The Heartbreak Cafe Read Free

TV.
    ‘ This is lovely,’ she commented, as she ate the boringly
old-fashioned dish he was so fond of, although the bacon was quite
nice.
    But her
father just gave a distracted nod in response. OK, so he was
watching the news and probably didn’t want to get involved in inane
small talk until it was over, but couldn’t the world’s depressing
problems wait for one day?
    ‘ Did you get the kitchen units changed since I was here last?’
she piped up again, more out of politeness than anything else, as
she knew well Patrick hadn’t done a thing to the house in
years.
    ‘ I’m not sure,’ he replied, thinking seriously about it. ‘When
were you here last?’
    ‘ Eight years,’ she said, intentionally ramming the point home
that as she hadn’t been here in so long, the least he could have
done was got the welcome wagons out.
    But
Patrick seemed oblivious. ‘No,’ he answered definitively, ‘they
haven’t been changed since then.’ With that, he picked up the
remote control and rudely turned up the TV volume. End of
conversation.
    Right. So
much for her opening gambits, Nina thought. Still, she was
determined to make the effort even if he wasn’t. ‘The garden looks
well at this time of year with all the roses in full bloom, doesn’t
it?’
    ‘ Yes it does.’
    ‘ I noticed on the bus that there are lots of new houses on the
way in. I suppose the town is full of blow-ins now,’ she added
jokingly, but her father obviously didn’t get the joke or just
wasn’t interested, as again he just nodded impassively and
continued watching TV.
    Deflated
and no longer hungry, Nina pushed the remainder of the food around
on her plate. ‘Um Dad … thanks for dinner, but I’m feeling a bit
tired now. I think I might just go upstairs.’
    Still
Patrick didn’t look away from the TV. ‘OK Nina,’ he said, as his
daughter picked up her backpack and trundled upstairs to her old
room, wondering already if she’d made yet another big
mistake.

Chapter 2

    Jess
Armstrong was having enormous difficulty trying to decide between
the Fendi and the Prada. The former was pebbled brown leather and
gold hardware; the latter squishy calfskin embellished with tiny
lavender flowers.
    If she
were buying the handbag for herself it wouldn’t be an issue, but
trying to pick one that was special enough as a gift while also
being practical to suit Emer’s day-to-day lifestyle was a real
challenge. The elegant Fendi was the obvious choice of course, but
the Prada was so pretty and had way more of a wow factor, didn’t
it?
    And Jess
really wanted her best friend to be wowed by her birthday present –
she deserved it.
    Ten
months ago Emer had given birth to her first child, little Amy, but
had found the initial transition to motherhood difficult and Jess
had been really worried about her. The two had been friends for
many years, and when Emer in the early days admitted to Jess she
was struggling, she tried her utmost to help in every way she
could; a shoulder to cry on, someone to talk to, but mostly just to
be there as much as possible for her friend during such a difficult
period. Thankfully, Emer had come through the worst though, and
these days, was taking to family life like the proverbial duck to
water.
    So this
and the fact that her friend’s thirty-fifth birthday was this
weekend was reason enough for Jess to want to spoil her with
something extra special. They weren’t usually so extravagant in
their gifts to one another and she knew Emer would be blown away by
such a lavish present. Which was exactly the point.
    ‘ I just can’t decide,’ she said to the Brown Thomas store
assistant, who confused her even further by suggesting a temptingly
beautiful petrol blue patent Alexander McQueen.
    Jess
resisted the urge to chew on a strand of honey blonde hair – an
awful childhood habit that she could never quite break – as she
wondered if patent might actually be a good idea for a new mum; it
would be more practical for baby