Chapter 3
Annie soon discovered that Rosie was actually a surprisingly nice person to talk with. She was pleasant without being overly-familiar and didn’t delve too deep into personal details when she made small talk.
Some of the women Annie had grown up around, her Mother’s friends mainly, had been the kind of people who wanted to discuss every details of every aspect of life.
Annie still trembled with horror at the thought of them all gathered around the kitchen table of her childhood home, talking in too much depth about 13 year old Annie’s private life while Annie’s Mother sat at the centre of the table. The ringleader.
“Tell them about your first period, Annie,” her mother would start, setting her friends off.
“Any boyfriends, Annie?” one friend would ask, taking up her mother’s bait.
“Anyone asked for a blowjob yet?” a third would shriek before they all descended into a mass of cackling jowls, painted nails, bad fake tan and poorly done perms.
Whereas Rosie, while discussing everything from York to the best method to use to bake the perfect cake, kept herself at a respectable distance. They had been chatting happily for over an hour with Rosie only skirting the surface of Annie’s psyche, seemingly aware that Annie was feeling a little vulnerable at the moment.
“So what are you doing out on the West Coast on your own? I don’t think we get too many solo female holidaymakers. It’s usually couples or hen parties” Rosie asked with complete sincerity.
“My boyfriend dumped me a few days before our tenth anniversary,” Annie replied without pausing to think, catching herself with surprise at how easily it had came out.
There was a moment of silence. Annie couldn’t believe she had told Rosie that. Perhaps unbelievably, she hadn’t told anyone that since it had happened. She had went to work as usual the next day and handed in her notice, booked a one way flight to Dublin and got on a plane to Dublin the next day.
It was Greg who had told her mother. Her mother, in turn, had updated Annie’s circle of friends, and her own cackling friends, with the gossip. Annie could imagine her divulging the news with too much glee. The woman loved gossip, especially when it was close to home; that only made it juicier.
Rosie smiled sympathetically at Annie, “that bastard doesn’t know what he’s lost.”
“Exactly!” Annie said, slightly stunned that this sweet little old woman would curse.
“What we need is some champagne,” Rosie suggested with a quick look around for a member of staff, “hang on a second”.
Before Annie could object Rosie had grabbed her handbag and was off shuffling off towards the lounge. Rosie moved a lot quicker when there was alcohol involved, Annie noted.
On her own for a moment, Annie had a chance to reflect. It had felt good finally telling someone about the break up; a weight that she had either failed to notice, or perhaps that had refused to acknowledge, was lifted from her shoulders immediately. Maybe she was ready to talk about it, after all.
Rosie had reappeared from the lounge, shuffling her way back towards Annie now.
“They’re bring it in for me” she said, sitting down just as slowly as she had the first time. Maybe she just has trouble sitting down and not standing up, Annie thought.
“Here, I have some cash in my purse…” Annie said, trying to free it from the mass of junk she carried in her handbag.
“No, no,” Rosie interjected, “this is on me.”
“You really don’t have to,” Annie protested.
“But I am, so there you go” Rosie smiled again, waving Annie’s purse away with one hand.
The act was making Annie feel a little emotional but she croaked a “thank you” as she composed herself.
“Phew, it’s not like you to get emotional” Annie thought to herself, trying to give herself a pep talk as Rosie rummaged in her own handbag again.
“Oh, here we go,” Rosie announced as a handsome waiter made his was across to their loungers.
The women admired him as he popped the cork and filled their glasses. Raising her eyebrows to Annie and nodding her head at the waiter, as if to say ‘isn’t he handsome.’ Annie gave out an unintentional giggle which the waiter noticed but didn’t react to. He’s probably used to being perved on by old ladies, she thought.
“What shall we toast to?” Annie asked as the waiter retreated to safety.
“To ladies doing to for themselves” said Rosie, raising her glass.
…
By the time the had reached the end of the bottle, which didn’t take very long, Annie had divulged the whole sordid story of Greg to Rosie. The way the first few years had nothing but joy and bliss, the way things had quickly changed when they had moved in together. How his personality had changed and he warped into someone she didn’t recognise; someone she didn’t love anymore.
“Why didn’t you leave then?” Rosie had enquired.
“I got stuck, nowhere else to go. I’m not one for admitting defeat so I stuck with him” Annie confessed.
“Even after the cheating?” Rosie asked.
“I thought I could change him, transform him into the person I fell in love with the with. How stupid is that!” Annie laughed.
“It’s not stupid, it’s a natural” Rosie smiled again, reassuringly.
“And then after ten years, he says ‘I’ve found someone else, good luck’ and he was gone. The cheek of it.”
That was the real betrayal to Annie. He couldn’t love her but he could love someone else. Did he treat them they way he had treated her, she wondered, or was his personality different when he was with her? Did he treat her like he had treated Annie at the start of their relationship.
“So, what’s your plan now?” Rosie asked, examining the empty bottle and disappointed to discover it was completely empty.
“I don’t have one. Run until the money runs out,” Annie raised her glass.
“Well, it won’t last long around here,” Rosie said, with a gesture towards the treatment rooms.
“I know, but I didn’t a little bit of pampering” she admitted.
“You could try camping, that’s one way to save money when you’re travelling in Ireland” Rosie suggested, “There are some lovely camping spots around Galway and it’s much cheaper than Bed and Breakfasts. I always went camping with Barry and if you have a good tent and good supplies it’s a fine time when the weather is good.”
Annie hadn’t been on a camping trip since she was a child and a mix of nostalgia and champagne made it seem like the perfect idea.
“Maybe I should!” she agreed.
“And if you’re really stuck you can wild camp, out in the open, just be careful if you’re doing that.”
There was a sudden beeping noise. Annie couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
“Can you hear that noise?” she asked, concerned that maybe there was a fire alarm going off and that they should be evacuating.
“Oh, that’s my alarm! Sorry dear, I’m half deaf,” Rosie exclaiming grabbing her handbag, “I have a facial now.”
“I’ve just had one, it’s wonderful.”
“Well, it’s been wonderful speaking to you,” Rosie replied, “you’re a great girl. Whatever you do and wherever you end up, they’ll be lucky to have you.” She smiled at Annie, “see you later maybe.”
“See you later” Annie replied, sad to see her new friend leaving.
As Rosie shuffled off again, towards the treatment rooms this time, Annie thought about Greg. He really had been an awful person to live with, but she had gotten so accustomed to living with it that it hadn’t struck her just how bad he had been.
It was the little controlling things he had done that she was starting to notice now that she was free of them. Like, how he wouldn’t let her watch what she wanted on the TV even if there was nothing on that he wanted to watch. “I’m watching that,” he would moan if she tried to change the channel when it was TV sitting on BBC 24 News and he was doing something completely different on his phone, not even watching the channel.
There was the way he wouldn’t let her order what she wanted from the takeaway on a Saturday night and choosing something he wanted instead for them to ‘share’. Sharing meant that he ate almost all of it and she nibbled at another prawn curry that she didn’t like and didn’t want in the first place.
Up until now Annie had been clinging on to the idea that he might call her up, begging for forgiveness and promising to change. Now though, she could see the light; she was better off without him.
Maybe a camping trip and getting back to nature would be what she really needed to finally rid herself of his ghost. It was decided; she would spend the next couple of weeks camping around Galway, as Rosie had suggested, and then she would return home and start again without a negative person like Greg to hold her back in life.
That would be the plan, once she had had her massage of course.
Rosie’s voice echoed in her head as she finished the last dribble of champagne in her glass.
“That bastard doesn’t know what he’s lost.”