‘I’ll just take them off,’ Claire said, bending down to remove them. ‘I didn’t know I’d be staying over.’
‘What size are you? Maybe we could find something more comfortable for you to wear.’
‘Five.’
‘Oh, I’m a five. I’ll have a root around after breakfast.’
‘Thanks. That’s very kind of you.’
Barefoot, she followed Jacqueline onto the deck and they laid everything on the table.
‘Oh, poor Claire!’ Ali said, when she saw her. ‘You only have your party clothes. I could have lent you something to wear.’
‘It’s fine,’ Claire said, as she sat down beside Luca and they helped themselves to bacon butties.
‘Buck’s fizz?’ Jonathan raised his eyebrows as Jacqueline poured the cocktail into champagne glasses and began passing them around.
‘Well, it is my birthday,’ Ali said, taking a glass from her mother. ‘That means champagne at every meal, even breakfast.’
‘It was your birthday yesterday,’ Luca said to her.
‘But the festivities go on all week,’ Ali said. ‘One day isn’t enough to celebrate the wonder of me!’
‘Luca?’ Jacqueline held out a glass to him, with a tight smile. She looked like a hostage who was trying to appear relaxed while someone held a gun to her back.
Luca held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. ‘I’ll just have juice.’
‘Go on, take it,’ Jacqueline said, and Jonathan smiled at her with something like pride.
‘No, really – thanks.’
‘Okay.’ Jacqueline visibly relaxed as she put the glass down.
It had been a small conciliatory gesture on her part, and Claire was glad that Luca met her halfway and was making an effort not to antagonise her. ‘I’ll just have juice, too, please,’ she said. ‘I have to drive home straight after this.’
‘I’ll get it,’ Jacqueline said, and went indoors.
Jonathan smiled at Luca, giving him a pat on the back. ‘Are you two staying for lunch?’ he asked.
‘Oh, I have to get home,’ Claire said.
‘Do youhaveto go?’ Ali asked her.
‘You’re very welcome to stay, Claire,’ Jacqueline said, as she returned to the table.
‘Thanks, but I really need to get into some normal clothes,’ she said, gesturing to her dress. ‘And I thought I might bring my mother out to Dun Laoghaire, go for a walk along the pier.’
‘Would she be up to that?’ Luca frowned.
‘I don’t plan to make her hobble down it on her crutches. She has a wheelchair. My mother had a hip replacement recently,’ she explained to the others.
‘Well, I’ll come with you. I can push.’
‘Oh no, you have to stay, Luca,’ Ali pleaded. ‘I hardly got to spend any time with you last night.’
‘You should stay,’ Claire said to him quietly.
‘So, will you?’ Ali said to him. ‘We can go down to the beach. It’ll be like old times.’
