Are You Ready? (8 page)

Ben got dressed as quickly as he could, and before Laura knew it they were in the pub. They ordered tapas and beers, and relaxed, starting to get to know each other. It was about an hour later when Ben's mobile rang. It was an international number calling, and he was surprised to hear Robin's voice all the way from Cape Town.

‘Guess what?' Robin shouted.

And as Robin filled Ben in on the engagement, Laura received a text message from Ali. It was great news.

‘So now you know, Ben, why I was so annoyed that night when I started asking you about marriage and all that. I was going to tell you about it,' Robin told Ben.

‘Sorry, Robin. I'm a fool, but forget me, get back to your fiancée and give her a big hug and kiss from me. Talk to you when you get back.' And with that Ben hung up. He was delighted for his friends.

‘Imagine being engaged!' Laura exclaimed.

Oh God, abort mission, thought Ben, we haven't even finished one date yet and she is talking about engagements. Laura saw the look on his face.

‘No, I didn't mean us. I meant, you know, in general?'

‘Oh yeah, great,' Ben answered.

‘Anyway, let me get some more beers to celebrate.' And with that Laura headed for the bar.

She is lovely, thought Ben, but let's just take things easy. His eyes returned to the big screen and to the football match.

Molly and her aunt were on their way to cater a twenty-fifth wedding anniversary party in Stillorgan when she got the news that Ali was engaged. She was delighted for her. Ali was a very good-hearted person and deserved only the best. Molly secretly wondered when she and Luke might get engaged and married!

Molly was small, and so struggled to help her aunt carry the big, heavy trays of food into the ‘happy couple's' house. It was large and red-bricked, and their children had decorated it with old photos of the couple.

‘How sweet,' her aunt said. ‘But Molly, we need to get cracking on getting things cooked and served, so let's find the kitchen.'

Even though the Searsons had booked in their anniversary party weeks ago, Molly was still nervous. It was the first big party that she was mainly responsible for, and she had spent all week working late, selecting, tasting and cooking the proposed dishes. Her aunt said
she had confidence in her, and even though she had come along to help today, she was merely ‘overseeing things' and not the ‘head chef'. As there were eighty people coming, Molly had decided on a selection of tasty vol-au-vents, followed by chicken with broccoli, wine and cream. And for dessert she had made chocolate roulades and a large celebratory cake. Mrs Searson had kept the plastic bride and groom from her wedding cake twenty-five years earlier, so Molly was using that and candles on the Gateau Diane.

As the cooks began melting cheese and chopping mushrooms for the vol-au-vents, Mr and Mrs Searson stormed into the room.

‘How could you?' Mrs Searson shouted at her husband. ‘You know I hate that woman, why did you invite her?'

‘What could I do? I met her in the golf club yesterday and she practically invited herself,' he replied.

‘You are so stupid, after all these years you still have no cop on. She just wanted to snoop around our house, you stupid man.'

And with that she stormed out. Mr Searson shrugged, and let the women get back to chopping, peeling and baking. It was the first of many squabbles Molly witnessed all evening between the couple. They fought over the garden not looking right, over ‘his relations', over that ‘awful speech', and shouted ‘you're drunk' at each other. So that by the time Molly carried the cake into the living room – where the guests had all gathered to wish the couple ‘another twenty-five years
of marriage!' – she was almost sick to her stomach. She thought: If this is what marriage is like after so many years then I'm glad Luke has not knelt down on one knee with a ring yet. And more important: What had Ali let herself in for?

Sarah had just spent a wonderful afternoon walking around Powerscourt Gardens in County Wicklow with Ross. He had wanted to go and look at their garden centre, as he'd just returned from five years in America, and his house, which he'd let out, was in need of repair and the garden needed a good overhaul. Sarah was always happy to have lunch in Avoca and a wander around the shops and gardens. The pet cemetery was her favourite, and herself and Ross had spent ages laughing at the tombstones for Betty the cow, and Ruby the dog.

