It was a blessed relief when Fergus suddenly swallowed down the last of his coffee. ‘Back to the sea. Coming, aul man?’ He kicked his brother under the table.

‘Nice chatting with you ladies.’

They picked up their boards and headed back down to the beach, Hannah watching Conor’s wetsuit-clad form. Even in neoprene he looked something else.

They climbed the path back up to the farm after another swim and hour on the beach.

‘You lucked out with this place,’ said Izzy when they came to her cottage. ‘Having it all to yourself. I couldn’t afford one of these, even sharing. Right, I’d best be off. See you later. I think Jason was talking about a return trip to the pub tonight. Not sure I’m up for that. I’m going to see what Meredith’s planning. I’ll text you if there’s a plan.’

‘Why don’t the two of you come down here? There’s plenty of room and I could nip out and get some wine or something.’

‘That sounds like a great idea. Let me find out what Meredith is up to.’

Izzy walked away up to the path to the main farmhouse and Hannah stood and admired the cottage for a moment. She liked living on her own, but she’d enjoy the company tonight. As she walked up to the front door, she frowned. The bed of flowers under the sitting room window looked trampled upon as if some animal had sat down in them. What a shame. She crossed to the patch and picked a few of the less-mangled flowers, deciding she’d pop them in one of the many vases of flowers inside. Determined to forget about Conor Bloody Byrne, a girls’ night was just what she needed.

Chapter Eleven

‘Oooh, isn’t this lovely. And haven’t you got a great view!’ exclaimed Meredith as she and Izzy came through the front door at half past seven. It was still a lovely evening but the breeze had picked up and rather than sit in the garden as she’d originally planned, Hannah was glad she’d decided to lay everything out in the sitting room. She was still miffed about the desecration of the flowers outside the window and looking at it would have irked her.

‘Come in,’ she said and led the way into the kitchen. ‘Would you like a glass of Prosecco?’

‘Yes,’ said Meredith with delight. ‘Who doesn’t love a bit of fizz? Where did you find that, then? There wasn’t any in our fridge.’

Hannah laughed. ‘I popped into Tralee earlier and found an Aldi on the outskirts of the town.’ If she’d had more time she would have phoned Aidan and Sorcha’s and popped in to see them. How could she have been here a week and not called them yet?