‘Oh, some gorgeous man came and whisked her away. Katherine’s still dancing.’
Sorcha looked to the dance floor and saw her friend’s armswrapped tightly around Johnny’s neck. She smiled. ‘It’s grand to see those two together after all this time. They’ve liked each other for months.’
‘And what about you and the handsome Angus?’
‘Oh, he asked me to the cinema next week and I said I’d think about it.’
‘You did what? Sorcha, you know very well that Angus is the catch of the town. He’ll have that factory one day and the big house on the hill. Plus, he looks like a film star.’
‘Well now, that’s your taste, Maureen. Personally, I think Con Daly is better looking.’
‘No!’ Maureen baulked. ‘He’s probably not had a bath for months!’
Sorcha rolled her eyes. ‘You’re terrible.’
‘Well, all I can say is that you should be grateful you have a boy who likes you. I don’t know why I bothered coming. Who’d want to dance with me when I’m so fat and ugly?’
Sorcha looked at her best friend’s heart-shaped face, her nose sprinkled with freckles, and the small curls of ginger hair escaping from the pleat Mairead had painstakingly pinned on the back of her head.
‘You’re beautiful, Maureen, so you are,’ Sorcha replied honestly.
‘Then why am I sitting here like a wallflower while everyone else dances?’
‘You won’t be for much longer, I promise. Excuse me, I need to go to the ladies’. Back in a minute.’
Sorcha stood up just as the band announced they were taking a ten-minute break. She headed for Angus, who was standing by the bar at the back of the hall.
‘Angus, I’ll go to the flicks with you next week.’
‘You will?’ He broke into a relieved smile. ‘That’s grand altogether, Sorcha!’
‘On one condition.’
Angus held his hands up. ‘Anything.’
‘That you buy my friend Maureen a lemonade, talk to her for a while, and when the band starts up, you ask her to dance.’
Angus shrugged. ‘All right. I’ll pick you up from your house at seven next Friday. We can go in the new car I’ll be getting for my eighteenth birthday.’
‘Grand. I’ll see you then, as long as you keep your promise.’
‘I’m on my way for the lemonade now.’
Sorcha smiled, then headed in the direction of the ladies’, tucked inside the entrance hall. She stood in front of a small cracked mirror, tidied her hair and replenished her lipstick. She was just coming out of the door when an arm caught her and pulled her outside, causing her to audibly gasp.
‘Hush! I won’t hurt you, I swear.’
She recognised the voice and smelt the pleasant aroma of manly aftershave. An electric tingle fizzed through her as Con Daly’s body pressed close behind hers.
‘Sorcha O’Donovan, I’ve seen you and your friends hanging around the beach from my place and I’ve always thought you were beautiful. Tonight, you are the loveliest sight I’ve ever seen. In all honesty, I want to marry you right here and now...’ He swung her round to face him. It was dark but she could see he was grinning widely at her. ‘Or at least, come for a hot drop at my place next week.’ Sorcha stared up into his eyes, words failing her.
‘Will you?’
‘Will, will...will I what?’
‘Come to my place next week?’
‘I—’
