Chapter 3 #2
“It was on the news over here,” Pat continues. “Awful stuff. I didn’t even realize it was yourself until Louise mentioned.”
“Thank you,” I say, hoping he doesn’t ask for any insider information. Most people just want to hear the gossip, as if a cog in the machine like me would have had a front seat in the boardroom when it all went down. “It was a shock to everyone.”
“Have you found somewhere else? A smart girl like you, they must be knocking down your door.”
“Dad,” Luke protests.
“What? She always was the best thing to come out of this town.”
“Not yet,” I say as Louise’s gaze falls to her plate. “I won’t lie, it’s pretty tough out there, but I’m sure things will calm down.”
Pat chews thoughtfully, a small frown on his face. “I’ll give my cousin in Dublin a ring. His neighbor has a son in your line of work. I remember him because he got caught having an affair with some young one a few years ago.”
I force a smile as Tomasz chokes on a potato. “Thank you, Pat.”
“Wife threw his electric scooter into the canal. The council weren’t too happy about that.”
“Do we have to talk about work?” Luke asks, pouring himself more water. “It’s Saturday.”
“Not the best lunchtime conversation,” Susan agrees, sending a warning glance to her husband. “Are you staying long, Abby?”
“She’s leaving at Easter,” Louise says. “Right, Abby?”
“Right,” I say. Right.
“Three weeks!” Susan smiles. “That’ll be a nice break. You should take her to the beach, Luke. Before the schools are out.”
“Great idea,” he says, and I perk up some more.
It is a great idea.
Luke Bailey at the beach. Luke Bailey in swimming trunks. Luke Bailey stepping out of the ocean with water running down his presumably chiseled chest.
“You know that hotel got planning permission,” Louise says, interrupting my fantasy.
“You’re joking,” Susan gasps. “The one by Castlebay?”
“They want to seal off the south beach.”
“Honestly,” she says with a shake of her head. “You won’t be able to go anywhere in this country in a few years. I’m sure you’ll be fighting it?”
“If we have to.” Louise works for the Irish Oceans Association, a charity dedicated to the conservation and protection of our waters.
A few Christmases ago, she gave me a certificate informing me I’d adopted a whale.
The year before that it was an eel, so I like to think I’m slowly moving up in the marine world.
“It’s a pity you’re not here for the summer, Abby,” Susan says. “The town is so quiet at the moment. Are you sure you can’t stay longer?”
“I doubt she’ll even make it to Easter,” Pat says, pointing his fork at me. “She’ll be bored out of her mind in two days. I guarantee it.”
“It’s okay,” Tomasz says. “Her fiancé will come and rescue her.”
My knife slips from my grasp, falling with a clatter to my plate as everyone turns to me.
“I didn’t see a ring,” Susan says.
Oh my God.
I bring my left hand to my lap as five pairs of eyes drop to my fingers.
Oh my God .
“Actually, yeah,” Louise says, peering at me. “Where’s your ring? Mam wouldn’t shut up about that picture you sent her.”
“I don’t like wearing rings,” I say after a moment. “It’s on a chain upstairs.”
“You’re engaged?” Pat wipes his mouth with his napkin. “But that’s brilliant news. Who’s the lucky man?”
My eyes dart to Luke but he’s looking at his plate, his expression calm even as his knee moves from mine.
“Tyler Olsen,” Louise says when I don’t answer. “He’s some lawyer.”
“He’s a senior associate,” I say automatically, his little beige business cards flashing through my mind. tyler olsen. benton, dwyer, and barnes . One of the top law firms in New York. We’d been together only a few weeks when he got the job. I thought he was the most impressive man I’d ever met.
“He sounds wonderful,” Susan says, finding her voice. “When’s the wedding?”
Louise pokes at her salad. “They haven’t set a date.”
“Louise,” I snap, clenching my fork so hard my fingers start to ache.
“What?” she asks. “Have you? Or did you just forget to tell us?”
“Would you be having it in the States or over here?” Pat asks.
“We don’t know yet,” I say, and there’s a slight edge to my words that shuts everyone up.
It’s Susan who saves me, changing the conversation to the new supermarket that’s opening two towns away.
She somehow manages to make the topic last until the cheesecake, which is when Louise starts talking about the rise of plastic pollution in Malaysia and Pat talks about a documentary she recommended to him and still Luke won’t look at me.
He doesn’t even acknowledge my presence, even though I’m sitting right beside him and all I want to do is tap him on the shoulder and say, Hang on a minute, buddy.
Let’s rewind here. This is nothing but a big misunderstanding.
After what feels like hours, Pat and Susan make their excuses and get up to leave. Luke offers to bring everything to the sink and I volunteer to help as the others move to the porch with a chorus of goodbyes.
“Can we talk?” I ask as soon as they’re gone.
“About what?” He clears the table with the efficiency of someone who’s worked in the service industry, balancing the plates and cutlery with ease.
“About what Louise said. About Tyler.”
“Who?”
“My fiancé. Or my—”
“Right.”
I stiffen at the edge to his tone. “It’s not what you think.”
“I don’t think anything.”
“But you do,” I say. “And I—”
He turns abruptly, wiping his hand on a dishcloth. “Do you have a fiancé?”
“I…” What do I say? No, Luke! I don’t have a fiancé! He tossed me to the curb right before I fell off my pedestal. What I do have is an inferiority complex that makes me lie to my friends and family so they don’t think I’m more of a failure than I already am.
“Abby?”
“Yes,” I say. “I have a fiancé.” I cross my arms and immediately hear the coach at my women-in-business seminar screaming about how my posture is too defensive. But I can’t help it. I feel defensive. This feels like my last freaking defense right now.
“I don’t know what the big deal is,” I continue, regretting the words as soon as I say them. But before I can even begin to backtrack, he dumps the cloth on the countertop.
“No deal at all.”
“Luke—”
“Welcome home, Abby,” he says, walking past me into the hall. “Enjoy the cheesecake.”