Page 65 of Just Say Yes
The young boy looked up at Lorcan, then back at his mother and snuggled closer to her. ‘I’m quite capable of knowing how to look after my own son.’
Lorcan took a step back as though she’d physically slapped him and the flash of pain that crossed his face was clear for everyone to see.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, her face flushing. ‘I didn’t mean—’
‘Siobhan,’ Brighid said, bustling towards us. The glance she sent Lorcan told me that she’d not only heard the exchange but also seen the distress it had caused him before he’d hidden it beneath the blank expression he now wore. And she, unlike me, also clearly understood the reasons behind it.
‘I thought you two had left,’ she said, wrapping one arm around his waist and the other around mine. ‘Have you decided to stay after all?’ She laughed, squeezing me a little closer.
‘And what can I do for you, Siobhan?’ Her tone was still friendly but, with her actions, it felt as if she was providing a support, a show of solidarity with Lorcan – and, by extension, me – against this new arrival.
‘I was just seeing if you had any eggs? Tommy’s not well and I thought that’d be easy on his stomach.’
‘Ah, now. That’s not so good, is it, young Tommy? I’ll sort you some out. Now, off you go, you two,’ she said, turning to us. ‘Travel safe.’
Lorcan bent and kissed Brighid’s cheek. ‘We will, thanks,’ he said, releasing the case handles to give her a hug. As he pulled back, there was another exchange between them, this time unsaid but just as clear. Lorcan gave the tiniest of nods and turned to the cases as Brighid hugged me and Bod. ‘Look after that boy,’ she whispered. ‘He’s nowhere near as tough as he likes to make out.’
With Siobhan and her son looking on, this didn’t exactly seem the right moment to point out that I would likely hardly see Lorcan between now and Christmas when we’d be back here for the wedding, but Brighid’s sharp, knowing eyes brooked no argument. Siobhan stood aside so that we could get out of the door and Lorcan indicated for me to go first as Brighid took Siobhan and her son off further in the pub, pulling the heavy door closed behind him.
22
Lorcan was silent as he loaded the cases, then me, then Bod into the car. He folded himself behind the wheel, checking I was OK with the dog on my lap. I sat, waiting to see if he planned to say anything about the situation we’d just left, but instead he turned the key to start the engine. The elephant in the room from the pub had clearly followed us out and was now sprawled across the back seat, making itself comfortable.
‘It really is the most beautiful countryside around here,’ I said after a while, as Lorcan hugged the car to the bendy road, the ancient cliffs falling away to the sea on one side. The weather today was overcast and as a result the water below was like pewter, looking more ominous than it had yesterday when we’d watched it crash and sparkle from the secret garden within the castle grounds. As I stole a look at Lorcan it felt as if the ocean below us wasn’t the only thing mercurial. His eyes concentrated on the road, but his fingers gripped the wheel tighter than they had previously.
‘Is everything all right?’ I said eventually. Clearly it wasn’t but the atmosphere was so thick the elephant in the back seat could have cut it with his trunk.
‘Grand.’
Right. Well, that answered that question, then. Silence resumed. I thought about turning on the radio but that seemed a bit presumptuous and had he wanted to listen to something, I guessed he’d probably have turned it on himself. I could understand that. Sometimes when my mind was churning I needed to distract it with an audio book, or podcast. For me, words that I was interested in were a better escape than music in those circumstances. But there were also days when I wanted, even needed, silence. Perhaps that was how Lorcan dealt with things and, if so, then it was only fair to leave him to his musings.
‘Sorry you were in the middle of that.’
I turned and smiled at him, a genuinely wide one. ‘I’m a wedding planner. Believe me, I’ve been in the middle of far worse than that. If no one walks away bleeding or with clumps of hair gripped between their fingers, I call it a win.’
Lorcan glanced at me and I was relieved and oddly pleased to see a smile, albeit a shadow of the one I’d found myself admiring over the weekend – purely from the point of view that he would look good in the wedding photos, obviously. Still, it was a smile and that was something.
‘Sounds brutal.’
‘It can be.’
‘But let me guess, you wouldn’t change it for the world.’
‘No, you’re right,’ I said, running my hand over Bod’s teddy-bear-like fur. ‘I love what I do.’
‘I imagine everyone thinks you have quite the glamorous life?’
‘Yes, I have had that comment on more than one occasion, especially if the event is being held somewhere swanky.’
‘Obviously not the same people you’re pulling apart when they get in a barney.’
‘Ha! No, definitely not. I sometimes think I’m like a swan, or at least try to be. All serene and elegant on the surface and paddling madly underneath where no one sees all the mechanics at work.’
‘And from what I’ve seen so far, you definitely succeed.’
‘Thank you,’ I replied. ‘I hope you still think that once this is all over.’
‘This?’ He turned his head for the briefest moment.