Over vegetarian lasagne Ross had filled her in on how different life in Dublin had become compared to when he'd left to work in Merrill Lynch in New York half a decade ago. He had loved the thrill of being in the biggest, most exciting city in the world, but he had gradually realized that all his best friends and family were still in Ireland, and that he really wanted to settle back in Dublin. He'd begun to feel that thirty-one was too old to be still living a young man's dream in
NY. So he was back home now, and getting settled. He told Sarah funny stories of the people he had hung out with in America: from Wall Street bankers to firemen and models. He told the stories fondly, but said that once he had stepped on that Aer Lingus plane he had known he wouldn't miss the huge and at times lonely New York. He had known he wanted Irish tea, Clonakilty pudding, and people who understood Gaelic football and watched
The Late Late Show
on a Friday night!

‘You must miss Abercrombie & Fitch and all the shopping, though,' said Sarah, who could easily have spent all her wages in Victoria's Secret and Macy's.

‘Yeah, the shopping was cheap, and they do have every store possible, but you can get sick of all that “have a nice day” crap. There is one shop I guess I'll miss, although it almost ruined my career. Do you know Payless shoes?'

Sarah didn't.

‘Well, they are a huge American chain that sell discount shoes. They also specialize in big sizes, and as I'm a thirteen I always find it hard to find anything large enough. So on the day I arrived in New York I went clothes shopping for my first week at work. I knew I needed work shoes, as up until then I'd been happy wearing Converses and whatever other runners I could fit my feet into. So when I stumbled on Payless I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Not only were the shoes big, but they were cheap. So I decided to stock up. Then, on my second day at work I was sitting at my desk, still being introduced to all my new
colleagues, when this fat annoying guy from accounts walked by, took one look at my feet and said: “You know, Buddy, I'm not sure how the business world works in Ireland, but over here we are serious about our appearance and wear matching shoes to work.” I looked down and almost died. I was wearing one brown shoe and one black one! I had seen one type of “work shoe” and bought it in two colours, thinking I was clever buying them in bulk. But I hadn't realized I had put one of each on. What a nightmare it was for the rest of the day! I never lived it down, and my going-away gift from the staff was a pair of mismatching shoes!'

Sarah had snorted the can of Coke she had just bought out of her nose and all over her new Coast cardigan. It was the funniest story she had ever heard, and the tales had continued for the rest of the day. It really had been a perfect afternoon.

That night as Sarah and Molly sat down for dinner in Tribeca to discuss Ali's engagement, Molly asked her what Ross was up to later, and to be honest Sarah didn't know. She'd been disappointed when, after spending most of the day with Ross, he had not wanted to see her in the evening, too. She knew they had only been dating for just over three weeks, but they still talked every day, so it felt like longer. Instead she had arranged to meet Molly, and now the two of them were getting the chance to chat about Ali's wedding. The girls discussed what kind of bride or bridezilla Ali might be! And swooned over how sweet Robin was, and how they couldn't wait to see the ring.

Sarah was on her way to the bathroom when she suddenly spotted Ross. As she walked over she noticed he was eating with a girl, a young gorgeous girl. Ross looked surprised to see Sarah, but introduced her to ‘Michelle'. Sarah didn't know what to say. Was it his sister, cousin, or, just plain and simple, his girlfriend? Could she have been that stupid, to have dated someone
who was already taken? What a creep. Ross could see she was flustered, and followed her to the bathroom.

‘Who was that?' Sarah tried to ask calmly.

‘Sarah, this is going to seem weird to you, but that is my date, Michelle.'

Sarah began to feel sick. ‘What do you mean, date? I was your “date” all day today, in case you have forgotten.'

‘I'm sorry, Sarah, it is just that the New York dating scene is all about dating lots of people until you both agree to go exclusive. And I thought we were both happy just keeping it light and casual for the moment. I've had a great time with you, and thought from the start you were just like me: laid-back.'

Sarah thought back to her forwardness in asking him out for a date sooner than he had planned, and her drunkenness on their first few dates. Maybe he had seen that as her keeping things casual, but still, this was Dublin, not the Big Apple.

