Page 98 of Such a Good Couple
She turned it to Maggie. ‘These pics are always so generic! A fun game would be to do an anonymous lineup of all our scan photos and try to pick out our babies.’
Maggie grinned. ‘Dodi and Essie would be easy – they were both rammed in there together.’
‘Of course! I’m a dope.’ Then Clara put her head down and spoke into the table. ‘Do you think I’m a dope? Of course you do. I am a dope. Ollie and I had a really good relationship but I was too self-centred to realise. In my head it was all about who was doing more with the kids and who had it harder and the answer,according tome, was always – surprise! surprise! – me.’
‘I get it.’ Maggie smoothed Clara’s hair. ‘Fionn is basically on holiday from parenthood every few weeks. He’s on location in Spain right now.’
Clara lifted her head. ‘I’m glad you decided to stay here for a bit.’
‘Me too.’ Maggie nodded. ‘With all the work on the script, I couldn’t have managed the girls without Mam and Dad. And Donal and Emer. They’ve all jumped in at different points.’
‘Why not get childcare, Maggie?’ Clara was perplexed at her friend. It wasn’t until the Provincetown trip that Clara fully grasped that while Maggie had home help she didn’t, as Clara had imagined, have a full fleet of nannies – an assumption Clara now felt bad about.
‘Ah, I don’t need it, the girls are very easy. And the tutor has them for three hours in the morning. I feel conscious that they’re growing up in a very weird situation and so I want to be there for them. And I’m lucky that Icanbe there while also getting back into work and creating.’
M∑fMedea in Hollywoodc felt like she got a contact high from it. Clara knew the first draft was finished, Maggie’s fake agent, now real agent, Eva had read and loved it, and Maggie was working on notes that the producers had sent through. The one slight blight on the project was that Maggie still hadn’t told Fionn the plot in detail and he hadn’t asked, which, as Clara had said in her side chat with Annie, seemed a bit self-absorbed.
Clara sipped her wine. ‘When are you going to let Fionn read it?’
‘Next draft,’ Maggie replied firmly.
‘Any worries on that front?’
‘Yes. Obviously.’ Maggie spun the stem of her wine glass with her fingertips. ‘It’s going to be aconversation,’ she said meaningfully. ‘A play by Finn Strong’s wife about a Hollywoodactor, his unfamous wife and two kids? There’s a lot of parallels with us. And obviously in the play Jason ditches Medea for a young new co-star? People will speculate online. It’s going to be tricky but I’m not going to kill the project. Fionn mightn’t be super happy about it at first but I’m sure he’ll get over it.’
Clara smiled. ‘Yes, he will. As he should. I love Fionn and he’s one of my oldest friends, blah-blah … but I would kill you with my bare hands if you gave up anything more for that man. This show is going to be amazing.’
‘Thank you.’ Maggie smiled, tilting her glass to her lips. ‘To be honest, if he wants to argue with me about it, I don’t think he’s got a leg to stand on. I checked our family calendar and this year alone he’s been on location more than he’s been with us. He’s two weeks into this project with Edwin Ensel and that won’t wrap until Christmas, I’d say. Plus last week he was shooting but managed to make time to get to New York for theFires in Vermontpremiere.’
‘Ah yeah! I read some reviews. Best actor in a leading role a cometh!’
Maggie grinned. ‘We’re not even allowed tospeakabout that, he’s so superstitious, but yeah, fingers crossed. Anyway, what I’m saying is he’s a part-time husband and father, at best.’
‘Maybe that’s what all parents should be?’ Clara mused.
‘Really?’ Maggie looked dubious, ‘I wasn’t saying that in a positive way—’
‘Wait!’ Clara jumped up. ‘That’s what we should do to get the spark back!’
Standing in the kitchen with hands on hips, Ollie was looking at Clara like she’d just suggested a gangbang with the PTA.
‘I’m sorry …what?’
‘I said what if we take turns living in Maggie and Fionn’s basement?’
‘Are you suggesting that we separate?’ He looked stricken. ‘I know things are still a bit awkward but we’re getting there, aren’t we?’
‘We are.’ Clara grabbed his upper arms and took a brief moment to appreciate their definition.
My God, we need to have sex again some time in this decade.
‘This might help things along. I amnotsuggesting we separate.At. All.It’s a bit like a marriage restructure, rethink this whole monogamy thing. We’re too used to each other. This would be like a fun shake-up. We’d take it in turns to have a little holiday from the drudgery.’
‘You’re calling our life together drudgery.’
‘Absolutely.’
‘It’d mess with the boys.’
