A Taste for Love (32 page)

‘Monet?’

‘The French artist. She loved his paintings. She had a calendar of them in her kitchen,’ Kitty said softly. ‘And poor Sheila is not going to be there for when Paddy’s new baby is born in September. She was there for all the other grandchildren being born. It isn’t fair, Larry, she’s too young to be taken.’

Larry leaned over and hugged her, before switching on the kettle and making more tea and some hot buttered toast for the two of them.

Tessa wrote a few more labels, and using the wide brown tape secured more cardboard boxes. There were old books, old records, old clothes, old scarves and handbags of her mother’s all ready to be brought to the charity shop. Someone else would have the benefit of reading Florence’s large collection of Agatha Christie and Barbara Cartland novels.

The scarves and bags were probably vintage at this stage and worth something, and she had cleaned and carefully folded the clothes that were worth selling: the Pringle cashmere twinsets, Cleo tweed skirts and jackets, and a collection of evening wear in pristine condition.

She was booked to go to London the following week, and she had to try and clear some of the stuff from the house, as there was far too much in every room, and the auctioneers had advised a serious de-clutter before putting the house on the market.

At least she had made a good start on it.

It was sad getting rid of things, but her mother had been a great age and was of the generation that believed things should be recycled and shared.

Tomorrow she would have a go at the kitchen presses and the dining room cabinet, as her mother had a huge collection of ornaments and bric-a-brac that could be got rid of, too.

She was scrawling ‘Gardening Books’ on a box when Rob Flanagan surprised her by ringing the doorbell.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked, surveying all her work, and the boxes scattered over the floor of the hall and the sitting room.

‘Packing up, Rob.’ She sighed. ‘I’m just trying to get rid of some of Mum’s stuff. Donal and Marianne picked out what they wanted, and, well, most of the rest is just going to have to go to charity. I’ll go over to St Vincent de Paul with it tomorrow, as I won’t have room for any of it myself.’

‘Oh,’ he said.

‘I told you I’m going back to London next week. I’ve booked my flight.’

He said nothing.

‘Listen, I’m going to take a break. I’ve done enough today. Do you want a coffee?’ she offered.

‘Why don’t I take you out instead?’ he offered.

‘I’m not exactly dressed up.’ She smiled.

‘Come on, Tessa, let’s go for a drive,’ he suggested.

She didn’t know if she was in the mood for one of their walks or talks. She felt a bit low and sad after clearing away her mother’s things – talk about being emotionally drained! – but Rob was insistent. He’d been so kind to her since Florence’s death, and so helpful, that she felt she couldn’t refuse him.

Grabbing her bag, keys and jacket, and putting on a pair of shoes instead of her flip-flops, she sat in beside him in his
Volvo. It was warm but dull, and she hoped that it wouldn’t rain.

‘Where are we going?’ she asked.

‘What about the beach? Brittas?’

Tessa smiled. She hadn’t been there for years, the beach with the miles of golden sand, tall dunes and rolling waves. As a kid, it was one of her favourite places. Her mum and dad used to rent a mobile home there for a month every summer in the big caravan park overlooking the beach. Alice’s parents used to own the nearby hotel. She still remembered it: playing pitch and putt there; her parents going for dinner to the hotel, which was very fashionable then; Florence all dressed up in a summer print dress, linking her father by the arm.

The traffic was light, and an hour later Tessa and Rob were climbing the path up through the sand dunes to get to the beach.

Clouds scudded across the sky, and only a handful of people were on the strand: a few swimmers, dog walkers and mothers with small children and toddlers.

‘I love this place.’ She sighed. ‘I have such good memories of here.’

‘I know,’ he said, taking her hand as they began to walk. ‘You told me.’

She found herself confiding in him about the family situation, with the house left equally between Donal, Marianne and herself.

‘They say that I can stay on as long as I want in the house, that there is no big rush to sell it, but I feel that’s not fair. Anyway, Mum’s dead, and the reason I came back home is
gone, too. I need to refocus and get back to work. Go back to London, find a new job, and get on with my life.’

‘Do you want to go back to London, Tessa?’ Rob asked quietly, staring at the foaming white waves tumbling in across the sand ridges. ‘Is that what you really want to do?’

‘I suppose so. What else is there?’ She suddenly felt so torn, so lonely.

