DeLacey’s was on the canal, exactly three minutes from their old front door. Roe had been there six years and manager for the last four. She’d been steadily nursing the place back to health since the strict lockdowns of early pandemic. She was quietly proud of her introduction of what had become a permanently booked-out supper club from Thursdays to Sundays. Roe searched for a way back from her little strop. She hated going against Eddie – it felt dangerous. In her own family, the slightest dissent was treated like high treason, and she’d taken this into her relationship despite Eddie’s frequent reassurances.
‘You know what, though,’ Roe forced herself to perk up, ‘it’s closer to choir so that’s a plus!’ The Life and Soullers, of which she’d been a member for years, rehearsed in Craghanmor – a ball-ache to get to from Dublin 8.
‘But hun …’ Now, it seemed it was Eddie picking his words delicately. ‘Realistically, how much longer will you be doing choir? Two rehearsals a week on top of the restaurant? Pregnancy can be very tough on a woman’s body,’ he ventured.
Roe’s other least favourite topic: the apparently imminent baby. Roe wasn’t sure about the ethics of her current contraception situation. She’d heard of women skipping the pill to engineer an ‘accidental’ pregnancy, and that was for sure beyond messed up, but doing the reverse – taking the pill without your partner knowing? That was surely not as bad …
She considered the night ahead. Did she want to wade into a hard conversation about the house and pregnancy and choir? And then spend her whole shift fretting about the fallout from said hard conversation? Though, when did she ever feel up to these conversations? Eddie was not a barrister for nothing. Conversations with him verged on aerobic. She dredged up a smile, opting to ignore his look of concern. ‘I know. I guess if I do get pregnant I’ll have to cut back on choir. You’re right.’
‘Roe … I don’t want you to tell me I’m right. I just want you to tell me what you’re really thinking about all this.’
‘Nothing. Genuinely. I’m not thinking anything.’
Why did I start this?Roe thought, irritated with herself now. She wasn’t going to derail Eddie’s plans because of a few nebulous misgivings. If Eddie didn’tmakethe plans, God knows where Roe would be right now.
‘You’re thinkingsomething,’ he pressed.
Roe cast around for ‘a thought’ to offer up. ‘I’m going to be late for work.’
‘You are so bloody weak, Roe.’ Danny was polishing cutlery beside the till and looking disgusted. ‘Why can’t you just say “I actually don’t want to be some baby-making Stepford Wife out in Pleasantville”? How are you going to get in and out from here?’
‘I’m not weak! And it’snotthat I don’t want those things. I do … maybe? I just … don’t want … I dunno. I don’t know what I want, but I do know that I don’t want to disappoint him.’
‘You never want to disappoint him and it has been the basis of your every life decision for the past decade. He’s not your parents; he’s not some “one strike and you’re out” situation. He could handle you going against one fucking thing – especially something this important.’
‘I know he’s not my mum and dad.’ She hated Danny’s ‘takes’ on her life. They’d been best friends since school in Kilshannagh. He’d been there for her when Maura and Pat had treated her coming out like a bigger disaster than Chernobyl. But just because you witness something at close range doesn’t mean you fully understand how it feels. His own parents, Johnny and Patrice, had been amazing when he’d brought Davey Connelly home after Junior Cert night and introduced him as his boyfriend. They’d also more or less parented Roe through those shitty years.
‘You need to go put tables 9, 10 and 11 together for that party of fourteen coming in,’ she announced.
‘Youneed to talk to your boyfriend,’ Danny countered but grudgingly stalked off to reset the tables.
Roe pulled up the DeLacey’s FreeTable account to check there were no last-minute cancellations. Table 6 wanted to push their reservation to the later sitting. She opened a new tab and examined the table plan for the evening ahead. It was doable. Roe fired off a response to table 6 confirming their new time and picked up her phone, her SopranHoes WhatsApp group was pinging.
MAGS: @Roe Sooo? How’d the first week go in the new gaff? You’ve been totally awol.
The choir pals were keen for updates on Monteray. Maggie and her husband had just missed out on a house in the neighbouring crescent.
ROE: It was fine. Well, not fine, huge actually. The sheer quantity of bathrooms is obscene.
Danny – who was also in the group and clearly not remotely putting tables 9, 10 and 11 together as she’d told him to – added a gross toilet-related GIF. Mags was quick to admonish him.
MAGS: Jaysus, Danny, you’re only an honorary SopranHoe – we could still evict your ass for lewdness and lasciviousness.
Danny responded with aGreat British Bake OffGIF of someone piping creamy icing and Roe laughed quietly.
ROE: Danny, you are at work right now. I am literally your boss. Get off your phone.
AIDEEN: I am sorry, Roe, but OMG why are we even TALKING about this? Did ye not SEE Róisín’s Insta post about the auditions?
Róisín was the musical director of the Life and Soullers and was feared and beloved in equal measure. Aideen shared a screenshot to the group:
Our big show this year is a musical based on Ireland’s historic Eurovision sweep. And there is a special *Surprise Element* this year that could catapult us to the NEXT LEVEL in the world of amateur musical theatre!!!
KAREN: Gawd. Will they never let that Eurovision streak go? *eye-roll emoji*
MAGS: Karen! High treason! One does not eye-roll the Eurovision. Everyone goes on and on about Italia ’90 but it was really those years of Irish Eurovision GLORY that formed the backbone of Irish self-esteem. Plus next month we’re coming up on the 30-year anniversary of the start of it – the iconic Linda in Malmo. That song, that one-shoulder dress.
Roe x-ed out of the app. Another audition they’d all become completely wrapped up in. Roe never went for them – she couldn’t imagine it, standing up there completely alone on the stage. Danny and Mags generally tried out, and last year Roe and Karen had gone to see them in an endearingly amateurish production ofKinky Boots.
