Page 30 of Such a Good Couple
‘I don’t knowwhatFionn’s thinking,’ Ollie remarked. ‘It’s hardly the stuff of heartfelt reunions … How long’s it been since he and Maggie saw each other?’
‘Well,’ Clara threw him a withering look, ‘you’d know better than anyone that just cuz you’re with each other all the time doesn’t mean the relationship is good.’
‘What doesthatmean?’ Ollie looked baffled.
Before Clara could say more, Maggie’s voice travelled over to them. She sounded upset. ‘Wow. Just wow, Fionn. That is so typical.’
‘Please, lads.’ Conor looked from Clara to Ollie. ‘Only one couple fighting at a time – that’s the rule of this holiday.’
Annie noted that he didn’t look her way at all.
When they’d left the proper road, the route to Edwin Ensel’s dune shack was two miles of scrappy sand trails that bounded over the hills and down through the gullies of the almost lunar landscape. Fionn had told Conor and Ollie not to drink that day and so the guys were driving. Via a series of meaningful looks, Annie, Clara and Maggie had communicated that none of them wanted to ride with their other half and so that was how Annie came to be bouncing around beside Ollie as he whooped and giggled. There was still a bit of light left at the horizon but Annie couldn’t help worrying about the drive back.
‘How do you know how to drive this thing?’ she shouted over the roar of the engine.
‘The lad who dropped them off gave us a tutorial.’
‘That sounds … thorough? Hopefully?’ She winced as they bumped over a small outcrop of rocks.
‘Did you guys have fun today?’
The image of Clara’s tongue in that random guy’s mouth flashed into Annie’s mind.
‘Yeah,’ she said, cautiously.
What the fuck. How did I get stuck with my friend’s potentially cheating husband just hours after she cheated on him back?
Annie twisted to look back at the rest of the gang careering around the track behind them. Fionn was clearly having a blast with his buggy. He had just one hand on the wheel and was steering it expertly around obstacles and up banks of sand. With his shades, tan and white teeth, Annie felt like she could literally be watching a scene from one of his movies. Beside him, Clara was whooping tipsily. Trailing far behind, Annie could see Conor inching his way cautiously forward with a very tense Maggie beside him. They’d probably arrive an hour after everyone else.
‘I’m glad today was good.’ Ollie jerked them to the right to get around a withered-looking bush. ‘Clara really needs this holiday.’
‘She does,’ Annie agreed.
‘She works so much. The last time she got a night to herself, she went out drinking with her work crowd, but drinking can’t be her only outlet. Plus, they’re in their twenties – getting shitfaced is still a novelty for them. What’s Clara’s excuse?’
‘Blowing off steam, I guess?’ Annie had a surge of remorse (along with a surge of nausea as they swung a violent left); the last couple of times Clara had suggested they get together, Annie’d been meeting Rachel.I should’ve suggested she come, especially as it’s hard for Clara to make time with the kids and work. The next time I will, she resolved.
Beside her, Ollie continued, ‘I feel kinda guilty because …’The buggy bounced, cutting him off, and Annie clenched, both from the jolt and hearing Ollie announce that he felt guilty. She did not want to receive some kind of confession.
‘Maybe less talking, Ollie.’ She gripped her seat, though she knew it was a completely futile gesture – wherever this buggy was going, the seat was going too.
‘Don’t worry, I can drive this, no probs! I drive the truck for work, sure. But yeah … I feel bad for her. Can I ask you, though … has Clara said anything?’
‘Of course she’s said things, we’ve been on holiday together for two days now.’
‘C’mon, Annie.’ He glanced her way. ‘Has she said anything about me? About us? I feel like … Look, I haven’t been totally honest with her lately and I’m worried that if—’
‘Ollie, you can’t put me in this position.’ The buggy swooped down a steep depression in the terrain and Annie’s stomach did a flip.
‘What position?’ Ollie pulled the buggy sharply to the left to keep from veering right off the trail altogether. ‘I just want to be upfront with her and I want to get the lie of the land before we talk.’
‘Why are you proposing to have some big heart-to-heart that might upset her while on holiday?’ Annie glared at him. ‘Why would you think that’s appropriate?’
‘Jesus, relax! I know it’s not great that I haven’t been honest but I think now’s actually a good time. At home, we don’t get a second to talk, Annie. The kids are up our holes round the clock.’
‘I cannot believe I’m having to explain to you why here, on a group holiday, isn’t a good time to come clean about your behaviour.’
‘Okay, calm down! You’re acting like I’m confessing to an affair or something. I only want to tell her that I’ve been training for the marathon.’
