‘No. The waves aren’t playing ball.’ He tilted his chin to the gentle swell of the water. ‘I had a couple of private lessons booked, but I’ve rearranged them.’
‘Owen runs a surf school here on the beach,’ Aidan told Lou.
‘And a shop.’ He jerked his head to a brightly painted shack further along the beach.
‘Wow, that’s really cool.’
‘See?’ Owen grinned at his friend. ‘I always told you I was cool and you never believed me. Now we have confirmation.’
‘You can’t take Lou’s word for it. She’s just moved here, so she hasn’t got the lay of the land yet. She doesn’t know that beach bums are ten a penny around here.’
‘Where did you move from?’ Owen asked her.
‘Dublin.’
‘And what do you do, Lou?’
‘I’m going to be working at Coast – for my sins. Starting next week.’
‘Oh, you must have been very bad if that’s your penance.’
Lou laughed.
‘Are you enjoying living in Dingle, Jack?’ Owen called to him.
‘Yep,’ he said, looking up briefly from where he was busy digging in the sand with Bo.
‘Glad you moved here?’
‘Yep.’
‘Is he always this monosyllabic?’ Owen asked Lou in an undertone.
‘Nope.’ She grinned. Jack’s answer was more than enough for her, and she was glad Owen had asked. She’d been afraid to broach the subject of how he felt about Dingle herself since their first weekend here.
‘Anyway, I’d better get back. I just wanted to say hello.’
‘Well, it was nice to meet you, Owen,’ Lou said as he stood. He had to give Bo and Jack another go of being tossed around like little acrobats before striding back to his hut.
