Beside Decco’s cave someone has placed pieces of driftwood, upright in a circular pattern away from the rock, the uneven rock is the can. I spot little crevices where I will hide chocolate coins covered in thick golden foil for the kids later, after the game. I touch the rock, I can feel the warmth emanating from it and I close my eyes and I count to fifty.

There is no rush home.

31. Festering

For days we live with the delight of White Rock in our veins.

It’s a bit of a blow when Jenny informs me that Jerome has asked her out for a drink on Friday night. That’s three sleep nights away. I am once again a child counting down the arrival of Santa. And she tells me that she has agreed to it. Why? I ask her. I am deeply confused. She asks me why I don’t trust her and I tell her that nothing could be further from the truth.

What I really want to know is how and when this drink was arranged. But Jenny to her credit is straight up. She tells me that Jerome mentioned it at the senior league match way back and that she agreed to it then. She says that she tried to tell me about it when we went to Glendalough on the picnic but I wouldn’t listen. I think back to the picnic, how we fought on the way there and how I called her a fucking whore encouraging her ex-boyfriend to hang about her sniffing her out like a dog. I think back to the senior league match. How I looked over to see Maeve giving me the thumbs-up through the window of the clubhouse when our side scored. And I remember the ecstatic joy of the victory. Mikey and Joey were more interested in their sweets rather than the game at that stage and I remember how I didn’t care about that, I was just happy in myself that we were having a good night out as a family. And I remember too that I couldn’t see Jenny. Now I know why I couldn’t see her. She was probably hunched over the table, more interested in arranging the drink with Jerome than anything else.

I become fixated on the possibility that they have been engaged in a phone relationship. I ask her outright if this is the case and she assures me that I am mistaken and that I am rushing to conclusions. She asks me again if I trust her and while she asks the question she flicks her hair that has fallen over her eye and I feel like I have a pain in my heart.