She continued her inspection. His skin had a healthy sun-kissed glow about it, making the rest of his family look like relations of Casper the friendly Ghost, and his clothes had the casually, crumpled cool of the confident man. The man who didn’t have to prove anything to anyone, he was his own boss. For fecks sake, Rosi, you’re not doing an aftershave commercial. She knew though, if he wasn’t her brother and if he wasn’t such a selfish arse at times, she would say he cut a fine figure of a man. All her and Aisling’s friends had thought so back in the day. It had been very annoying.
A woman materialised from behind Mammy and son. She was wearing a fitted, short pink dress not fit for the Irish winter. It hugged every inch of her upper torso and could rival the snugness of Mammy’s yoga pants. Roisin’s eyes were mesmerised by the twin peaks jutting forth, like two watermelons, disproportionate to the woman’s slender figure. Aisling and Moira were staring too, jaws agape. The woman was keeping a wary distance from the excitable poodle who kept twisting his head trying to catch another glimpse of his paramour. Roisin managed to raise her eyes to stare at the tanned, golden blonde apparition’s face. No wonder Pooh had gone to town, he’d found his dream girl. Patrick’s girlfriend, Cindy, was in fact, Barbie. Come to think of it her brother did have a look of that Ken doll he’d been so fond of talking to when he was small. They were a good match.
‘Look who’s here, girls,’ Maureen stated the obvious, ‘your brother. He’s home for Christmas. Sure, it’s the best present any mammy could have and he’s brought his girlfriend, Cindy, with him.’
Patrick looked down at his mammy and Mammy gazed up at her son and Roisin knew Aisling was choking back gagging noises. Mammy had a short-term memory when it came to her son. They’d barely heard a word since he’d flounced off back to Los Angeles, a sulky, spoiled child after not getting his way over O’Mara’s being sold. Roisin had always sat on the fence where her brother was concerned. Yes, he looked out for number one but she only had one brother and she loved him. He’d pushed her over into Aisling’s school of thought though, with his behaviour this last year. Had he contacted any of them to see how they were getting on? No, he had not, and there was poor Moira who’d been on the sauce making a mess of things. Aisling, too had been heartbroken when that eejit fiancé of hers left her high and dry. Not to mention herself with a marriage break-up and Mammy laid up for weeks with a broken ankle. Now here he was standing there with that irritating smug look she knew so well, waiting to be made a fuss of. Well, he could feck off, she thought.
Moira, who’d always thought the sun rose and set over her brother, forgot she was annoyed at feeling like he’d abandoned her and she was the first up, throwing her arms around him. The Coca-Cola had gone to her head, Roisin thought, suddenly remembering her manners where his poor girlfriend was concerned. ‘Hello there, Cindy. Welcome to O’Mara’s. I’m Roisin and this is my son, Noah.’ She got up from the table and stepped forward to kiss her brother’s girlfriend on the cheek, receiving a grateful, boob squishy, embrace in return. She smelled like fruity chewing gum, and vanilla and if she hadn’t been full it would have made her hungry. Aisling followed suit while Moira joined in with Patrick and Mammy’s mutual admiration society. Poor Cindy would have a hard time getting a look-in with these two on the scene, Roisin thought, giving Noah a nudge to say hello. She looked down at him, seeing he was starstruck with a very silly look on his face not dissimilar to Pooh’s, as he whispered a shy greeting.
‘Hey there, honey, aren’t you just the cutest wee man.’
Roisin watched on amused as her son flushed at the praise.
‘It was Patrick’s idea to surprise you.’ She addressed the sisters. Her drawl was more southern than LA and Roisin instantly thought of fried chicken and had to squash the urge to say, Y’all c’mon back now, y’hear.
‘Well, you did that. Here, come and sit down, make yourself at home. No, don’t worry about him. I’ll make sure Mammy keeps an eye on him.’ Roisin gave a Pooh the death stare as she led Cindy over to the sofa. Aisling offered her a drink but she didn’t want anything. She looked the type that would keep a watchful eye on her waistline, Roisin decided, a sparkling water and egg white omelette sort of a girl. She couldn’t afford not to be if the dress she was poured into was an indicator as to the rest of her wardrobe. Ha! Just wait until Mrs Flaherty got hold of her! O’Mara’s breakfast cook, believed diet to be a dirty word and you did not mess with Mrs Flaherty.
Patrick extricated himself from his mammy and Moira long enough to give his other two sisters a hello kiss and hug. ‘Aisling, you’re looking very well on it.’
Aisling
