Read an extract from ‘The Weekend Break’ by Ruth O’Leary

Ruth says, “When you go for a night with friends you don’t always have the time to talk to everyone and find out what is really going on in their lives, but a weekend break allows space for these conversations to happen and what you find out can often shock or surprise you.”

The Weekend Break opens in Heuston Station, where four friends board a train for Galway. Everyone is excited and putting their best foot forward, but the secrets the women have hidden reveal themselves when dramatic events occur that test their friendship and loyalty.

Ruth O’Leary lives in Dublin. For the last ten years she has worked as a freelance movie extra playing various roles from a nun to a Viking and everything in between. She has also worked on Fair City, Red Rock, The Dry and Kin.

Read on for the extract below…

Miriam

This is a bad idea, Miriam thought, as she wiped the sweat off her brow and the vomit from her lips. Her pale face looked back at her from the mirror in the toilets of the train station as she washed her hands. She reapplied her make-up, adding more concealer under her eyes, and pinched her cheeks as they did in old movies, to add some colour.

Taking out a comb, she tried to backcomb her thin, brown, shoulder-length hair to put a bit of life into it. The blow-dry from the day before had been ruined by the tossing and turning of her disturbed sleep. She hadn’t slept a wink last night, thinking about this trip.

Arriving an hour before the others had been a mistake too. She had thought that she could relax and have some breakfast but hanging around just made her nerves worse. Her stomach rumbled. She was starving but she couldn’t eat. She groped around the bottom of her bag for some mints to cover her vomit breath and hopefully settle her stomach for the journey ahead.

“The next train for Galway will be departing from platform five at ten thirty.”

That’s our train coming in now, thought Miriam, as the muffled announcement came over the tannoy. She packed her make-up away in her clutch bag and smoothed down her blue cashmere jumper, pulling it down over her hips. The feel of the cashmere gave her comfort, but the colour drained her, she noticed, as she took a last look in the mirror.

Why oh why, am I going ahead with this trip, she asked herself. But she knew why. None of the girls would want to have anything to do with her if they found out what she had done. But, until then, she was going to try to enjoy this trip. After five years of going away for a Christmas break with the girls, Miriam knew this one could be her last.

Vivienne

Vivienne cut through the crowds of Dublin’s Heuston Station, carrying her skinny flat white in one hand while pulling her matching designer cases behind her with the other. Her tall, thin frame was heightened by her 4-inch heels that clip-clopped across the tiled floor. Making her way to an empty table in the concourse, she perched on the edge of the uncomfortable metal seat and crossed her long, trousered legs while she waited for the girls to arrive.

Taking a small mirror from her clutch bag, she puckered her lips, checking that her lipstick was still perfectly in place. Her Louis Vuitton handbag in taupe matched her suitcase and purse. It didn’t come as a set, but Vivienne liked everything to match.

Vivienne had been counting down the days to this trip. The stress in the house was unbearable. She had hardly spoken to her husband in four weeks and her demanding children were grating on her nerves. Licking a finger, she flattened a loose blonde strand of hair over her ear, nervously pushing it back in place. Her scraped-back hair was tightly secured with a diamante hairclip and tons of hairspray.

Organising this weekend away had been a very welcome distraction. As usual, once the women decided on the destination, Vivienne arranged everything else. Having worked in the travel business for over twenty years she relished the task, and the girls were delighted for her to do it all. It was like having their own private tour guide.

Using her contacts, she got great rates on hotels, usually boutique, always central. She loved to find unusual or quirky restaurants and made reservations months in advance. Private transfers were always included. She smiled to herself, remembering the look on the girls’ faces when she organised a private speedboat from Positano to their hotel in Sorrento instead of taking the public ferry! Yes, it was triple the cost, but the memory was worth it.

This year everyone was surprised when Vivienne suggested they stay in Ireland for their pre-Christmas break, but they very quickly agreed that supporting Irish hotels and businesses was a good idea and travelling by train would be a great laugh.

Vivienne liked to plan a surprise or treat for her friends and this time would be no different. The extra Louis Vuitton case contained savoury nibbles from the M&S luxury range, macaroons freshly made in Paris and collected from Brown Thomas this morning, and four bottles of Dom Perignon. She took the champagne from her husband’s special collection in the temperature-controlled fridge in his office. Fuck him, she thought, the girls deserved a treat.

Vivienne wanted to make this trip special because her life was about to change forever and the fallout for her family was going to be painful and difficult – but it had to happen. She was determined to have a new life and it would start this weekend.

‘The Weekend Break’ by Ruth O’Leary (€12.99) is on sale now.

Feature image via Unsplash.