‘You don’t want to be him, do you?’
‘No – I don’t think he has a diet, does he?’ He grinned. ‘I wouldn’t mind being Louise Hay, though,’ he added.
‘Nah,’ Kate chuckled, ‘you don’t have the tits for it.’
Just then, Josie came into the kitchen. ‘Kate,’ she hissed in a conspiratorial stage whisper, ‘as soon as dinner’s over, I say we make a bolt for the pub. Are you in?’
‘Sure.’ Kate couldn’t see the necessity for the cloak-and-dagger routine.
‘We’ve got to make a break for it before Rachel gets out the wedding video,’ Josie said urgently.
‘Oh, right!’ Kate said. ‘But it’s only putting off the misery until tomorrow night,’ she warned.
‘It’s every man for himself then,’ Josie rejoined. ‘But tonight’smy night off, and I’m fucked if I’m spending it watching the rerun of her bloody wedding. More to the point, Iwon’tbe fucked if I spend the night watching it.’
‘Well, I wouldn’t count on it either way, if I were you. This village isn’t exactly bursting at the seams with talent.’
‘I’ll take my chances,’ Josie said.
* * *
There was a magnificent sunset by the time they set out for the pub. Now the sky was streaked with pink and shot through with gold, promising another glorious day tomorrow. Grace and Jack had opted to stay at home with Helen and Conor, and Carmen was holed up in her room again, sending Lorcan dirty text messages. So, Will, Kate, Brian, Josie, Tom and Rachel sauntered down the hill in the still evening and along the beach road.
Inside the little whitewashed pub they found a hot mass of bodies and the whole place was jumping with chatter and laughter. People were packed ten deep at the bar, and in one corner a local four-piece band was playing, the jangle of electric guitars adding to the din.
Tom and Rachel were soon borne off by old friends who hadn’t made it to the wedding, congratulating them and vying with each other to buy them drinks and tell Tom what a lucky man he was. Rachel was in her element, surrounded by admirers: she liked to think that some of the local boys had spent the year ticking the days off on their calendars until the next time she brought a splash of unattainable glamour to the sleepy fishing village.
Kate knew the pub was fraught with danger for Brian, so she was pleased when he insisted on getting the first round. To her intense relief, he didn’t even have to ask her for money to go up tothe bar. It wasn’t that she minded giving him money, but she didn’t want to do it while her family were watching.
She settled on a stool opposite Will, wedged in by Josie, who was avidly scanning the room.
The four-piece that had been playing rock standards when they came in suddenly went into full-on rockstar mode, thrashing their instruments with gusto, the drummer going into a showy impromptu solo that evidently took his fellow band members by surprise. The singer and lead guitarist were leaping about so much that they ended up banging heads in mid-air with a sickening crunch.
‘Jesus!’ Will laughed.
‘I imagine this is for your benefit,’ Kate said.
Brian returned, holding a clutch of drinks to his chest and distributed them. Kate caught surprise on Will’s face as Brian placed a glass tumbler in front of him. ‘Is thattap water?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ Brian said defiantly. ‘What’s wrong with that?’
Kate raised her eyes to heaven. ‘Sorry, Will,’ she said. She snatched up the glass and stormed off to the bar.
‘It’s fine, Kate—’ he began, but she pretended not to hear him.
She stood, fuming, in the crush. She thought it would take her another half-hour to get served, but the barman must have seen the sparks flying off her, because he pointed at her over the crowd, tilting his head as an invitation to shout her order.
When she got back to the table, Josie had disappeared and Brian was giving Will his bottled-water speech. ‘…people aren’t happy unless they’re paying for it,’ he was saying. ‘You’re just paying for the designer label and the corporate advertising to make you think you need bottled water in the first place. And don’t even get me started on the plastic bottles?—’
‘Okay, I won’t,’ Will said. ‘Thanks for the heads-up.’
‘Sorry about that, Will,’ Kate said, placing a glass of sparkling mineral water in front of him, complete with ice and a slice of lemon.
‘Thanks, but there was really no need?—’
‘I don’t think anyone should have to pay for water,’ Brian persisted.
‘Well, youdidn’tpay for it,’ Kate reminded him, ‘so forget it.’
