Behind Every Cloud (39 page)

“
Oh, no!
The poor guy! I noticed that he was very quiet last Monday. That
’
s terrible.
”
Ellie was shocked.
“
I didn
’
t like her very much, did you?
”

“
Not at all,
”
Rachel replied with distaste.
“
I don
’
t think they were happy together but
,
still, it must be tough on him.
”
She stopped as Zita arrived followed by the four young ones.

Finally, Ronan came in accompanied by Sam.

Rachel had no chance to talk to him until after the class which was, as usual, fascinating. The subject of the night was Spain and Portugal and they all agreed that the Spanish wines were a pleasant surprise.

“
I didn
’
t think there was any more to Spain than Rioja,
”
Ronan remarked,
“
but this Priorat is fantastic.
”

The others agreed and Sam noticed that
,
as usual, whenever the wine was exceptional, nobody bothered to use the spittoons. Yes, his little group were coming on in leaps and bounds. As he
’
d suspected initially, Ellie and Ronan had the best palates and were spot-on in their evaluation of the wine.

Ellie found herself walking with Ronan to the pub.
“
I
’
m really sorry about your wife, Ronan. Rachel told me about it. I hope you don
’
t mind.
”

“
No, of course not. It
’
s not a secret.
”

“
Are you okay?
”

“
I
’
m doing fine. We didn
’
t have a great marriage to be honest but it was still a shock when she walked out.
”

“
I can imagine,
”
Ellie said, linking her arm through his.
“
Rachel is very concerned about you.
”

“
That
’
s sweet of her but
,
honestly, I
’
m okay. Luckily Sam is keeping me busy. Otherwise, I don
’
t know what I
’
d do. And how about you? How are the wedding plans coming along?
”

She told him excitedly about the house and her wedding dress, he smiling all the while at her enthusiasm. He hoped Ellie
’
s dreams would not turn sour. He hadn
’
t been very impressed with her fiancé the night of Rachel
’
s party but he sincerely hoped that he would make Ellie happy. She deserved it. She was a sweet girl.

Rachel invited all of them to come to supper the following Friday night. Ronan was grateful for her kindness. He needed friends right now
.
It was strange how quickly they
’
d all become friends and it seemed to him that it was Rachel who was the ringleader in this. This was odd as he
’
d assumed that she must have loads of friends but he was beginning to think, from the little things she said, that this wasn
’
t the case
.

“
Sorry, I can
’
t come. I
’
m going to a stag party on Friday night,
”
Sam said, rolling his eyes to heaven.

“
And I
’
m afraid I
’
m working late next Friday
,”
Ellie said.

“
Oh, dear, what time do you finish?
”

“
Nine.
”

“
Well, come along after work. You
’
re only five minutes away,
”
Rachel suggested.

“
Thanks
,
I will,
”
Ellie agreed happily.

Zita said she
’
d come too. She was brimming with good humour and insisted on buying everyone a drink to celebrate her new promotion.

“
Congratulations! I
’
m so happy for you,
”
Rachel crie
d, hugging her.
“
Carl will be pleased. He said he was going to ring you to see if he could intervene with the powers that be
,
but it looks like you made it on your own without his help
.”

“
Yes, thank you.
”
Zita didn
’
t blink an eye as she told
the lie. It was obvious that Carl hadn
’
t mentioned to Rachel
that he had contacted her and she wasn
’
t about to let the cat out of the bag. After all, she
’
d got what she wanted.

They all raised their glasses to her in congratulation.

“
And to Ellie who has secured her new house and the perfect wedding dress
!”
Ronan added, raising his glass to her.

“
To Ellie too
!”
they chorused, all laughing happily.

They stayed later than usual due to the happy atmosphe
re that pervaded and Rachel and Ellie were both a little tipsy by
the time they left. As always, the alcohol
had had no effect on Zita. She had quite an amazing capacity to hold her liquor, both Sam and Ronan were thinking privately. As they made their way home each one of them was thinking that it was a good day when they decided to join the wine club.

Carl was in bed when Rachel got home. She went straight to the bedroom where he was almost asleep.

“
Hi, honey
!”
she called out, turning on the main light.

