The Rose Garden (25 page)

Everyone was chatting to everyone and she soon found herself talking to Luke Ryan at the bar as she queued up again to buy drinks for Grace and her friends. She felt momentarily awkward, but as this was the only pub in town she’d better try to appear relaxed and normal. He was wearing a slim-fitting checked shirt, probably a Christmas present, and jeans that showed off how tall and thin he was.

‘So you stayed in the country for New Year! I thought that
a city girl like you would find Kilfinn a bit boring and quiet.’

She wanted to snap back at him but resisted.

‘It’s a change … but I guess I like change.’ She smiled sweetly.

‘Come on you two, get up and dance!’ urged Melissa.

‘Stop telling me what to do!’ joked Luke. ‘I was going to ask Kim to dance in a few minutes.’

‘She’s his sister,’ laughed Grace, sensing Kim had no idea what was going on.

Luke did ask her to dance a while later and literally swung her around the floor to a few lively reels.

‘I feel like I’m in
Riverdance
,’ she giggled, trying to keep up, conscious of Luke’s strong arms keeping a hold of her.

At midnight everyone in the pub linked arms and sang ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and Kim couldn’t help thinking about her mum and her uncle David as she held Grace’s hand, the two of them hugging each other tearfully.

‘You okay?’ Luke asked, concerned.

‘I always find it a sad night – remembering my mum,’ she admitted.

Suddenly she was aware of him pulling her into his arms and holding her. He smelled of aftershave and his breath was warm against her skin. For the rest of the night they were together, buying each other drinks, talking, dancing and messing, having fun with everyone.

Last year she and Gareth had gone to some fancy restaurant for dinner with two other couples, Gareth complaining about the service. This year was totally different!

The Kilfinn Inn was packed to the rafters with fiddles and guitars and drums, plates of sausage rolls and cocktail sausages and mini quiches being passed around, old and young, and she knew practically everyone around her, and Luke was … Luke was lovely …

It was well after three o’clock in the morning when the crowds began to disperse. Grace had already disappeared off to some friend’s house.

‘I’d better go home,’ Kim said, trying to bring herself back to reality as the band began to pack up their equipment and the bar staff collected the glasses.

‘I’ll walk you home,’ he insisted.

As they went he took her hand and she liked it, walking along the roadway in the dark beside him. Molly had left the lights on along the avenue and as she searched her bag for the door key she wondered if she should invite him in.

‘Do you want a coffee or a drink?’

‘Nah, I’m grand,’ he said. ‘I’d better get home myself.’

She stood at the back door. It was chilly, but she could feel his eyes staring at her, his hands reaching for her face, touching her. A minute later they were kissing and it felt – perfect, like she was meant to be in his arms, having him kiss her neck and her lips, their mouths and breaths together.

‘Wow!’ he said, looking at her and grinning.

‘Wow!’

He pulled her towards him again. Fireworks – definitely fireworks. She couldn’t believe it.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ he said.

‘Tomorrow?’

‘Aren’t you going to Dr Jim’s big drinks party with Molly?’

‘Oh yes, I think so.’

‘Then I’ll see you there,’ he said, kissing her again. ‘Happy New Year!’

As she stepped into the kitchen, Daisy stared up at her from her cosy padded basket. Kim couldn’t believe it – she had spent most of the night talking and dancing with Luke Ryan! It had been one of the best nights ever, and the great thing was she was seeing him again tomorrow … today!

Up in her bedroom she checked her phone: messages from all her family and from Lisa and Evie, and, to her amazement, one from Gareth – just a group one, which she quickly deleted. She’d no intention of ruining a perfect night by bothering to reply to him.

LYING IN BED, KIM COULDN’T PUT LUKE OUT OF HER MIND. WHAT
if he ignored her when they met later on? Pretended nothing had happened between them? Should she say something? Play it cool? He could well be the type of guy who had lots of girls …

‘Someone was enjoying themselves last night!’ teased Grace as they sat around the kitchen in their pyjamas eating a late breakfast.

‘It was a great night,’ she grinned. ‘Different from most New Years and a lot more fun!’

‘You do know that half the girls in Kilfinn are cracked about Luke Ryan,’ continued her cousin, ‘and you’re the one he’s dancing with!’

‘And walking home …’ Kim giggled.

