Page 20 of The Rebound
“They charge two hundred euro for a pair of leggings.”
I wince. “Do they?” I ask as she continues to stare unabashedly at my calves before seeming to realize what she’s doing.
“Sorry,” she says. “It’s just that they’re my happy place.”
“Your…what?”
“You know, some people watch TV bloopers, some read comics. I go on the Red Dots website, fill my basket with all the things I want, and then pretend I’m going to buy them. Plus, if you wait long enough and pretend you don’t want them? They email you a discount code. Not that it makes them actually affordable. Would it be weird if you let me touch them? It would be weird. I’m sorry. Forget I asked. Sorry.” She snaps her mouth shut, clutching a takeout coffee cup to her chest. “I’m Beth,” she adds.
“Abby.”
“Abby? Abby Reynolds?”
I’m about to reply when panic strikes. Is this another Luke situation? She might have been my best friend at school, for all I know, but both her name and face draw a blank.
“Oh no, you don’t know me,” she says, reading my mind. Coffee sloshes through the lid as she gestures wildly. “But everyone’s talking about you.”
“They are?”
“Well, no. But a few people are. They said you were moving back.”
“I’m just visiting,” I say as she sits beside me, tucking her coat under her.
“From New York, right?” Her eyes are big and bright, framed by blue eyeliner. “I’m not a stalker, I swear. It’s just so rare we get someone new. Not that you’renewnew but I’m the newest person here and I moved a year ago.”
“You did?” I’m unable to hide my surprise. People don’t come to Clonard. They leave Clonard. “Why?”
“True love, of course.” She grins. “My boyfriend wanted to be a farmer. He bought some land on eBay. I’m still not sure it was entirely legal but they showed him this boundary map? So I dunno. It looked fine. We don’t have it anymore.” Her smile fades. “Ross didnotlike being a farmer. Turns out it’s actually really hard. He’s also not a morning person, which you kind of have to be for that line of work. We broke up.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. He wanted to move back home but I was tired of following him around all the time. Plus… I liked it here.”
“Here?”
“I know.” She laughs. “My friends thought I was just going through that breakup phase where you change your hair color and maybe get a cat but sometimes you just connect with a place, you know? I got a job at the library in Manorhamilton and then sold my apartment in Dublin and now I’m a local business owner!” She raises her hands, spilling the coffee again. “I love it. But sometimes,sometimesI wonder what it would be like to be a little more stable with my income so I could walk around in a pair of those.”
Her eyes drop to my legs again and, honestly, I’m two seconds away from just giving them to her when she speaks.
“So you lost your job, huh? At McDonald’s?”
“MacFarlane.”
“Right. Sorry. I meant that one. You’re not going to jail, are you?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Good!Phew.” She shakes her head. “You know it was on the news? It was the number one headline. And youlivedit. That must have been so hard. I bet you just…” She trails off, her mouth twisting into a guilty frown. “Hate people talking about it,” she finishes. “I’m sorry. I don’t know when to shut up.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I talk and talk but I don’t think.”
“Honestly, I don’t mind,” I say. And strangely, I don’t. At least not with her. She doesn’t have seem to have a filter of any kind, but after years of coded language and reading between the lines, she’s like a breath of fresh air.
“It’s nice to talk to someone,” I add. Or have them talk at you.
“Well, I’m always around,” she says with a sigh. “How long are you here for?”
