Three Women Read Free Page B

eventually, so they hopped in a taxi to Grand Canal Square, where he shared an apartment with Dan, a guy he’d gone to college with. Tonight they had the place to themselves, and Erin was glad that they could finally be together without lots of people around. She loved his apartment, which was really streamlined and kind of masculine, with expensive designer couches and leather chairs and a massive glass dining table. Luke had the bigger bedroom and, as they stood looking out at the iconic Daniel Libeskind-designed theatre building with its giant red rods lighting up the night sky, Erin relaxed into his arms, feeling the broad width of his palm running down her back.
    The next morning they had toasted bagels, fruit juice and coffee in bed as they read the Sunday papers.
    ‘My folks have asked me to Sunday lunch later. Do you want to come?’
    Erin had met the Gallaghers twice. His parents were hard going, but she supposed she had better make some effort to get to know them better.
    ‘Sure – that will be nice. But I have to go home and change before we go there.’

Chapter Five
    ERIN WAS SO engrossed in the re-design of the front page of a brochure for a new hotel that was due to open in three weeks’ time that she hadn’t realized it was almost seven o’clock until she noticed Declan packing up his Apple Mac and grabbing his jacket to head home.
    Work was scarce at the moment and she really appreciated Monika and Declan keeping her on and giving her projects like this to work on. The marketing budget for the Mount Clement’s launch was cut to the bone, but that didn’t mean the client didn’t deserve their best effort. They were doing decent-quality printing and Erin wanted a glossy brochure that would reflect the high-spec build. There were also menus, guest advice leaflets, maps, wedding package sets to be done. She had spent two days down around the hotel with her camera and had got some great ideas in terms of the important design elements which she would use to create an instantly recognizable logo for the Mount Clement, the gorgeous old summer house in Kerry which was now about to become a five-star destination. She and Luke had stayed there and both really enjoyed it, Luke disappearing off to play a bit of golf while she worked and had discussions with David Mountjoy, the owner, about the exact image he hoped to create. It was a magical place, and David and his wife Heather deserved to see their hotel do well.
    She checked her phone. There was a message from her flatmate Nikki: ‘
See you two Musketeers at home soon
.’
    Erin had been thinking about heading to Dundrum to do a bit of late-night shopping, but she’d give that a miss and head home to the apartment instead. Girlie nights with her two flatmates on a Wednesday, with pizza or pasta and a bottle of wine, were far more important. The rest of the week the three of them always seemed to be rushing around and often didn’t get to talk to each other for days on end. Her friends were important and she knew that, no matter how busy she was in work, she had to make time for them.
    Funny – Nikki had been acting strangely for the past few weeks and both Erin and Claire were worried about her. She was barely eating and had got even thinner than usual. Claire said she could hear Nikki throwing up sometimes. Maybe she had anorexia? Whatever it was, it was definitely getting worse. Eating disorders were a nightmare to deal with, but if Nikki needed help, they would both do everything they could for her.
    On her way home Erin grabbed a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, a big bag of tortilla chips and three fudge brownies for dessert. Nikki normally loved them – if she didn’t take the brownies, then there was definitely something seriously wrong with her.
    Claire was in the kitchen already cooking when she got in.
    ‘Smells good,’ she said, grabbing a few slices of ham.
    ‘Hey – that’s for with our meal! I’m doing risotto with prosciutto and asparagus