‘Bloody ’ell, girl.’ He thrust a hand out to her. ‘Fair play.’ They shook hands and then he slapped a ten-euro note down on the table.
‘It’s all right. I don’t need to take your money.’
Jason insisted, pushing the euro note into her hand. ‘Flaming hell. Where’d you learn to do that?’
‘I’ve got brothers who always think girls can’t do anything. It’s my life’s mission to prove them wrong.’ Her smile was smug.
Guinness, Hannah decided, was all right. She enjoyed the smooth bitterness as it slipped down her throat. With the six of them gathered around the table, Fliss and Jason in rare accord, it was a convivial evening. All of them were tired but mellow and the drinks went down well as they talked about the first week’s experiences. It was funny, thought Hannah, how quickly they’d all bonded into a united group, even though they were all so different.
Hannah’s brain reeled with all the new information and her feet were still complaining, but the atmosphere of the pub and the novelty of being somewhere different began to perk them all up. Jason and Alan wandered off to the dartboard followed by Fliss who, it turned out, was a dab hand with the arrows and soon she and Jason were betting each other again as to who could score the highest.
Hannah was quite happy relaxing and listening to Meredith talking about her daughters.
‘I realised that I’m in danger of being left behind. I came on the course because I wanted something for me. I’ve been a wife and mother and I don’t want to be a nothing when they go off to lead their own lives.’
Izzy rolled her eyes. ‘Lucky you. I don’t think my mother could cope without me. She’s absolutely hopeless. Leaving her for this long is a bit of a gamble. She’ll probably burn the place down, which would be a blessing because at least then we’d have the insurance.’
‘Check your policy,’ said Hannah. ‘If something happens for which someone is at fault, you might not get a payout.’
‘And aren’t you a regular ray of sunbeams,’ Izzy said, taking a swig of Guinness.
‘Sorry, force of habit. I had clients who took their insurers to court because they wouldn’t pay out when their house burned down. They’d left a hairdryer on while they’d had a power cut. Went out for dinner and the power came back on. Half the house went up in flames. The insurers said they were responsible. Took quite a battle to agree that it was accidental.’
‘I bet you’re the sort that always reads the policy, aren’t you?’ teased Izzy.
‘Yes. Always,’ admitted Hannah. ‘It’s just being careful. No point taking risks, if you can help it.’
‘Huh! That’s no way to live life,’ said Meredith with surprising animation. ‘You can’t allow for everything. When I got married, it never occurred to me that my husband would run off with another woman and leave me with two small children. And if you’d have told me that would happen I might have run a mile, but do you know what? Now I wouldn’t change a thing. Yes it was tough, but I’m so close to my girls that I’m grateful to the old git.’
As Meredith spoke, Hannah looked up, some sixth sense drawing her attention to the arrival of Conor coming through the door with Fergus. She immediately dropped her gaze and picked up the damp beer mat on the table in front of her, but not before she’d managed to register that in a navy-blue T-shirt that fitted his lean frame rather nicely along with thigh-hugging, faded jeans, he looked rather hot. Something stirred low in her belly but that might have been because she could remember what his chest looked like under the blue jersey fabric. She reminded herself sharply that he might be handsome and he’d been kind to her the other night, but he was still far too full of himself.
‘Did you see who just walked in?’ asked Izzy. ‘Mr Hottie himself.’
‘I’m old enough to be his grandmother, but he has a certain something,’ said Meredith. ‘They handed sex appeal out in sack loads where he’s concerned. No wonder he was so popular. Bit of a lothario by all accounts. Always in the paper with some actress or model. Do you know he was engaged to Polly Daventree? Actress-turned-chef. She’s gorgeous. I bet they made a stunning couple.’
‘What happened? You saidwas.’ Izzy asked the very question that Hannah longed to. She’d heard of Polly Daventree – she’d wonCelebrity Masterchefa year or so ago, which Hannah might not have watched but couldn’t have not known because it had been in all the tabloid newspapers.
‘No one knows. One minute wedding bells were on the horizon, the next she’s taken up with someone else. Not that it bothered Conor. He’s had a succession of arm candy ever since. Been playing the field – he’s got more mileage in him than a hire car. I don’t think he’s the sort to settle down. He’s got what my mother would call a roving eye. And look at him. He has to beat them off with a stick.’
That girl in the bar in Dublin was a case in point, thought Hannah. No wonder he wasn’t interested in her, no one would mistake her for a celebrity. He could have anyone he wanted and probably had.
‘You don’t look so impressed, Hannah,’ observed Izzy. ‘Not your type?’
She gave a half-laugh. ‘No, I’m not keen on people who think so much of themselves.’
‘Sensible girl,’ said Meredith in stout support. ‘Far too good for him. Have you got a boyfriend at home?’
‘No,’ said Hannah.
‘Whyever not? Attractive girl like you.’
Hannah shrugged. ‘I’ve had a few, but…’ She lifted her shoulders. ‘Not met the right one.’
Most of the men she met were work colleagues who were already taken or men who tried to pick her up with lame chat-up lines that revealed the gulf between them. She wanted someone smart and driven with ambition; they didn’t need to be wealthy, but they needed to have something about them. It wasn’t that much to ask, was it?
‘What about you, Izzy?’
Izzy laughed as well. ‘Nope. Spectacularly single. Although I’ve had a few offers, but more because they think I’m rich, which I’m not.’