“
Please, Rachel, turn off the light, I
’
m almost asleep.
”

“
Excuse me
,”
she grumbled
,
turning out the light.

“
I
’
m sorry but I
’
ve had a heavy day and I
’
m shattered.
”

“
Well, I just wanted to tell you the good news. Zita has been promoted to producer.
”

Carl was instantly awake.
“
That
’
s good,
”
he mumbled, waiting to hear if she
’
d heard that he
’
d had a say in it.

“
So you don
’
t have to do anything about it now,
”
she added
.

Carl let out a sigh of relief. Obviously Zita had had the cop-on to stay mum about his involvement in it
.
He had big plans for Zita and the less Rachel knew that they were in touch, the better. He figured this was one liaison that she was better off not knowing about.

“
Thank you anyway, darling, for offering to help her,
”
Rachel said as she bent down to kiss him goodnight.
“
You go back to sleep. I
’
m just going down for a nightcap
.”

She tiptoed out as Carl pretended to go back to sleep. He could tell that she
’
d had more than enough to drink already but he didn
’
t say anything. Thoughts of Zita now filled his mind. He felt himself getting aroused and when his erection wouldn
’
t subside he had to take care of it.

It was over an hour later when Rachel came to bed. He heard her stumbling about the room but feigned sleep
,
knowing better than to get into an argument with her when she was in that state
.

39

Much to Zita
’
s delight, Jason, the idiot, was dropped as producer of the programme
The Women Behind Our Successful Men
and she was chosen to replace him. She was now in full control and knew she could make a top-class documentary – one that could even win an Irish Film and TV Award. That would make people sit up and notice her! She wondered idly if Carl had had anything to do with this latest development. She must remember to ask him when she met him on Friday night.

She rang Rachel on Thursday afternoon to say that she wouldn
’
t be able to attend her supper party the next evening.

“
I
’
m really disappointed you can
’
t come,
”
Rachel said.
“
It
’
s a shame.
”

“
I know. I
’
m very disappointed too but all hell has broken
loose here since my promotion. You can
’
t imagine!
”

“
I understand.
Don
’
t worry about it. See you Monday.
”

She wasn
’
t as understanding with Carl when he rang on Friday afternoon to say that something had come up and he would be tied up all night.

“
Carl, I
’
ve asked these people to supper. You have to be here.
”
She was furious with him.

“
Rachel, there are other important things in life besid
es your social life.
This is a crisis. You know how things are in politics. I have no choice in the matter.
”

“
Very well,
”
she replied, sighing.

“
You
’
ll be fine without me. They are your friends after all
.”

This supper was turning into a disaster. It would be only Ronan and herself until Ellie arrived later.

To Zita
’
s surprise, she was looking forward to the evening with Carl a lot. She took days deciding what she would cook for him and poor Marcus had to listen to her endless p
onderings of oysters versus goat
’
s cheese tartlets or salmon versus lobster.
Eventually everything was done and s
he was ready
.

He arrived on the dot of seven
thirty
,
brandishing a b
ottle of Krug champagne which he
’
d obviously had chilled somewhere and a bottle of the wonderful white
Burgundy wine, Puligny-Montrachet
,
which he
’
d also had chilled.
He also produced a bottle of the famous Premier Cru red Bordeaux wine, Haut-Brion. Had he offered her these wines two months ago she would not have appreciated them but thanks to Sam and his wine course she was suitably
impressed.

“
Mmmm . . . you certainly know your wines,
”
she observed
.

“
Well, actually
,
the guy in Mitchells chose them,
”
he admitted, slightly embarrassed.
“
I didn
’
t know what you would be cooking, so I tried to cover all eventualities.
”

To her surprise she saw that he was nervous. It gave her a sense of power over him.

“
That
’
s perfect. You couldn
’
t have done better,
”
she observed as she went into the kitchen and placed the white wine in the fridge.

He had followed her and
,
as she took down two champagne glasses, he opened the champagne.

They moved into the living-room which to his surprise was decorated in a very classical Georgian style. In fact, the whole apartment surprised him. He had thought that she would be living in an ultra-modern place, decorated likewise. But this reminded him of his in-laws
’
Georgian mansion in Kinsealy, all high ceilings and large sash windows.