‘Did Luke walk you home?’ quizzed Molly.

‘Yes!’ she said, helping herself to some more coffee and toast.

‘What about the Kelleher girl?’

‘He and Alison broke up last year, Mum, you know that!’ Grace reminded her.

‘Is he seeing someone?’ Kim asked, appalled. She had no intention of becoming the talk of a small place like Kilfinn.

‘Don’t mind Mum! Luke is totally single,’ Grace reassured her. ‘He and Alison went out for about three years – they were both working in London and when he moved back home they broke up. But lots of girls fancy him.’

‘Luke Ryan is a very nice young man from a lovely family,’
interjected Molly. ‘I have always found him very polite and helpful, and his parents are good neighbours.’

‘He seems a nice guy,’ admitted Kim, taking her mug of coffee and retreating back upstairs.

The three of them drove to Dr Jim’s, the road outside his house and the driveway packed with neighbours’ cars as it was raining heavily. Frances and Dr Jim made a big fuss of Kim and began introducing her to everyone the minute she stepped into their living room. The fire was blazing and they had a massive Christmas tree. A waiter was serving champagne and drinks and Gina Sullivan was busy passing around trays of tasty canapés.

Kim glanced around hoping to see Luke, but there was no sign of him. She tried to quash her disappointment and joined Grace chatting to Cara and her family.

‘We were at my sister’s at a family party in Kildare last night,’ Cara yawned, ‘and Tim and I are still a bit hungover, but we couldn’t miss Jim and Frances’s party.’

Kim kept bumping into people from the previous night in the pub. She had moved to the kitchen with a group of friends when Luke walked in with his older brother. She watched as he got a beer and said hello to a few people. It was so embarrassing – everyone seemed to know about last night!

Suddenly he was beside her, kissing her lightly, his arm around her waist, introducing her to his brother, Justin, and then later bringing her into the other room to meet his parents. Kim had to stifle her surprise: he was so like his father, both of them the same height and build, with the same piercing grey-green eyes.

‘Nice to meet you, young lady. I believe that you are Molly’s niece,’ Tom Ryan said politely, shaking her hand.

Luke’s mother, Judy, was small and dark with short hair, and Kim could see that she had noticed straight away Luke’s arm around her waist.

‘I’ve heard a lot about you,’ Judy smiled. ‘Molly is enjoying having you staying with her. We’re in the same book club, though
I’m afraid our tastes are very different. I love a good crime novel!’

‘And I hate them,’ smiled Molly, coming over to join them. ‘I see you’ve been introduced to Kim already. She’s Ruth’s daughter.’

A few minutes later the talk turned to the book to read for the next month, by some obscure American author. She and Luke beat a hasty retreat to the kitchen, each grabbing another beer.

‘How are you?’ he asked.

‘Fine,’ she giggled. ‘I only saw you a few hours ago.’

‘I know … but I missed you.’

Kim took a breath. He wasn’t messing or joking; he was being honest and true.

‘And I missed you,’ she said softly, realizing it was true.

They hung out together for the rest of the party and when Molly and Grace were ready to go Kim said no.

‘I’m going over to Luke’s place for a while. I’ll see you later.’

Luke lived in a house he was renting with two friends on the outskirts of the village.

‘Sinead is teaching in the same school as me and Alan is working in the bank. They’re both gone away. Sinead went skiing with her boyfriend and Alan went to Scotland with some friends, so we’ll have the place to ourselves.’

The house was pretty basic, but he lit the fire quickly and, getting some drinks, they snuggled in together and talked and talked and talked.

‘Why didn’t you phone or text me?’ she found herself asking, the words out before she could think.

‘I liked you, Kim – but you told me you had just broken up with someone and his name seemed to still be coming up a lot. So I waited,’ he grinned, kissing her gently.

‘You must think I’m kind of screwed up, at my age staying with my aunt, still trying to figure out what to do with my life.’

‘We are all kind of screwed up,’ he laughed.

‘But you know what you want. You love teaching and you’ve got the farm.’

‘True,’ he said, softly kissing her again. ‘But it took me a long
time to discover what I really want and to realize that it was all here at home.’

‘I wish that I—’

‘Kim, it’s a new year. Wait and see what it brings.’

He made them dinner, a spicy chicken curry with all the trimmings.

