After an hour I looked up to find Jenny at the bar and she was smiling at me. She told me she was heading off and that it was great to see me again. I said the pleasure was all mine and I made her laugh as I used an American drawl. If God could see me, he would have noticed the way I was struggling. It was obvious that Jenny had chosen to come to the Crown hoping to see me again, she had even admitted it, but I still couldn’t believe it and my emotions were on high alert. I desperately wanted to say the right thing and I was aware of the fact that there were other punters trying to catch my attention to get more drink. I was also acutely sensitive to the fact that she had come to the Crown with a man and I needed to clarify his relationship with her. I tried to be casual as I asked her if Jerome was her boyfriend and I also tried not to appear surprised when she told me that he was.

Even though it appeared to me, whether or not I had imagined it, that her voice had faltered slightly as she admitted she was romantically involved with this man, I was crushed and I could feel a heat on my cheeks. Perhaps it wasn’t all roses in the garden with Jerome. That was my hope. All I could visualize was the way we had gone to my flat after Hogans that night, and had sex, how her skin had felt like silk to me and how I believed I had literally struck gold. The way she held my body after the act, how thirsty I felt, how I thought she was free – Jerome was nowhere to be seen at the opening on Lennox Street. The knowledge that Jenny wasn’t available was daunting but I had always been impulsive, and I decided there and then, that you only live once in this world and I had nothing to lose by pursuing her. I didn’t want to live with regret.

I pointed to a painting on the wall done by a local artist and I told her that Andy occasionally exhibited work by emerging artists. I called Andy over for confirmation and I introduced him to Jenny. I mentioned the opening on Lennox Street, where we had met, and how bloody good Jenny’s work was. I said it was captivating and Andy said if that was true then he might consider hanging it. That was the way things operated in Dublin, it was all about who you knew and it was my good fortune that I knew Andy. Jenny’s eyes lit up and she was all thanks.