Upside Down Inside Out by Monica McInerney Page A

that she and Dermot hadn’t actually agreed that the holiday to New York was off. Somehow it had gone without saying. Call it a mad hunch, she thought. She’d have to go into the travel agent at lunchtime the next day and cancel her ticket. Thank God she’d insisted on paying her own way. What would she do now with her time off? What could she do? Stay in Dublin? Hide in her room? Postpone her holidays and send poor Meg back to County Clare? Perhaps another gin and tonic would help her make up her mind. She was just pouring it when the phone rang, making her jump. She’d barely had time to say hello when the voice
    broke in. ‘Evie, I just got your email. What do you mean the wedding is off?’ ‘Lainey? What time is it over there?’ ‘The crack of dawn. I’m up early, checking my emails before I go for a run. What on earth’s happened with Dermot? Or are you too far gone in the Sea of Gin to tell me?’ ‘Have you got time to hear?’ ‘Of course I have. Tell me everything.’ Eva did so with great relish, buoyed by Lainey’s roars of laughter as she described the mobile phone going into the pint of Guinness. Then she became serious again. She decided she didn’t want to talk about Dermot any more. She didn’t even want to think about Dermot any more. ‘Lainey, let’s forget him. The real problem is my holiday. What am I going to do now?’ ‘Well, I’d have thought it was perfectly obvious.’ ‘What’s perfectly obvious?’ ‘Come here instead.’ ‘Come here? Come where?’ ‘Here. To Melbourne. To Australia.’ ‘To Australia?’ ‘Yes. Glorious beaches, cafes, restaurants, food, wine, sightseeing, incomprehensible accents, TV Soaps, Irish theme pubs. You’ll love it. It’s perfect, can’t you see? If you got here as quick as you could, we could have some time together before I go to Brisbane, then you’d have the whole apartment to yourself for a week or so.’
    ‘Lainey ‘ ‘And I’d ring you from Brisbane every single night and try and get back as quickly as I could to see you. I mean it, Evie. Come to Melbourne instead. Seize the day. Nil bastardo desperandum or whatever it was Robin Williams said in that film. It makes sense, don’t you ‘ ‘Lainey, stop. I can’t.’ ‘Why can’t you? Seriously. Why can’t you?’ ‘It’s so far away.’ ‘It is not. That’s just a fallacy. Honestly, you’ll hardly notice the plane trip. And loads of airlines fly to Australia. You’ll have no trouble changing your flight.’ ‘I’d need a visa, wouldn’t I?’ ‘You’d get one easy-peasy. Lickety-split. It’s all electronic these days.’ ‘It costs a fortune.’ ‘No, it doesn’t. Compared to New York, Australia is cheap.’ Eva ran out of excuses. Could she go there instead? Her mind raced. Did it make sense? She had a strange excited feeling all of a sudden. ‘Evie? Are you still there or have you nodded off into your gin?’ ‘Sshh, I’m thinking about it.’
    ‘There’s nothing to think about. Just do as you’re told.’ ‘Lainey, I’ll call you back.’
    ‘When?’
    ‘Soon. I promise.’
    Eva hung up the phone and started pacing around the house, feeling the bubble of excitement rise again. She walked into the kitchen and looked at the pinboard, her eyes drawn to the photos of Lainey stuck on it. Her friend’s bright-eyed, open face smiled at her. Challenging her to come.
    Could she go to Australia instead? It wasn’t ideal, not by any means. Not with Lainey going away from Melbourne. And it was a long way to travel for just two weeks’ holiday. It would cost more, too - but she did have some extra savings. And if she went into the travel agent first thing tomorrow morning, begged a favour, asked for help with the visa and booked the earliest flight possible to Australia, she and Lainey would have a few days, maybe more, together in Melbourne before Lainey went to Brisbane.
    And it would do her good to spend some time in Melbourne on her own, Eva thought.