5 Peppermint Grove

5 Peppermint Grove

Michelle Jackson

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. All characters, names and events, other than those in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

© Michelle Jackson 2012

www.michellejackson.ie

Also by Michelle Jackson

One Kiss in
Havana

Two Days in
Biarritz

Three Nights in
New York

4am
in Las Vegas

Praise for 5 Peppermint Grove

Michelle never lets the reader guess what’s coming and keeps the suspense with the warmth she adds to every page. 
Bookshelf reviews

Jackson’s latest novel will resonate with many Irish readers who have been touched by the heartbreak of emigration. Funny and empathetic, it is probably her best work yet.
Irish Independent

Another great book by a great Irish author! Michelle Jackson never disappoints!
Bookworm

Personally I think this is my favourite out of Michelle’s books that I’ve read so far as it had a little bit of everything in it, an interesting mix of characters, stunning location, family dramas, great friendships, new romances, as well as a bit of intrigue.
ShazsBookBoudoir.blogspot.com

Note on the author

Michelle Jackson is the author of the bestselling novels
One Kiss in Havana
,
Two Days in Biarritz, Three Nights in New York and 4am in Las Vegas
. She enjoys travel and gets immense pleasure from the research that she has to do for her books. She lives in Howth, Co Dublin, with her husband and two children.

Dedication

This novel is dedicated my wonderful son, Mark, who loved Perth!

Prologue

Perth, Western Australia

Autumn 1976

Angela put the last of Kevin’s clothes into the small brown suitcase. She clicked the fastener closed and sat down on the bed, feeling a gentle kick from her unborn child. She was not sure if she was doing the right or wrong thing by her children but taking them back to Ireland seemed like her only choice. Fred could follow if he wished. Her husband loved this town and revelled in the new life that they had made here. But for Angela the squawking crows reminded her of a baby crying and she longed for the sweet sharp thrill of the sparrow and the thrush. When she put her nose to the bright pink roses in her garden, they just didn’t have the same scent as the ones in her mother’s garden back in Dublin. Yet she would leave this place with a stone in her heart and a sickness in her stomach.

Fred entered the room. He stared first at her and then at the small brown suitcase.

“So you are really going then?”

“I told you that I was,” she replied, tight-lipped and looking straight ahead at the empty wall.

“Where will you stay?”

She pursed her lips.

“With your mother, I suppose?” he answered for her.

She shrugged. “Or maybe with my sister. I don’t care. I have to get out of this place.”

“I think you’re being very cruel, Angela – I need to be with my son – Kevin needs me.”

“He never sees you – if you aren’t at work you’re at the pub. You don’t need your family.”

“My family is the very reason why we made the move to this country – a fresh start! It’s been good for us, Angela – I’ve plenty of work – you don’t want for anything.”

“What would you know?” she sighed. “You’re never here.”

She stood up and looked her husband hard in the eyes.

“Our plane leaves in three hours.”

Chapter One

Dublin
Autumn 2011

Ruth just had to tell Julia her news. It was a big step but she was sure that her best friend would be pleased. She was driving back from dinner with her boyfriend and was disappointed with his reaction but she could rely on Julia to always listen and be there for her.

“Julia, it’s me!”

Julia was sitting up in bed. She had taken work home and was sorting out her priorities for the Travel Show she would be visiting in
London in two weeks’ time. But she always liked to take a call from her best friend.

“Hiya, Ruth – how are you?”

“Julia – I’ve done it – I’m taking the plunge!”

Julia couldn’t believe her ears. Had her friend finally seen sense – was she going to finish her disastrous relationship with her villainous boyfriend of ten years?

“Oh, well done, Ruth – I’m so glad to hear that you’ve made the break – you know that it’s the right thing to do.”

“I just walked into the office this evening and said it straight out – he was so shocked.”

Julia had to think twice. “What was Ian doing in your office?”

“Not
Ian
, silly – Oliver! I told him where he could stick his job! Said I’m sick of working for a brute who expects his staff to work until seven o’clock every day – and work weekends!”

Julia bit the side of her cheek and closed her eyes. It had been too good to be true. The four hours spent with Ruth the night before had all been in vain. She was pleased that her friend was freed finally from her painful employment but this wasn’t the news that she wanted to hear. Ruth needed to see real sense and, although Oliver was a slimy creep, at least he wasn’t sleeping with her. She felt a lecture coming on but wondered if this was the right time for it.

“I’m pleased that you are out of that place, Ruth, but what are you going to live on? If you walked out you won’t get redundancy or the dole, you know!”

Silence at the other end of the line.

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that,” Ruth said sheepishly.

Julia had to think quickly. She really needed to give her friend a boost but up to now had put off offering her a job as she didn’t want to cross the boundary of their friendship. It would be changed forever and maybe even damaged if Julia became her boss. But Julia was well connected in the travel business and only this morning had heard of a wonderful opportunity with Tourism
Ireland, working out of Australia. It was a two-year contract and would suit Ruth to a tee with her marketing experience. She really needed to do something drastic to rescue Ruth – but this job was something that she was reluctant to suggest as it would mean putting such a distance between herself  and her best friend. But lately Julia had said goodbye to so many friends who had to move away for work to the far corners of the world. It was becoming a sad fact of life in Ireland that the emigration drum was sounding again as it had done for her parents once upon a time and her eldest brother Michael who now resided in Singapore.

