Page 62 of The Last Saturday In July
‘Yeah, he came in with Nana. I think he’s gone out to the greenhouse now.’
Carmel clicked her tongue. ‘Zoe, will you take up that plate of biscuits? Now Úna rang to say she’s on her way.’
‘Úna’s coming?’ Jess snagged a biscuit off the plate as Zoe passed. ‘Are you sure? She more or less told Simon she thought bridal showers were a vulgar American import.’
Kate frowned. ‘I’m sure she didn’t mean that, Jess. When I was talking to her, I said you’d be really pleased to see her.’
‘You asked her to come?’
‘No, I just told her you’d be pleased if she did.’ Kate looked closely at Jess. ‘You did invite her, didn’t you?’
Jess caught her mother’s eye just as Carmel intervened. ‘I organised today, and I asked her to come, so I’m delighted she can make it. Now, Kate, would you mind checking with Maggie that we have everything we need upstairs?’
‘Sure.’
After Kate went upstairs, Carmel turned to Jess. ‘Are you all right, love? You seem a bit tense.’
Jess tried to relax her features. ‘I’m fine, Mam.’
Carmel looked unconvinced. ‘Don’t worry about Úna – she’ll have a lovely time. She won’t be able to fault a thing.’
Her mother had gone to so much trouble, Jess thought with a stab of guilt. ‘Nobody could fault a thing, Mam, thanks so much for everything.’ She gave her mother a quick hug, stepping back as Kate came back down to the kitchen.
‘Everything looks fine upstairs, Carmel.’
Carmel nodded. ‘Thanks, Kate.’
‘Jess, I have some party games,’ Kate added, ‘but your cousins said you might want to start with some presents.’
Jess turned to her. ‘There are party games?’ She really needed to gear herself up for games. ‘Um, let’s open a couple of presents first.’
‘Okay.’ Kate turned to Carmel. ‘I nearly forgot, Úna’s just arrived and I offered to get her some tea.’
‘I’ll make it,’ Jess offered.
Kate crossed the kitchen. ‘Jess, you should be with your guests.’ She waved her away. ‘Go on, it’s your day, I’ll be there in a minute.’
Trying to shake a feeling of unease, Jess went back upstairs, followed by Carmel.
Jess was relieved to see that Úna was sitting on the three-seater sofa between Maggie and her parents’ elderly next-door neighbour, Mrs McCarthy. Knowing Maggie, she had taken charge to make sure Úna felt comfortable.
Carmel pitched her voice to be heard over the chatter. ‘If I could have everyone’s attention for a minute?’She paused for a moment as all eyes turned to her. ‘Thank you all for coming today. There’s plenty of food and drink so please help yourselves. And while you’re doing that, Jess is going to open some of her presents.’ She beamed at Jess, who offered an awkward smile in return.
This was starting to feel a bit like a teenage birthday party. Jess looked around at the pile of brightly wrapped gifts, wondering where she should begin.
‘That’s a little something from me, Jess.’ Mrs McCarthy handed Jess a rectangular box which Jess unwrapped to reveal a tablecloth,edged with a tiny floral pattern. ‘It opens out to six feet long,’
Úna and Carmel made all the right noises.
‘Thank you, it’s beautiful.’ Jess caught Zoe’s eye.
Zoe seemed to read her mind, and quickly found some music on her phone.
‘Oh, that reminds me.’ Úna turned to Jess. ‘I forgot to thank you for sorting out the extra guests for the wedding.’
Crap, she could see where Simon got his sense of timing.
‘No problem.’ Jess flashed Úna a quick smile. Why couldn’t she have sent one of her annoying emails, and left it at that? ‘Maybe I’ll open another gift.’
