I march down the hall, open the cupboard under the stairs and peer around. There, behind the hoover, are four board-game boxes. I start dumping them out in the hall.
‘Careful!’ cries Justin from the doorway.
‘Shut up,’ I say, emerging from the cupboard. I pick up the boxes and stack them awkwardly in my arms.
‘You’re going to drop them,’ says Justin, reaching out as I approach him.
‘No,’ I say. ‘I’m going to do this.’ And mustering all my upper body strength (which admittedly isn’t much), I fling the entire pile out the front door.
‘My games!’ wails Justin as the boxes burst open on the pavement. He rushes over and starts gathering up the scattered contents.
‘You’re too old for that haircut!’ I say, and slam the door.
I feel strangely exhilarated after the encounter with Justin. I’m so glad Roo didn’t have to face him herself. Also, I was hundreds of miles away when he left her, so I couldn’t show him what I thought of him and his horrible cheating ways. I can’t wait to tell her all about it. I’m still feeling quite cheerful later that eveningwhen my phone pings and I see that Art has sent me a message. He must have got my number from the group Susan created.
It’s a faded photo of a ridiculously cute, chubby baby in red dungarees with a shock of dark hair, big aqua-blue eyes and, yes, enormous cheeks.
The caption is simply ‘PROOF’.
I laugh out loud.
Then I glance over at the small desk on which I’ve displayed a few framed photos, including one of me and Laura when I was eleven and she was nearly sixteen. My pre-teen self is wearing a rainbow-striped jumper and a bright-red skirt and is beaming at the camera in a way I wouldn’t dream of doing a year later. I snap a photo of it and send it to Art with the caption ‘Proof I was never a goth’.
His reply arrives a few minutes later:
That’s not proof of anything, McDermott. You had plenty of time to go goth by the time I met you.
He’s right there. I decide not to reply.
But when I’m lying in bed a few hours later, I picture him sending me that baby photo. I start to think that despite his snobbery and his showing off and his general annoyingness, Art Sullivan might not be so bad after all.
And I can’t help smiling as I drift off to sleep.
NORTHSIDE SERIES 39 EPISODE 105
ACTION TAKES PLACE ON JULY 3RD
SCRIPT: ARTHUR T. Ó SÚILLEABHÁIN
4. INT. O’HARA’S MUSIC SHOP
DAY: 11.00 JULY 3RD
SAM/ANDREW
SAM REVEALS HE HAS A DATE
SAM IS BEHIND THE COUNTER, LOOKING AT HIS PHONE AND SMILING. ANDREW ENTERS AND SAM PUTS DOWN HIS PHONE. AD-LIB GREETINGS.
SAM:
What brings you here at this time of day? Banjo emergency?
ANDREW:
Can’t I just really want to see my baby brother?
SAM SHOOTS ANDREW A LOOK.