Page 7 of The Last Saturday In July
After he left, Jess got undressed and stepped under the hot water. She reached for the shower gel, wondering how many showers it would take to feel clean again. She wasn’t sure which was worse: that she’d had a one-night stand, or that every moment since she’d been lying to the man she was about to marry.
Simon was the best thing that had ever happened to her, and he deserved her honesty as well as her love. But, for both their sakes, she had to forget about her hen weekend, and focus on making things right with him.
But she couldn’t do it at the expense of her career. She’d worked long and hard to get this job, and she couldn’t mess it up by starting a family right now. Maybe things would be different in a year or two. She and Simon were so right for each other –this was just one obstacle they needed to overcome.
***
One of these days, Jess thought, she would walk through the door of Simon’s gracious family home in Killiney and feel completely at home. It would probably happen after they were married. Obviously not immediately after – that seemed a bit soon. But it would definitely start to get easier. She’d be family then, and Professor Úna McCardle-Donohue and her husband, retired Judge Edward Donohue, would be her parents-in-law.
She suppressed a tiny sigh as she sipped her white wine and looked around the drawing room, with its papered walls and beautifully framed landscape paintings. She clearly remembered the first time Simon had brought her to meet them.
His mother, in a taupe cashmere jumper and perfectly pressed beige trousers, had ushered her towards a rather uncomfortable antique sofa.
There Jess had perched, drinking rapidly cooling tea from a china cup, while Úna had effortlessly steered the conversation. Simon’s mother could probably give classes in small talk. Which was not something she’d always been able to boast. According to Simon, she’d been a reserved woman, happy only to discuss her academic interests. Her charity work had completely changed her.
Jess was surprised that Úna had retired so young from lecturing and thrown herself into what Úna termed ‘worthy causes’. In an effort to find some common ground, she’d mentioned that her own mother did voluntary work. To her credit, Úna hadn’t batted an eyelid when Jess explained that Carmel served tea in the parish hall after 10 o’clock Mass on a Sunday. Unless she’d been working the night shift at St Vincent’s hospital, where she was a staff nurse, in which case she’d be in bed.
After that first visit, she’d asked Simon if his parents had a TV. He’d seemed a bit surprised at the question, but told her that they had anold, rather small television in the winter study. Jess imagined that most people with drawing rooms and winter studies lived on large estates and rode to hounds, or whatever the modern equivalent was, but she’d said nothing. Still, Úna and Edward were thoughtful and polite and, although Úna tended to be bossy, she’d always been kind.
She wasn’t exactly sure how her own parents felt about them. Her dad was a hardworking, practical man, who treated everyone exactly the same way. On his first visit to their Killiney home, he’d spotted the greenhouses at the rear of the two-acre garden and asked the judge to give him a tour. The two men had spent a pleasant half hour discussing seedlings and organic slug deterrents.
Her mother had fared less well. Apparently, things had started promisingly when Úna complimented Carmel by declaring that nurses were the backbone of the Irish health system but had quickly deteriorated when she added that nursing was a vocation. Carmel hated people who subscribed to that theory, because she claimed it was always used as an excuse for poor pay and even poorer working conditions.
Jess also knew her mother resented it when Úna talked endlessly about her latest charity event. Nor could Carmel understand how Úna could listen to Mozart for hours on end ‘because The Judge likes it’, but claimed not to know who Daniel O’Donnell was.
As far as Waterford-born Carmel Bradley was concerned, Daniel O’Donnell was a national treasure, and she didn’t have time for anyone who pretended not to have heard of him. Carmel had had a bit of a rant after that first meeting. ‘Who calls their husband “The Judge”?’
‘Well, he was actually a judge, Mam,’ Jess had said.
Her mother had rolled her eyes. ‘Total affectation. Can you imagine me referring to your dad as “The Electrician”? People would think I’d gone soft in the head.’
Now Jess sipped her drink and listened to Úna’s latest charitable exploits. In a moment, her future mother-in-law would be urging her to come to a fundraising lunch or buy tickets for a charity ball. After she and Simon got engaged, Úna had suggested she might like to join one or two of her charities. But while Jess was happy to buy raffle tickets and sit through the odd charity lunch, she drew the line at being on committees with her future mother-in-law.
At the other end of the double reception room, Simon finally made his move on the antique chess board. He and Edward always had a chess game on the go, and each of them made a single move when Simon visited.
As the two men argued good-naturedly about the weekend’s rugby, Jess glanced over and caught Simon’s eye. He sent her a tiny wink, and she reminded herself again how lucky she was, and how utterly stupid she’d been.
He came back to where Jess and his mother were sitting, and Jess used the brief break in Úna’s monologue to change the conversation. ‘How was your day, Simon?’
‘Good.’ He handed his mother another gin and tonic. ‘I’m in the Central District Court with a new case and it’s quite interesting.’
Jess waited for Simon to expand, before she remembered he couldn’t talk about any of his cases. He stood now, tall and straight like Edward, a glass of wine in one hand, the other behind his back. She’d always thought he looked a little bit like a young, slightly skinnier Hugh Grant, with his angular features and floppy hair. If Hugh Grant wore Harry Potter-style glasses and was a smart, successful solicitor.
He smiled at her. ‘What about yours, Jess?’
She sat up a bit straighter. ‘Really exciting, actually. There’s going to be a huge celebrity wedding in Linford Castle at the end of the month and –’
‘That place has the best golf course in Ireland.’ Simon pushed his glasses up his nose. ‘Could you swing us a weekend deal there, darling?’
She hated golf! Still, they hadn’t taken a break away in ages. And since they were putting off their honeymoon until winter, a weekend at Linford would be fun. Plus, the castle had its own stables, so she could probably ride every day.
‘I can try. The hotel has amazing facilities. Seriously, the spa is to die for, and they put in a pool in this huge Victorian-style dome. Anyway, this celebrity wedding is –’
She was cut off as Simon’s phone rang.
‘Sorry, excuse me.’ He gave her shoulder a squeeze and left the room.
Jess took another tiny sip of wine. Maybe she should shut up about the celebrity wedding. He wouldn’t have a clue who the celebrities were, and even less interest.
