“You’ll be grand,” he soothed again. “You’re already familiar with most of the material. Haven’t you been working alongside the mortgage manager for months? You’re bound to have picked up on the important stuff.Just use today’s peace and quiet to cram and then tomorrow night we’ll go out for a bite and a couple of drinks. What do you think?”
Jenny nodded and they shook on it. He was right. There was no point in fretting about the exam. She should just get stuck in.
“I was thinking,” he added. “If you don’t mind combining work and play, I might ask the new guy along. I haven’t had a chance to get to know him socially yet.”
Jenny helped herself to another piece of toast. “Cool,” she said. “I’m eager to meet the new whizz kid too. What’s he like?”
“I think he’s going to be a real asset. He’s had plenty of marketing experience and you know how useless I am at that.”
She smiled. Mike was an excellent programmer and while his firm provided software for some of Ireland’s biggest companies, he was no marketeer. His business needed the right person to promote their stuff within a rapidly saturated Irish market. He and his partners had been trying for some time to find someone who knew the industry from the inside out. Seemed this new guy was a rare breed: a highly proficient programmer and equally adept at sales and marketing.
“He’s no fool either,” Mike continued. “Took us a while to hammer out a decent contract. Fresh from the States, he didn’t want to come in on ground level and commission bonuses like the rest of them. Stephen thought he was a cocky little git.”
“Ha. I’ll bet he was just disappointed that you weren’t employing some ravishing redhead with a cleavage to die for.”
He chuckled at her all too accurate assessment of his business partner. “The lads already had a few run-ins as it is. Poor Frank kept calling him Ronan last week – he couldn’t get the hang of his name and your man wouldn’t stand for it. It’s Roan, not Ro-n-an,’” Mike mimicked exaggeratedly.
Jenny’s toast stopped halfway to her mouth. “What did you say his name was?”
“I know. Unusual, isn’t it? Roan – I’ve never come across it before. I think he’s originally from Kildare somewhere, he said.”
Her mouth went dry and for a second she didn’t think she would be able to breathe.
It couldn’t behim, could it?
“I knew a guy from Kildare a few years back when I lived with Karen,” she said, trying to keep her voice even, although her hands were shaking. “Roan Williams – I wonder is it the same person?”
Mike didn’t seem to notice her discomfort.
“Yeah, Williams, that’s his surname all right. Crikey. It’s true what they say about it being a small world. Did you know him well?”
Jenny tried to swallow. The toast felt like a lead weight in her mouth. “Not that well,” she answered automatically, her mind racing, unable to get to grips with this.
Roan Williams of all people … working with Mike. Should she just say something? No, not yet. She needed some time to think about this, to process it.
Her fiancé’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Jen, did you hear me? Maybe we should go into the city centre tomorrow night – what do you think?”
She looked at him blankly.
“OK.” He held his hands up, chuckling. “You’re miles away already so I’ll leave you to it. I’m off to battle the traffic and when I get home this evening, I’ll pretend to be a first-time buyer and you can tell me everything there is to know about securing a mortgage for the house of my dreams, OK?” He drained his cup and put it in the sink, then gave Jenny a light kiss on the nose.
She instantly felt like a heel. “Sorry, I don’t know how you put up with me. I’m just a bit … distracted.”
“Dunno either, but come August I’m stuck with you for good so I suppose I’d better get used to it.” She swung at him as he ducked out the doorway, laughing as he went. “Oh, and don’t forget,” he added, popping his head back around the door. “I’ll be back a bit later this evening so don’t start on dinner too early.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to go? I can always finish up early …”
“It’s grand. I just wish my little sister would get herself a job south of the Liffey and save us the journey. See you later.”
Jenny nodded and forced another smile but it was a relief to see him leave. She remained sitting at thekitchen table for a long time after she heard the front door close, her thoughts going a mile a minute.
She shook her head, unable to believe this was happening, to say nothing of the timing.
Just when everything was going so well, fate had to throw one last curveball.
2
Karen checked her watch and quickened her pace as she strode down Grafton Street, cursing under her breath when she read the time.
