Thanks, Allegra, she says, we’ll follow up on that. We’ll be in touch with you if we need anything further.
Great. Cool. Oh and one other thing. I hand her a leaflet for the event. This is happening this week. It’s a women in business event being organised by the president of the Malahide Chamber of Commerce. I’m helping to organise it. The Minister for Justice is coming. She’s the guest speaker.
I’ve seen the posters all around the place. I didn’t realise you were involved.
Well I know the minister. So …
She must be very busy with everything going on at the moment.
Yes. She is. But she’ll still be there. She’s definitely coming.
Okay. Thanks, Allegra. I might see you then. She takes the leaflet and goes to close the hatch.
Good luck catching the man in the white van! I wink and exit the station feeling good. Coins collected. Level up. The parking warden is not a bad person.
The twenty-fourth of June has arrived. The day of Carmencita’s big event.
My bags are packed, I move out tomorrow. Genevieve helped me find a room in a three-bedroom townhouse. I’ll be sharing with a tech guy and a barber. I won’t sleep with either of them. It’s five hundred for the month. I don’t have the same space and privacy that I have now, but at least it’s where I need it to be, near my mam.
I haven’t seen or spoken to Becky since she evicted me. I haven’t even spoken to Donnacha. Everyone is giving one another a wide berth and the tension I feel when I step outside to walk through the secret garden and past the house is enough to convince me that it’s time to leave. I’ve requested to Fingal County Council that I stay in Malahide, so I’m hoping they don’t relocate me. I believe Becky will be at the event tonight and I’m hoping that when she sees Minister Brasil there, talking to me, she’ll realise I’m not the lying freak she has convinced herself I am. Most importantly, I can tell my mother who I am and she can feel proud. I’m hopeful about it all. I really am.
Carmencita has offered to do my hair for the event. We do our hair, our nails and have a glass of champagne before walking up the road to St Sylvester’s GAA club along with her staff. I’m really in a bubble of bliss. Every moment spent with her, even with her not knowing who I am, feels like a gift. Everyone’s excited, giddy and on a high.
Local and national journalists are inside, but outside TV crews and newspaper photographers are parked up on account of the big political drama that’s playing out, hoping to get a statement from her on the current state of affairs. The minister is due to arrive at 8.30 and also be the guest speaker. Even though she’s not a local businesswoman, Genevieve is my plus one, here to support me. Tristan arrives and Carmencita fawns all over him.
Are men allowed in, he asks.
Of course you are, she says. My children absolutely adore you, my daughter in particular. Rooster, Rooster, Rooster, she laughs.
Is that so. He looks up at me, teasing.
I widen my eyes, afraid he’ll give it away. Not that daughter. Not yet. Not yet. I need this night to be a success first.
Did you know that Rooster paid for all the wine tonight, Carmencita tells me before moving on.
No, I didn’t know that, I study him, appreciatively … thanks, Tristan.
I wanted to help, he says, moving closer to me, but I look past him, my eyes on Carmencita.
Becky, who’s dressed in her Prada power trouser suit, has been enjoying the attention as the room’s top businesswoman. I hadn’t realised the excitement that surrounded her, as the founder and CEO of Compression, a global tech company. She has been surrounded by adoring business fans since she arrived, even Tristan was impressed. All but Genevieve, who throws angry glares her way while she sips her wine. Defensive on my behalf. Becky hasn’t glanced in my direction once, but her deliberate avoidance of me and any direction that I’m in tells me she always knows exactly where I am in the room. At one point she seems to swoop down on Carmencita, says something close to her ear with a stern expression, and then they both start making their way away from the crowd towards the hallway.
I leave Tristan, who’s still talking about something I wasn’t listening to, and reach the hallway before they do. I step into the cloakroom area, out of their view.
You have organised a wonderful night, Becky is saying. We’re all here to support you.
Thank you, and I do appreciate your support but you have me concerned, what is it that you want to discuss, Carmencita says.
I notice the minister hasn’t arrived yet, Becky asks.