CHAPTER6
The departure lounge at the airport was heaving, not unusual for Dublin Airport, but Alex thought that just once she would like to sit and have a drink without having to share her table or become unreasonably annoyed at the blokes (because it was always the blokes) who’d slam their almost empty, dreg-splattered pint tumblers down in front of her and rush off to catch their flight.
She ordered a small glass of chardonnay and took it to a table near the window where a couple had just left, pushing their coffee cups to one side as she sat down. Hopefully no one would spot the empty chair beside her and she could sip her wine in peace.
Her feet were beginning to swell and throb a little. These sandals, beautiful as they were, perhaps were not meant for moving feet, only feet which rested on bar stools or dangled from the ends of elegantly crossed legs. Still, it was only half past one, she had an hour before boarding, plenty of time to let her feet deflate and watch the world go by.
‘Hello, again.’
In the window she caught sight of a figure at her table. It was the handsome man from the book section in WHSmith.Oh good, she thought,he’s come to return the dignity I dropped earlier. Brilliant.
‘Hi!’ she responded, because that seemed far more rational than ‘marry me.’
‘I’m not following you, I swear!’ He presented his beer bottle as corroboration that he too had a reason to be within fifty feet of her. ‘It’s kinda crowded so…’
She saw his eyes dart to the empty chair.
‘I mean, I can sit on that guy’s lap if he’ll let me?’
Alex smiled as he gestured to a rather formidable-looking tattooed man in a polo shirt, sitting at the table to their left.
‘It’s fine,’ she replied, ‘Please, sit down. Those coffee cups were terrible at conversation anyway.’
‘Very kind,’ he said, sitting across from her. ‘Hopefully I’ll do a better job. I’m Aiden, by the way.’
‘Alex,’ she replied. ‘Nice to meet you. You off anywhere nice?’
Jesus, Alex, you sound like a hairdresser.
‘I’m not even sure,’ he replied, ‘I’ve never been to Kerry before. My girlfriend tells me it’s beautiful though.’
Girlfriend. Of course, he has a girlfriend because there are no decent single men left. Not any that look like him, anyway. Well, Alex, it’s just going to be you and Winston until you decided to bring a cat into the picture and—
‘You alright?’
‘Oh, yes! Sorry, where did you say you were going?’
‘Kerry,’ he repeated. ‘You?’
‘Same,’ she replied. ‘What a coincidence! Unless youarefollowing me…’
‘I’m absolutely not… not unless you’re also going to meet my girlfriend’s family for the first time?’ He smiled sheepishly. ‘Sorry, I’m a touch nervous.’
‘Has she met yours?’
‘No. We’ve actually only been dating a few months.’
Alex sipped her awfully dry chardonnay. ‘Wow, that is a big deal, isn’t it? Irish families are brutal. A few years ago, I took my boyfriend to meet my ma and they never found his body. I think she battered him to death with her slippers.’
He laughed. ‘You’re not helping.’
‘I’m only messing. They got on really well. I think she liked him more than she liked me.’
‘Your boyfriend obviously has skills,’ he replied, taking a swig of his beer. ‘I should ask him for notes. Or maybe some tips from your mother?’
‘Ex-boyfriend,’ she informed him, ‘and my mother has passed since then, though I’m sure that wouldn’t stop her having some thoughts on the subject.’
Aiden’s eyes widened to the size of his beer bottle.
