Soon the counter was piled with heaters and filters, sand and decorations, adding up to almost €500. Was she mad? Her fifty-euro wages from that morning wouldn’t knock much of a dent in this lot. But perhaps it was the unforeseen way today had unfolded that had prompted the crazy, unfamiliar impulse.
Follow your heart.
‘I’ll take them, thanks,’ she said with a rush of euphoria. Oh Lord, now she was going to need a taxi to drag this lot home. Oh well, in for a penny .?.?.
And this wasn’t like her at all.
By nine o’clock that evening, having bumbled through a YouTube video on assembling aquariums, she sat on a cushion gazing at the soft glow as the fish darted through a cloud ofbubbles rising from a little treasure chest. And she realised she was feeling .?.?. better. In fact, for the first time since she’d moved to this little flat, after moving out from Grand Canal Dock, where she’d lived with Francis, she was feeling less lonely. Who would’ve thought fish could be company, but they were.
* * *
By eight thirty the next morning, she was swinging past the retirees outside The Owl’s Nest. ‘Morning Christie, hi Noel,’ she called as they waved back a greeting. You wouldn’t get that in Celtic Concrete, which was very hierarchical, she was just realising.
The café was buzzing: a queue of tech workers, who reminded her of a row of Williams, were in for their pre-work flat white; Dave was working tirelessly at the coffee machine. Beside him was the birdlike older lady in the crochet cardigan she’d seen last Friday, who introduced herself as Evelyn and was busy making a mountain of scrumptious baguettes filled with goat’s cheese and Serrano ham; Reuben sandwiches, with pastrami and mozzarella, pickles and multiple dressings; and the speciality sandwich of the day: Brie and truffle butter with fig.
‘I worked for a good spell in New York,’ she explained, ‘in a diner in Manhattan that served .?.?. ah, you wouldn’t believe it, twenty different types of omelettes, fresh fruits you’ve never heard of, sandwiches from all over the world that’d make your head swim. I always wanted to come back here and open a place like that near where I grew up, that was my dream. But sure, I never had the money. Probably just as well,’ she confided. ‘Can you imagine the crowd around here with a hundred different options? Sure, they’d be standing there all morning with their mouths open. But this is the next best thing.’
‘And how did you end up working for Dave?’
‘I worked as a nanny for Dave’s family. Then, years later, when I came home from America, I saw this job advertised and applied, and it was only then I realised I’d looked after him as a lad.’
‘That’s amazing.’
‘It is. I always think there’s a pattern to everything if only you can spot it.’
Ally instinctively warmed to her – the unexpected passion, her wild, unlikely dreams.
‘I heard about you yesterday, jumping up and offering to help out, and I said to myself, that’s what I’d have done as a young one. Not everyone would.’
Warmed by the compliment, she felt instinctively that Evelyn wasn’t someone who would flatter for the sake of it.
‘Right, we’ve a few minutes, Ally,’ said Dave. ‘I’m going to take you through the coffee machine so you can manage if I’m not here.’
It was clear that Dave was a great guy, but his café was running on a knife-edge, and the events of the previous day mightn’t be that unusual after all.
‘Right, first you get your basket .?.?.’ he began, unscrewing the thing with the handle. ‘Add 22.5 grams of coffee grounds, and that’ll be exactly equivalent to the shot that comes out of the machine. Look at that,’ he said appreciatively, rolling the dark liquid round the bottom of the cup. ‘Beautiful. Now, your milk – you’re lookin’ for a rich, creamy texture, no bubbles.’
Dave wasn’t just a server, she could see, he was a craftsman. She followed his instructions, more or less, and after a few attempts produced a cappuccino, a latte and a flat white. Those elaborate designs on the top she’d always taken for granted, she realised were the result of long hours of practice.
Just then, Pete emerged from the back, covered with his usuallayer of plaster dust.
‘Right, guys,’ said Dave. ‘I’m going to have to head out – Fia is having her pregnancy scan – but I’ll be back by lunchtime. Evelyn has finished, Ally, can you hold the fort on your own until then?’
Oh shit.
‘On my own? Are you serious?’
Dave looked at her like the parent of a small child at the school door who really, really needs to let go of their leg so they can get to work.
‘’Course you can,’ he said firmly and vanished out the door.
She swung round to Pete, who was grinning at her.
‘Welcome to the deep end.’
‘Feck that, I feel like someone’s just punctured my water wings.’
‘Are these going free?’ he said, perusing her training coffees.
