Authors: Marisa Mackle
would
treasure Tanya until the day she inevitably would want to leave and go elsewhere. I had already begun to dread that day.
Then for some crazy reason I found myself on the
internet one night, looking to be distracted for a while before bed. I’m trying to stay away from eBay as it is so addictive and I always buy things I don’t need from that site when I’m bored. I had gone off Facebook a bit too because people kept putting up all these inspirational quotes, and if I wanted inspirational quotes I’d spend my time visiting self-help sites. I’m not on Twitter either although everyone seems to rave about it. Maybe I’m missing out but I’m prepared to forego the pleasure. I’ve got an addictive personality as it is without tweeting about my mundane life to people who probably wouldn’t be that interested anyway. But, for whatever reason, I found myself on this last-minute travel website and I saw a very cheap deal to the Costa del Sol for two adults – and an infant! Now I checked quickly to see if the room was a double or a twin and to my delight I saw that the deal offered a double room in a one-bed apartment and that there was a separate sofa bed in the living room. The flights were going out the following day to Malaga so I knew that if I didn’t snap up the deal fast somebody else would.
My heart beating with excitement, I tiptoed over to
Tanya’s room and knocked gently on her bedroom door. I presumed that she was still up since the light was still on.
“Come in,” she called breezily.
I apologised for disturbing her and sat down at the end of her bed. I proposed the holiday and she was initially surprised but then seemed over the moon at the suggestion.
“And you’re sure you don’t mind sleeping on the sofa
bed?” I asked.
“Of course not!
That’s fine with me,” she insisted. “I am looking forward to topping up my tan. I’ve never been to the Costa del Sol! This is so exciting.”
I was over the moon. This summer had been a washout
so far. I could barely afford it but I felt if I didn’t feel the sun on my face soon I was going to have a breakdown. I needed to get away to save my sanity!
“Okay, I’ll book it,” I said. “Goodnight, Tanya. I’ll
chat to you in the morning.”
I closed her bedroom door and then went back to my
computer and booked the trip straight away. It really was an excellent deal and I was so excited about getting on a plane and escaping the dreary rain. Normally when you book a holiday you have to wait a few agonising weeks before actually going on it. But this was different. Within twenty-four hours I’d be somewhere hot
.
Yippee!
I was so glad I’d decided to get John’s passport done
a few weeks earlier. He looked very cute in his little baby passport photo. I placed it along with mine in my handbag. I was wide awake now and knew I wouldn’t be able to go to sleep with all this adrenalin running through my veins. I took my old suitcase out from under my bed, dusted it off and started packing. Unfortunately I knew I wouldn’t be able to fit into my swimsuit from my pre-pregnancy days but hopefully I’d be able to buy a nice new one over in Spain. I packed some sarongs and kaftans and a couple of pairs of elasticated gypsy skirts as well as some XL T-shirts. I packed some little T-shirts and light shorts for Baby John. Because he was under two and not taking up a seat on the plane (he’d have to sit on my lap), I wasn’t allowed pack a suitcase for him too. It was a bit of a struggle trying to fit all of our clothes into a single suitcase – babies have so much equipment – but after taking out a pair of sandals and two heavy books I was finally able to push down the top of the case and zip it up.
I was so lucky that Tanya was coming on the holiday
too as I don’t think I would have had the courage to take John by myself. That night I hardly slept. I was afraid that my alarm clock wouldn’t go off at the time set. I had to be up early to get dressed and ready and get John dressed and ready and get us all to the Aircoach stop in Bray. We would have to allow for morning traffic so we’d need to leave ourselves a good two hours to get to the airport. It started raining as soon as I locked the front door of my apartment. Just our luck! I pulled the hood over John’s pram and we made our way to the stop. Fortunately a coach came by within ten minutes so we didn’t get too wet. The driver put John’s pram underneath, gave us our tickets and soon we were off. I was ridiculously excited to be getting out of the country, away from the wind and the rain. It had been really gloomy and depressing recently. It would be so nice to walk around the place in sundresses and vest tops.
The coach stopped and started a bit, picking up
various travellers on the way but after O’Connell Street it was a straight run to the airport. We arrived in plenty of time and went to find our check-in desk. There were two fairly long queues of people for our holiday-operator desks but the check-in agents seemed to be going through the passengers fairly quickly and soon we were at the top of the queue.
“Aisle or window?” the friendly girl at the desk asked.
“Aisle, please,” I said.
Normally, when I flew, I liked to be by the window to
see out. I especially love flying into a hot foreign country when I can see the beaches on the approach, but today I had John and no doubt he would need to be changed at least once during the flight so I wanted to disturb the least amount of people.
“And could we possibly sit towards the back of the
plane?” I turned towards Tanya and muttered under my breath, “There are two toilets down the back so the odds are better if we need to change John in a hurry.”
She gave me a knowing wink.
It was a bit of a struggle going through security. It was normally bad enough anyway what with having to take off your shoes and your belt and put all your loose coins along with your mobile phone and laptop onto one of those tray things. But when you had a pram with you, it was even trickier. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we had finally gone through. Now I wanted a drink! In the past, any time I’d been at Dublin airport I had always felt as though I was on my holidays once I was past security and usually hit the bar straight away. But now as I passed the bar full of lively punters and their jars I felt a slight pang that I wouldn’t be joining them. John needed to be fed and changed and I had to buy a few last-minute things in Boots such as nappies and Calpol. I had also managed to forget John’s soother so I needed to buy another one as well.
I told Tanya that I’d meet her at the departure gate
thirty minutes before take-off. There was no point us all hanging out of each other, and I was sure Tanya wouldn’t mind browsing around the airport shops, the way I used to love to do before I became a harried mum!
