Chapter 4
Chapter Four
D inner wasn’t on the table at six. My mother had burnt the potatoes and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Niall was sat in the front room, while my dad explained the intricacies of fiddling customers’ books the legal way. There was no legal way. Everyone knew that, but Niall smiled and nodded in all the right places, while my dad drank rum and ice in his armchair. Niall had made an effort, I could tell that. He wore a pair of dark jeans I’d not seen before, and a green shirt that brought out the green of his eyes. I noticed his brown hair was wet, which made it look almost black, and that he’d tried to flatten down the curls that had already started to bounce back behind his ears.
He got up when I walked into the room, and I wished he hadn’t. It looked like he’d been waiting to take me to the prom or something like that.
‘Dinner’s ready!’ My mum walked into the front room with a spring in her step like all her dreams had come true. She beamed as she glanced at Niall and then over to me. Then she turned on her heel and walked back out of the room and we all followed her like a flock of sheep.
She’d placed me next to Niall who’d sat down like a polite schoolboy, hands on his lap, back straight. I slumped next to him just to piss my mum off. I didn’t need to wipe the cutlery; I knew my mum would have done all of that before I’d arrived to spare me the embarrassment.
My father poured us all a drink, but Niall declined because he had driven over. That had won him even more brownie points because my mother detested anyone who drank and drove – even after just one drink – ever since she nearly got knocked over by Mr Keele, who’d spent the afternoon drinking at the Tally Inn when his wife chucked him out.
Mum had made roast gammon and cabbage and Niall had wolfed it down like he’d never had a cooked dinner in his life, which had pleased her no end because feeding people made her feel good. My grandmother was the same. Everything revolved around food. I couldn’t leave her house without something being pushed into my hand as I walked out – an apple, a cold sausage, a boiled egg.
‘How’s your mother?’ Mum asked.
‘She’s grand,’ Niall said with a mouthful of cabbage.
‘And your father? Did it all go well in the hospital?’
‘It did, thanks,’ Niall said between bites.
‘He’s a fine businessman,’ my father said. ‘Meticulous with his books, made my job much easier. He’ll be retiring soon, do you think?’
My father had been Mr O’Callaghan’s accountant for as long as I could remember. When he hung up his books as he put it, Mr O’Callaghan had begged him to carry on, even offering to pay him double for his time.
‘No idea,’ Niall said abruptly and his cheeks flushed ever so slightly but I still noticed it.
‘He’ll out work us all,’ my dad continued.
‘No, Mr Dutson will do that,’ my mother said. ‘I don’t think he’ll ever stop working, not since Maeve passed away.’
Maeve was Mr Dutson’s wife of sixty years. They owned the petrol station next door to the shop and worked together right up until she died of a heart attack behind the counter while Mr Dutson was checking the pumps.
‘Stranger things have happened,’ my dad mused. ‘He might meet someone younger and go off travelling the world.’
‘He might run off with Maggie Ryan,’ I quipped. ‘Although he’d be no good for Maggie, she likes them married.’
‘That’s enough, Pearl,’ my mother snapped.
And I watched as Niall shifted awkwardly in his chair and my mother scanned the room for something else to talk about.
By the time Niall had cleared his plate, my mother had already served him seconds and my father had told the same story three times.
When it was time to go, I put on my shoes and coat, kissed my parents goodbye three times, whispered I love you, I love you, I love you (another obsession of mine) and waved at Niall, who followed me out having offered a lift. My mother accepted before I had a chance to and so I climbed into the passenger seat of his red Mini – it was a classic – with my head lowered so that I didn’t hit the roof. It was even more of a squeeze for Niall and I wondered what we must have looked like, the pair of us squashed into his car – as my mother waved us off proudly by the front door like we’d just got married.
A few minutes later Niall parked outside my house.
‘Thanks for the lift,’ I said.
‘No problem at all.’
‘Did you want to come in?’ I asked. ‘For a cup of tea and a biscuit?’ I added. I didn’t want him to think I meant for sex.
‘I should get back,’ he said. ‘Early start tomorrow.’
‘OK.’
‘See you in the morning, Pearl.’
‘See you in the morning, Niall.’