‘Of course not,’ Budgie said. He did a little clockwise revo­­lution, took in the entire forecourt and came back around to face Danny. Still no smile, his features still squinched up, but he looked, somehow, ecstatic. ‘The lads are going to be just delighted you’re back. We’re going to absolutely fucking destroy Castlebar for the league this year.’

‘I said Sunday, Budgie, I didn’t promise anything else.’

‘Sure thing,’ Budgie said. He ducked down to look inside the car.

‘Is that the brother?’ he said to Ben.

‘It is,’ Ben said.

‘Are you still giving them hell up in Dublin?’

‘I am, Budgie.’

‘Good stuff,’ Budgie said, offering Ben a nod and withdrawing to his full height.

‘Good to see you, Danny,’ he said.

A car pulled up behind Budgie’s at the pump and beeped. Danny watched Budgie, hand raised in apology, scuttle triumphantly across the forecourt.

7

The rest of the weekend was ­quiet – Danny went to the training session as he promised Budgie he would, though he was otherwise detectably down and kept to himself. A couple of times the folks asked him what had him in a mood and Danny deflected, though Ben reckoned they could fairly well guess, given how there was suddenly no sight nor mention of Shauna. Danny was processing and was best left to his own devices, was Ben’s view. His little brother wasn’t the most expressive lad but he was exquis­itely sensitive. Things hit him and sunk down through him in stages and settled at the bottom of him for a long time. Ben tried to be a benign distraction, kept the talk small and innocuous whenever he sensed Danny was up for it. While he hoped Danny could work it out with Shauna, he also privately wondered if things had not run their natural course there. What Danny and Shauna had was young love, teenage love, first love, whatever you wanted to call it, and there came a time that kind of love had to end.