Page 74 of Our Song

‘Sarah just rang me,’ says Katie.‘There’s a story in the paper.About you.’

‘Aboutme?’I say.‘What kind of story?’I remember her and Jeanne warning me I might end up in the tabloids.I know I said I didn’t care if that happened but it turns out I might care after all.My blood runs cold.‘Oh Jesus, it’s not something about me being Tadhg’s mystery woman, is it?’

Katie swallows.‘Not exactly.’

And she hands me her phone.

Tadhg’s ‘Little Cinderella’

Rock Star’s Charity Case

Pop superstar Tadhg Hennessy is known for his good works and charitable activities.Now Saint Tadhg has found his new cause: his homeless, unemployed former bandmate Laura McDermott.McDermott, 37, recently lost her home after the breakdown of a long-term relationship, and then her job as an advertising copywriter at Visions, the prestigious agency purchased by Zenith in 2017.But salvation has come in an unlikely form: her former friend Tadhg Hennessy.

‘Laura and Tadhg Hennessy were close back in college,’ says Kev Lacey, an old friend of McDermott.‘They weren’t a couple or anything but they were in a band together.And then they had some sort of fight and stopped talking to each other.That was about fifteen years ago and they haven’t seen each other since.’The reasons for the fight are unknown; what is known is that Hennessy and McDermott went from close collaborators to strangers seemingly overnight.

Until this month, when Hennessy reached out to McDermott and invited her to take part in a two-week songwriting workshop.‘Tadhg was really happy to do this for Laura,’ said a source close to the star.‘She’s been through a tough time and he’s so glad he can cheer her up with some time in the studio.It’s a Cinderella story – except instead of going to the ball for a night, this little Cinderella’s getting to spend two weeks working in Tadhg’s state-of-the-art studio.He’s got anincredible collection of musical instruments so Laura will be able to play his guitars.’

Hennessy, 37, famously shot to stardom twelve years ago when his song ‘Winter Without You’ went viral.Since then he’s released three critically acclaimed platinum-selling albums, headlined the Glastonbury Festival and Electric Picnic, and toured all over the world.With his rich vocals and innovative mixture of pop, rock and even trad folk, he’s generally regarded as one of the most talented musicians and performers of his generation.

His old bandmate McDermott, meanwhile, did not go on to make a mark on the music world after her and Hennessy’s band split.After graduating from Trinity College Dublin, McDermott studied communications in DCU and went on to work in marketing and advertising, eventually becoming a copywriter.There’s no evidence that she ever played with another band.

‘We’ve been friends for a good few years now but I had no idea Laura was ever in a band,’ says McDermott’s former colleague Aoife Keogh.‘Let alone that she knew Tadhg Hennessy.She’s kept it very quiet.’

‘Their band in college was really good,’ says Ruairí Flynn, who organised gigs for Hennessy and McDermott’s group several times when they were all students at Trinity.‘Tadhg?Well, I don’t think anyone who saw him play back then was surprised when he ended up becoming really huge.He just had star quality.But Laura was brilliant too.Offstage she was thisordinary nice girl, but she was incredibly cool onstage.I think everyone fancied her when she was playing the guitar.’

Sources close to Hennessy say that he has no expectations of what will result from his time in the studio with McDermott.‘It’s just two weeks,’ said one source.‘Maybe they’ll write something, maybe they won’t.The important thing is that he’s cheering up an old friend who’s going through a tough time.’While Hennessy was unavailable for comment, his management confirmed that ‘Tadhg is working on some songs with his old friend Laura McDermott, who will, of course, get full credit on anything they release as a result’.Could Tadhg’s Cinderella end up with a smash hit?That would be a fairy-tale ending.

When I finish reading the story I feel numb.It’s like my head is full of white noise.Katie gently takes the phone from my hands.I don’t say anything.

‘Lol?’says Katie anxiously.

I feel like I’m watching myself from a distance.Did I really just read those words about me?Did I really just see a photo of me outside Tadhg’s gate, looking like some sort of pitiful orphan, clearly taken with a telephoto lens by someone lurking in the park at the Crescent?I did, I did.But it doesn’t feel real.Itcan’tbe real.

‘I think you should sit down.’Katie guides me gently over to the bed and I drop down onto it.

‘Give me back your phone,’ I say.

‘I don’t know if that’s a good—’

‘Just give it to me!’I say.

Reluctantly, Katie hands me her phone and I read through the story again.It’s almost worse the second time.

‘His little Cinderella!’I say.

‘It’s total nonsense.’

‘His littleCinderella!’

‘I know.Look, come downstairs and I’ll make you a cup of tea—’

‘It says I’m homeless!’I say.‘And unemployed!’

‘It does but—’

‘There’s nothing wrong with being homeless or unemployed!’I say.‘But I’m not either of those things!’

‘No, you’re not—’

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