‘Maybe there is no need to rush into making a decision. Not yet …’

‘Rob. It’s all organized. I’m going next week. I have four job interviews set up. There is nothing to keep me here!’

‘Are you sure about that?’ he said forcefully. ‘You have friends, people who care about you here.’

‘That’s great, but I have friends in London, too,’ she said gently.

‘Then I don’t want you to go,’ he said angrily. ‘I don’t want you to leave.’

She stopped, spinning around to look at him.

‘What are you saying, Rob? It’s too late.’

‘No, it’s not, Tessa. I don’t want you to go. I want you to stay here in Dublin. Give us a chance.’

‘Us?’

‘Yes, the two of us and what we feel for each other. We both feel it, you know we do. We work well together. I never thought after Kate that I would meet a woman again that I could have feelings for, but you’ve changed all that, Tessa.’

‘The two of us!’ she said, her eyes welling with tears.

‘Yes, the two of us. Why wouldn’t it work? Maybe I’m too old … I’m sixty-two, for God’s sake, and you are only in your thirties, I have no right to—’

‘I’m thirty-nine, Rob. I’ll be forty in December,’ she said, gripping his arm. ‘Age does not matter!’

‘Are you sure about that?’ he teased. ‘I’m old enough to be your father.’

‘You are nothing like my father.’ She laughed. ‘Anyway that’s not an issue,’ she said, touching his face and tracing his jawline with her fingers. ‘So don’t even think it!’

‘I don’t think it!’ he admitted honestly. ‘When I am with you I feel different. Young again, as if I’m starting over. I have another chance. I loved Kate with all my heart and will always miss her, but this is something new, something different. A chance to begin again.’

‘I’d like that,’ she said.

‘I want to be with you … not just for a few hours, or a day or two here or there, but to become a proper part of your life, Tessa.’

‘I want that, too,’ she said. ‘I thought that first night when we were at Gemma and Paul’s and we were dancing that I was imagining it, but when Mum died, the only person I wanted to call, to really be there, was you! I can’t explain it … I don’t know why, but I just knew that I needed you, and that I could rely on you to be there for me.’

‘Cancel your flights and those appointments, Tessa. Don’t go to London! We both know loss and loneliness,’ he said, his eyes staring into hers. ‘Maybe we both need a new beginning.’

‘But it’s all booked and organized,’ she said, trying not to cry as she saw the expression on his handsome face.

‘Unbook it! I don’t want you to go. I’m here for you, Tessa, here for whenever you need me,’ he promised, pulling her into his arms.

They sat on the sand until the sun had almost gone down, talking about the future, what would happen if she stayed, making plans together. Both decided to give their relationship the chance to grow and develop; they wanted to discover if they could love each other.

Alice checked to see how Sean was doing. His face was pale and strained, and she knew that he was nervous about seeing Dara, who had finally come home from hospital. They had talked on the phone and texted each other over the past weeks, but she hoped that seeing each other again wouldn’t bring back bad memories of the car crash.

Catherine O’Loughlin rushed to open the door, flinging her arms around Sean and bursting into tears.

‘Sean Kinsella, I never thought that I’d see you walk back through that door again!’

Sean didn’t know what to say, and just hugged her back.

She led Sean and Alice into the sitting room, where Dara was on a leather armchair. Wearing jeans and a hoodie, he looked pale and very thin and fragile. Sean gave a whoop of joy and flung himself into his best friend’s arms.

Alice and Catherine discreetly retired to the kitchen where they could talk at their ease and leave their sons together.

Alice had made a dozen and half chocolate brownies, the type she knew Dara liked, and had brought them over.

‘Thanks Alice, they’re Dara’s favourites. I’ll make some coffee and give them into them.’

‘How is he?’ Alice asked.

‘Great … it’s so great to have Dara back home with us … but he’s changed. Sometimes I find him crying … thinking about it, going back over it! If only we hadn’t given him that bloody car for his birthday!’

‘That had nothing to do with it,’ reminded Alice. ‘It wasn’t Dara’s fault, you know that, Catherine.’

‘I know, but if he hadn’t been driving he would have been nowhere near where the accident happened that night.’

‘The truck driver, God rest him, had a massive heart attack. It was a freak accident, a one in a million. Dara and Sean had nothing to do with it!’

‘But our boys were there!’ Catherine insisted. ‘They were in the wrong place at the wrong time! Dara’s been so sick. We thought we’d lose him.’

