Chapter 4

On Samantha’s urging, Aidan told her his story, starting with his childhood with Kevin, school, university and accountancy exams. He told her of his parents and their sacrifices for the brothers.

“Like you, in High School I had girl friends. I learned a lot from those girls. I learned casual sex doesn’t suit me. It just wasn’t me. I wanted more from girls – I wanted a relationship. I had a thing with a girl at the end of High School, but we went separate ways to different Universities.

“First year at university I was single, though I dated a few girls but nothing serious, then in second year I met Julie. She was a first year, and we were in the same Hall of Residence and shared a kitchen with six others. We just got chatting as we cooked or washed up. Then we started cooking together. Then we simply met and talked – outside the kitchen.”

She giggled.

“We learned all about each other and found we had the same tastes and enjoyed the same things. So we began doing things together.”

She smiled knowingly.

“Not that!” he grinned, inferring her thoughts on ‘doing things’ from that smile. “Neither of us had any money to speak of, so we went out to eat in cheap restaurants, we went to the pub, we went to concerts in the cheapest seats. I had no car, so we used public transport. We didn’t mind. We went hiking in the hills, which she loved. Simple pleasures.”

“You made love?”

“I think it was about two months PK, before we took that step.”

“PK?”

“Post Kitchen.”

She laughed. Aidan was growing to really like Sam!

“We both knew it meant more than a fling. We were both past that.”

“How... ?”

“We’d been to a concert, and were having a glass of wine in her room. She simply began to take her clothes off and said, ‘Are you staying?’ I stayed. It was good, we fitted together well, took care of each other, and slept the night together afterwards. After that we spent most nights each week in each other’s beds.

“She had her older sister over at the end of the academic year, Caroline. She was to take Julie home. Kevin had come to collect me and I introduced them.

“Julie had organised a flat with two other girls for the next academic year, and then at the beginning of the vacation, she was invited to stay with an uncle and aunt for a month in Spain, where they lived.

“I had an internship with an accountancy practice for the whole summer. I also began studying for a basic accountancy qualification, the CFAB. It took all my spare time. She wrote to me that her phone did not work in Spain, which I found strange, but I accepted it. So when she did not contact me after that first month I was really too busy to follow it up.

“I did ask Kevin about it, but he said Caroline had not heard from her either.

“By the middle of September, I began to worry seriously – the new term was about to start, and during the the early autumn I emailed her. No reply. I had tried to phone her, but then found her number was discontinued. So when the new term started I went to her flat wondering whether she had returned at all.

“Gerry, one of the girls there, answered the door.

“‘Aidan Redmond!’ she said with a broad smile and some surprise. Then her face fell. ‘I’m sorry you and Julie broke up,’ she said.

“My puzzled face must have given the game away.

“‘You don’t know, do you?’ she said, with a look of astonishment. ‘Oh shit! Come in, I’ll get you a drink.’

“Well, to cut to the chase, she had met this rich guy in Spain – playboy type, and he had invited her to drive back with him to London. Needless to say they slept together at each hotel on the trip back. When they eventually got to London, she moved into his penthouse flat and Gerry said she was enjoying the high life – the best of everything. She had dropped out of university and was not coming back. There was some talk of marriage.

“I was miffed, obviously, but we had only been going together for a few months, so I wasn’t devastated. In any case, I had the remnants of the CFAB to finish and my final year to get a First in Maths and Economics, which I did. I did not date anyone, though I had a good time with friends.

“Then I got the job with the Accountancy firm I had interned with, and began studying for my ACA. Three years’ hard labour! Towards the end of the second year, Kevin married Caroline and I was Best Man. Predictably Julie was Chief Bridesmaid and came to the wedding with her fiancé.”

“That was difficult for you?” asked Sam. “To know you were going to meet her again?”

“I was over her: her deception had turned me right off. I hadn’t seen or heard from her for over two years. Meeting her would be no big deal, she was the past.

“What I hadn’t bargained for was the attitude of my mates and their partners, wives or girlfriends. The news of the way she had dumped me had circulated, mainly because Caroline told Kevin and Kevin told everyone else, much to Caroline’s disgust. Caused quite a row between them, that did, but my friends took it really badly!

“We all arrived at the hotel two nights before the ceremony. Kevin was to have his Stag do, and Caroline her Hen night, though neither event was at that hotel. Julie and Xavier – that was his name – were staying with Caroline and her parents at their place. Her family lived in a small semi-detached house. Her parents weren’t all that well off and had creased themselves to pay for Caroline’s extravagant bash.

“Anyway, we were all to meet in their local pub for an introductory drink before splitting up for the separate night’s entertainments. It turned out that Caroline had insisted that Kevin invite Xavier to the Stag night.

“Well the pair arrived, and everyone stared.

“I’d never seen so much bling in my life – on both of them! Julie had a flashy diamond necklace, diamond earrings to match and a huge engagement ring on her left ring finger. She made sure she flashed it around. Xavier had a really sharp suit and black shirt and his own share of rings.

