Three Wise Men by Martina Devlin

Author:Martina Devlin [Devlin, Martina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007439645
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2000-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 26

Eimear’s feeling fluttery. Jack’s just phoned and she wasn’t expecting to hear his voice on the line. She’s over him, of course she is, but she prefers advance warning before speaking to him. So she can settle her emotions, steady her voice, measure her heart-beat. That unreliable organ is still pumping erratically ten minutes after the receiver’s been replaced.

‘Be still my beating heart,’ she instructs it aloud, hoping the sheer nonsense of the admonition will give her a reality check. It doesn’t. She eats a square of chocolate to calm herself, wishing she hadn’t thrown away that last half-empty packet of cigarettes in a fit of self-improvement.

She was minding her own business, channel-hopping, when the call came.

Jack: ‘This is Jack, Eimear.’

Eimear: ‘I’d never have guessed.’

(That sounds caustic, why is she starting the conversation on such a negative note?)

Jack: ‘We need to talk.’

Eimear: ‘Of course.’

(Promising – does he want a reconciliation?)

Jack: ‘About the house. We have to move this situation on, sell up and divvy up – I can’t afford to keep you in luxury in Donnybrook while I huddle in a couple of minuscule rooms at the top of a building that should be demolished brick by brick.’

Eimear: ‘You put it so poetically, my dear.’

(You put it so bluntly, you heap of dung.)

Jack: ‘We have to accept the marriage has failed.’

Eimear: ‘There’s no question about that.’

(So the reconciliation’s off.)

Jack: ‘My poetry’s suffering, I need to get my life in order.’

Eimear: ‘I thought writers were supposed to crouch in garrets, summoning their muse by gaslight.’

(He miscalculated badly, he thought he’d have a nest at Kate’s as well as a bolthole at Trinity. But she rescinded your parking permit, didn’t she, my Jack-in-a-box.)

Jack: ‘That’s nonsense. I wrote some of my best poetry in Donnybrook.’

Eimear: ‘Too bad you turned to your groin for inspiration, you lecherous layabout.’

(Ditto.)

Jack: ‘Let’s not dredge up old scores, Eimear. We were tearing each other apart, one of us had to be strong for both of us.’

Eimear: ‘Big brave boy.’

(Little cowardly man.)

Jack: ‘So are you going to be reasonable? About the house?’

Eimear: ‘There’s an estate agent coming by on Saturday.’

(I’m doing this for me, not you.)

Jack: ‘Excellent. Well, I won’t take up any more of your time.’

Eimear: ‘Feel free, you’ve wasted five years of my time – what’s another five minutes.’

(Shove off and never speak to me again.)

Jack: ‘There’s nothing much else I had to say. Except – how’s Gloria, is she pregnant?’

Eimear: ‘Possibly, she doesn’t know yet.’

(What’s your game?)

Jack: ‘When will she know?’

Eimear: ‘Later this week.’

(There’s something going on here.)

Jack: ‘Right, give her my best.’

Eimear: ‘Do you have a best? I thought you only had a worst.’

(He’s getting to me.)

Jack: ‘I’ll say goodbye now, Eimear. I’ll be in touch again about the house.’

Eimear rustles the chocolate wrapper and speculates about Jack’s uncharacteristic interest in Gloria’s pregnancy. Is it a wind-up because he knows Eimear wanted their baby? And who told him Glo was having another IVF attempt anyway? Is he trying to imply that he’s still in touch with Kate and that she’s keeping him informed?

Her brain hurts.

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