Page 96 of Just Say Yes
Her son appeared from behind the paper and she met his eyes, not in the least intimidated, and clearly not expecting an argument either.
‘Fine.’ He glanced down at my feet. ‘But you’ll need better shoes than those.’ I declined to point out that said shoes were bloody gorgeous and had cost me six hundred quid some years earlier, so clearly he and I had different views of what qualified as ‘better’ when it came to shoes. His mum followed his eyeline.
‘Oh, my, I hadn’t seen those. They’re just beautiful,’ she gushed. ‘I don’t think I could wear heels like that these days, but in my youth…’ She patted her hair up and let that easy smile once more light up her face. ‘But what the boy means is something a little more practical perhaps. Have you got anything? What size are you? I’m sure we can find you something if not.’
Ten minutes later I’d changed into jeans and was wearing an old pair of Maria’s hiking boots and a thick, waterproof coat. ‘It’s dry out there now,’ she said, as she held up a sleeve for me to feed my arm into, ‘but you never know with Ireland. Now, have a lovely time, both of you, and I’ll see you later for dinner.’
‘What time do you want us back?’ Lorcan asked, pulling the beanie from yesterday back on.
‘Just take your time, love. It’ll be dark before dinner’s ready anyway so just come back when you’re done,’ she replied, reaching up and straightening the hat a little.
Lorcan bent and pecked her on the cheek, before opening the back door. ‘After you.’ He motioned to me. ‘See you later, Mammy.’
‘Bye, darlin’. Drive safe, now.’
He waved in response and pulled the door closed behind him.
33
‘We’ll go in this,’ he said, pointing at a four-by-four vehicle, although thankfully not school-bus size like the hire company had reserved for me. ‘If we get stuck somewhere, we’ve got a better chance of getting out again in this than yours.’
‘I wasn’t aware we were going off-roading,’ I said, swinging myself up into the seat from the outside step of the vehicle. Lorcan, no doubt, wouldn’t need the step with his long legs.
‘Just in case,’ he said, checking I had all my limbs inside the vehicle before closing the door and heading around to the driver’s side.
‘Is this yours?’ I asked as he got in, hoping to make general conversation and prevent us from sitting in silence for the rest of the day.
‘Mam’s. We got it for her a couple of years ago after she’d got stuck late at night in some bad weather in her old car.’
‘We?’
‘My siblings and me.’
‘That’s so thoughtful.’
‘More for our own peace of mind, to be honest. Phone signal, as you know, isn’t the best out here and she was in a black spot when she got stranded one evening. A bit of bank had slipped and made the road a mud bath. She’d left my sister’s and normally texts to say she’s home. Of course, when she didn’t and nobody could get hold of her, it all got a bit tense. I’d just got home from a business trip and we had this mad phone chain going on as I was driving into the village.’
‘So what happened? Did someone find her OK?’
‘Yeah, I got one of the local farmer lads to get out his tractor and we set off towards my sister’s, taking the road Ma would take. Found her about halfway along, still trying to get the damn car out of the mud.’
‘Was she all right?’
‘Ah, she kicked up a stink about everyone making such a fuss but we both saw the relief in her eyes when we jumped down from the tractor cab. She was frozen too, obviously having not planned to be spending time outside the car. I mean, she had a coat but not enough to protect her against driving snow and rain.’
‘Oh, my goodness, you must have been worried sick.’
‘I was,’ he said, glancing across at me as he replied, the fear he’d clearly felt then resurfacing for a moment, shadowing his features. ‘We all were. My eldest sister was almost hysterical, poor kid. Ma was coming home from her place so of course after a while she was imagining the worst and blaming herself for it, because she’d asked her to come over and help with something.’
‘And she thought, if she hadn’t then your mum would be home safe and sound.’
‘Exactly,’ he said, with another glance.
‘Poor thing.’
‘Yeah, Roísín was reluctant to ask her to do anything after that, but at the time her husband was working away and sometimes you just need a bit of help, don’t you? Plus Ma was upset she wouldn’t ask.’
‘Which is when you came up with the idea of getting her a car that could handle any terrain.’