‘I was going to tell you, but I didn't want to upset you unnecessarily, and seeing as I didn't know how things would go with Michelle I thought I would wait. I'm sorry, Sarah, it's just that New York has rubbed off on me!'

Well
Sex and the City
this, she thought, as she stormed off, deleting his number from her mobile phone as she walked back to tell Molly. She turned and half-screamed across the restaurant at him: ‘By the way, just so you know some other New York things that don't fly with us here in Ireland … it's “rubbish”, not “trash” and “sweets”, not “candy”, and for God's
sake, “chips” not “fries”, although I think the word for someone like you is the same on both sides of the Atlantic – it's “player”.'

And with that she grabbed Molly and headed off for as many cocktails as she could drink.

The last few days in South Africa had been a whirlwind of romance, excitement and pure happiness for Ali. After Robin's proposal, they'd had dinner overlooking the beach in Camps Bay. There, after a beautiful meal and plenty of staring at the ring, she had called all her friends and family. Her parents were so proud, and especially happy that Robin had been a real gentleman and travelled to Kilkenny a few weeks ago to ask them for their daughter's hand in marriage.

‘How come I didn't suspect?' she gasped.

‘Well, I thought you definitely had, when I was being so over-protective of my backpack,' Robin laughed.

‘That explains it.' She laughed. ‘Well, no wonder you didn't want me rooting around in it for spare room for all my junk!'

‘I actually bought the ring three months ago, Ali, but I just wanted to wait until we were here in Cape
Town before I proposed. I hadn't decided when in the holiday I was going to do it, but, after trying to hide the ring from you for the last few months, and especially since we arrived here, the stress of it all was too much for one man to take. I was terrified I was going to have to propose to you in Dublin airport! I didn't know if jewellery beeped when you went through security and got so nervous that my romantic proposal plans would be ruined by an electronic scanner!'

Ali laughed again but his story made her realize how lucky she was to have Robin.

‘You really are the most romantic and thoughtful person in the world.'

‘I'm the lucky one, Ali. I've loved you since I met you. Not only are you gorgeous with your blonde hair and blue eyes, but you were always so grounded, so normal, and perfect. My nice country girl!'

‘I'm not so country now, am I? I can hold my own in any conversation about schools' rugby, the best Dublin hotspots or why Cavistons is really the
only
place to buy fish in South Dublin!'

Robin laughed and ordered more champagne for his fiancée.

When they arrived back at the hotel, it was clear Robin had informed the staff of his ‘proposal plan' as not only did they greet them with flowers and champagne, but showed Robin and Ali into their room, where they had not only covered the bed and room with fresh rose petals, but had run Ali a bubble
bath with the petals just everywhere! And as Robin drifted off to sleep with a rose petal stuck to his forehead Ali had to pinch herself that this was all real, that she was about to get married.

A few days later they drove up to the Cape winelands. They checked into an old-world hotel in Franschhoek. Along with many wineries, the town was famous for its art galleries, shops, restaurants and quaint feel. They drove their rented car straight to La Petite Ferme, one of the most famous restaurants, wineries and hotels in the winelands. Ali and Robin sat down on the terrace and opened a bottle of wine made from grapes that had been grown and harvested right in front of where they were sitting. As they ordered their food, Robin started laughing.

‘Ali, here we are surrounded by a valley full of vineyards, fields of lavender, and mouth-watering food, and yet you are like a magpie and can only stare at the engagement ring!'

‘I can't help it! I'm in love with it. I just can't wait to show my sisters and all the girls. You have great taste.'

‘I know, sure, didn't I choose you?' And with that their food was served and they settled back to watch the world go by.

South Africa was so laid-back, Ali didn't know how she was ever going to return home to her boring work, get the bus every day in the wet weather and put up with the stress of living in a big city again. As if Robin could read her mind, he tried to reassure her.

‘Don't worry, Ali, we'll come back here again, I promise. We are not even halfway through the holiday, but already I know that this will be our place! It's our paradise; we'll be back.' Reassured, Ali smiled at him, and then started her vegetarian tartlet.