‘Yes, of course.’
It’s not a dead idea yet.
I post it to the system with a brief description and go back to work.
I’m off on Saturday, and check the class schedule on the app to see if anyone has booked and then check again. When I check again, ten minutes later, I become conscious of the checking and stop, knowing it could easily give way to panicking, to catastrophizing, to the apocalypse.
I give myself permission to have a look in the evening and let it be until then.
In the evening, I check. 0/25 bookings for the class. It won’t go ahead without five people being there.
A wave of disappointment crashes into me. I sit on the couch, sit with the disappointment until it passes, and when it passes, I rise again and smile. A thought glints that maybe this is real love, accepting life as it is.
I check Sunday morning. Four names down. I can rope Kim into it again. It’ll more than likely be happening. I spend the afternoon refining the lesson from last week, get the music a little tighter, include better details about the moon.
On Monday, I take my coat off and say to James about there being a low uptake.
‘No, there’s a good uptake. Both me and Vit plugged it to all the ones in our classes Friday and Saturday. People asked could they bring friends to it. My wife is bringing her mates. Everyone wants to see what it’s about.’
‘There’s only four names down.’
‘Four registered on the app. But hold on, let me find the sheet. Yes, here, twenty-six names manually signed up to be added to the system now that you’re here. I have ten people who messaged on Facebook for it too. We may split it into two sessions, is that okay?’
‘What?’
‘I’ve only twenty-five bikes, Natalie. We’ll split it? Will you be fit enough to do it back to back? I’ll send out a notification to everyone.’
‘Yeah, back to back is fine.’
‘So there’s forty signed up and me. Forty-one.’
‘Forty-one?’
‘Where will we be going next week, if anyone’s enquiring?’
I draw a breath, smile, and wait for the idea to flash in my mind.
Acknowledgements
For endless support, thank you Joe, Helen, Mark and Jenny Reapy, Darragh and Sarah K. McGale. For endless craic, thank you to all the Mayo heads, especially the women in the group.
For their kindness: Noel Reapy, Hana Doleželová, Rosaleen McDonagh, Dublin UNESCO City of Literature staff, Irish Writers’ Centre, Dublin City Libraries and their writing groups, Claremorris Library staff (past and present), Laura McDonald, everyone at The Salmon Bookshop and Literary Centre in Ennistymon, Doolin Writers’ Weekend, Joseph O’Connor, Mike McCormack, the Rooney family and the Rooney Prize Committee.
Thank you MMB Creative, my agent Sallyanne Sweeney, my editor Neil Belton, Helen Francis and the team at Head of Zeus.
Much respect and admiration to the trainers and gym instructors who had patience with me over the past few years, especially Rad Rock. Thank you to Sufjan Stevens for creating The Age of Adz which kept me inspired through sports college.
Finally, to Kathleen Reapy, I miss you. Thank you for all your encouragement and love.
About the Author
E. M. Reapy is a writer and tutor from Mayo, Ireland. Her first novel, Red Dirt, won an Irish Book Award and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.
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Also by E. M. Reapy
Red Dirt
Copyright
First published in the UK in 2019 by Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © E. M. Reapy, 2019
The moral right of E. M. Reapy to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (HB): 9781789540949
ISBN (XTPB): 9781789540956
ISBN (E): 9781789540932
Cover photo: Zoonar GmbH / Alamy
Cover design: Luke Bird
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