Page 85 of Just Say Yes
‘Truth?’
I nibbled my nail. ‘OK?’
‘Itwaskind of awkward when Rob mentioned it was a shame I wasn’t coming to dinner. He was already off dialling the restaurant before I could say anything.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘It’s fine. I guess I just felt uncomfortable that, as you said, my company was forced on you once again and this time with your friends. They’re really good people, by the way. I like them.’
‘They are. Really lovely. He adores her so much. Well, obviously she does him but when he looks at her…’
‘Yep. He’d do anything for her. That’s pretty obvious.’
‘Yes. And I’m sorry I didn’t mention it earlier. I suppose part of me didn’t want Izzy and Rob thinking anything was going on.’
‘Wow, I’m that bad.’ It was a statement rather than a question, which he spoke with a chuckle.
‘No, it’s not that. It’s just…’
Lorcan turned his head as we waited at a red light.
‘Just?’
A beep from behind us caused Lorcan to glance in the rear-view mirror, saving me momentarily from answering. Silence drifted down like a blanket over the interior of the car.
‘I’m waiting for the “it’s not you, it’s me”,’ he said, glancing briefly across. In the low-lit intimacy of the car’s luxurious interior I could hear the smile in his voice.
‘Oh, no. It’s definitely you.’
His laughter wrapped itself around me and I felt myself relax into the soft leather of the car seat as we continued in the darkness.
* * *
The leaves on the village green’s trees burned orange and gold before falling, leaving the bare branches to fare against the winter chill. I’d finally seen the sense in Tom’s suggestion of fixing my roof before the winter set in and scraped together a deposit for him to satisfy my reservations. I’d been pleased to see him out a couple of times walking with a petite blonde woman, his arm wrapped around her waist, both of them bundled up against the weather.
‘Looks like you hesitated too long with old Tom,’ Lorcan had teased as he’d entered my cottage one frosty morning, both of us waving to the couple as he came in.
‘They look sweet together,’ I’d replied, pleased to see that Tom had found someone. He was a good man and deserved his affections returned.
‘They do that,’ Lorcan had replied, before heading through to my kitchen to see if Betty had delivered any more goodies recently. Between Lorcan’s unexpectedly regular company, and a rapidly filling work diary, the weeks passed quickly until the big day was almost upon us.
* * *
‘Oh my God! I can’t believe it’s nearly here!’ Peyton squealed in a tone so high I was sure several local dogs were currently looking around with confused expressions.
‘Want to take it down a notch, there, Pey?’ Lorcan asked as Bod looked up, slightly stunned.
‘Oh! Oh, yes, sorry, Bod, sweetie,’ she said, petting the little dog and making baby noises at him, telling him how cute he was, which Bod was making the most of.
‘She’s allowed to be excited about her wedding day, Lorcan,’ I pointed out as we sat in my garden studio and ran through the list for the final time, double and triple-checking.
‘I agree. But she’s not allowed to deafen my dog.’
‘He wouldn’t be deafened if you hadn’t brought him,’ Patrick pointed out.
‘He’s officially part of the wedding planning team. See?’ Lorcan held the little dog up to show that he was currently sporting a deep-wine-coloured tee shirt that said ‘wedding crew’ to coordinate with the wedding colours. Over dinner, Izzy had found out about Bod and within days had whizzed up a little tee shirt for him and sent it over. To be honest, when I’d presented it to Lorcan, I’d expected a sniff of derision, but his reaction had been entirely the opposite and he’d immediately sent Izzy flowers – from Bod – as a thank you and sent Rob a photo of the dog modelling his wife’s latest creation, knowing he'd show Izzy. The two men had bonded over rugby during our dinner out and were now firm friends.
Having known him for a while now, I’d thought I’d have had Lorcan O’Malley all figured out, but he continued to surprise me. Although there was still one subject we butted heads on and that was the whole wedding/marriage thing. There seemed no changing his mind on that and as much as I found him attractive – even if it hadn’t been for the whole ‘no mixing business with pleasure’ thing – that was a deal breaker. Stealing a glance at his profile, the hard biceps peeking from the tee shirt he wore, perhaps that was just as well. I already knew from his friends Lorcan was a heartbreaker. But I hadn’t forgotten about the strange exchange with the woman who’d entered the pub just as we were leaving. There was definitely history there. He’d not spoken about it, despite the fact we’d been spending more and more time together. He’d been nothing but helpful and determined to help his friends have the wedding of their dreams and, despite our initial ability to rub each other up the wrong way, we seemed to have adjusted. Not that he didn’t still give me a hard time about the fact I planned everything, but I was better at ignoring his digs now or providing pithy comebacks if I was feeling in the mood.
