Cecelia Ahern - How to Fall in Love

I sighed, remembering the voicemail from a few days ago, and I looked out at Adam who was now clearly listening. He nodded at me to tell Maguire.

‘Shit,’ I rubbed my face tiredly. ‘Then I’m not pressing charges. I’ll pay for the damages myself.’ I stood and paced the room.

‘All the same, I’d like to pay him a visit.’

‘Don’t!’ I stopped pacing. ‘Seriously, he’ll go ape-shit if he knows I told you.’

‘Looks like he already went ape-shit. I’d like to make sure he doesn’t do it again.’

‘Please don’t contact him.’

He sighed, then stood. ‘What came first? The angry phone calls? Were they sad to begin with? Then abusive? Then he trashes your car.’

‘Julie’s car.’

‘I don’t give a shit whose car it is. The next thing on his list won’t be sitting down to have milk and cookies with you.’

‘But the Russian guy—’

‘It’s not the Russian guy. You have somebody at home with you?’

I didn’t like the personal question and I wasn’t exactly sure how to answer. I blushed, embarrassed to tell him Adam was staying with me. In the end I didn’t have to say anything; I caught the look exchanged between Adam and Detective Maguire.

‘Right.’ Maguire seemed mildly satisfied that I’d be safe. ‘Think about it and let me know if you need me to drop him a visit.’

‘Sorry to waste your time,’ I said, mortified, as he left the room.

‘Used to it by now, Rose,’ he called down the hall.

‘Shit,’ I said, ending the call on my mobile. ‘That was someone who wants to view the car. How quickly can you get a windshield fixed?’ I unburied my head and then rooted through the empty cupboards for a telephone directory.

‘Quickly. Don’t worry about it,’ Adam said, sitting on the counter swinging his legs and watching me. ‘I know a guy who can do it, I’ll give him a call.’

‘That would be amazing. Thanks. How much will it cost?’ I nibbled on my nails and awaited his response.

‘Not that much. I’m sure your friend has insurance, I wouldn’t worry about it.’

‘There’s no way in the world I’m going to tell Julie. I have to sort this out without her knowing. How much will it cost?’

‘Christine, relax. It’s a windshield, they get cracked all the time. A stone can bounce up from the road and crack it.’

‘My ex-husband smashed it to a million pieces,’ I said. ‘It’s not quite the same thing.’

‘Takes the same amount of time to fix it, though. Do you think he did it?’

‘I don’t know. Detective Maguire seems quite sure but I really can’t see Barry doing it.’

He mulled that over for a moment, looked out the windows as if to make sure I was safe. I liked this protective side of him.

‘I’ll pay for the window,’ he said suddenly.

‘No way, absolutely no way. That’s a stupid idea Adam,’ I said angrily. ‘That’s not what I want, I wasn’t trying to suggest that. I don’t take hand-outs,’ I said firmly.

He rolled his eyes. ‘This isn’t a hand-out. I owe you for your services anyway.’

‘Adam, I’m not charging you for this. I’m not doing this for money. I’m trying to save your life. You living will be enough payment for me.’ My eyes filled and I had to look away. I started looking for the directory in cupboards I’d already looked in, forgetting he said he’d call a friend. I was losing the plot.

‘But you’ve cancelled all your appointments for two weeks. I’m costing you.’

‘I don’t think of it like that.’

‘I know. Because you’re kind. Now let someone be kind to you, because I believe you’re going through a particularly shitty time, and I haven’t seen anyone come to your aid once. I don’t see anybody trying to help fix Little Miss Fix-It,’ he said, watching me.

His comments took me by surprise and I momentarily forgot about the money. My family might be odd but I knew they were always there for me; Amelia was understandably quite distracted; Julie was in Toronto; and the others … Well, I had thought they were respectfully giving me space, but now, forced to think about it, I realised perhaps they had taken sides. I pushed the thought out of my head and returned to money woes. Eventually I was going to have to talk to Barry about giving me back the money I’d lodged in our joint account. We’d set it up as our wedding and honeymoon savings account and we’d kept it open afterwards as the account from which we paid the mortgage, with me paying in larger amounts of money so that I wouldn’t spend it. The message I had received from Barry that morning was that he had taken my money, my share of the mortgage payments and any extra I had lodged. I’d checked the account to see if he was telling the truth and the money was gone. It hadn’t been a clever idea to get an ATM card for the account. He had withdrawn the whole lot.

‘So anyway, this might make you feel better: I need your help on another matter,’ Adam said, changing the subject, ‘I need your help in getting a present for Maria.’

‘Sure,’ I said, feeling uncomfortable and confused over how my heart sank even further just at the thought of her. ‘How about pink lipstick?’

His eyes narrowed, trying to figure out if it had been said with the malice that it sounded.

‘No …’ he said slowly. ‘That’s not what I had in mind. You see, it’s her birthday—’

‘What?!’ I snapped out of it. ‘When is it her birthday?’

‘Today. Why are you so angry?’

‘And you’re only telling me this now? Adam, this is a huge opportunity to win her over. We could have spent days planning this.’

‘I’d been trying to think of a gift myself, but nothing seems good enough. There’s the usual stuff – jewellery, diamonds, holidays – but we’ve done it all. It doesn’t quite seem enough this time round. Besides I didn’t think you’d let me see her anyway.’

He was right but I was still annoyed that he hadn’t told me before now. ‘What did you get her last year?’

‘We went to Paris.’ He looked at me and my resentment for Maria soared. ‘But my heart wasn’t in it. I wasn’t feeling so great.’

‘Why, what happened?’

‘Nothing really. It was around the time my sister moved away. I had a lot on my mind. Maria thought it was because I was planning a proposal; it obviously didn’t work out that way and … well, the trip was a bit of a disaster.’

His sister left. He saw people leaving as abandonment, I would have to be careful when we parted ways. The prospect made me feel sad.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, I’m thinking.’ I went to my bedroom and picked up the book for inspiration. The next chapter was all about the benefits of learning to cook. I chucked the book across the room, not exactly happy with its solution to our dilemma. In fact, I was unimpressed by any of its solutions to date. Cooking as therapy? Cooking as a way to win Maria over? Unless he cooked Maria dinner … but how could that work?

‘Adam, do you still have the keys to your apartment?’ I called to him.

‘Yes, why?’ He appeared at the bedroom door. He always stopped right there, never crossing over the threshold into my private space. I appreciated that about him, always respecting the invisible boundaries, respecting my space.

I was thinking that maybe we could sneak Maria’s birthday dinner into their apartment, but if Sean turned out to be there it would be a disaster and it would set Adam back after days of our hard work.

‘I’d love to know where she’ll be on her birthday. Is there any way you can find that out? Speak to her friends? Family? Without making a big deal, of course.’

‘Our birthdays are in the same week, so usually we celebrate them together,’ he said, annoyed. He took a deep breath to steady the anger. ‘Her friends are taking her to Ely Brasserie in Grand Canal Dock.’