All Because of You (Lakeview #2) (34 page)

“Um, I think your good looks and sparkling personality might have had something to do with it,” Tara laughed.

“Nope, I was a disaster before you went to work on me, you know that. And if I didn’t have you coaching me through our dates, I would have messed up this relationship just as easily as I’d messed up all the others. It was you, Tara – you made this happen.”

“Maybe I
helped
make it happen, Natalie, but all I did was give you a little push in the right direction. I certainly don’t deserve all this praise.”

“But you do! Will you come to London and see us? And let me thank you properly for the wonderful help you’ve given me. Don’t worry – I’ll take care of the flights and the hotel and all that kind of thing.”

“Don’t be silly – I wouldn’t dream of letting you do anything like that.”

“It’s not a problem – it’ll be my way of saying thank you, seeing as you refused point blank to take any payment from me,” she chided. “But will you come though?  Besides meeting Jay, I’d love to see you again too. We could all go out for dinner somewhere, the four of us. I’m sure Jay would get on great with Glenn.”

Tara shook her head. Whatever about her taking off to London to see Natalie, there wasn’t a hope in hell of convincing Glenn to tag along. He was just way too busy with work at the moment and, in truth, she couldn’t see Glenn being the slightest bit interested in coupley dinners with Natalie and her new man. When she said this to Natalie, the other girl sighed.

“I understand. But couldn’t you come on your own then? I know it mightn’t be as much fun, but you could stay with me and we could go shopping or …no, wait – why don’t you bring that friend you’re always talking about?”

“Liz?” Tara sat back in her seat.
That
wasn’t a bad idea. Although she seemed to have cheered up a little in recent weeks, Liz had been going through such a hard time with all this business with Eric, that it would be nice for her to get away and enjoy herself. Considering she’d got such enjoyment of their night out a while back. 

Liz would adore London. The two of them could go over on a cheapie weekend with one of the low-cost airlines and stay in a nice hotel in town. They could go and meet Natalie (who Liz would love) and the famous Jay, and then they could use the rest of the weekend for shopping and maybe some beauty treatments. It sounded glorious now that she thought about it. She and Liz never did anything like that.

And it would be nice to see Natalie again. She’d enjoyed her company so much in Egypt that when they’d exchanged phone numbers and addresses at the end of the holiday, Tara had every intention of keeping in touch. So it was great that Natalie had made the contact first. 

“Well, what do you think?” Natalie asked again. “Will you come for a visit?”

“I think it might be fun,” Tara replied, and instantly a high-pierced squeal was to be heard from the other end.

“It’ll be brilliant!” Natalie cried. “And hopefully it’ll prove to you once and for all that Jay really is as wonderful as he sounds!”

Later that evening, Liz went out the hallway to answer the ringing telephone, leaving Eric in the living room watching TV.

To her relief, things had improved somewhat in the McGrath household lately. Eric’s frequent disappearances had lessened and he seemed to be spending much more time at home. And although he still tended to be moody and pensive at times, he seemed to be taking more of an interest in Toby. 

However, the majority of the changes were of Liz’s own doing. 

After her night out with Tara, she’d decided not to mention her suspicions to Eric about his having an affair, and had come to the conclusion that she’d been imagining the whole thing.

After all, had there been any concrete evidence to suggest that he was cheating on her?  The woman phoning the house looking for Eric that time could simply have been someone from the office who only sounded like Emma because Liz was paranoid about her. And Emma’s apparently ‘blank’ text message appearing on his mobile phone could have very well been as Eric had described it – an accident.  

And of course that time she’d suspected that he wasn’t (as he’d told her) going out for a drink with Colm, had turned out to be exactly that. As had his visits to his mother. And the weird hours and late nights he’d been working in Dublin were for a very good reason – extra cash to renovate the house. And in fairness, she couldn’t really have expected him to be chatting and laughing like a maniac in Belfast when they’d been there for a family funeral, could she?

So Liz had finally come to the conclusion that she’d imagined the whole lot of it, had spent the last month or two working herself into a frenzy about nothing. 

And it was all because of some stupid comment Emma Harrington had made that day in the village, a stupid comment that meant absolutely nothing. So what if Emma had bumped into Eric? How, from that simple remark, had Liz made the giant leap to think that Eric was the mystery father of her baby? Eric was her husband and he loved her. 

It was mostly her own fault though, she knew that. 

Insecurity was something Liz had lived with for most of her life and she couldn’t help it.  It was only natural that when she’d finally got the life she wanted, the life she’d dreamt about, a home and family to call her own, that she’d be terrified of it being taken away from her. She’d been that way all her life. When she was younger, it seemed that every time she’d begun to settle in with one of her brothers and his family that circumstances would change and she’d be uprooted and brought to live with another. Since she lost her parents twenty years before, nothing, least of all family life had ever been stable in Liz’s life and she supposed it was understandable that she’d worry about the stability of her own. Subconsciously, she’d often worried that the wonderful life she had with Eric and then Toby seemed too good to be true and was probably only looking for something to go wrong. 

But, she realised now, through her own stupid and pathetic insecurity, she could very well have ruined everything she had all by herself. So, in the last few weeks, she’d tried her utmost not to let things get to her, not to fret over Eric’s distant moods and working hours, tried not to turn every molehill into a mountain.

And wasn’t she so glad now that she hadn’t confided her fears to Tara? Imagine accusing her sister of having an affair with her husband when there was absolutely no basis for those allegations whatsoever. She surely would have lost Tara as a friend – no matter how close she and her friend were, blood was thicker than water, and even if Tara had understood that the accusation stemmed from Liz’s own insecurities, there would surely always be a faint tension between them. Even though Tara and Emma’s relationship was at times unsteady, there was no question but that Tara would be upset at the idea. Liz would be upset if any member of her family was accused of being a home-wrecker, despite the fact that these days she only saw them once or twice a year!

