“Come in. Let me give you a hand with that bag,” Conor said as he lifted the large rucksack that was on the floor next to Sarah. He was still in a state of shock and couldn't quite believe she was there in the apartment. He was dumbfounded and felt awkward. There was so much he wanted to say to her, but he was unable to speak.
Sarah was soaking wet from the heavy rain outside. Conor gave her a towel to dry her hair and asked her if she had dry clothes in her rucksack to put on. She said she had, and she went into the bathroom to change. Conor hung her wet clothes beside the radiators.
He brought a half bottle of whiskey from the cupboard over the sink to warm Sarah up from her soaking. As the drink went down, the conversation flowed more easily.
“Well, Sarah, how's things going back in Sligo? To ask a stupid question, why are you in London on a wet Tuesday night?” Conor asked as he laughed.
“I packed up the job at the bank last week. I was sick of it. I just couldn't settle in Ballygalvin. I had to get away. To get away from Sligo, get away from Ireland. I want to travel and I thought that London could be a good base to start from.”
“Well, good for you, Sarah. God, I'd love to travel. You're lucky you have the freedom to do it.”
“What's stopping you from travelling? Why don't you come with me? We could go to India or Nepal and live with Buddhist monks.” Sarah laughed.
“Maybe I will, who knows?”
The pair spoke for hours and they laughed as they retold old stories about their adventures in Galway while in university back in the early years of the decade. They were the happy times they wanted to remember, the happy memories of themselves and Darragh. Later, Sarah's laughter turned to tears and as Sarah cried, Conor reached out to hold her. As he held her, she kissed him and told him that the real reason she came to London was not to travel, but to be with him.
Conor and Sarah lay together in bed that night and held each other close. As they slept, they dreamt of the lonely hills of Rossbeg and the now empty cottage. They imagined the grey woods of Dunmadden and the nearby sandy shore of Lough Oughter and the stars and the whole of the moon shining down upon it on a cool April night. The light breeze crossing through the young fragile leaves on the trees in the woods and the gentle ripple of the water on the surface of the lake as the soft breeze passed over … and then there was silence.
About the Author
Kevin McManus lives in County Leitrim in Western Ireland. He graduated from University with a Masters Degree in History and a Higher Diploma in Education in 1998. Since then he has worked as a secondary school teacher.
Kevin has also played in many bands over the years since the mid-eighties in Western Ireland and in Dublin and still retains a great love of music.
Also By Kevin McManus
DEATH RAINS DOWN
Every body has a price.
The brutal murder of a Polish office worker leads to a tangled web of duplicity stretching from the heart of Detective Ray Logue's police department all the way to the upper echelons of political power.
Set in Ireland at the peak of the Celtic Tiger era, this is a dark story of murder, organised crime and political corruption.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Rains-Down-Detective-Logue-ebook/dp/B01N6ZY6MQ
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