Jo wondered if she should offer to jump behind the counter and help with the sales, but her head was too full and she still hadn’t spotted Lorcan. She had started to feel a little overwhelmed by it all and, she realised, she really, really needed some air. Having pushed her way through the crowd to get outside, she leaned against the window of the bookshop and took a couple of deep breaths. This was crazy. Actually, it was beyond crazy. But in a good way, she thought. It was beyond anything she could have dreamt of. She felt all of a sudden like doing a little happy dance, but she didn’t want to risk Ewan looking out the window, seeing her cutting some of her very suspect moves and deciding against inviting her to Donegal after all. Instead she settled for a little air punch and the quietist of ‘whoops’.

When she looked up, she saw Lorcan as he walked down the street from Harry’s shop, a bunch of wilted flowers in his hand.

‘You’re outside,’ he said as he got close to her. ‘And you look shell-shocked but in a good way. Did it go well? Grandad asked me to bring you these flowers as a good-luck gift. Don’t worry, I didn’t tell him what you needed good luck for, just that you had something important happening. I had to assure him you weren’t dying before he let me leave the shop, but you should prepare yourself for an interrogation the next time you see him,’ he smiled.

Jo took the flowers, knowing that receiving a slightly past-its-best gift from Harry’s stock was a huge honour, and smiled. ‘I needed some air,’ she said. ‘But this is very kind of Harry. Please thank him from me. And yes, it went well. Actually, it was exceptionally surreal, but it was good. Would you believe he loves my work? And, more than that, he wants me to accompany him on a research trip to Donegal over the next few days so he can provide some private mentoring.’

Lorcan raised his eyebrows. ‘Oh… wow. Well, that’s, erm… That’s incredible. What an opportunity! That’s very generous of him.’

‘He says my writing is exquisite and evocative,’ Jo told him, as she tried not to overthink the tone of Lorcan’s response. His ‘Oh… wow!’ was more muted than she might have expected.

‘I have no doubt that it is,’ Lorcan said. ‘None at all.’

‘I know it’s unusual,’ she replied, as a wave of uneasiness rose inside her. ‘To be honest, he said he could also benefit from having someone local help with some of his research trips, so it’s not entirely without benefit to him.’

‘No, I imagine not,’ Lorcan said, and Jo felt herself bristle. It was as if he wasn’t happy for her. Did he not realise what an amazing opportunity this was for her?