Hannah raised an eyebrow and she was pleased to see it disconcerted him very briefly.
Barra returned with the glasses and poured three.
‘I’ll give you a hand with those,’ said Conor, taking two of the glasses while she pulled out her purse to pay.
‘Er, thanks,’ she said as he grabbed them, along with his own pint glass, and began walking to the table where Merry and Izzy had been covertly watching them – and then he went and sat down to join them.
‘Great,’ she said under her breath as she followed with her own glass.
‘Thanks, Hannah.’ Izzy and Merry lifted their glasses.
‘To a wonderful course,’ said Merry. ‘I’m already enjoying it. I’ve learned so much.’
‘Oh God, me too,’ said Izzy fervently. ‘It’s all a bit mind-boggling, but fantastic.’
‘How ’bout you Hannah? Enjoying it?’ Conor turned to her.
‘Mmm,’ said Hannah, non-committally. ‘It’s hard work though.’
‘Oh, yes. Mam is a hard taskmaster.’
‘She makes it all look so easy and she’s so inspirational. Those herb flowers she uses in the salads. So many ideas. I’ve been writing notes like crazy.’ Meredith stopped. ‘And listen to me rattle on. I think I’ve got a bit of a crush on her. She’s so wonderful.’
‘That’s quite normal,’ said Conor a touch dryly. ‘I’ve never known anyone not develop a crush on her. She’s still in touch with students from all over the world. They often come back to teach. You never quite know who will be at the table. Life at Killorgally is always an adventure.’
‘Must have been wonderful growing up here.’
‘Mmm.’ Now Conor was the non-committal one, the perfunctory smile not reaching his eyes. Hannah gave a sharp glance at that impassive face. ‘Mealtimes were always entertaining. We didn’t just eat the food, it always had to be discussed and debated.’
Conor’s upbringing sounded erratic, unconventional, and uncomfortable. Imagine not knowing who was coming at any time. Sharing your house with lots of strangers. It sounded far too disorganised for comfort.
‘But living here…’ Merry waved her hand towards the glorious view through the window down to the sea.
Conor nodded, his mouth curving upwards, and Hannah noticed that this time the smile lit up his face. ‘Sure, it was mighty. We’d be happy out. Especially when we had the whole beach at our disposal. In the holidays, once we’d done all the chores, my sisters and me with Fergus tagging along would go down to the beach and spend the whole day down there.’
‘I haven’t been to the beach yet,’ said Izzy. ‘Is it far?’
‘There’s a path down from the farm. Just past Hannah’s cottage.’ Conor exchanged a quick look with Hannah. ‘Just follow the path straight down to the main road and go a little way along the road and the track to the beach is right there. You can’t miss it.’ He looked at Hannah again. ‘And ignore the fence that cuts across the path, although it’s probably on its last legs.’
‘Actually,’ Hannah butted in, ‘the fence looked brand new to me.’
‘New?’ His eyebrows furrowed in scepticism. ‘I wouldn’t have thought so. Moss Murphy’s not going to waste good money on new fencing.’ He gave her a patronising smile. ‘You must be mistaken.’
Hannah narrowed her eyes at him. ‘About the fence, what with being a townie?’
‘You were a little shaken. Not surprisingly. I’ve been to Moss Murphy’s house and had a word with him. I warned him the guard will be involved if anything like this happens again, even though he claims not to know anything about it.’
Merry and Izzy watched both of them, with sudden, avid interest.
‘Shaken? What happened?’ Merry, not one for subtlety, was straight onto this snippet.
Hannah glared at Conor. ‘I had a run-in with one of the neighbours who told me off for trespassing. And, shaken or not, I think I can tell the difference between a rickety old fence down on the sea path and a brand-new one.’
‘Maybe we’re talking at cross purposes and you were on a different path.’
‘How far is it down to the sea?’ asked Meredith, ever the peacekeeper.
‘A couple of kilometres. Not far.’ Conor flashed his charming smile at the older woman while Hannah gave him a sour glance. She wasn’t wrong. She knew she wasn’t, but if he didn’t believe her that was his problem.
