‘It’s been gorgeous this week. I’m starting to think it’s always like this here.’ Every day this week had been a golden last hurrah of summer but there was a definite smell of autumn in the air and the temperature in the evening held a distinct chill. The apples in the orchard were ripening to a rosy hue, the raspberry canes were bare, and hay bales in the fields opposite had been gathered in.
‘Enjoy it while it lasts, this Indian summer.’ He glanced around the kitchen. ‘I remodelled this place so that you could enjoy the view of the sea but still feel snug and warm. Everyone thought a wood burner in here as well as an open fireplace in the lounge was overkill.’
‘It’s very homely.’ She pulled a face, thinking of her own bland apartment. ‘I ought to make more effort. My place is somewhere to sleep. I don’t spend much time there.’ Or rather, she didn’t spend muchqualitytime there.
‘Where do you spend time then?’
‘Well, it always used to be round at my sister’s place. She knows how to throw a party or a get-together. Now she’s gone, my social life has taken a bit of a nose dive. I mean, I go out after work with friends from the office but… well, it’s not quite the same without Mina. I miss her, I guess. God, she would love it here. She’d be in her element. Although I think she might drive your mum mad as she does like to experiment and doesn’t stick to a recipe.’ She glanced around the room. ‘You have a good eye. Especially for a bloke.’
‘Sexist!’
‘Well, it’s cosy. Not quite feminine but it’s not all leather and taupe.’ She pointed to the sage-green painted cupboards and the pale linen-grey sofa with printed cushions in naïve Scandinavian designs of pale yellow and the same sage green, as well as the cashmere throw tossed over the back. On the floor were a couple of tall jugs with elegant looped handles filled with dried reeds, and a set of striking prints hung on the wall featuring sea birds, picked out with bold black slashes and elements of colour in the background.
‘I spent a lot of time in hotels and rented accommodation feeling homesick. One thing I always want to do is make sure that people feel at home. I can’t bear those stark places where everything is nailed down because they’re worried people are going to steal it. I want people to have those little creature comforts that they would have in their own place.’
Hannah wrinkled her nose. ‘I need to take a leaf out of your book. My place isn’t very homely.’
‘Maybe it’s not home.’
‘Of course it’s home.’
‘Always so pragmatic. You don’t have much romance in your soul.’
‘You’re the second person who’s said that to me recently. My mother had plenty of romance and it didn’t get her very far. Or rather, it took her too far.’
Conor didn’t say anything and for a moment it was as if the tables from the other night had been reversed. ‘My mother and father died when I was a toddler. They were adrenaline junkies – skiing, white-water rafting, you name it. They would leave us with my aunt and uncle for the weekend while they went off for an adventure. One weekend they didn’t come back.’
‘That’s… rough.’
‘Yeah, and selfish. And foolish. And a whole load of other things. But luckily for me and my sister, we stayed with my aunt and uncle who are the opposite.’ And she’d made sure she never worried them or put a foot wrong. As she’d grown older, a deep, dark hidden part of her had been cross that her parents had put their adventures ahead of their daughters and she had determined that she would never act in such a foolhardy way. Mina was the impulsive one, so it was up to Hannah to be the sensible one and it hadn’t been so hard to fall into that mould. Hannah liked to know where she was, what she’d be doing next, and what her plans for the future were. Coming to Ireland had been the riskiest thing she’d ever done in her life and now she was paying for it, because she was starting to question her view of herself. Why should she let herself be defined by her parents? They were long gone. They’d made their own decisions. Perhaps she should start doing the things that she really wanted to do instead of always erring on the side of caution to reassure herself and others that she wasn’t like them.
The more time she spent with Conor, the more she liked him. Genuinely liked him. This close proximity helped to make him less of a fable and less out of reach. When she’d met him in Dublin he’d been a person from another world – sophisticated, smart, and good looking… and way out of her league. Now she’d got to know him, he was very human and down to earth and he seemed to enjoy her company, and would often come and sit in the lounge with her in the evenings. He’d fallen into a routine of making coffee for her in the mornings and as she drank it would settle into the sofa by the wood burner for a quick chat, which invariably meant that they walked up to the kitchen together.
It was almost as if he were determined to prove that they were just good friends. What if she didn’t play safe, could she handle the fall out in the long term? Somehow she didn’t think she could.
After a quiet weekend when she’d visited Aidan and Sorcha and walked the entire length of the beach with Izzy, Hannah was all set for week three of the course and headed up to the hen houses to start the day.
‘Morning, Hannah.’
Adrienne’s low-toned greeting made Hannah jump.
‘M-morning,’ she said, trying to sound bright and breezy. She’d actually been lost in thought, pondering what to wear when she went kayaking with Conor. He’d issued the invitation, almost a challenge, over coffee this morning after expressing disappointment that she’d not done more exploring at the weekend. When she’d explained that she was exhausted after a week on her feet, he teased her that she needed to man up and that kayaking would be easy on her feet.
‘And how are our fine ladies, this morning?’ She knelt in front of one of the hens who immediately bustled up, feathery breeches swaying with busy intent, to check out the food situation. Adrienne laughed and petted her before throwing down a handful of potato peelings and pea pods.
‘They’re all good,’ said Hannah with a fond smile. It might be cupboard love but there was something satisfying about being greeted with so much enthusiasm on a morning.
‘Grand. I see you’ve a real fondness for the ladies.’
‘I’ve got used to them. They’re all so funny and they have such distinct personalities. It’s like the school playground.’ She paused. ‘Those two are too cool for school and keep themselves to themselves. That one likes to be in the thick of everything, like the queen bee of gossip. That one is the attention-seeking, naughty one and that little gaggle over there are the giggling herd that follow the leader and she’ – Hannah pointed to a pure white hen– ‘fusses over everyone.’
‘Ah, that’s Agnetha.’
Hanna gave her a questioning look.
‘After the blonde one in Abba, because of her colouring. We don’t name all of them, only the ones who really stand out. She’s always been the bossy, mother-hen one.’
Hannah grinned with sudden awareness.
