‘Oh, I see. And am I stopping you from attending?’

‘Nope. Much to the chagrin of Mammy but there we are.’

‘Do Brighid and Gerry not go either?’

‘Most people have a lie-in on a Sunday so they go to the early service. Liam hangs about if there’s any requests for an unsociably early breakfast.’

‘He’s another non-conformer like you, is he?’

Lorcan glanced towards me and gave me a patient smile before turning his eyes back to the road, following a bend before taking a small turning on the left. ‘Here we are.’

‘Oh!’

I felt his eyes on me as we travelled up the driveway. ‘Is that a good oh or a bad oh?’

‘It’s a good oh,’ I confirmed, beaming at him before returning my gaze to the view in front of me. ‘Definitely a good oh. It’s incredible! No wonder Peyton wants the wedding here. You can practically feel the history washing over you.’

‘Yep, she was pretty excited about it when they came to take a look.’

‘I can imagine. I’d have liked to have seen that.’

He huffed out a laugh. ‘She doesn’t hold back when she’s enthusiastic about something. That’s for sure.’

‘I don’t think that’s a bad trait.’

‘No, I agree. It wouldn’t do for us all to be reserved.’

His words bounced around in my head. Was that aimed at me? I certainly got enthusiastic about things, but I did try and keep it all within a professional realm and, if I was honest, that characteristic might have morphed into my private life far more than I intended it to. And now that it was there, it was hard to remove it without suddenly seeming fake. Inside I knew I was excited and enthusiastic about things but did the people who should know realise that?

‘Come on, space cadet,’ he said, pulling on the handbrake. ‘Let’s take a look inside. Calum’s already here, by the looks.’ He nodded at a small, bright green car.

‘Gosh! You wouldn’t miss that coming towards you, would you?’

‘No. And Calum is much the same,’ Lorcan said, opening one of the heavy front doors. ‘Ladies first.’

‘Thank you,’ I said, my eyes already scanning the surroundings as I did my best not to hobble too much. Thank God I’d packed some flat shoes.

‘Here.’ Lorcan offered his arm. ‘Just to help with the weight, like the doc said. The longer you go against his directions, the longer it will take to heal.’

He had a point, so I took his arm and continued taking in the scene around me. ‘This is amazing!’

‘Glad you like it. Think you can do something with it?’

I turned to him, the laughter in my eyes matching his. ‘I’m pretty sure I’ll manage.’

‘Good to hear,’ he said, squeezing my arm gently with the tease.

17