After I had got John in and out of the changing area
I wheeled the pram down to the boarding gate at my leisure. For the first time in my life I was well on time for a flight. Normally I would spend ages in the bookshops and time trying on perfumes, before knocking back a couple in the Irish-themed bar to soak in the atmosphere, and then rushing towards the boarding gate in a panic.
When I got to the gate even I was surprised to see I
was the first to arrive. That was weird, I thought. Surely not everyone on our flight was in the bar or shopping for gifts? Then I checked the flight screens and my heart sank as I did so. Well, damn it anyway our flight was almost three hours delayed! There was nothing to do but wait. I got a can of Sprite
out
of a nearby vending machine and then sat down and sent Tanya a text to tell her the bad news. She immediately replied saying that she knew, and would I mind if she got her hair and nails done in the airport salon while we waited?
No problem, I texted back. I was surprised that she was
treating herself. Then again, why not? She was going on holidays and I hadn’t given her any notice to prepare herself. Mind you, I hadn’t done anything myself apart from taking a razor quickly to both legs in the bath last night after confirming my booking. I had neither the time nor the money to buff and preen myself the way I used to!
An hour passed and when John fell asleep I wheeled
the pram over to the newsagent’s and bought a copy of
Hello
!
to flick through the glossy pictures. I always justified spending money on magazines by convincing myself that I was doing research. I went and sat down and was halfway through reading a story on Victoria Beckham when I noticed Tanya sitting opposite me flicking through
American Vogu
e
. With her hair beautifully coiffed and her talons painted, she looked immaculate. I felt very shoddy in comparison in my old Dunnes Stores sundress, chipped nails and dull, lank hair – I wished that I’d got up an hour earlier this morning to wash and blow-dry it. She looked up and smiled at me. “That was so relaxing,” she said. “I bet it was! You look great.”
“I feel great. There’s nothing like letting other people
pamper you to make you feel like you are on top of the world. They are not very busy and we have still got a couple of hours to kill. Why don’t you go off for a massage or a facial or something? I can mind John.”
“Well, I think I’ll just go for a little walk around the
shops. Thanks, Tanya.”
I took off my coat and left it with my little case and
the pram. I headed for the make-up and perfume area, smiling to myself at Tanya’s suggestion that I should go for a massage. Did she think I was made of money or something? Surely not? I had just about scraped enough
money
together for this last-minute deal for the three of us. My savings were depleted now and I wouldn’t be able to get a massage for another, oh, ten years at least!
I had a fun time browsing around the MAC counters
and having a look at all the new seasonal-coloured eye shadows. They looked fun but were too pricey for my purse. I tried on some new perfumes out of the sample bottles at the Elizabeth Arden counter and then I thought I’d go to Monsoon where I saw a ‘sale’ sign. Maybe I’d be able to pick up a cute little sunhat for John. It’s funny but when you’re a mum you will go without things for yourself, but rarely have to think twice about buying your child something new.
I found him a little blue-and-white cotton sunhat that
you could tie in a ribbon under the chin. It was adorable and it was half price too which was even better! There were some very pretty dresses in the shop too that I would have loved to have tried on but, as I didn’t have the funds for them, I didn’t want to get depressed trying them on. I thought I’d better get back to Tanya and John. As I walked by the plethora of shops and bars, all looking so shiny and new and tempting, I heard my name being called.“Kaylah?”
I swung around to face a very tall glamorous-looking
couple, linking arms. I found myself squinting at both of them. At first I didn’t recognise the tanned blonde woman, wearing skinny white jeans, a light blue-and-white-striped Ralph Lauren shirt and Missoni wedge sandals, but when she pushed her huge sunglasses off her face and broke into a smile, I saw immediately who it was. “Oh, Lilly!” I threw my arms around her. “You look
sensational
!”
Lilly O’Dea is Ireland’s top catwalk model with
emerald-green eyes and thick wavy auburn hair. Her porcelain skin, with a smattering of cute faint freckles, makes her hugely popular with Irish brands. She is the current hot poster girl for all things Celtic.
She introduced me to her boyfriend, Greg. He gave
my hand a firm shake. He was tall, dark and handsome and just the type of man I would imagine Lilly’s boyfriend to look like. I would love a man like that, I thought fleetingly. Chance would be a fine thing.
“Are you going anywhere nice?” Lilly asked.
“Yes, I’m going to the Costa del Sol for a week,” I said, suddenly feeling more dowdy than ever.
Lilly’s eyes widened in delight.
“Oh, really? That’s where we’re going too! Our friends have a place in Puerto Banus and we’re going to stay with them for a few nights. We must meet you for a drink or maybe dinner some evening. Is John with you?”
I was so pleased she actually remembered my baby’s
name. So many people didn’t and couldn’t even remember what sex he was.
“I do actually. He’s with my au pair at the boarding
gate. Our flight is delayed.”
“Oh no, how annoying!
Our flight is going on time, thank goodness. We’re going Aer Lingus and hiring a car when we get there.”
“Well, we’re on a package holiday so we’re on a
special flight. It’s my first time away with John so I wanted to go somewhere where there would be an Irish rep just in case. We don’t have to worry about hiring cars or anything.”
“Where are you staying?”
“In a hotel in Torremolinos. It’s only about ten minutes’ drive from the airport and it’s near the sea. I don’t think we’ll be going out at night, but if we are I’ll send you a text. Puerto Banus is a bit far though . . .”
“Yeah, it is a little far. By the way, I met Clive the
other night in the Shelbourne Hotel. Himself and Jane are off to Majorca this week. He said he’d love to have taken John with him but maybe next time . . .”
She stopped when she saw the look of utter confusion
on my face, followed by one of shock.