‘Thanks,’ Jo replied, then stood awkwardly as Lorcan said his goodbyes and left, busting out a few more questionable moves as he walked away, much to Clara’s delight.

‘Josephine Campbell,’ her mother said. ‘You are going to have to tell me more about that man.’

33

The Notebook

Clara had chatted animatedly over dinner. The majority of her conversation seemed to be about Lorcan. Where was he from? What age was he? Did he get free sweets in Harry’s shop? What did he work as? What kind of computers? Had he ever seen The Princess Bride? Did Jo know what his favourite movie was?

If Jo had wanted to shoo him from her thoughts, Clara was making that impossible. Although she was surprised to find it was actually quite nice to talk about him. When Clara eventually went to bed, her mother picked up where she had left off.

‘Is there a thing between you?’

‘A thing?’

‘You know, a bit of romance? It would be nice to see you meet someone special.’

‘Well, it would, Mum. But no, this isn’t a blossoming romance. He has just had a bad break-up and is here to clear his head,’ Jo said, as she handed her mum a cup of tea before bed.

‘So it could be the perfect time to swoop in?’ her mother asked, as she blew on her tea.

‘God, Mum, no. I’ve no desire to be anyone’s rebound fling. Besides, I have my fledgling writing career to concentrate on.’

‘Your career that Ewan McLachlan tried to steal from under your nose, the big gobshite!’ her mother said. ‘Wait until I tell Mags this. She’ll be on the next plane to Scotland, or wherever he is, to box his lights out!’

‘I think karma is already catching up with him and teaching him a lesson he won’t forget in a hurry,’ Jo said, her anger having made way for extreme disappointment that he wasn’t even half the man she thought he was.

‘Good, he deserves it. And you deserve good karma and maybe that comes in the form of young Lorcan. I mean, sometimes people meet the one while they’re on the rebound…’

‘Mum,’ Jo said. ‘Will you stop it?’

‘I’m just saying, he doesn’t look at you the way someone on the rebound looks at someone,’ her mother remarked.

‘Oh God. You’ve met him once, for five minutes, and you’re able to ascertain that from him?’

‘Sometimes you don’t need more than a minute to see the truth of what is going on in someone’s head. This is the guy you hung out with last week, isn’t it? Harry’s grandson?’

Jo nodded.

‘On those days, when you came home, you had a spring in your step. You seemed happier.’