be flickering, and even though I was practically undressed, I was about to pass out with the heat. A pain I had only just become aware of was shooting through my head and out between my eyes. If one of those women had taken a gun to me, it would have been a relief.
‘Let’s go,’ she said. ‘I don’t need this. Scum like her shouldn’t be allowed in here.’
And then she was gone. Mrs O’Hanlon walked off the fashion floor of Brown Thomas with her head held high; she had forgiven her husband and taken him back for the sake of their children. She had nothing to reproach herself for. As for me, I was everything she said I was.
I don’t know how long it took me to gather my wits and pull on my clothes, but by the time I left the cubicle, the shop was nearly closing. As soon as I was out in the air again I rang Lucy.
‘What’s wrong?’ she said immediately.
‘Can I come over?’
‘Of course. What’s wrong?’
I couldn’t say the words.
‘What’s wrong, Kate?’ she said again. ‘Has something happened?’
‘I just met her,’ I said. ‘I just met his wife.’
‘Where are you? I’m coming to get you.’
‘I’m just outside BT’s,’ I wailed.
‘Well, stay there. I’ll be up to you in a minute.’
‘I’ll walk down towards you… Oh, Lucy, it was awful…’
‘Don’t worry, honey. I’ll be with you in a minute.’
Lucy must have sprinted all the way because I had barely turned off O’Connell Street when she was beside me. She put her arms round me and even though I was in the middle of Limerick’s central business district I blubbered uncontrollably into her shoulder.
‘It’s OK, sweetie,’ she said. ‘It’s OK. Come on, we’ll go home and have a big old drink and you’ll be fine in no time.’
Lucy shared a flat with one of her old art-college friends down by the quays. They used to have a fabulous view of the river but then someone went and built a hotel in front of them. What can you do? I like their flat. It still has a partial view of the river (exactly how much river do you need when you have a life?) and everything about it suggests relaxation. It’s always clean, but never too tidy. There’s always wine in the fridge and something interesting to read on the floor. Their couch is very comfortable and doubles as a bed. And Lucy’s always glad to see me. The minute we got in the door she went to the fridge and mixed me a long, cool gin and tonic with very little tonic.
‘Oh, Lucy, the Bombay Sapphire – you’re too good!’
‘Oh, well, I save it for the very best occasions – and the worst. Now,’ she said, sitting me down beside her on the couch, ‘tell me exactly what happened.’
I told her, and the bizarre thing was that as I described my predicament that afternoon, the whole thing felt a bit ludicrous.
Of course Lucy’s reaction helped: ‘Don’t mind what that cow says. She’s the bitch, she’s the one who’s scum, talking to you like that. Her husband isn’t her property and her husband did the dirty on you. All you did was love the gobshite!’
‘But, Lucy, you should have seen the look on her face… and the friend! Oh, my God, there was poison in that look!’
‘She has no right to make you feel that way. Sometimes people end up loving the wrong people. It can’t be helped. It wasn’t your fault.’
‘Well, I suppose I did commit adultery…’
‘No, you didn’t, he did! And you’re supposed to be the lawyer!’
We laughed.
‘But really, Luce,’ I said, feeling a bit better now, ‘you don’t have to excuse what I did entirely. I was in the wrong with Daniel.’
Suddenly Lucy got up and swung about the room. ‘Relationships are complex,’ she said, as if she was searching for the right words. ‘It isn’t always a simple case of not loving someone because they’re married or because they’re… Well, it’s not simple anyway.’
‘You do a pretty good job of keeping it simple,’ I reminded her. ‘You like a guy, you go out with him, you get tired of him, you dump him. I’ve never known you to have a relationship crisis.’
‘Well… that’s because…’ She stalled mid-sentence. She was scratching her head and running her tongue repeatedly over her lips. ‘That’s because I… well, I…’ She was swallowing hard.
I was afraid all this talk was beginning to grate on her. ‘That’s because you’re