Free In My Sister's Shoes by Sinéad Moriarty Page A

for weeks, months and even, possibly, years. Nikki Jennings had been in the year below us at school – she was all blonde hair, big tits and sunbed tan.
    She sipped her tea and waited for Sam to tell her about his marriage. He hesitated, then said, ‘Well, I was married for three years, but we’ve been separated for almost a year now.’
    Tara choked. She hadn’t seen that one coming. Separated? ‘God, Sam, I’m sorry. I had no idea. Are you OK?’ She was, trying to figure out a way of asking him what had happened without appearing nosy. Wait until Kate hears this, she thought.
    ‘Yeah, I’m fine now, thanks. It’s been a rough year or two, though,’ he said, looking up at her.
    Wow, he still has those killer eyes, thought Tara. ‘And is there no possibility of a reconciliation?’ she asked, congratulating herself on her subtle questioning.
    Sam shook his head. ‘Well, considering she’s now living with her boss – the man she was having an affair with while she was with me – I’d say the chances are slim,’ he said, smiling ruefully.
    ‘Yikes! I’m sorry, Sam.’
    ‘Yeah, me too. So, anyway, how’s married life with you?’
    ‘Is it OK for me to say that it’s great?’
    ‘Absolutely. I’m glad it’s going well.’
    ‘Tom, my husband, reads your column religiously. He thinks you’re the best sports writer around.’
    ‘And what do you think?’
    ‘You know me and sports – even Kate had more of an interest than I do.’
    ‘How’s Kate? How’s her high-flying career going?’ he asked, with just the slightest hint of sarcasm. ‘Has she married some hot-shot TV star yet?’
    ‘No, she’s single, actually,’ said Tara, archly. ‘But her career’s going really well. She just landed her own show.’
    ‘She finally got what she always wanted, then.’
    Tara was annoyed with Sam for being flippant. ‘Well, it was great until last week when she found out Fiona has cancer and had to move home to look after her,’ she said.
    ‘What?’ said Sam, staring at her. ‘Did you say cancer?’
    ‘Yes, it’s breast cancer, but I shouldn’t really have told you. Don’t say anything to anyone. They don’t want people to know yet.’
    ‘Jesus, is she all right? How bad is it?’
    ‘They’ll know after today how bad it is. She was operated on this morning. Look, Sam, I shouldn’t have said anything, just forget it. I have to go back to work now.’
    ‘No, wait,’ said Sam, grabbing her arm. ‘Take my card and please call me when you know more. I’d really like to know how she gets on – I was always a big fan of Fiona’s and… tell Kate I was asking for her. God it must be hard on her with her mum and all.’
    ‘So I took the card,’ said Tara, ‘which I have here in my pocket, in case you’re interested. I’m sorry I told him about Fiona but I wanted to show him that you’d put your family first. Are you annoyed?’
    ‘No, it’s fine. I’m glad you did – I bet he was shocked to find out I’ve put my job on the back-burner. I can’t believe his marriage broke up. Mind you, he never should have married that cow.’
    ‘So he’s single,’ said Tara, ‘and you’re back in Dublin for the foreseeable future…’
    ‘Tara! We broke up eight years ago. It’s dead and buried.’
    ‘If you say so,’ she said. ‘Look, I’ve got to go. My boss is glaring at me. I’ll call you later.’
    I leant back on the head-rest and sighed. Even now the mention of Sam’s name brought a knot to my stomach. I didn’t know if it was down to guilt because I’d broken up with him when I went away to London, or regret, or simply because I hadn’t had a serious relationship since him – unless you count six months going out with a producer at Channel 4 who only called me when he was bored or horny. The men I dated were never right, and I was always so busy with work that I never felt lonely– well, not often. Also, I didn’t want children so the biological-clock thing wasn’t an