The Rose Garden Read Free Page B

or not hungry. He stayed late at the office and often did not return home until she was in bed. Instead of coming together as a couple, they had bit by bit grown apart.
    Then last Saturday, after they’d had breakfast, he sat down seriously and said, coldly and calmly, that it wasn’t working out, and that he believed it was time for them to call an end to a relationship that clearly wasn’t going anywhere. Stunned, Kim had begged him to give them a second chance, that once she’d found a job things would go back to the way they were before, but Gareth had made it clear that this decision was final and what he was doing was for the best for the two of them.
    ‘You’ll see that, Kim, believe me you will.’
    Being a gentleman, he had offered to move out and let her continue to live in the apartment, but knowing the state of her finances Kim had realized that there was utterly no way she couldafford to stay on and rent such an expensive place. So Gareth had gone to stay with his best mate, Cormac, for a few days while she packed up and got ready to move out.
    Liz lived in one of the many estates built in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains. Kim edged her car up past the massive Dundrum Shopping Centre, trying to force herself to concentrate as she changed lanes and headed on to the busy Sandyford Road. She cursed as she almost missed the turn off the Stepaside Road, but somehow she managed to swing the car into Holly Park. A minute later, as she pulled up, she spotted her sister’s silver family car, then her three-year-old niece Ava waving madly at her from the window.
    Liz ran out the front door to meet her. Kim sat frozen solid in the car, unable to move as heavy tears slid down her face. It was as if a huge dam had burst inside her. Wordlessly, Liz opened the passenger door and, lifting two big plastic bags on to her lap, sat in beside her.
    ‘It’s okay, Kim – everything is going to be okay, I promise.’
    Kim clung to her sister as Liz hugged her and told her that she was safe now …

Chapter 4
    KIM MANAGED TO STOP CRYING, DRY HER SNOTTY NOSE AND BLOT off her smudged mascara before she went inside. Ava and Finn, her little niece and nephew, flung themselves at her like two puppies, as her brother-in-law Joe welcomed her and offered to carry two or three of her bags upstairs.
    ‘The dinner is just about ready,’ said Liz, lifting Finn into his highchair.
    Three quarters of a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc later, and after a plate of Liz’s renowned spicy chicken Madras with poppadums and all the trimmings, Kim had to admit she felt somewhat better … certainly less alone.
    ‘I’ll never see Gareth or talk to him again!’ she declared, feeling utterly desolate as they sat around the kitchen table.
    ‘Highly unlikely. We’re living in Dublin,’ Joe reminded her, ‘not London or New York.’
    ‘But it’s so awful. I’ll never wake up in his arms or sleep with him again.’
    ‘I should hope bloody not!’ added Liz furiously. ‘Gareth doesn’t deserve a girlfriend like you. He’s a cold-hearted shit to treat you the way he has done, Kim. You have to realize that! A decent guy wouldn’t care if you are broke or unemployed. He’d have stood by you and loved you for just being you, warts and all!’
    Kim said nothing. What Liz was saying was true. She wouldhave loved Gareth and stuck by him no matter what his career situation was. It wouldn’t have changed anything.
    Joe, clearing the table and packing the dishwasher, insisted on opening another bottle of wine before scooping baby Finn up to take him upstairs to change his nappy and put him to bed.
    ‘Let me give him a kiss,’ Kim pleaded. Her little nephew was the cutest baby ever with his blond curly hair and brown eyes – a real mix of his mum and dad.
    ‘Be careful – he stinks!’ laughed Liz as she handed him back to Joe.
    ‘I’m not going to bed yet,’ insisted Ava stubbornly, stomping around the kitchen in her Batman suit and rabbit