‘You can cook!’

‘Don’t be so surprised! My mum has a bee in her bonnet about her kids, especially the male ones, being able to cook. Also, I do a bit of baking with my class, bread and buns and biscuits. They love it!’

Kim thought of Gareth, who hated cooking and refused even to read the Jamie Oliver cookbook she’d bought him.

The hours slipped away and reluctantly she said goodnight to him.

‘Stay!’ he pleaded.

‘No, I’d better get back to Mossbawn or Molly will be worried.’

‘You can text her.’

‘No, Luke, I need to go home,’ she said gently. Everything was happening so fast – maybe too fast. She needed time to think. If she was going to have a relationship with him, she wanted it to work.

‘Okay … okay,’ he grinned, getting his jacket to walk her home.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ he said as they kissed goodnight at the kitchen door.

Kim stood looking out of the window, watching as he walked back down the avenue. Luke was everything – everything … already.

MOLLY WATCHED FROM THE BEDROOM WINDOW AS THE
snowflakes began to fall. Getting up, she pulled on her heavy pink fleece dressing gown and padded downstairs. Daisy was waiting at the back door to be let out. The garden was already covered in snow, every bush and shrub and tree frosted in white, so it looked magical.

The kitchen was freezing, so she went and switched on the boiler before putting on the kettle. She listened to the news on the radio as she made some porridge. The roads were bad around the countryside, with some of the main routes closed due to ice. The airport was also temporarily shut down and the weather people were predicting more flurries of snow over the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours. She hoped the girls were all okay and sent them a quick text each. Kim had gone to Dublin for a few days.

After breakfast she’d walk to the shops as she was low on milk and bread and needed to get some dog food for Daisy in case the weather got worse. She watched as a robin hopped around near the kitchen window looking for food.

Two hours later she had joined the queue in Donnelly’s where everyone was stocking up on groceries as if they were going to be marooned for a week! The snow was falling again and she was glad she had worn her cosy snow boots, as it was treacherous outside. Mary Jennings, the principal of Kilfinn’s primary school, had nearly fallen outside the chemist’s shop.

‘We sent all the kids home as we couldn’t risk the school buses not being able to collect them later,’ she said, trying to right herself. ‘So I’m off home to light the fire and put my feet up and read a good book – enjoy the peace while I can!’

A few people were heading over to the Kilfinn Inn for soup or a coffee now that Cassidy’s Café had closed down, but Molly just wanted to get back home. She was worried about the boiler. Thank heaven she’d got Paul to repair the cottage roof, so at least it was protected from the snow. Once the weather improved he was going to lay the foundations for the small extension.

Deirdre Donnelly was flustered and busy at the till, as people stocked up with firelighters and soup and bread and rashers and sausages. Molly grabbed a copy of the newspaper and a few essentials – milk, cheese, eggs, a brown loaf and some ham, and a few tins of Daisy’s favourite dog food.

‘Everything okay, Molly?’ asked Deirdre, concern in her voice as she put her items through.

‘I’m fine, Deirdre. There’s just me and the dog, but I’ve got the Aga.’

‘They’re great yokes. I heard the pipes are frozen down on the new estate and they have no heating or water, God help them! The council are out doing repair work.’

Molly could see a young mother piling her basket with tins of baby food and was glad that at least she only had herself to look after.

Back out on the street the snow was falling more heavily and, grabbing her shopping bags, she began to walk slowly and carefully home.

She had just passed the garage when a black jeep slowed down and pulled in beside her.

‘Get in!’ yelled the driver.

Molly tried to make out who it was. With the snow falling so heavily she could hardly see.

‘For heaven’s sake get in, Molly. I’ll drop you home,’ offered Rob Hayes, opening the door.

Molly hadn’t seen him for weeks.

‘I was going to walk,’ she protested. ‘It’s really not that far.’

‘In this weather?’

‘Okay – thanks, a lift would be great,’ she laughed, lifting her bags into the back of the jeep and climbing in beside him. ‘My car is a disaster in the snow, so I said I’d walk.’

‘I was passing this way,’ he explained as he turned off the main road a minute or two later and drove up the driveway, the rhododendrons, like snow-covered sentries, standing guard as he passed them and then came to a halt on the gravel outside the front door.