So Liz was incredibly grateful now that she’d held her tongue and hadn’t confided her fears to anyone. If she had, who knew what kind of a situation she’d be in now? 

As it was, she still had Eric as a husband, Tara as a friend, and the life she’d always dreamed of. And she wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardise that. 

She picked up the ringing phone to find Tara on the other end.

“Do you fancy coming to London with me next weekend?” her friend asked without preamble.

“London? What for?”

“Well, Natalie – you know, the girl I met in Egypt, and the one I’ve been coaching recently?”

“What about her?”

“Well, she persuaded me to come over for a visit, to meet the man of her dreams and the reason she asked for my help in the first place. Apparently she needs my blessing!” she added good-humouredly. “Anyway, you’d love her, Liz – she’s a gas woman. And I’m sure she’d know how to show us a good time. She just phoned to tell me she’s organised a gorgeous hotel in Kensington for us, and no doubt she’ll take us somewhere swanky for dinner on Friday night so –”

“For
us
– she wouldn’t mind me coming too?”

“Of course not, it was she who suggested it in the first place! So does that mean you will come?”

Liz bit her lip. It sounded wonderful. She hadn’t been out of the country since her honeymoon in Portugal three years ago. And wouldn’t it be great to get the chance to go shopping in London – especially with Tara.  Her friend would know all the right places to go, and would ensure she had her wardrobe updated in no time.

“Oh I’d love to,” she said, “but I suppose I’d better ask Eric if he’s OK to look after Toby first. Can you hold on?”

Laying down the receiver on the hall table, Liz went back into the living room.

“Didn’t you say earlier that you’re not working next weekend?” she asked her husband, unable to keep the excitement out of her tone.

Eric didn’t look up from the TV.  “Yeah – why do you ask?”

“How would you feel about looking after Toby and the kennels while I go to London with Tara?” Liz held her breath, waiting for him to make up some excuse not to do it. “We’re hoping to go Friday and it’d just be for the weekend and – ”

“No problem – go for it. I’ll be coming off nights early Friday morning, and I’m not back in until the following Monday night. So it should be fine.”

“But won’t you be tired, having just finished your shift and everything?”

“Not at all! I’ll get a few hours sleep in before you leave, and I’ll be grand.”

“Are you sure?” Liz couldn’t believe he’d agreed so readily.

“Honestly, Liz – go. You’ll enjoy it.”

“I can go!” Liz laughed down the phone to Tara afterwards, feeling happier and more optimistic than she’d felt in ages. 

“Fantastic, I’m about to book the flights online as we speak. How about a lunchtime flight on Friday, and a late one back on Sunday evening?”

“Sounds fine to me – just let me know how much I owe you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” her friend insisted. “Natalie’s insisted she’ll look after it.”

“Re
ally? That’s so generous of her. Oh, Tara, thanks for asking me! I really can’t wait,” Liz cried. “This will be great fun!”

“It certainly will,” her friend laughed, “and I really think it’ll do us both the world of good.”

The following Thursday afternoon at five pm, Tara sighed with pleasure as she closed the office door behind her and raced upstairs to get changed. That was it, she thought, as she cast off her work clothes and changed into a pair of denims and a T-shirt – no more clients until the following Monday. And in the meantime she and Liz were going to have a wonderful time visiting Natalie in London. She couldn’t wait. 

She went downstairs and opened the fridge, wondering what she could make for dinner. Glenn’s shift ended at seven this evening, so for once he’d be home for dinner.

Tara debated whether to go to the trouble of cooking something or just order in. Blast it, she’d order in, she decided, closing the fridge door and rummaging in the drawer for a takeaway menu.

Glenn wouldn’t mind – in fairness, most of the time he preferred takeaways to what he described as her ‘bland’ cooking. Understandable, she supposed, given that she preferred using lots of fresh vegetables and lean meat, instead of the fat and additive-laden stuff from the fast food places.

But tonight Tara didn’t care. The odd takeaway now and again wouldn’t kill either of them. Still, Glenn would probably be living on them while she was away in London, wouldn’t he? She bit her lip. Maybe before leaving tomorrow she should prepare a few things in advance for him to reheat while she was gone – a few simple pasta dishes or something. 

But blast it, she’d probably only be wasting her time. If Glenn had his way, he’d live on pizza and Chinese, and it was highly unlikely he’d go to the trouble of reheating something of hers. Oh well, she decided eventually, he was a big boy and she’d have to leave him to his own devices.

She was really looking forward to this trip and couldn’t wait to meet up with Natalie again. The girl was so vivacious and fun-loving, Tara just knew she’d go all out to ensure she and Liz enjoyed their stay. And after all this time, it would be nice to put a face to lover-boy Jay, and suss out whether he really was as good as he seemed. She hoped so. Natalie was a pet who, after so much disappointment, really deserved a good man in her life. 

And apparently she was pulling out all the stops for Liz and Tara’s visit – despite Tara’s protestations that she didn’t owe her anything. Instead of just meeting her and Jay for a quiet dinner, Natalie had used all her (and Jay’s) connections and had actually arranged a table for them in the celebrity restaurant, the Ivy for tomorrow night! Liz had nearly fainted with excitement when she’d heard this, before immediately becoming hysterical over what to wear. 

“Oh my goodness! What if David Beckham is there?” she’d cried. “I’d keel over if I walked in and saw him and Posh sitting at the table next to us, or something!”

“Well, seeing as he’s living in Madrid these days, and will probably have a game on Saturday, I doubt very much that he’ll be there,” Tara told her calmly.