Page 99 of Such a Good Couple
‘They’d barely notice – no one’s more self absorbed than children. If I fell down the stairs, snapped my neck and was bleeding out they’d still be asking me where the Switch was. Anyway, it’s probably messing with them more that we’re around the place being polite freaks all the time.’
‘I’d miss you.’
‘Good! We need to miss each other,’ Clara said emphatically. ‘I’m only suggesting a weekend each, once every month. Can we just try it, please?’
‘So you want to make things better between us by not spending time together?’
‘Now you’re getting it.’ Clara held up a hand to high-five him but he didn’t reciprocate. She barrelled on with her hard-sell. ‘Imagine if it worked! We could write a bestselling guide:Part-Time Marriage: Tips to Unfuck Your Relationship from the Losers of TV’sDivorce Island.’
‘If I were you, I wouldn’t be reminding me of your last terrible idea while trying to convince me of your new one.’ He moved closer and put his hands on her waist. The move was a littlerobotic but she’d take it. She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him. His grip on her waist tightened and he trailed kisses over to her neck.
‘It’s been nearly four months …’ He breathed in her ear.
Without pulling away, she spoke. ‘See? It’s working already. Just the suggestion of part-time marriage has given you a semi.’
CHAPTER 24
Maggie closed the door behind the Deliveroo driver, balancing the two hot pizza boxes on her hip. Shrieks behind her brought a smile to her lips.
‘Pizza, pizza,’ Dodi chanted, practically charging Maggie to grab the boxes.
‘Careful,’ Maggie called at her daughter’s back as she headed for the stairs.
‘It’s Friday?’ Essie bounded into the hall from the playroom. ‘No Maeve tomorrow?’
‘No Maeve.’ Maggie grabbed her phone and nipped into the kitchen for paper napkins and cans of Coke. Returning to the hall, she climbed the stairs following in her daughters’ excited footsteps, which had turned into excited thumps overhead as they entered her bedroom. This was their new Friday tradition: pizza picnic in bed with a movie.
‘I thought you liked Maeve,’ Maggie said, coming into the room.
‘We like her.’ Dodi was already kneeling on the bed arranging a mountain of pillows. ‘But she’s still ateacher.’
‘We never had to do school in Dublin before.’ Essie pronounced Dublin with a native flatness that contrasted with her California drawl. Given that Maggie’s family loved to tease her on the subject of her American children, it gave Maggie a spark of glee to hear it. She reminded herself to make Essie repeat it to Emer and Donal at dinner the next day.
Maggie gave Essie’s little bum a nudge up onto the bed beside her sister and then joined them herself to arrange the ratty old blanket she used expressly for their bed picnics. ‘Ye’ve never been in Dublin during school time,’ she explained.
‘Yeeee’ve.’ Dodi giggled. ‘Yeeee sound like Granny, Mam!’
‘Ye is the plural,’ replied Maggie. ‘So, if you’re just talking to me, it’s actually “you”.’ She grinned and pulled the two of them into a hug. ‘Yehafta learn to speak your mother tongue.’
‘What in the crap is “mother tongue”?’ Essie, who mainly spoke YouTube, asked.
‘Oh God. Don’t say “crap”.’ Maggie, amused, made a further mental note to tell Fionn about their new penchant for saying ‘what in the crap’ on their call in the morning. He was in Spain on Edwin Ensel’s movie so nearly in the same time zone for once. He was also making a concerted effort to call every second day, so he was becoming less ‘part-time husband and father’ and more ‘FaceTime husband and father’.
They dug into the pizzas and started the movie,Encantofor the millionth time, which played from the projector onto the discreet drop-down screen positioned in front of the opposite wall. Maggie slipped out her phone to check Slags For Life. Clara was reporting on her and Ollie’s first attempt at the monthly weekend off plan.
Clara: Part-time husband is the way forward, pals. And I like the solo parenting, feels like the boys are going easier on me cuz they know I’ve no backup. Good of them. I’m genuinely considering writing this book.
Annie: Maybe give it more than a couple of weeks to check that it’s a solid option?!
Clara: Well, Ollie came back from his weekend in the luxurybasement last Sunday in a great mood. He was actually happy to see me and we had stuff to SAY to each other. And I was actually interested in listening to him. We had dinner WITHOUT OUR PHONES.
Annie: Huge.
Clara: Plus, without him in the house taking up at least 20 per cent of the floor space, me and the lads had a great time. Very chill. I was definitely shouting less. The house was lovely and tidy. I’ve realised that I don’t mind cleaning up after the kids, it’s the cleaning up after the other adult that I swear is the downfall of modern marriages. Ollie’s shoes are like fucking canoes. Though I will say the laundry piled up, credit where credit’s due. He’s probably doing more around the house than I realised.
Maggie grinned as she picked at the pizza – she preferred to eat properly after the girls were asleep. She opted to ignore the fact that being unwilling to eat ‘properly’ in front of others possibly said something about your definition of ‘eating properly’. She started to type.
Maggie: I will say he was a lovely guest. Though when we went for a coffee, it was worse than going somewhere with