‘I know,’ said Alice, reaching for her hand. ‘It’s been awful.’

‘He has liver problems, no spleen and has had most of his lower body crushed.’

‘He’s alive, they both are! Listen, they are laughing and joking. We got our sons back,’ Alice said encouragingly. ‘OK, so they are damaged, but they’re young, they’ll recover. Every day Sean is getting a bit better, and I’m sure that Dara is the same.’

An hour later Alice got ready to go. Sean was sitting in beside Dara, the two of them listening to one of their favourite bands on Dara’s iPod, and chatting away like old times.

‘I’ll drive him home in another two hours,’ promised Catherine. ‘We don’t want them to get overtired.’

‘It’s going to be Sean’s twenty-first in ten days,’ reminded Alice. ‘He’s not up to a big party yet, so we are just going to
have a bit of a family dinner, but we would love it if you and Ciaran and Dara could come along, too.’

‘That sounds great,’ agreed Catherine. ‘We wouldn’t miss it for the world.’

At home Alice did a few things, including checking up on the menus for tonight’s class. Rob had put in a special request to learn how to make a proper shepherd’s pie, and she was also going to show them all how to make choux pastry and chocolate éclairs. Emmet had phoned her to ask if he could come over ahead of the others as he wanted to discuss his new business venture with her. He’d brought her along to see the empty shop, and Alice had had to agree it was an ideal spot for a café. Being an architect, he had all kinds of décor ideas, and he was such a perfectionist he was sure to get it right. She was happy to advise him on food and menus and equipment, and, from her own experience, what she thought he could do to make the café work.

Throwing off her shoes, she lazed back on the couch. As Lexy settled beside her Alex rang.

She liked the sound of his voice, and hoped that no one in his office was listening to their conversation as they arranged to join Joy and Fergus for a bite to eat in Gleesons tomorrow night – it was high time they all met up. They also made plans for a romantic night away on Saturday in Ardmore, in a beautiful hotel with a Michelin-starred restaurant and views to die for.

‘And don’t forget the following Saturday we are having Sean’s twenty-first birthday dinner here. I’m dying to introduce you to everyone!’

Sean had already met Alex and had insisted she bring him along, as Liam would be bringing Elaine.

Lucy stood at hatch 5, waiting her turn. Brian was behind it as usual.

He passed her the regulation unemployment benefit form that she had to sign and she passed it back to him.

‘You need to sign it,’ he reminded her, ‘otherwise you cannot go and collect your money.’

‘I’m signing off today.’ She grinned. ‘I’m coming off the dole. I’ve got a job.’

‘Oh! Where?’ he asked.

‘Selling T-shirts!’ she opened her denim jacket and let him see her ‘Busy Stargazing’ T-shirt.

‘My boyfriend and I make and sell these,’ she explained. ‘We’ve set up a T-shirt business!’

She could see straight away that Brian the dole official was interested.

‘That’s great, Lucy, really great. It’s fantastic to hear some good news in this office!’

‘I brought you a present.’ She reached into her bag and got out a large-size ‘Busy Queuing’ T-shirt with ‘hatch 5’ on it and gave it to him.

‘Hey.’ He laughed, looking at it and recognizing his hatch number. ‘That’s cool!’

‘We’ve sold quite a few already.’ She laughed. ‘They’re very popular, but I’m kind of glad that I won’t be queuing here any more!’

She met Finn afterwards, outside on the step. Both of them had signed off.

‘Coffee?’ He grinned as they made their way to the usual spot.

It was late, and Lucy looked at the screen of her laptop. She had butterflies in her stomach with nerves as she clicked on the link to their new website. Duggy and his friend Killian had done a great job, and she laughed as she looked at the photos of Finn and herself outside the dole office in their ‘Busy’ T-shirts. Then there were photos of them in the Temple Bar market selling them with Duggy in his ‘Busy’ T-shirt. There was also a funny section with the story of how ‘Busy’ T-shirts came into existence, and the inspiration behind the ‘Busy’ brand.

She checked out the page of designs with sizes and prices and the payment options. It looked really cool and edgy, and was easy to negotiate, which was important. There was a ‘follow us’ link to Twitter and a link to their Facebook page, and she couldn’t believe how many people had already uploaded photos of themselves wearing a ‘Busy’ T-shirt.