Free Pieces of My Heart by Sinéad Moriarty

properly so it looks good?’
    ‘Come on, Sally, we all dyed our hair with Sun-in and those other bleaches. You have to get it wrong before you get it right. Actually, Bobby’s isn’t that bad – I think he gets it done in a salon.’
    ‘How’s Charlie? Any sign of Lily?’
    ‘Thankfully, no, it seems to have fizzled out. He’s been relatively calm recently, which is a relief. I always imagined worrying about the girls sneaking people home at night, not my father.’
    ‘He probably got rid of all those years of pent-up sexual frustration with Lily.’
    ‘I hope so. He seems happier. But you never know with Charlie. How was your family lunch?’
    ‘You mean my pity lunch.’
    ‘Was it that bad?’
    ‘Worse. Both my sisters were there so it was a full onslaught.’
    Sally had two sisters, one older (Samantha) and one younger (Hilary), who were both married with children. They couldn’t understand why she wasn’t and were always trying to fix her up.
    After college Sally qualified as an accountant, then headed off on a trip around the world. She had met Stuart in Australia. He owned a bar on a beach in the middle of nowhere and offered her a job and to share his bed. She stayed for a year – it was the opposite of anything she’d ever experienced before: carefree, laid-back, no responsibilities, no exams, no suits – she went to work in a bikini. It was exactly what she needed. But after a year her mother flew over and told her, ‘The holiday is over. You need to get back to reality.’ So Sally moved to London, worked and played hard for ten years, got involved with her married boss, Jeremy, and when that went sour, she moved home to lick her wounds.
    I had known her vaguely in college, but it was only when she came back from London and we met up at a mutual friend’s house that we really clicked. A few months later, over drinks in a wine bar, we’d decided to set up Happy Dayz. She wanted out of corporate life and I wanted out of domestic life. Since then she’d never really gone out with anyone for more than a few months at most. She hadn’t admitted it, but I think she’d really believed Jeremy would leave his wife. When he didn’t, she was devastated and hardened her heart to protect herself.
    ‘Tell me all,’ I said, settling in my chair.
    ‘It’s the same old story,’ Sally said, ‘Samantha and Hilary trying to find me a husband …’
    ‘Hi, Sally, any nice men on the scene?’ Samantha asked.
    ‘Nope,’ Sally said, popping an olive into her mouth.
    ‘Well, my friend Suzie’s cousin met this guy on a blind date and she didn’t find him attractive and they didn’t even get on that well, but he asked her out again and they got on a bit better that time and then they went out again, and three months later they’re engaged.’
    ‘I see. So you’re suggesting that if I go on a blind date with a bald, overweight loser I could fall madly in love and marry him?’
    ‘There’s no need to be snippy. I’m just saying you should give it a go. You never know, Sally, you might meet someone you like.’
    ‘It’s worth a try,’ Hilary agreed. ‘You’re not having much luck on your own, so let us help you.’
    ‘I’ll think about it,’ Sally said, to get them off her back.
    ‘I don’t understand what the problem is. You’re an attractive woman with a good job,’ Martin, Sally’s brother-in-law, put in.
    ‘She’s too independent – it scares men off,’ her other brother-in-law, Philip, helpfully explained.
    ‘Excuse me, I’m in the room,’ Sally fumed. ‘Please don’t talk about me in the third person and, besides, that’s crap. If a man can’t appreciate a woman who has her own life and her own career, then he’s the one with the insecurities and the problem, not her.’
    ‘You could try to soften up a bit,’ Samantha said. ‘Even women find you a bit prickly. My friends are always commenting on how cynical you are. They’re afraid to bring up any topical issues with