No fake tan on her legs, Cara noticed, which meant her skin had a slight touch of the corned beef about it. And still she looked beautiful.
Jessie noticed Cara’s gaze. ‘Amazing, isn’t she?’ Jessie always brimmed with admiration for Nell. ‘She’s so natural.’
‘“Pure” – that’s what Liam says she is,’ Saoirse chipped in.
‘What?’ Liam heard his name.
‘Liam, Liam,’ Saoirse begged. ‘Tell us about the first time you saw Nell. I loooooove that story.’
‘Ah, go on, Liam,’ Jessie pressed. ‘Tell us again.’
‘Okay,’ he said. ‘I’ll tell it.’
SEVEN
… Well, the rose-tinted version.
On a sunny evening last May, Liam was wandering the aisles in the Tesco near his apartment in Dublin’s much sought-after Grand Canal Basin. A nameless restlessness bothered him, an uncomfortable, unidentifiable need.
A carton of vegan yoghurt caught his attention. This was good stuff, right? After skimming the ingredients list, he tossed the carton into his basket: he was willing to be convinced. A bottle of green juice, featuring spirulina, also made the cut. Maybe he could clean-eat his way to contentment. Briefly, hope spiked, then plummeted back to scratchy, bad-tempered yearning.
Nothing else on the shelves seemed promising so, more out of habit than anything else, he threw a six-pack of beer into his basket. Could it be the relentless humidity that was getting to him? Not very likely, but maybe if he took a shower, his second of the day, the restlessness would wash away. Better buy shower gel, in that case.
There was that feeling again, of freefalling.
It sucked, this single-life shit. For the last ten years Paige had taken care of all of his day-to-day stuff and now, whenever he bumped up against her absence, it was as if he’d stumbled. Maybe he could … Cycle down the coast? Text someone? Go home and sleep? Either way, being here wasn’t fixing anything. He might as well just pay up and leave. Then he saw the girl.
She was tall, with a tumble of thick fair hair. Even before she took the strange step of opening one of the big glass freezers, moving forward, practically inside it, then simply standing there, letting the door bounce gently off her back, he was drawn to her. Leaning into the chilled air, she gathered her heavy fair hair onto the top of her head, revealing a neck that startled him with its perfection. He felt like he was the first person ever to have seen that part of her.
He stared and stared. Then, galvanized into action, he stepped over to the freezer, grabbed the door handle and pulled, sending a bloom of chilly air towards him. ‘Excuse me,’ he said.
She turned around. Her hair tumbled from the crown of her head to frame a face that was unexpectedly innocent. ‘Oh!’ Then she laughed. ‘Just escaping the killer heat there for a few happy seconds.’
Oh, yeah. The heat. The whole country was buckling because it was twenty-five degrees. It was cute but a bit … pathetic? They should try cycling from Dublin to Istanbul at the height of summer.
And what was with her laughing? He could have wanted to buy whatever was in this freezer. Now that he looked, it was frozen chicken and, no, he wouldn’t touch that processed crap, but she wasn’t to know.
‘Chicken nuggets and cold,’ she said. ‘A new spin on Netflix and chill.’
Her blithe good humour surprised him.
‘Sorry.’ She finally moved out of his way. ‘You need to get in here?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘No …’ Well, who knew? This was what he’d been jonesing for. But even then, he was wondering how quickly he’d get bored of her. ‘This might sound weird. But will you have a drink with me?’
‘When?’ She sounded startled.
‘Now. Right now.’
‘Right now, no. I’ve no money.’
‘But I’ll pay. I’ve money.’ In his eagerness, he tripped over his words. Actually, strictly speaking, he didn’t have much money. He kept forgetting.
She frowned. ‘I could pay you back. When I get paid. But that mightn’t be for a while.’
‘You don’t have to do that. I don’t care.’
‘But I do.’
Unsettled by her vehemence, he said, ‘Okay. Grand. You can pay me back.’
Throngs were gathered outside the nearest pub, enjoying the freakishly hot May sunshine. The girl – Nell – asked to sit in the shade. ‘I’ll get burnt to a crisp without sunblock.’
‘Put some on?’
‘No, like, I don’t own any. I’ll get some when I’m paid.’
‘Wow. Lot of stuff is going to happen when you’re paid.’