‘Oh… brilliant!’ Lou had been about to say ‘congratulations’ but realised that would be premature. Babies didn’t always come along to order just because you’d decided you wanted one. ‘Well, good luck.’
‘Thanks. So yeah, I’m going to take a step back from work for a while and focus on that. And if I do end up getting pregnant, I plan to be a stay-at-home mum. Honestly, I don’t know how you do it, Lou, working and having a child, especially doing it on your own. You’re amazing! I don’t think I could manage.’
Lou bristled, but just gave a shrug, gritting her teeth and painting on a thin smile. ‘You’d be fine.’ It wasn’t as if she’d had an option when it came to single parenting or continuing to work. Annie didn’t seem to realise how privileged she was to be able to make all these choices. She also had a sneaking suspicion Annie wouldn’t marvel at how Aidan managed to juggle work and being a single dad, which got her back up even more.
‘Well, I hope it works out for you, I really do,’ she said with sincerity. Because she did genuinely like Annie and wished her well, and she knew she’d meant it as a compliment.
‘Thank you. And I hope the new job at Coast works out for you.’
Later there was cake and Annie’s husband Conor made a speech, thanking all their friends and neighbours in Dingle for making their time there so happy. One of the guests made a toast and everyone raised their glasses and wished them luck with their move to Dublin.
Lou took her piece of cake to a window seat. The champagne had continued to flow all evening, and she’d drunk more than she should have. She wasn’t the only one. Aidan was glassy-eyed as he came to sit beside her, so close their thighs were touching.
‘Lou! I’ve hardly seen you all evening. Did I tell you you look amazing tonight?’ His eyes were dark and hooded as they raked over her.
‘You may have mentioned something earlier, but thanks.’ She reflexively took a sip of champagne. She really should stop. ‘So how’s the dating going?’ she asked, annoyed by the effect Aidan was having on her and determined to deflect his drunken flirting. ‘Your mission to find the next Mrs McBride?’
Aidan gave an extravagant shudder. ‘Mrs McBride is my mum. And there’s been no first Mrs McBride for me. Astrid and I weren’t married.’
‘Well, your mission to findthe one, then?’
Aidan sighed. ‘Not well. So far I’ve gone out with a woman who thinks she’s the next Doctor Strange and goes flying around the place and walking through walls in her sleep, a woman who won’t eat in front of other people, and a narky feminist who just wanted me for my sperm.’
Lou spluttered a laugh.
‘Yeah, so… not going great.’
‘Well, tonight could be your opportunity. Maybe you should get out there and mingle.’ She waved her glass to encompass the room.
‘Nah. I’m happy where I am. I’d rather sit here and talk to you.’
Lou couldn’t help smiling, despite herself. ‘So this Doctor Strange of yours, does she fight demons and stuff and make the world a safer place? Because she sounds like quite the catch to me.’
‘No, I think she just uses her powers to spy on her neighbours. Mind you, she did find one of them dancing Gangnam Style naked in his kitchen, so I suppose you could say he was a demon of sorts.’
Lou giggled. ‘That does sound monstrous.’
‘So what about you, Lou? I heard my mum threatening to set you up the other day. What are you looking for?’
‘I’m not looking for anything.’
‘No?’
‘Jack’s the only guy I want in my life right now,’ she said, but as their eyes locked, she knew that wasn’t true.
She looked away, draining her champagne. They fell silent and her eyes drifted to the dance floor that had been set up to one side of the room. She watched Annie and her husband shuffling around the floor together, looking very loved up and felt a pang of longing. Just then the music changed and she recognised the opening bars of ‘18th Floor Balcony’. ‘Oh, I love this song,’ she said, turning to Aidan and taking his hand. ‘Dance with me?’
He seemed bemused, but happy to let her lead him to the dance floor. He pulled her into his arms and she laid her head on his shoulder, breathing in his delicious male scent as they swayed to the music. She felt warm and fuzzy, drunk on the combination of champagne and Aidan and the bass notes of the guitars that seemed to vibrate deep inside her. She closed her eyes, giving herself up to the moment, all her senses alive to the warmth of Aidan’s body against hers, the clean, spicy scent of his aftershave and the swoony, achingly romantic music. She shivered as Aidan’s fingers moved under her hair, brushing the nape of her neck and she shifted against him restlessly, straining to get closer and nuzzling against the stubble on his jaw. The rest of the party seemed to fade away until it was just the two of them and the swirling violins.
The song came to an end and they stilled, but the room seemed to keep spinning and Lou laid her head against Aidan’s shoulder, feeling disoriented and wanting to prolong this moment. Finally, Aidan pulled back a little and looked down at her, and Lou felt something shift between them as their eyes locked.
‘I’m getting a cab back to town if anyone wants to join.’
Startled out of her trance, Lou turned around to find Shane behind her. She blinked dazedly as Aidan released her. The party was winding down and the guests had thinned out.
Aidan ran a hand through his hair. ‘We could go back to my place for a drink?’
Lou’s heart leaped with joy. He didn’t want this to end any more than she did.
