And she had to admit, it would be good to see him.
Before she could mull that over any further, her phone began to ring. The screen announced that it was her Ring doorbell app. Probably the delivery of something she’d bought while she was surfing the shopping channel at 3a.m. It had become her favourite indoor sport. In the last month, she’d bought a jewellery cleaner (still in the box), a laser device that would remove the hair from her legs forever (still in the box) andexercise bands that would transform her into a body-beautiful athlete in six weeks or your money back (still in the box eight weeks later). She’d be hanging out down the gym with Rhonda’s blind date in no time. Oh, and then there was an electric mop that would apparently rejuvenate both her floors and her life. That one had yet to be delivered so she assumed this was it now. One of the neighbours must have left the front door of the building open again, because whoever it was had already made their way to her flat.
She opened the app and peered at the live footage from the doorbell camera. Whoever it was had begun to walk away and she could only see the outline of his shoulder.
‘Hello? Just leave the delivery on the doorstep please.’
There were some muffled sounds as the man stepped back into the frame, then a gasp as she realised it wasn’t the life-changing mop, but her second crush – the life-changing cheating husband.Ex-husband.
‘Ailish? Ailish, it’s me. Can you let me in? I need to talk to you.’
Hearing Eric’s voice, Rhonda and Gwen’s heads swiftly swivelled in her direction, and they were both staring at her, wide-eyed, Rhonda mouthing. ‘No fucking way!’
Ailish felt the pulse on the side of her neck begin to throb. ‘Is something wrong? Is Emmy okay? Your mum?’
Even without a crystal-clear picture, she could see his perplexed expression. ‘What? Yes. Of course. They’re both fine. Look, that’s not why I’m here. Can you just bloody let me in?’
‘No.’
She watched him run his fingers through his impressive head of hair – he always did that when he was stressing – as he murmured, ‘Oh for God’s sake…’
His exasperation was palpable, and she realised that even now her first instinct was to consider his feelings and attempt tosoothe them, a little nugget of self-reflection that irritated her, so she disguised it with a curt explanation of the facts. ‘I can’t let you in because I’m not there. I’m speaking to you remotely. I’m with Gwen and Rhonda.’
‘Oh.’ That appeared to take the wind out of his sails. ‘When will you be back? I need to speak to you today.’
Rhonda’s eyebrows rose in irritation and Ailish was right there with her. A torrent of suppressed emotions began bubbling up inside her: rage, fury, disgust, disappointment, heartbreak, and unwavering grief for the loss of the decent, kind, honest man she’d thought she was married to for thirty years, and for the future they’d always planned together. Gwen was right. She’d let this knock her down. Now it was time to slide out from under the weight of it. She had to accept that no matter how much she’d loved him, that chapter of her life was over. He didn’t want her, didn’t love her, so it was time she processed that and got over it.
‘Well, Eric,’ she said. ‘That’s the thing about you having an affair and then divorcing me – I don’t have to do a single thing that you want me to do. So no, I won’t be back today, and even if I was, you’d still be looking at that closed door because you wouldn’t be getting in. I have absolutely nothing to say to you. Go home, Eric.’
‘But Ailish…’ he spluttered. ‘I want?—’
‘I’m sorry, Ailish is no longer available,’ she answered before disconnecting the conversation and closing the doorbell app.
She pressed the lock button on the side of the handset, then calmly, with a confidence she hadn’t felt in a long time, placed it on the table, face down. Then she ignored it when it immediately rang again. And again.
‘I have no idea who you are, but I like you,’ Rhonda deadpanned, pouring Prosecco into the glass that she’d just slid in front of Ailish.
Beside her, Gwen picked her moment. ‘So what do you say then, Ails? How about, instead of being sad about your divorce, we celebrate it? Are you going to let Eric Wandering Willy Ryan continue to dictate your life, or are we going out tonight to our favourite place, full of old friends, and sod whether he’s there or not?’
Ailish waited for the knot in her stomach to loosen, for the huge bloody lump in her throat to go down, then she picked up the glass. Regardless of how she felt, she could see how much Gwen wanted this, and she wasn’t going to let Eric get in the way of it.
‘Sod him and sod it all. We’re going out.’
‘Yessssss!’ Gwen cheered, with a smile that warmed Ailish’s heart. ‘Watch out, Glasgow, we’re back and looking for trouble.’
Ailish’s first thought was that Gwen was of course joking. Her second thought was that she might not be. And her third thought was that more trouble ahead was exactly what she was afraid of.
10
EMMY
There were many reasons that Emmy loved working on the elderly ward at Glasgow Central, but one of them was the fact that she was constantly busy, so it didn’t leave any time for thinking about anything that didn’t involve her patients’ care and well-being. She always tried to have a chat to each patient while she was doing her rounds or administering their medications, and if she did have a spare minute, she’d spend it with the ones who rarely or never got visitors. Their solitude hurt her heart, and she would never understand the cases where families just didn’t bother to come. Her grandmother, Minnie, was one of her favourite people in the world, and she spoke to her every day. She usually phoned her on the way into work, but her dad’s appearance had got in the way of that, so she’d give her a call as soon as she finished work at 7p.m.
In the meantime, she focused on her shift, until it was time to stop for a tea break at 1p.m. She could count on the fingers of one hand how often they actually got a tea break, because the ward was always so busy, but today was quieter than usual because where possible, patients had been discharged or allowedout to spend time with their families over the holiday. Also, many of the patients who were still here had lunch time visitors.
Her closest friends on the ward, Charge Nurse Yvie Danton and Senior Nurse Keli Clark had their breaks at the same time. Yvie was first into the staffroom and had already put the kettle on when she got there. ‘One step ahead of me again, Miss Danton,’ Emmy teased, harping back to the fact that Yvie had got to the hospital five minutes before her this morning at the beginning of their shift. She’d commented on it because it was so unusual. Yvie was usually the one flying in at the last minute and making her start time with only moments to spare.
‘It’s my New Year’s resolution, but I’m just kicking it off a day early. My name is Yvie, and I plan to be on time every day. Although, that whole vow thing hasn’t worked with the diet, so I’m not holding out much hope,’ she added, helping herself to a slice of the yule log she’d brought in with her.
