“But he’s as unavailable as I am,” he says.“Maybe more.”
“Why?”I ask.
“He’s not keen on women.”He’s smirking now.“So she’d have two things working against her—age,andher gender.”
The rest of the dinner is just as light and fun.He regales me with lots of other clients like Maude, and I tell him about some of our more interesting guests.Even though things do improve, I expect this will be our one and only date.We’re just too different, and we clearly value different things.After we finish our pizza, I grab my purse, ready to be driven home in semi-awkwardness.
“Alright, so I wasn’t sure what kind of girl you are, but I’m guessing you’re the kind who says yes to dessert...”His voice goes up at the end, like he’s worried he’ll offend me.
I laugh.“You might think that Samantha rarely says yes, with as thin as she is, but actually all three of us Americans-turned-Irish residents are hearty yeses when it comes to dessert.”
He smiles.“Then you are going to love this.Usually they’ve closed by now, but I told the proprietor at Vinilo Bakery that if they opened today, and if he met me over there himself, we might have a partnership-in-the-making that could benefit both of you.”
“Vinilo?”
“They close in September, or right around there, and during the off-season, they stay closed.They reopen around March, but Natalie, you will love their pastries.”He shrugs.“And you were saying you wanted someone who could make breakfasts easier at your place.I thought you guys might be able to help each other.”
“That was...”We round the corner, and the cutest little bakery I can’t believe I never noticed appears.Vinilo.A sign in the window says: Closed until spring.
“You were saying.It was...?”The bemused look on Cillian’s face is pretty cute.
“This is a surprisingly thoughtful thing to do.”
“I may not have had any kids, but I’m still a pretty thoughtful guy, when I can stop worrying only about myself for five minutes.”He frowns.“And I might point out that your ex, from what little I’ve heard,haskids, but he’s not very thoughtful.”
I might have been a little unfair.
Maybe I was even monstrously unfair.
“You’re right,” I say.“And I should apologize.I definitely had no right to imply that you’re selfish or self-centered or thoughtless just because you don’t have kids.”My shoulders droop.“Look, I take back everything I said.It was stupid.But with regard tomyself only, I had gotten pretty selfish and self-centered before I had kids, and I don’t regret losing myself in serving them.It’s been the best thing I’ve ever done, but I’m very sorry for implying that it’s the only way to be good, or that you can’t be amazing without having kids to make you that way.”
“Cillian!”A man wearing a black apron opens the door.His hair’s pulled back into a ponytail that’s liberally streaked with grey.A bell jingles faintly.“You made it.”He turns toward me.“And you must be...”He squints.“Ah, I see why you like her so much.”He winks at Cillian.
“He doesn’t like me that much right now,” I say.“We were loitering outside, because I just said something stupid, and I’m waiting to see whether he’ll forgive me.”
The man takes three ground-eating strides and claps a hand on Cillian’s shoulder.“He’ll forgive you.There’s no one in Lismore who says more dumb things than me, and we’ve been friends for three decades and counting.”
“She’s also much prettier, and she apologizes much better than you do.I forgave her as soon as she started talking.”Cillian steps forward and pushes the door open again.“Come on in, and you’ll see why I’ve forgiven Gabriel so many times over the years.”He says his friend’s name the French way, Gab-ree-el.
“When did you meet?”I ask.
“My mother dragged me to tiny little Lismore in secondary school,” Gabriel says.“I hated it all four years.”His smile’s sly.“I left as soon as I could.”
“But then Gabriel discovered the one thing Paris didn’t need more of...”Cillian’s chuckle is hearty.“Pastry chefs.”
“Shut up, dodger.”Gabriel’s smiling though, and they interact casually, like they’ve been ribbing each other for decades.“The truth is that I don’t like working quite as hard as I’d have had to work in Paris, and Lismore gives me a much slower off-season.I enjoy it.”
“But he also needs to make rent, so...”Cillian opens his hands, showcasing a glass case full of the most beautiful pastries I have ever seen outside of the girls’ trip we took to Paris.
Pear and cheese tarts.Chocolate and pistachio swirls.Bear claws that I’m sure they have some fancier name for here in Europe, fruit tarts, tiny cheesecakes, brownies, chocolate croissants dusted with powdered sugar, almond croissants, and tiny cakes that are bigger than a petit four, but somehow smaller than a cupcake.
“These all look amazing.”
“They taste even better.”Cillian smiles.“I hope you’re not on a diet.”
I pat my stomach.“I should be, but it never seems to take.”
Gabriel smiles.“And that’s another thing I love.French women are always watching what they eat.I can’t seem to find one that appreciates me without stressing over it.”He winks at me.“Cillian better treat you well, because we appreciate curvy Americans here.”
