The honeymoon had opened her eyes, just a bit. But then all men were selfish bastards when it came to getting their end away, weren’t they? The accusation of frigidity hurt her. And some of his habits were annoying. She wished, for instance, that he would close the bathroom door whenever he took a shit instead of leaving it wide open. She wished he wouldn’t spit on the pavement when he was out with her, and maybe take her to a decent restaurant now and again instead of a procession of skanky old two-for-one-deal pubs.

But then, he was a rough diamond, she told herself, and what else could you expect from him when he’d been dragged up by fat, idle old Frank Minghella? She would work on Joey’s bad habits. Things would get better.

She wished he’d start to shift himself a bit more, actually do something now that they had a baby coming, maybe stop the clubbing at the weekends. But you couldn’t change people overnight. It was nice that Mum had cleared a space for them to move in here, at home. Joey didn’t have much money – none of his family did, apart from what they got off the dole and the few under-the-counter jobs they managed to pin down – so it would have been hard for them to get a place otherwise. Now, they didn’t have to worry. They lived here. She wished Connor would push something Joey’s way – let him help out in the yard, which was turning into a gold mine, maybe – but she knew Connor didn’t like Joey. Maybe Connor would mellow, in time. She hoped so. After all, Joey was her husband now.

‘And the kid?’ Connor indicated the bump. ‘All OK?’

‘Absolutely fine,’ said Aysha. ‘Everything’s fine.’

101

101

Joey Minghella was cock of the walk; he was happy. He had a beautiful wife, a sprog on the way, he lived in a fucking great house and the Flynns could no longer look down their noses at him because he was now one of them.

‘So how about a job now I’m your brother-in-law?’ he said to Connor one day as they stood in the kitchen.

‘What sort of a job?’ Connor asked. He hated the little tit, but this was Aysha’s husband.

‘Deliveries. This and that. Like I used to do for you. Or anything. I don’t mind.’