‘How about you thank me with a coffee?’ she heard him say.

When she looked up, he was grinning at her, a proper cheeky-chappy smile. She was thrown a little. It seemed very endearing, but she thought of all the things Harry had told her about him. The things that Harry didn’t seem to have a problem with but which had always struck Jo as the actions of someone spoiled and selfish. The biggest action, or inaction, being his failure to come and see his grandfather when he was gravely ill the year before.

‘You’re not a bit shy, are you?’ she asked him.

‘What’s the point? It doesn’t get you anywhere in life. Look, I’m new in town. It’s been a while since I’ve spent any length of time in Derry – those long summers visiting my grandparents are a distant memory. It might be nice to have a local show me around.’

‘You have your grandad to show you around,’ she replied. ‘Isn’t he who you came to visit?’

‘Yeah, well, that much is true and I love him to bits, but his idea of what needs to be seen here and what I want to see don’t always marry up. I asked him about the mural that’s been painted of the characters from the Derry Girls TV series and he looked at me as if I had three heads. Told me there are other Derry girls who should have their pictures painted. Which reminds me, do you know who Dana is? It seems Grandad is a fan.’

Jo scoffed. ‘Yes. She won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland in the seventies, I think. Bit before my time.’

‘Well, Grandad thinks she’s a great wee girl altogether,’ he said, putting on a Derry accent that wasn’t actually that far off the mark. Jo couldn’t stop herself from laughing, and it was a proper laugh, bubbling right up from inside.

‘Well, that sounds like Harry for sure,’ her antipathy towards Lorcan mellowing as he spoke so fondly of his grandfather. ‘How about I show you the Derry Girls mural and we get that coffee? You can buy the buns,’ she said.

‘Are you sure you don’t have somewhere to be?’ he asked, his eyebrow raised. ‘You were powering along there like a woman on a mission. I assumed you were going to work or somewhere important.’

‘Ah no. I was just out for a walk. My work is in entirely the other direction – in Ivy Lane as it happens. I’m one of the owners of The Ivy Inn.’

‘And you help Grandad out too from time to time?’ Lorcan asked.

‘When needed, yeah. But at the moment I am on some unexpected leave from all responsibilities, so I have ample time to show you the mural and grab a coffee.’