Page 26 of An Irish Hope

“Good?” That was unexpected.

Grady smiled. “Because Jesus never married, did he? So that means there’s plenty of fish in the sea.”

“Um, I think you’re getting your metaphors mixed up.”

“I don’t care.” Grady stood. “Come on. Let’s go see what they’re serving for dinner.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

The sun was gleaming on the still waters as she went downstairs and joined her mother and aunt for breakfast. Yes, they usually had breakfast in their private apartment, but on occasion they preferred the options and service of the restaurant. And here, with a breakfast of eggs and only a little serving of bacon—plus, okay, a hash brown and serve of black pudding—she could feel nearly virtuous, like her get healthier goal was easier to attain. Well, at least she’d woken up remembering it, which made a change from the many times she’d made a New Year’s resolution and somehow the next day forgotten all about it.

“Mm, this is good,” she said, forking in another mouthful of scrambled eggs.

“The chef certainly knows his way around eggs,” Aunty Aine agreed.

“Her way,” Aisling corrected. Weekdays saw a different chef to weekends.

“Of course.” Aunty Aine sipped her cappuccino. “So, Aisling dear, what are you going to do with your life?”

“An excellent question.”

It was one thing to graduate with a degree, it was quite another to walk straight into a job. And while she was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work here at the hotel, it didn’t mean that was all she wanted to do with her life.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Sometimes I think it would be so good to be like Aidan and know that practicing law was what I was meant to do. Or even teaching, like Andy. But I don’t feel like that.”

“What, apart from teaching, has your degree equipped you for?”

Another excellent question. Had it been self-indulgent to study Celtic history if there was no real use for it? Fiona had said as much, bless her. Sure, the lecturers had assured the degree meant she could go work at a library or in research, but they hadn’t admitted just how rare those jobs were. Or that they inevitably didn’t pay too well. Which was why she’d put her name down for secondary teacher training, as a kind of insurance policy of sorts. Even if, despite the non-refundable payment she’d made, she sometimes wondered if high school teaching was what she should do after all.

She sipped her orange juice. “Do you think I would make a good secondary school teacher?”

“Truly? I didn’t think you wanted to study anymore. In fact, I was sure you said words to that effect not so long ago.”

She sighed. “I didn’t know what else to do last year, and thought I could maybe do a postgraduate course that at least qualifies me in something.”

“Yes, but is that what you truly wish to do?”

“I don’t know,” she mumbled.

Aine sighed. “I don’t like to say it, not when my husband was a school principal and I’ve worked in the system too, but I truly think there are some people who are meant to teach and some who are not. One needs to have a certain level of patience in order to do that.”

“Are you saying I have no patience?”

“I’m saying that it’s a quality you could probably afford to develop before you take on teaching.”

“It can’t be that hard.”

Aine looked at her. Okay, so maybe it was. “Isn’t this something you should have thought of long before now?”

Apparently.

Apparently there were many things she should have thought of before.

She snuck a peek at her aunt. Maybe Aunty Aine felt like she needed to get in all the inquisition while she still could, but it seemed awfully sudden. There’d been none of those questions last night when she’d had dinner with her and Mam, and they’d played cards while watching old episodes of Dance Off Canada on TV. Instead, they’d enjoyed watching the brute-like hockey player twirl his tiny dance pro partner, and made comments about whether the chemistry they shared meant they were a couple in real life as well as on TV. Where had the inquisition been then, huh? Apparently waiting for today.

She ate the last of her black pudding—yum!—then dragged her soda bread through the remains of her egg. Double yum! She’d go to the gym later and work it off.

“Look, Aisling, I don’t mean to sound harsh,” Aine said. “But I didn’t want to leave today without having the chance to talk. And I know your mam is concerned about you—”