“I remained in the crowd and she was obviously looking for me. She saw me and smiled. I blanked her, and she frowned, but made no move to approach me. Mind you, I had to admit then that she still did something for me: it brought back the anger and jealousy. I told myself that she’d made her choice and was going to marry someone else. I didn’t want to have anything to do with her.

“The noticeable thing was the coolness of the other women to her. No one spoke to her for long, and none of the men would even look at her. Xavier was welcomed in a civil manner by us all, but he looked totally out of place in his expensive gear.

“Once separated, we lads had a good time. Xavier was about to talk to me, when Kevin took him aside and after that he avoided me. We drank, attended the obligatory strip club, and I remained sober enough to look after the Bridegroom.

“Once Kevin had had enough (drink and nude women), evidenced by his difficulty standing up or walking straight, while expressing bleary and extravagant love for me his brother, I bade farewell to the revellers and took him back to the hotel, where after the necessity of a time worshipping on his knees at the ceramic temple in the bathroom and giving his offering, I put him to bed.”

She looked puzzled for a moment and then laughed. “I get you!” she cackled. “I never heard it called a ceramic temple before!”

“Apparently after I left, the other lads lost no time in acquainting Xavier with Julie’s bad manners, about which he knew nothing. I heard from more than one of the girls that Julie had a bad time, getting the cold shoulder from all but Caroline, and being told in no uncertain terms by one of the girls what they thought of her treatment of me.

“I managed to avoid talking with Julie until the reception, which was pretty good going.

“Julie stayed with him throughout the reception. I made no attempt to ask her to dance after Caroline and Kevin had ‘done’ theirs, even though it was the custom for the Best Man to dance with the Chief Bridesmaid. She actually looked disappointed. Later she cornered me in the foyer.

“‘I want to say sorry for the way I treated you,’ she said, searching my face. I did not react. ‘I just didn’t know how to finish with you.’

“I stayed silent and she began to look uncomfortable.

“‘That it?’ I asked her.

“‘Well, yes.’

“I just turned away and went to the gentlemen’s cloakroom. She did not come near me again.

“When Caroline and Kevin returned from their honeymoon, Caroline attacked me for making her sister cry at the wedding. I did not know I had done that and told her so. She went on to say that Julie had found someone far more suited to her in Xavier and that they were going to get married in the summer. I said that it was nothing to do with me what Julie did or didn’t do. Caroline and I had never really got on well and that didn’t help.”

“Did they?”

“Did they what?”

“Did they get married?”

“No. She kept putting it off. Caroline and Kevin had moved nearer to my place, but if Julie and Xavier ever visited them, Kevin never told me. I carried on with my job and the accountancy training, and one year later I passed my final exams and was a Chartered Accountant. I stayed with the company for another three years, and two years ago I left to start up my own practice with Vicky.”

“But Julie?”

“Well, I suppose it was five years ago, Kevin told me that Julie had come to live with them and was looking for a job here. It puzzled me.

“‘What about Xavier?’ I asked him.

“‘Oh, they broke up,’ he said.

“I never saw her around the place, but the next time I went to see Kevin she was there. I think I said ‘Hello Julie,’ before going to the pub with Kevin. Caroline kept out of the way, at least I think so. We still didn’t get on. When we got back, Caroline was watching TV but there was no sign of Julie.

“‘You could have been civil to Julie,’ she started in on me.

“‘I said hello, what more do you want?’ I snapped back. ‘It’s been years since she dumped me. I’ve got nothing else to say to her. She’s shown exactly how she feels about me. The feeling’s mutual.’

“‘Haven’t you got over that yet?’ she shot at me.

“‘Long since,’ I said, ‘I just don’t want anything to do with her. She’s irrelevant. I’ve moved on.’

“She made a dismissive noise, and Kevin and I went to the other room. I knew it upset Kevin, but I felt it was Caroline who was trying something on. As I said, she didn’t like me.

“I’d bought my flat – or at least taken out a mortgage to buy it – and on an evening the following week the doorbell rang and there she was. To say it was a surprise did not do my mixed up feelings justice.

“She was just the same as when she left, still very pretty, and with her presence came the memories of our time together. That in itself provoked conflicting emotions, some anger, resentment, and attraction: she’s an attractive woman.

“‘Hello Aidan,’ she said; she was nervous, I could tell. ‘Are you busy? Can you spare me a few minutes of your time?’

“What could I do? I told her to come in and showed her to the living room. She made the right noises, you know, what a nice room, what a nice flat. It was flattery, I was not earning big bucks yet and most of the furniture was second hand and it showed.

“I indicated the sofa, and offered her a drink. She wanted white wine. I poured one and a malt for myself, sat down in an armchair and waited.

“She began hesitantly. ‘Aidan I need to talk to you. I know you haven’t forgiven me for the way I finished with you. I know I hurt you a lot, and all I can say is that I regret it with all my heart. I want to explain what’s happened in my life.’