Page 62 of The Gin Sisters' Promise

‘It’s more like, I feel he’s already taken so much from me, I can’t bear to walk away feeling as if he’s just plundered and left me like some tragic victim,’ she said, because she knew she’d been a fool for far too long as far as her marriage was concerned. If she was ever going to build up her own self-esteem, she had to see this through and feel she’d come out of it on her own terms. Then, Georgie laughed, the most irreverent sound, so people around them turned to see what it was all about.

‘God, but hasn’t he become very prune-faced?’ Georgie said as they made their way out of the building, and it was as if they were young girls again, laughing at their own private joke and nothing else really mattered.

*

‘Nola, take a seat for a minute.’ Principal Cotter was sitting behind a pile of spreadsheets, looking as if he’d been buried beneath them for far too long. Nola settled herself in the chair opposite and looked around his office. It was probably typical of headmasters’ offices all round the country, busy, but organised by a dedicated secretary who no doubt knew exactly where everything should be, if not where it was exactly. ‘So…’ He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘The village fete…’

‘Yes. The village fete.’ Nola wanted to hang her head in shame, but she didn’t dare with Georgie’s voice ringing in her ears.

‘We can’t have our teachers making public displays of themselves, you know. The school rules are quite clear.’

‘I understand.’ Nola sighed.

‘And there have been phone calls, from…’ He stopped. Well, they both knew the holier-than-thou brigade – of which there were a few staunch members in the village – would have been out in force.

‘I can imagine.’ Nola wanted to curl up and die, but then, she remembered what Georgie and Aiden had said and she felt her spine galvanising. It was just enough to make her sit straighter and determined to keep her eyes off the floor and her head high. ‘The thing is, there’s no excuse for what happened, Gary, and I’m not going to try and make any. True, this last year has been extremely stressful.’ Actually, if she was honest, the last couple of years were pretty crap; it was only since she came here that things began to improve. ‘But my behaviour that day was completely out of the ordinary. It’s never happened before and I can promise you it will never happen again…’

‘The problem for me is that it has happened at all, in full view of the whole village, Nola, and I’m not sure that your promises are going to be enough to…’

‘But what about my work here so far? Surely that counts for something?Easter Paradewas the most successful play the school has ever produced and we managed it in little over one term.’ By all accounts, her predecessor was a disaster and the last school musical had ended in little more than one act, three badly arranged songs, a broken collar bone and tears all round.

‘Yes, I’ll grant you, I’ve never had more calls from parents telling me how wonderful a teacher is…’ He smiled at this. ‘And even this morning, I’ve had two parents already call me to lobby in your favour.’ There was a knock at the door. ‘Not now,’ he called.

‘Sorry, excuse me.’ The secretary poked her head into the office. ‘I really do hate to interrupt, but you need to know that the fifth-years are threatening to stage a sit-in protest unless their drama teacher arrives for class this morning.’ A small twitch about her lips told Nola that the older woman was on her side too.

‘This is most irregular.’ Gary raised his eyes towards heaven and sighed.

‘Look, Gary, I love this job, I mean, I’m not just saying I want to keep it, but I actually feel as if I’ve found my calling.’ This was a revelation to Nola as much as it might be to anyone else, but as she was saying the words, she knew with all her heart they were true. ‘I know it wasn’t meant to be a permanent arrangement, but if you sack me like this, I’ll never have the chance to start over somewhere else, don’t you see? Even my summer drama school will be left hanging under a dark cloud.’

‘It’s not what I want either, but the school rules are very clear, Nola, I’m sorry. You’ve behaved in a way that I can’t be seen to condone and by letting you back in to teach this morning, that’s effectively what I’m doing.’

‘I see,’ Nola said, so that was that.

‘Of course, you could resign your position…’

‘And how exactly is that meant to make things any better?’

‘There wouldn’t be a disciplinary meeting. There would be no records of what happened outside the school on your employment file. It would be a simple case of filing parents’ praise and a report from me about your positive impact on the school.’ He smiled sadly.

‘All right. Thank you very much. I suppose that’s it, so…’ Nola sighed, she felt far more disappointed than she’d have ever expected to feel.

‘Nola,’ Gary said as she opened the office door to leave. ‘I don’t think this should affect your plans for a summer school; in fact, I’m so certain that I would like to enrol my two girls for the full summer term, if you have space.’ He was smiling at her. It was a testimonial of sorts and Nola knew it was a huge vote of confidence against any naysayers in the village.

‘Thank you, Gary,’ she said, standing there for a moment. ‘That’s really sweet of you.’ And it was with a very heavy heart, she had to face the fact that her career in Ballycove Secondary School was officially at an end.

By some minor miracle, when she walked out of Gary Cotter’s office the first person she bumped into was Aiden Barry.

‘Well, fancy meeting you here.’ His voice was enough to send a rush of relief through her.

‘Oh, Aiden, I’ve had to resign.’

‘Come on, I’m bringing you home,’ he said, moving her along the corridor before every student and teacher milled out to witness the state of her.

He had a strength about him that made her want to just be bundled up in his arms and be swept a million miles away from the stress of meeting with Gary Cotter or having to face the shame of forced resignation. Thankfully, she caught herself up before she joined one of his legions of fans. For now, all she had to do was pull herself together – not let herself down any more than she already had. They raced along the empty corridor, exiting through one of the side doors outside of which, Aiden had conveniently parked his jeep. Nola thought she’d never felt so relieved to sit into a vehicle, even if it did smell just a little of wet dog and diesel, in all her life.

As he turned over the engine, he said, ‘I’m so sorry about what happened at the fete.’

‘Oh God.’ She felt that terrible rush of agony come over her again, as if the floodgates might open and she would never manage to lock them shut again. She took a deep breath. ‘It wasn’t your fault.’

---