soon Ollie, Conor and all the kids would be upon them. ‘Maybe we need to declare a girls’ day?’ she suggested. ‘Give us all a bit of breathing space to think. We can figure out a plan with Ollie, and we can give you,’ she nodded gently at Annie, ‘and Conor a break from the whole baby stress. Fionn says he has some surprise planned for tonight. Let’s get through today and then figure it all out. This really could be nothing, Clara. Ollie is not a guy who would do this.’
‘They never are,’ Clara replied darkly. ‘Look at Fionn.’
‘Clara!’ Annie cried.
‘What do you mean “look at Fionn”?’ Maggie’s jaw clenched. ‘Only yesterday you both were full of “oh it’s just losers on the internet talking shit”. So which fucking is it? I talked to him there and he was the same as ever.’
‘Theyarejust bullshit rumours based on nothing—’ Annie’sinsistent words came out in a rush.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way about Fionn.’ Clara met Maggie’s eyes looking matter-of-fact. ‘I’m not tryna be a bitch here, like, I love the guy, he’s one of my oldest pals, but the reality is Fionn is being a bit of a shit, all this disappearing out of your and the girls’ lives for weeks and months on end.’
‘It’s my life, Clara. Not yours to have an opinion about. Fionn is not a shit.’ Maggie was edging ever closer to saying something unsayable.He’s paying for the food you’re eating. He’s paying for the booze that you are clearly hitting way too hard.She pulled herself back; Clara didn’t mean it, she was upset about Ollie.
‘Guys, stop.’ Annie spoke quietly. ‘It’s obvious we’re all a bit stressed. Can we agree that we’re all coming from a place of love here? No one wants to hurt anyone. We’ve all got a lot going on. I think Maggie’s idea is the best. I don’t wanna spend the day with Conor, trying to act like I feel super amazing after last night. Clara needs to take a breath and figure some stuff out. Maggie, you’ve been anxious since we got here.’
Despite this being accurate, Maggie wanted to argue. ‘I haven’t. I’m good.’
‘Okay, you’re great. Whatever.’ Annie shrugged. ‘Let’s just get out of here. It’s the fourth of July, let’s get some independence from these fucking men. At least until later.’
‘What’ll we do?’ Maggie asked.
‘What all straight women do when they’re worn down from the hetero bullshit,’ Annie replied.
‘Find some gays?’ Clara suggested. ‘We’re in the right place for it.’
Maggie smiled, grateful that the sudden spike in tension was dissipating. She was feeling discombobulated enough with Fionn’s imminent arrival and all the whispers online, never mind the food she’d been wolfing down; she didn’t want to wastethe precious time they had together snipping and fighting.
CHAPTER 7
