Which wasn’t exactly polite but, in retrospect, it was pretty bad of me to let that alarm keep going off all day. I’m impressed he’d lasted until late afternoon before saying something.
Tomorrow, I vow, I will be the ideal officemate.
I feel quite optimistic when I walk into the television building the next day. There are two younger women waiting for the lift; I recognise one of them from the meeting on Monday. She recognises me too, because she says, ‘You’re one of the new writers, aren’t you?’
‘Yes, I’m Annie,’ I say cautiously. Is this another person who’s been poisoned against me by Bernard?
But the girl smiles and says, ‘I’m Róisín! I’m the researcher.’
‘Oh yes, of course!’ I remember her explaining that Paddy’s mysterious coma wastechnicallypossible from a medical perspective but that we should keep the details vague in the scripts.
‘I’m an expert on brain injuries this week,’ says Róisín. ‘Last month I was an expert on how to get an alcohol licence. And before that it was wills. Did you know that lawyers don’t do that whole “reading of the will” thing in Ireland?’
‘I did not,’ I say. ‘You really do learn something new every day in this job.’ I turn to the other girl. ‘What do you work on?’
‘I’m Lainey,’ says the other girl. ‘I’m a production assistant.’
They both look so young and fresh-faced that I feel a million years old. I feel even older when I hear myself say, ‘How do you like it atNorthside?’
Lainey and Róisín look at each other and then Lainey says, ‘Mostpeople here are great.’
‘Yeah,’ says Róisín as the lift doors open.
IBC Radio 2 is playing in the lift and as we walk in the DJ says, ‘He’s just announced his first solo show in two years, next summer in Malahide Castle. This is Dublin’s own megastar Tadhg Hennessy and “Another City”.’
‘I love this song,’ sighs Lainey, as the shimmering opening chords of ‘Another City’ stream from the radio.
‘How old is Tadhg Hennessy now?’ says Róisín.
‘Oh God, he must be at least forty?’ says Lainey. ‘I mean, “Winter Without You” was huge when I was in primary school.’
‘No way,forty?’ says Róisín. ‘Wow. He’s ageing pretty well.’
‘Like a fine wine,’ purrs Lainey.
‘That wife of his is a very lucky woman,’ says Róisín. ‘The things I would do to that man …’
‘I’d climb him like a tree,’ says Lainey.
Shit, I have to say something. Not least because they’ll find out eventually – it always comes out – and it’ll look really weird if they remember that I didn’t say anything now.
‘Okay,’ I say. ‘I’m going to have to stop you there.’
Lainey flushes. ‘Shit, sorry, we shouldn’t talk like that in the office. That was really inappropriate.’
‘That’s not it,’ I say. ‘Tadhg Hennessy’s my brother-in-law.’
‘He’swhat?’ says Lainey.
I sigh. ‘He’s married to my sister.’
‘Are you serious?’ says Róisín.
They both look so horrified I feel guilty.
‘Totally serious,’ I say apologetically.
‘Oh God, I’msosorry!’ says Róisín, twirling one of her pink and black braids around her finger. ‘I wouldn’t have said anything if I’d known!’