She hit Post and sat down on the roots of a large oak to watch the likes roll in, refreshing the feed every few seconds and feeling calmer with every ‘LOVE you!’, ‘Looking gorge Ali’ and kissing emoji. What the hell did it really matter what was going on, so long as the picture looked good?
‘So how are you anyway?’ Kate was reapplying her lipstick in the taxi on the way to the Countdown dinner.
Ali did a quick mental run-through of what she was and was not telling people before she cautiously replied, ‘I’m good,’ as she struggled to steady the card she was writing on her lap.
‘Things have been going amazing with your account. Like, I can barely believe it.’ Kate sounded more like she could barely tolerate it but Ali tried not to dwell on this.
‘Yeah, it’s been great. I’m getting loads of work, TG, cos I doubt I’ll ever work in TV again!’
‘Yeah, that was crazy – that guy was, like, a psycho.’ Kate checked her teeth for lipstick. ‘And how’s Ali’s Baba? And Sam, you guys still all loved-up?’
‘Yeah, Sam’s good, he’s great!’
‘And are you OK since the Rants stuff?’ Kate added a Sympathetic Head Tilt here.
‘The Rants thing? Oh yeah … just weirdos with too much time on their hands. Doctors get the dates wrong all the time.’
In the flashing lights of passing traffic Kate looked practically disappointed that she wasn’t more upset. ‘Thanks for bringing me as your plus one,’ she muttered, looking out the window as they cruised down the canal and beyond the city centre.
Ali continued with the card.
Dear Liv,
I am so lucky to have such an incredible friend. Love you so much.
You’re like my sister.
I hope you have a fab birthday—
The driver veered slightly and Ali’s pen jerked.
Crap. She flattened the card – purple with flowers, there’d been a very limited selection in the garage – on the seat beside her and finished by signing her name and adding a few kisses.
She slipped it into the Dunnes bag along with the cake she’d got and the rose-infused face cream Liv liked. It was all a bit last-minute but at least she was prepared. Ali wanted to try and salvage things with Liv.
‘Here we go, ladies. Watch your step getting out.’
Ali handed the driver a twenty and they hurried inside Vivian’s, the restaurant in Ranelagh hosting the event.
‘Oh my god, there’s Shelly,’ Kate whispered, giving Ali a shove in the lower back as they walked in. ‘Let’s try get a selfie with her.’
‘Sure.’ Ali smiled through gritted teeth. It had been such a long day she wasn’t sure she was up to mingling, but Kate had been talking non-stop in the WhatsApp about the dinner all week.
‘Hi, Shelly! I’m Kate from @ShreddingForTheWedding.’ Kate immediately went in for the full hugs and kisses and a power-sell on her Insta-account. ‘I’m sure your followers would be so interested in my content, Shelly, if you ever wanted to work together on a collab.’
Ali was looking around the wood-panelled dining room for somewhere to stash her coat when she realised she’d left her bag of gifts and the cake for Liv in the taxi.
Without a word she dashed back to the glass doors but there was no sign of it. Feck. Feck, feck, feck. It was 7.00 p.m. – she’d never get back into town to replace the lost face cream before the Kiehl’s shop closed.
She went back over to Kate who’d latched, limpet-like, on to another heavy-hitter influencer in her brief absence.
‘What?’ said Kate sharply when Ali pulled her aside.
‘I left the bag for Liv in the taxi,’ she said, stricken.
‘Well, what am I supposed to do about that?’
‘I dunno, care!’ hissed Ali.
