20
There was no sign of Aidan and Bo the next morning when Lou brought Jack to school.
‘She’s probably already inside,’ she said to him as he scanned the yard for his friend. They weren’t early and the school was already open. ‘Got everything?’
‘Yep.’
‘Okay. Fiona will be here to pick you up at two, and I’ll see you later.’ She bent to give him a kiss goodbye.
‘Mum, can Bo come over to our house after school?’
‘Sure. She might have something else on, but you can ask her. It’s fine by me.’
‘’Kay. Bye.’
‘Love you.’
‘Love you,’ he called over his shoulder as he trotted towards the door.
She was on her way out the gate when she heard Bo’s trilling voice on the other side of the hedge.
‘Dad, can Jack come over for a play date after school?’
Lou smiled. Bo was such a sweetie and she was obviously just as smitten with Jack as he was with her. She was about toapproach them and say Jack had asked her the same thing, when Aidan said, ‘Not today, okay? We already agreed you’re asking Grace, remember? You haven’t had her over for a while, and you spent nearly the whole day with Jack yesterday.’
Lou froze in place, a chill going through her as she experienced vicarious rejection and hurt on Jack’s behalf. She peered over the hedge and saw Aidan kneeling on the ground, tying Bo’s shoelace.
‘Why not Jack?’ Bo persisted, her tone betraying her disappointment.
‘You can ask him another time. Come on, you’re going to be late.’
Lou could tell from the change in Aidan’s tone that he’d stood up.
‘But why, Daddy?’
‘I just don’t think it’s a good idea to spend all your time with Jack.’
‘Why not?’
Lou didn’t hear the rest but just caught the word ‘Dublin’ before his voice faded into the distance as they walked away. But she’d heard more than enough. She stood rooted to the spot, her heart pounding with fury and indignation. She couldn’t believe it – wouldn’t believe it if she hadn’t heard it with her own ears. Just last night, she’d started to believe that she and Aidan were becoming friends, and he hadn’t seemed to have a problem with Bo and Jack spending time together. But maybe he was just hiding it when she and Jack were around.
What was his problem with Jack anyway? Or was it her he had a problem with? Maybe he didn’t want Jack associating with Bo because they were from council flats in the inner city, not a nice house in one of Dublin’s leafy suburbs. She wouldn’t have taken Aidan for being a snob.
Even as she fumed at Aidan, she was almost as angry with herself for putting their Dublin address on her CV. She could have wiped it from the record, expunged it from her past, so the stigma of it wouldn’t have followed them here. Those flats where they’d lived were notorious, synonymous in the public imagination with crime and antisocial behaviour. Even in Dingle people would probably recognise the name and know what it stood for, the kind of people who lived there. Maybe she’d been naïve to think they could move to a cottage by the sea and leave the stink of that place behind. But it was bloody unfair to paint everyone who lived there with the same brush. It wasn’t where she’d have chosen to live given the option and there were plenty of people like her who’d ended up there because of bad luck and circumstances beyond their control. The majority of the people who lived there were sound – decent, hard-working, kind people who’d do anything to help out a neighbour. But the 10 per cent who hit the headlines were all people saw.
She was stomping out the gate unseeingly, blind with rage when she bumped into Victoria.
‘Lou! Hi!’ Her friendly smile was balm to Lou’s soul and helped calm her. ‘We’re just going for a coffee, if you’d like to join?’ She tipped her head to Trina and Erin, a few paces away talking to one of the other mums.
‘That’d be great, thanks.’ Victoria’s open, affable manner was very welcome right now, and Lou was eager to grab the opportunity to make more friends here.
The three of them walked together to a coffee shop on the main street with a cheery, pink-painted exterior, the signage bearing the name Coffey & Cake. The three women were clearly regulars, waving to the staff behind the counter as they made a beeline for a table. Lou’s nerves were instantly soothed as they settled into a cosy booth in the welcoming warmth of the café.
When a pretty blonde woman came to take their order, Victoria introduced her to Lou as Hazel, the owner of the café.
‘Hazel Coffey,’ she said, shaking Lou’s hand. ‘Coffey by name, coffee by nature.’
‘Ah, hence the name.’
