The Rose Garden by Marita Conlon-Mckenna

Grafton Street.
    ‘Bono’d be proud!’ laughed Kim.
    The bar was busy, but Evie and Ali managed to find a booth near the back that they could all squeeze into.
    Mel was being chatted up by some gorgeous Frenchman who seemed oblivious to the engagement ring sparkling on her finger.
    ‘Maybe he’s blind,’ teased Evie.
    Kim was so glad that she had made the effort to come out with her friends. She’d economize for the next week. Seeing the girls had made her feel like herself again – the old Kim who had existed before Gareth had come along. Sipping her wine, she relaxed as Evie and Ali talked about going away to the sun in a few weeks’ time for a girly break.
    ‘If you want to come with us you’re welcome,’ laughed Ali. ‘My dad and mum have a place near Marbella and I’ll get it for a few days. We’ll just have to pay our airfare and spending money.’
    ‘I’ll have to see if I can afford it …’ she trailed off.
    ‘Maybe you’ll get that great job that you were telling me about,’ Evie encouraged her.
    ‘Maybe!’ she said, embarrassed. She’d love to go on a break with the girls, do all the things they could afford to do, but at the moment she was stony broke.
    It was almost 2 a.m. when they decided to call it a night and, grabbing her coat and handbag, Kim joined the throng of people on Dawson Street. There was no shortage of taxis on the busy street, with all its late-night bars and restaurants. As Evie and she headed towards the front of the rank, Kim stopped suddenly, realizing that Gareth was further up in the queue. He was laughing and talking with some guys, probably his mates Cormac and Shay.
    Kim stopped. Should she say hello to him, or pretend she didn’t see him? He was deep in conversation, unaware of her watching him.
    ‘Gareth!’ she shouted drunkenly. ‘Gareth!’ She started to move towards him.
    Suddenly Kim realized that Gareth wasn’t with a few of the guys, but had his arm loosely around the shoulder of a tall, skinny, dark-haired girl.
    ‘No!’ shouted Evie, grabbing her arms and dragging her back. ‘Leave him!’
    She watched as he got into a cab with the girl. Who the hell was she? Had he just met her in one of the bars?
    ‘Was that Gareth?’ asked Ali drunkenly as they got into a cab of their own.
    ‘Shut up!’ hissed Evie.
    Kim stared out at the city lights, street after street, unable to think of anything but the fact that tonight Gareth was with someone else …

Chapter 11
    SOMEHOW KIM MANAGED TO HOLD IT TOGETHER UNTIL SHE AND Evie had climbed up two flights of steep stairs of the tall Georgian building to her second-floor flat. The ancient lift was dodgy and Evie refused to put foot in it once darkness fell. Ten minutes earlier they had deposited a very drunken Ali safely to her door.
    The minute they got in Kim began to cry. Evie made her sit down on the couch and have a pint of water.
    ‘Gareth didn’t even say hello to me!’ she sobbed.
    ‘Luckily he didn’t see you!’
    ‘He’s met someone already!’ she wailed. ‘I can’t believe it! Do you think he was seeing her while we were still living together?’
    ‘I know Gareth’s a bit of a shit, but I don’t think he’s the two-timing type,’ said Evie. ‘He’s too old-fashioned and boring to be having an affair under your nose! Odds are he just met that girl tonight, or maybe she’s a work client or something.’
    ‘Sure,’ sobbed Kim, imagining the dark-haired girl arriving back at the apartment and being romanced by Gareth, who could be so bloody charming when he wanted.
    ‘There’s nothing you can do about it,’ Evie said gently. ‘Let it go.’
    ‘I can’t,’ she wailed, ‘I just can’t!’
    ‘Remember when Brian and I split up two years ago and I found out that he’d been seeing bloody Aoife behind my back for weeks? It nearly drove me mad. The fact that my boyfriend was going out with someone who I used to call a friend nearly drove me crazy.’
    ‘But they broke up,