Page 38 of The Secret Life of Beatrice Alright

‘Let me in. It’s freezing out here. Don’t they ever turn on the heat in this bloody place?’

The door to Ellie’s bedroom is ajar and I can make out her small body curled up and sleeping under the duvet. I check my watch. It’s barely seven a.m. and still dark outside, as streetlamps shine through the curtains and bathe the living area in an orange hue. Despite the warm glow, the apartment is freezing. My morning breath dances in the air in front of me and I grab a blanket from the couch and drape it over my shoulders like a cape.

‘Bea!’ Cora calls again, loudly.

‘Sorry. Sorry. Coming.’

I swing open the door and find Cora holding three takeaway cups tucked in a paper tray and a brown paper bag in her other hand. I’m stepping aside to let her in when the door across the hall opens and the sound of dogs barking fills the corridor. Cora jumps, but thankfully no coffee spills.

‘Good morning,’ MrsJohnson says, struggling to keep hold of her boisterous dogs’ leashes. The dogs yap and try to get close to Cora. Her expression is hilarious, sitting somewhere betweenI’m a cat personandI haven’t had any coffee yet.

‘Desperately cold, isn’t it?’ MrsJohnson says, as she locks her door.

‘Very,’ I say, sounding as if I am shocked by chilly conditions in December.

‘Is the heating broken out here?’

‘Not sure,’ I say.

‘It’s freezing,’ Cora reiterates.

‘Must be broken again,’ MrsJohnson says. ‘We had awful trouble with it a few years back too. Before you moved in. Declan was living with that blond girl at the time. Do you know her? Pretty, slim girl. I wasn’t sure if she was his daughter or his girlfriend,’ she adds, and I think she’s actually asking me if I know Declan’s ex.

‘Ellie is Declan’s only daughter,’ I say, my voice cracking. A week ago, I would have said Ellie was his only child.

‘Right. Right. Lovely girl.’

‘Yes. You said.’

Her dogs bark again, playfighting with each other, and Cora pushes closer to me.

‘Anyway, could you ask Declan to call the landlord? He got the heating sorted out last time so quickly, it’s probably best if he takes care of it again.’

I nod. ‘Sure.’

Cora looks at me wide-eyed and I stare back. I’m confident she won’t say anything but my stomach still flips.

‘Great. Thank you,’ she says, growing distracted as she tries to pull her dogs apart. They bark and bark and I can’t wait to close the door.

‘See you later,’ I say.

Finally, Cora steps inside and I close the door behind us with a sigh. I can still hear the dogs, the whole way down the corridor.

‘She doesn’t know?’ Cora says, placing the cups and bag on the kitchen countertop just inside the door.

‘No. I didn’t get a chance to go across the hall, knock on her door and say,Hey, guess what? Turns out Declan is already married. And I’m just his bit on the side. Who knew.’

‘Oh, Bea, I’m sorry,’ she says, taking the cups out of the tray with care not to slosh coffee through the small hole in the lid. ‘I didn’t mean…I just meant, I’m sure it’s hard.’

The hardest part is that I don’t actually have anyone to tell. Aside from Cora, the only other confidant in my life was Declan.

‘It’s fine. I’m sure she’ll figure it out when the apartment is empty soon,’ I say.

‘Yeah. I guess she will.’

There’s a moment where we both look around the apartment. Cora has joked more than once that I’m the posh friend. Declan’s and my apartment is more than twice the size of Cora and Finton’s. It’s in a quiet residential area overlooking the Phoenix Park, but still within walking distance of the city. Cora and Finton are in the suburbs and regularly get caught in morning traffic on their way to work. Declan and I enjoyed date nights in exclusive restaurants, while Cora and Finton favour takeaway and Netflix while they save for a bigger place.

‘I’ll miss it here,’ I say at last.

---