Page 9 of Such a Good Couple
Sure, Maggie couldactas normal as she wanted, but it didn’t change the fact that nothing about her life felt normal anymore. But pretending it was in front of her friends felt like the only option. She couldn’t say her life was hard and lonely and weird and maybe not even what she had ever wanted for herself –she’dwant to punch herself, never mind how Annie and Clara might feel about their rich friend moaning.
Her thoughts turned to the coming Friday. In three days, she’d see Fionn. At least Fionn would be one person on the trip that she wouldn’t have to pretend with. He knew their life was bizarre as hell. She just hoped he wouldn’t be tooHollywoodaround their friends. When they were skiing in January, she was sure she’d caught a few glances passing between them when fans approached him asking for selfies and he’d dialled up theFinn Strongpersona.
She was excited to spend time with him. Just over a month had passed with Fionn away on set. But along with the anticipation, Maggie felt a strange tilt of dread when she thought of seeing him in the flesh. Or was it more the thought of him seeingherin the flesh? She ran her hands over her stomach. Eight years since giving birth and it still flapped down over her C-section scar.
‘Mam! Mam!’
Maggie could hear her daughter Dodi out in the hall and welcomed the distraction.
It was hilarious to hear ‘Mam’ in an American accent. The twins were eight, they’d been in America since they were three, the accent was going nowhere – but Maggie and Fionn were pretty firm on them not saying ‘Mom’. Using ‘Mam’ was fast becoming their only connection to Ireland.
Dodi was only distinguishable from her sister by a faintfreckle just under her left eye. A very fucking handy freckle, Maggie and Fionn agreed, because otherwise it’d be a real struggle to tell them apart. They’d assigned the twins colours as babies to minimise confusion. Dodi was yellow and Essie was pink – they’d even put ribbons on their ankles. She remembered the day Fionn had come up with the idea and they’d gone to the fancy gift shop in Hackney to buy the ribbon. Along the way, she and Fionn had played a game they’d devised. Dodi and Essie were about six weeks old at this point and Maggie had noticed that passersby invariably hadsomethingto say upon spotting the twin buggy and so Twin Commentary Bingo was born. Whenever a stranger got that slightly crazed eager gleam in their eyes and descended on them, Maggie and Fionn would mutter guesses as to what cliché was coming.
Frequent flyers were:
You’ve got your hands full!
No fucking shit, hun.
Two for the price of one.
Tell that to the crèche we’re gonna be paying for.
Did you have them naturally or…?
No, luv. We went thesupernatural route: We sacrificed a virgin to Satan for them.
Maggie smiled at the recollection but also felt a twinge of sadness. She and Fionn couldn’t really just stroll down the street anymore. There were fans and photographers and, while Fionn enjoyed it, Maggie found it suffocating and found the idea of being tracked so assiduously more than a little bit unnerving. It also made her feel even more left out of his life, as she was quite literally swept to the side by the people so eager to metaphorically devour her husband.
Just then Dodi swooped into view and leapt on the bed, gatecrashing Maggie’s ruminations. Maggie reflexively sucked in her stomach before Dodi spotted her. She didn’t want tobe weird about her body around her daughters. She definitely didn’t want to pass down her propensity for self-loathing. But Jesus, it was very hard to go against a lifetime of social conditioning.
Noticing the sound of running water, Dodi jumped down off the bed and peered around the screen. ‘Mam, Essie says she doesn’t have the second Xbox controller but then she keeps laughing. She is being totally suss.’
‘I will be out in ten, okay?’ Maggie made a futile effort to cover her body. Pointless – her arms hid exactly nothing. It was a needless effort too – Dodi was at the age where she barely paid attention to her mother’s body. To her it was like an old piece of furniture she’d grown up around.
‘Fine.’ Dodi shot back out of the room as fast as she’d come in, screaming, ‘Essie, Mam’s coming so you should just cough it up already.’
Maggie pulled at her stomach as the suds streamed down over her belly.Bodies are just bodies, she reminded herself. But the headline from earlier muscled in anyway.
SEE: These Pics Of A-List Actor Finn Strong’s Wife Are Giving Us All Hope.
On the face of it, it was an innocuous headline, but the implication was there – she wasn’t good enough for Fionn. Wasn’t he great for having such an astoundingly ordinary wife?
Ugh, could the shitty internal monologue ever just take a day off?
Maybe she should stop ignoring the check-in emails from her old therapist. Though how much good had the therapy ever done her if she was still locked in these spirals?
She turned off the shower and squeezed the water from her hair.Fuck that article. Fuck my stomach.
The two weeks in Cape Cod were coming at a good time. It would also be the longest they’d spent together as a family in 2025 so far. She’d been thrilled when Fionn had insisted the break be written into hisEndurance 3contract.
The flight to Boston from the LAX VIP terminal – housed in a different building to the general departure gates – would leave in a few hours. She’d be with Clara and Annie so soon, and she actually felt tears rise just thinking about seeing them. She was fond of Eva but LA friends were never going to be the same.
‘Are we nearly there?’ Maggie asked the driver who’d collected them from Boston airport. Tucked in on either side of her, Dodi and Essie were dozing as they wound their way to the port. Outside the streets were busy as the day shift of work and obligation switched over to the night shift of languid drinks with friends and fizzing possibilities. It was nearly 7 p.m. and Maggie felt herself fizzing too as her reunion with her friends drew nearer and nearer.
‘We’re just here.’ The driver pulled over. ‘Woah!’ he exclaimed, looking out his window.
Maggie leaned over to see what he was looking at. Crap, it was theinsaneyacht, gleaming in the dock. It looked like a medium-sized hotel on water. Fecking Brody.
