Read Divorcing Jack for Free Online Page B

an accident.'
    'You okay? What happened?' Car.'
    'Glad you could still come in.'
    'Wouldn't have missed it.' Paul was a real softie for most of the time, but when the occasion demanded it he could run the tightest ship in the country. I flashed him a painful smile and turned to the screen. Half an hour was enough to turn them into English, then I dropped them down to the process operator to be run out for lay-out on the stone. It could have all been done on my own computer screen with a little extra investment, but times were hard and the unions were causing trouble.
    While I waited for the stories to appear on the stone I wandered into an empty office and phoned Patricia's parents in Portstewart.
    Her dad answered, his voice ragged.
    'Hi, Joe,' I said, 'it's Dan. Your throat sounds bad.'
    'It is bad. Bloody sea air.'
    'You'd be better off down here.'
    'Don't I know it.'
    'Is Patricia there?'
    'Aye, I'll get her,' he said and then hesitated for a moment. 'Listen, Dan, everything all right?'
    'Sure.'
    'She seemed a bit.. .'
    'Upset?'
    'Yeah, upset. She hasn't said, of course, but it's nothing serious, is it?'
    'Nah, Joe, never worry. Y'know women. Wrong time of the, if you get my drift.'
    I could almost hear him nodding at the other end of the phone. And to think I was once equality officer for the NUJ.
    'Ah. Understood. I'll get her for you.'
    I heard the receiver being set down and her dad limping away on the hardwood floor of their cottage. I could just about hear the wind whistling in the background.
    More footsteps and - 'What?'
    'Now, there's a pleasant greeting.'
    'What do you expect?'
    'What about "Hello, darling, missing you terribly"?'
    'Catch yourself on.'
    She wasn't finding me terribly amusing. I tried another tack.
    'I'm missing you.'
    'I noticed that last night.'
    'That was nothing.'
    'You mean there's worse.'
    'No, I don't mean that. It was stupid. You know how plastered I was. I'd just been sick in the bathroom. She just grabbed me.'
    'Sure.'
    'Honestly. Jesus, Patricia, I could have been kissing a Jack Russell for all I knew. It shouldn't have happened, I know that. I'm sorry. Jesus, if you could see the state of my face you'd know I've already paid the price for it.'
    'It serves you right.'
    'I know.'
    There was a moment of silence. I said: 'Will you come home?'
    Silence still, then: 'I don't know, Dan.' Again: 'I don't know.'
    'Jesus, Patricia, over a wee kiss. You've done as bad yourself for Christ's sake.'
    'It's not just her. Look - I just need a bit of time away from you, and this is as good a time as any when I have a bit of an excuse. I just... feel like I should be doing something else. We need to change. We're getting older, Dan, and we're still running around like kids.'
    It is too easy to argue with loved ones. That is the attraction of strangers. You're on your best behaviour. I bit my lip. 'Patricia, look, I'm not going to suddenly develop an interest in bloody gardening. I'm not thirty yet. You're not twenty-eight yet. We are young. Jesus, 'Trish - we've gotta have a good time while we can - you never know when that giant piano is going to fall on us from the sky.'
    'I know that. You've always said that. It's just that I don't know if what we're doing constitutes having a good time. Drinking, dancing, having a laugh, is that a good time if you do it every single bloody week with exactly the same bloody people? You saw last night what it can lead to.'
    'Well, what do you want to do? Stay in Portstewart? It's where old people go to die.'
    'Of course not. I don't know. But that's why I'm here. I want to have a think. Just a wee think. Give me a few days, eh? Then we'll talk. Just a few days.'
    'Do you still love me?'
    'You know I do.'
    'Good.'
    'You still love me?'
    'Yeah.'
    'Okay then.'
    Paul McDowell appeared at the office door and signalled me back to the stone, I nodded and stood up from the edge of the desk where I'd been sitting.
    'I'll have to go. I'm in work. I'm needed. Someone needs