Page 69 of A Second Chance Summer in Dublin
‘Itishim!’ Denise pipes in again. ‘You’re that actor bloke, I’ve seen ya onIreland AM.’
‘Thank you. Thank you very much.’ Logan smirks at her.
‘She didn’t say she liked ya, she just said she’d seen ya. No need for the thanks,’ Amanda snorts.
‘It’s over, Logan. It been over since you walked out on me on our wedding day without a care in the world for my feelings. It was probably over before that, if I’m really honest. I am truly over you,’ I tell him with absolute confidence.
‘He left ya on yer weddin’ day?’ Belinda’s voice is softer now. ‘Oh, hun. Fuck a duck, that’s brutal.’
‘Prick,’ Amanda proclaims.
‘Gobshite,’ Denise hisses.
‘I texted her before. It’s not like I left her standing at the altar!’ Logan throws his hands out wide.
‘Well I can’t fathom how they’ve not given you the Nobel Peace Prize yet, ya brave boy!’ Belinda jeers.
Donal steps in. ‘Speaking of weddings?’ he says, controlled. ‘It’s my sister’s big day and we better get her back into that church. Stevo will think he’s in a scene fromThe Graduate.’
‘Wha’?’ Belinda screws up her face, ‘Stevo’s not a graduate, he never even did his Leaving Cert, he’s a plumber.’
‘Benjamin and Elaine?’ Donal says.
‘Who the fuck are they? On the groom’s side?’ Belinda asks, hissing in a low voice.
‘Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross! Great movie, man .?.?.’ Logan says, then starts to sing in his trained baritone voice, ‘Hello darkness my old friend,do-de-do-de-do-de-do-de-do-de-do-de-do .?.?.’
‘Is he high?’ Amanda asks seriously.
I take action. I have to. ‘Logan, shut up! I need you to confirm what I’m about to say.’ I spin him around by his elbow. ‘Before you all go back in, please let me tell you the truth about last night?’
The Kearneys all stare at me.
‘The truth is this. Last night, Logan told me he still loved me, tried to get me back. I had thought this was what I wanted since he left me, but then I met Donal and something changed. But last night, some drunk yup boy pushed into me and I fell into Logan, who’d followed me, and that’s whenhekissedme.’ I look at Donal. ‘And that’s when you walked out and saw us .?.?.’ I am panting as I hold his eye contact.
‘Oh she DOES like ya!’ one of the sisters yells, I don’t know which one because I’m fully focused on Donal’s face.
‘Ya didn’t believe her!’ another tags on.
‘Do you believe me now?’ I ask Donal, I don’t care about anyone else, only him.
‘But .?.?. you got into a taxi together so soon after I left?’
‘I was going home. Again, Logan followed me out, practically forced his way into my cab, then tried it on again. I swear on my life.’ I cross my heart.
‘Well I—’ But before Donal can answer me, Logan butts in.
‘Listen, dude. I know when I haven’t nailed an audition and that’s what this feels like. It’s over for me. I’ve lost this one. She wants you.’ He reaches up and places his hand on Donal’s shoulder, dropping his chin to his chest in a very dramatic fashion. Always the performer.
Silence falls.
Logan starts to walk away, the crunching under his feet as he exits my life.
Stage left.
Curtain down.
We all stand looking at one another in the baking sunshine. The seagulls break the silence as they soar in circles. Me, the Kearneys, and the squawk of the seagulls.
