Page 31 of The Book of Irish Secrets
The girl nodded. ‘Okay. I’ll be back in a minute.’
It wasn’t long before the waitress was back with a tray which she placed on the table in front of them. ‘There you go,’ she said. ‘I hope you’ll enjoy it.’
‘We will,’ Pierce said. ‘Thank you so much. We wanted a break from the excitement in town.’
‘It was a bit noisy,’ the girl said with a smile. ‘But there’ll be great craic up at the pub later.’
‘Oh, we don’t want to miss that,’ Pierce assured her. ‘We’ll be there later on.’
‘Me too,’ the girl said. ‘Give me a shout if you need anything else.’
When she had left, Pierce poured the tea and handed Claire a cup. ‘Here. Help yourself to milk and a scone. They’re delicious.’
Claire poured milk from the jug into her tea and took a scone. ‘So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?’ she asked while spreading whipped cream and strawberry jam on her scone.
Pierce took a sip from his tea and looked at Claire over the rim of the cup. ‘I don’t know if you’re aware that someone is asking questions about you?’
Claire stared at him. ‘Questions? About me? Who was it?’
‘A man,’ Pierce said. ‘Dark hair, brown eyes, medium build, deep suntan. Good looking, actually.’
‘Oh no,’ Claire said, her heart sinking as it dawned on her who it was. ‘It sounds like my ex-husband.’
‘Really?’ Pierce looked surprised.
‘I’m sure it’s him. Where did you meet him?’
‘I didn’t, actually. I just overheard him asking the waiter about you in the pub. Gleesons’, you know, near Madigan’s B&B. Where we’re going tonight.’
‘What is he doing here?’ Claire asked, as it hit her what it could mean. If Hugh was in town looking for her, he might reveal her birth name and then her cover would be blown. ‘He’s supposed to be in Spain. That’s when he went when he left me.’
‘Looks like he’s been there recently, judging by the tan,’ Pierce remarked.
‘Yes, but…’ Claire started.Why is he here, looking for me?she thought.This is all I need. If he starts talking to people, he’s sure to tell them who I am and then…She shivered as she imagined the worst. It would be a disaster and ruin everything she had spent the past few months trying to build up.
FIFTEEN
‘When did you see him?’ she asked.
‘Yesterday,’ Pierce replied, looking curiously at Claire. ‘Why do you look so shocked?’
Claire forgot all about the scones and the tea. ‘I think he’s here because of the house,’ she said. ‘I mean, the house we own together in Dublin. He’ll want me to sell it.’
‘Why didn’t you sell it when you divorced?’ Pierce said.
‘We should have but I came up with an alternative plan,’ Claire said, wringing her hands. ‘Finola, his cousin and my best friend, was living with us and I didn’t want to throw her out. I liked living there, too. It was my safe space, my haven. But then, in January, three years after he left me, I felt I needed a change.’ She stopped for a moment, knowing that this would be a good time to tell him everything.
‘Yes?’ Pierce said.
Then Claire changed her mind about telling him. His eyes were so kind and she knew she’d shatter this moment if she revealed her true identity. ‘I decided to go to Kerry for a bit and thought I’d let the house short term,’ she continued, feeling like a fraud. But she just couldn’t bear the thought of him disliking her for lying to everyone. ‘Finola came up with the idea of lettingit on Airbnb so she could stay on and look after the place while I went to Kerry.’ Claire drew breath for a moment. ‘I thought I should hang on to the house in case I wanted to come back,’ she continued. ‘But now I think I want to stay here in Kerry. I’ve only been here for a short time, but I feel so at home here already. And I met you, and that has added to my fondness for Kerry.’ She stopped looking at his dear face, trying to convey how important he was to her.
He took her hand. ‘You’re very dear to me, too, Claire. So then you could agree to sell the house?’ he asked.
‘Yes, I will. It doesn’t seem important to keep it any more,’ she said.
‘So there will be no problem, then,’ he said with a fond smile. ‘But go on, drink your tea before it gets cold.’
Claire picked up her cup and took a sip, feeling a little better. ‘No, everything will work out fine. But I don’t understand how Hugh knew where I was. And also why he didn’t just send me an email. We haven’t spoken since the divorce, so why now?’ She took a bite of the scone but found it was nearly choking her as she envisaged what would happen if Hugh told anyone who she really was. ‘I have to find him,’ she said.
