Page 47

“Well,” Cordelia said. “She has a boyfriend now.”

And without needing any further encouragement, Cordelia launched into a tale of a man called Gary whose only flaw as far as Niall could tell was that he was dating Cordelia’s mother and was not Cordelia’s father.

“Toby says I’m being difficult. He said I should be happy for her,” she finished in a huff. “And I am!”

Niall laughed. “Sorry, but when you say it like that, I’m thinking maybe you’re not, actually.”

Cordelia huffed again. The huffing was almost as adorable as the avocado socks.

Not adorable, he told himself. He needed to banish that word from his vocabulary.

“She’s the one who’s being difficult,” Cordelia insisted. “Ever since she started dating Gary, she’s been pushing me about getting a boyfriend, throwing dating apps in my face and acting like that will solve all my problems.” Cordelia kicked at a tuft of grass.

“Did it work?” Niall asked, his stomach lurching. “I’ve never used a dating app before.”

Cordelia blushed so hard even her forehead turned red.

“No,” she said, not looking at him. “It did not. Hence the pushiness. Do you know what she sent me the other day?” She took out her phone and held the screen up to him. It was an article titled “Ten Ways to Find a Man and Keep Him”.

“Wow,” Niall said.

“Exactly.” Cordelia’s mouth turned down at the corners and her brows knit together in another expression of comical fury.

“Toby says I’m not living my life.” She used air quotes. “He thinks I’m hurting Mom’s feelings by not being one hundred percent on Team Gary. That just because I haven’t been happy doesn’t mean Mom has to be miserable too. I mean, yeah, it’s been like three years since my last relationship, but relationships aren’t essential to happiness. I can be perfectly happy without one.”

“And are you?” Niall asked. “Happy?”

Cordelia opened her mouth and then closed it. “No,” she admitted. She stopped walking and stared out over the ocean. “But it’s not because of my lack of a boyfriend. God, the two boyfriends I had before Dad died were . . .” She shuddered. “No thanks. I’d rather be single.”

Niall felt his jaw clench, wondering who these men were and how they could have treated someone like Cordelia so terribly.

“That bad, eh?”

“Liz says I don’t have the best taste in men.”

“I’m delighted to hear it. I thought I was the only one who had terrible taste.”

“But you and Deirdre were going to get married,” Cordelia said.

It was very strange to hear Cordelia say Deirdre’s name.

“Yes, but, you know, that was before she shagged my business partner and stole my pub out from under me. So. I think I have you beaten in the crap relationship department.”

She shot him a full smile, the freckles on her left cheek dancing. Niall wanted to reach out and touch one of them with the tip of his finger. He wanted to cup his hand around her neck and let her hair spill across his knuckles, to see if it was as soft as it looked. Cordelia turned away, flustered, and raised her camera to her eye. Niall put his hands back into his pockets.

“Go on then,” he said. “I know you prefer takin’ pictures with people in ’em. You can use me if you like – since I make a good subject and all.”

She laughed. “I should never have told you that,” she said, shaking her head. “Okay, go stand over there.” She pointed and Niall willingly scampered over the rocks. “Now walk around,” she called. “And talk to me. And don’t think about the camera.”

“Easy for you to say,” Niall called back. “You’re not the one in front of it.” He bent down and picked up a small round pebble, then chucked it off the cliff. “You know, Colin and I used to come up here and see who could throw stones the farthest.”

“Was Colin pretending to be Frodo?” Cordelia asked.

He snorted. “I never should have told you that.”

She tapped her temple. “It’s in the vault now.”

He laughed and she raised the camera again. He tried to ignore it – he wanted to be a good sport. And okay, maybe it was nice knowing that she was looking at him, piecing him into the minor adjustments she made as she crouched or turned or stepped to one side. The clouds roiled overhead and thin drops of rain began to spit down on them. Cordelia pulled up the hood of her raincoat.