Page 40 of Just Say Yes
‘You off to your ma’s?’ his friend asked.
‘I am. She’s wanting to see the dog and I need to collect him from the pub and make sure Brighid’s not feeding him every tidbit going and making him oversize to qualify for carry-on luggage.’
Fiadh stepped back towards him. ‘It’s good to see you, Lorcan. Your visits are too fly by night. She misses you, you know. They all do.’
‘I know. You know how it is.’
‘I do,’ she said, taking his hand gently. The look of understanding that passed between them in that moment was so intimate, and spoke of so much history, that I felt like an intruder. Turning my back, and in lieu of being able to actually melt through the floor, I made an intense effort to study the intricacies of an unusual orchid.
‘Good to see you, Fiadh. Shaun’s a lucky man, so he is.’
‘As I remind him every day. Take care of yourself,’ she said, hugging him tightly.
‘I will. When you’re ready, Maddie.’
I turned, as if I’d been pulled out of a reverie. ‘Oh! Right, yes. Thanks.’
He nodded and left the shop, the door jangling in the quiet. Fiadh turned towards me. ‘Right. Time to make tea and a plan of attack.’
An hour later and we’d had plenty of the first and a brilliant one of the second. ‘This is just fabulous. Thank you so much. I know the flowers are going to be beautiful. And that bouquet design? Wow. Well, you heard Peyton yourself on the video call!’
‘I think the whole village did!’ Fiadh said, laughing. ‘Honestly, I’m thrilled she likes it, and we’ll do all we can to make everything as perfect as she wants it to be. I’ve done a few weddings at the castle now so I know the layout pretty well, but I’ll arrange a snoop next week just to get some final thoughts down and send them over to you.’
‘Sounds perfect. Right, well, I guess I’d better head back for the cake-tasting.’
‘Ooh, the best part. It’s a shame the bride and groom aren’t able to do it themselves.’
‘Having had a full Irish breakfast and done a full menu-tasting today as well, my stomach would definitely agree.’
‘Aah,’ she said, laughing, ‘there’s always room for cake. Are you going to call Lorcan?’
‘No, it’s fine. The pub’s only up the road. Lorcan made this big thing of me having to navigate a puddle – he enjoys winding me up.’ I gave her a quick eye-roll.
‘He’s got a good heart though, that one. It’s just hidden away more than it used to be.’ She held the door for me. ‘Hard to blame him.’ A sad smile flitted across her face before turning back to her regular, cheerful one and I was once again left wondering what Lorcan had closed away in that heart. ‘Lovely to meet you and we’ll talk again soon. Enjoy the cake!’
The puddle looked far bigger on foot than it had in the car. Perhaps Lorcan had been onto something when he’d referred to it as a splash pool. But still, there was a pavement, by the looks. I could just tiptoe through this bit and… Arghh!
14
‘Jesus, what happened to you?’ Lorcan was, of course, the first one I saw as I walked through the door to the pub because the universe clearly liked a good laugh. It would have been too much to ask for him to have still been at his mother’s, thereby giving me the chance to sneak in and avoid having to explain that I’d fallen face first into the puddle he’d warned me about. Which was, as he’d rightly determined, definitely larger and deeper than average – by quite some way. How was that even possible? Was it legal to have a hole that deep on a main road?
‘I tripped.’
‘Into the Irish sea?’
I squelched across the floor in my ruined shoes, heading for the stairs, leaving a dripping trail behind me.
‘I told you to call me.’
‘Oh, for God’s sake, could you just not, for one time in your life?’ I snapped, although the full force of my attack was somewhat muted by the fact my teeth were chattering and therefore the words came out in a far more stuttered manner than I’d hoped for. Lorcan strode towards me and took my arm, which I immediately, and unsuccessfully, tried to snatch back as he folded his long legs and crouched before me.
‘What are you—?’
‘You’re bleeding.’
‘I’m not. I’m just… Oh! Oh, bloody hell.’
‘Oh, my dear!’ Brighid bustled in, coming to a halt at the sight of me standing dripping, chattering and apparently bleeding from the gash on my leg all over her floor.
