Cormac’s stomach danced at the thought.

‘I was thinking more along the lines of a quiet bite to eat in the hotel and then bed ready for a big day tomorrow. You know, visiting a few landmarks, doing the old tourist bit.’

Harry was splashing aftershave over his chin and shirt.

‘OK. Why don’t we compromise?’

‘What do you suggest?

‘Well, the girls want to have a bite to eat with us and then head off into town. Why don’t we eat with them and the two of us will take a little walk to Baggot Street and have a wee drink in O’Donohue’s, where there’s bound to be a music session. One or two pints and if you’re not up to it, home to bed it is.’

Cormac felt a surge of relief.

‘That sounds a better idea, Harry.’

Harry bent to take the key and his wallet off the table.

‘I think I should have been the barrister, my friend.’

‘What makes you say that?’

‘Looking at the state of you when we arrived, I thought there would be no chance of getting you out of the hotel at all. But by throwing the old Temple Bar, ten pints, and a kebab at you, I got you to agree to what I wanted in the first place, which was a couple of pints in O’Donohue’s! Oh I’m good, I know!’

Cormac knew when he had been outdone in a negotiation. He smiled and slapped Harry on the back as they left the room.

‘Harry, I’d forgotten what a complete dick you can be, but I have to say you are very good at it.’

‘Is that a compliment?’

‘I’m not sure!’

They walked to the lift. Cormac enjoyed the triviality of it all.

13

The waitress arrived at their booth in the corner of the bar before the girls had made it downstairs. Cormac had already established he would be having a glass of sparkling water and a chicken salad, chosen not because he wanted either, but because he decided they were the healthiest choices on the menu. She asked for Harry’s order first, and working from a different set of criteria than Cormac, he ordered a pint of Harp lager, cheeseburger and fries with a side order of onion rings. The waitress spoke to Cormac in a thick accent that must have been Polish.

‘And you, Sir, what will you be having?’

He meant to say a sparkling water and a chicken salad and no mayonnaise, thanks. But it came out as,

‘Same as him, thanks. Yes, I’ll have the onion rings as well!’

‘I thought you were having a chicken salad, my friend?’

‘I was, until….’

Cormac stopped speaking as the girls approached the table. Annie was walking in front, and with her long red hair falling onto her shoulders, she looked as she always had to Cormac, a vision of natural beauty. It wasn’t Annie that caused him to stop, though. It was Claire, walking absentmindedly behind her.