“And you remember?” Noah wasn’t normally shy, but attending university in another country had shut his mouth up right and tight. It surprised him Caitlyn still remembered. He’d noticedheras soon as he’d stepped into the classroom. And he hadn’t forgotten either.
“Well, it’s not like we get a lot of Irishmen at ASU.”
“‘Tis true that.” Noah glanced at Caitlyn, wondering why he’d never asked her back then about her not sounding like a local. “Only a few of the things you say have a Southern accent. You must not be from Boone.”
“No, we moved there when I was in junior high to help care for my grandmother in her home.” Something flashed across her face that looked like pain.
“Ah, yes. I recall it now. Your granny died,” he said, keeping his voice soft.
Caitlyn nodded but didn’t look at him. “And then my mom did too.”
“I’m sorry.” Noah wondered why she’d never mentioned that to him before. It seemed there was a lot he had yet to learn about her. “If I remember right, you’re an only child.”
“Yes. And you have a sister. No brothers, right?” she asked quickly, as though she didn’t want to talk about her mother.
“No. ‘Tis something which surprises some folks since the Irish tend to have large families. We live in a tiny village.”
Caitlyn’s expression turned thoughtful. “Cong, right?”
“Aye. ‘Tis a surprise you remember.” Noah had made sure to look at her when he said it. Something flashed there, but she glanced to the side. What was she hiding?
“I remember your father commutes to Galway. Why didn’t your family live there?” she asked.
“They preferred raising their family in a small village. We used to play in the ruins of Cong Abbey, hike the Nature Loop, or go boating on Lough Corrib. ‘Tis the lake Finn mentioned yesterday that we sailed on. As boys, we never lacked for entertaining things to do outside. All it took was a bit of imagination.” He smiled to himself at the memories.
“You said Cong is small, but how small is small?”
“About a hundred and fifty people.”
“Wow. Some of my larger lecture classes have had more people than that.” Caitlyn had been looking at Noah and ran into Heath’s back. She cried, “Oops, sorry.”
When the man took her arm to steady her, Noah had to push down a twinge of jealousy. He truly needed to make up his mind about her. Either she was what Keven claimed, or she was the nice girl she seemed. Somehow, he didn’t know which was worse.
Bright colors through the glass of the building to his left drew his attention. A sign above the entrance said: Cold Chaos Ice Cream Parlor.
Caitlyn waiteduntil the others had entered before following them inside. Did Noah’s unexpected friendliness mean he’d forgiven her for calling him a braggart? The thought shouldn’t lift her spirits, though it did. But did she evenwantto consider something more between them? She couldn’t forget that Keven was still in the picture.
Her energy, or lack of it, made a sharp contrast to the lively feel of the restaurant. Maybe her father was right; perhaps shehadcome back to work too soon. She hadn’t felt well in a long time, but the sense of not being herself hadbeen worse since coming to New York. She couldn’t even blame jet lag. Just watching the two groups of chattering children at what must be separate birthday parties made her tired.
“You okay?” Zoe asked, stepping beside Caitlyn. “I guess he’s not mad at you anymore. That’s good, right?”
The night before, feeling foolish that she’d never considered he was talking about hisfamily, Caitlyn had confessed to Zoe about her name-dropping accusation. Being shy herself, her friend understood what it was like to be bullied. She felt as bad as Caitlyn did about their having been pulled into the gossip about him.
“I want to make it up to him, but how?” Caitlyn mused.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Zoe said. “We can defend him when people talk him down.”
“I like that.” Caitlyn nodded. “He’s mentioned how much harder Sona is on him than anyone else because of their relationship. I wonder if it’s been like that under all his supervisors. We could remind people of the negatives.”
“How do you want to go about this?” Noah called from the front counter, pulling Caitlyn from her thoughts.
She tried not to look like they’d just been talking about him and stepped forward.
“As I mentioned, we could have two teams of three each.” Caitlyn pointed to one of the birthday party tables. “They have vanilla and chocolate bases to choose from. Each team will pick their ingredients. Then we’ll taste the results once we’re finished and decide who came up with the best combo.”
“There’s no reason why we can’t have two winners,” Heath said with a grin. “I mean, itisice cream.”
“Or two losers,” Finn said with arched brows. “Could be great craic or minus craic.”