“Ruth, I have just the job for you – you would love it so much – working for Tourism
Ireland promoting Ireland abroad.”

“Oh Julia, I don’t want to be travelling all the time – you know Oliver had me running around and never gave me my correct days off.”

“It wouldn’t be like that at all – you would be in the one place. The job is in Australia.”

Silence and shock from the other end of the line.

Julia spoke gently. “Ruth – you must have thought of it at one time or another – it really wouldn’t do you any harm to go abroad for a while.”

“B-b-but what about Ian?”

Julia took a deep breath – she didn’t want to say what she thought about Ian Hawkins.

“What about your career, Ruth? Think of the great opportunity. I can call my contact in Tourism
Ireland and set up a meeting for you next week – it’s just what you need.”

“I’m not sure, Julia – I mean, what about my mum and dad? I can’t leave them.”

“Your mum and dad are well. Your mum missed you at first when you moved out but she has got used to it. I bet they would love to come and see you in Australia!”

“B-b-but I can’t just go – I’m thirty-four!”

“What’s that got to do with it?”

“I’m too old.”

Julia was beginning to lose patience. Ruth should realise by now that Julia knew what was best for her.

“I’ll call you tomorrow, Ruth. Okay?”

Ruth sniffed down the phone and hung up. She knew her friend well enough by now not to push the point. She got out of her car and turned the key in the door of her apartment in Clontarf. It was nice but she missed the warmth and cosiness of her home in
Sutton Park. She had moved out because she needed a place where she and Ian could meet away from the watchful eyes of her mother. But since her younger brother, Niall, had moved out five months ago to get married, her mother had been asking if she would consider coming home again. If it wasn’t for Ian she would definitely move back there.

There was a lot that she would have done with her life if it wasn’t for Ian. November was the hardest month of the year – all the build-up to Christmas would be upon her in a couple of weeks, reminding  her that she would be spending another special time of year without a partner of her own. Her parents wanted her to go with them down to Kerry where her older brother Kevin lived with his wife and two children. Niall would be going to his new wife’s family
and for the first time she realised that she could possibly be totally on her own with her parents this year.

She turned on the light in the kitchen and the fluorescent bulb flickered. It was on the way out – how would she change it? She’d have to wait until Ian came around – although he probably wouldn’t know what to do either. He employed a local DIY man to do all the handiwork around his palatial residence at the end of a cul-de-sac on the south side of the city.

She pulled out the chair from under the kitchen table and sat on it. The seat was cold and even the cushion didn’t soften the hardness of the wood. Everything seemed amplified this evening. The coldness, the emptiness and the loneliness. She wondered why Julia never commented on these moods and emotions – surely she felt them every now and then? She never mentioned that she was feeling older or longing for a partner. Ruth felt lucky that at least she had Ian. But Julia never spent an evening completely alone – her kookie granddad and bridge-playing mother were always knocking about her house. The emptiness of the apartment echoed as she breathed out loud, amplifying her seclusion. This was not what she had planned for her future.

It made her consider Julia’s offer more carefully. Especially now that she wasn’t sure if she would be able to pay next month’s rent. Her landlord had the deposit so that would give her a few weeks to work something out. She could go back to
Sutton Park.

Suddenly her phone rang. It was Ian.

“Hey there,” she smiled into the phone.

“Ruth, I have to go on an overnight tomorrow – I forgot one of the lads asked me to change – and I’ve Lisa’s birthday party on Sunday so we won’t be able to go to Johnny Fox’s for the afternoon – I’m sorry.”

She had only left him half an hour earlier – why hadn’t he told her then? He was making even more changes to their plans in recent months and at times she wondered if he was seeing someone else.

“But you promised that you would stay with me – it’s been nearly two weeks!”

“I’m sorry, kitten – you know I want to be with you but the airline is really tightening the pilots’ belts – they have put me on four Paris runs back to back this Saturday.”

Ruth knew well how it felt to be the understanding partner, following whatever Ian’s needs were, but right now she was the one traumatised after walking out on her job and for once she wanted him to comfort her. He had finished up in the restaurant without dessert, pretending to be interested when she disclosed all that had happened earlier with Oliver.

“I really wanted to have some time with you this weekend. I know that it’s Lisa’s birthday, but what about me?”

Ian huffed down the phone. “I am doing the very best that I can, Ruth – you know that I have the children to think about – they are the innocent ones in all of this.”

Ruth bit her lip – he had a knack of making her feel bad when in fact
she
was the injured party. Julia had coached her on this matter:
Tell him that the children were not in the equation when you met. Tell him that he was the one who made the decision to have children.
But Ian had wangled his way out of the responsibility for bringing his children into the world. He had blamed a burst condom for the conception of his first child, Lisa, and said that his wife, Ciara, had tricked him into believing that she was on the pill for the birth of the twins.

Julia had rolled her eyes and tut-tutted when she heard his excuses but Ruth had believed him.