‘Would you like to take it for a test drive?’ John asked her, holding open the driver’s door.
‘I’m not insured yet. But I’m sure it’s fine. I mean, you drove it over here.’
‘Yeah, it’s a great car. It shouldn’t give you any trouble. I’m only selling it because I’m moving to Australia for a year.’
‘I could test-drive it for you, if you like?’ Abbie offered. ‘I can promise you, John won’t sell you a pup.’ She grinned at him. ‘I know where he lives. But it’d be no harm to give it a spin?’
‘That would be great, thanks.’
‘Do you want to come?’ Abbie asked John as he handed her the keys.
‘No, you two go ahead. You can tell Lou what a chancer I really am behind my back.’
‘Okay, then. We won’t be long.’
Lou sat into the passenger seat and Abbie turned on the engine, idling for a few moments as she tested all the features on the dashboard before driving off. She talked Lou through how she found everything as they drove – the transmission and steering were smooth, the brakes responsive and firm, and there were no clunky noises. ‘I’d be happy to take it,’ she told Lou.‘I can’t see any issues with it. Do you want me to drive around some more?’
‘No, I think I’ve seen enough, thanks.’
‘So I believe my brother made an ass of himself with you the other day,’ Abbie said as she turned the car around to head back to the cottage, her lips twitching in amusement.
‘You heard about that?’
‘Yeah.’ She shook her head ruefully. ‘He can be such a hothead sometimes.’
‘But he’s made it up to me since. We’re good.’
‘Oh?’ Abbie raised her eyebrows, prompting Lou to say more.
‘He offered me a line cook job when Mark leaves. So it was worth a few minutes of being shouted at.’ Lou grinned at her.
‘Oh, you’re a cook?’
Lou shrugged. ‘More of a dinner lady, really – I’ve mostly worked in staff canteens and pubs. I’m not a trained chef. But it’s what I’ve always wanted to do.’
‘Well, that’s great! Congratulations! Aidan must be seriously impressed with you. He’s a bit of a control freak about the restaurant.’
‘Tell me about it,’ Lou said with a laugh.
‘What did you do to make him fire you in the first place?’
‘I cooked his precious fish soup and served it to Senan Walsh – you know, the food writer?’
‘Oh my God, how could you?’ Abbie laughed.
‘It seemed like a good idea at the time. Stupidly, I thought I was saving the day and Aidan would be delighted when he found out.’
‘Little did you know…’
‘No, though I suppose I should have got a clue from the way the rest of the staff were behaving. You’d think I was planning to serve him up a plate of toe cheese or something.’
‘And Aidan wasn’t pleased?’
‘That’s the understatement of the century. He went ballistic and fired me on the spot.’
Abbie glanced across at Lou and rolled her eyes.
‘But he did apologise and offer me a cooking job. He was obviously embarrassed about how he’d behaved. I’m surprised he told you about it, actually.’
