Free The Hat Shop on the Corner by Marita Conlon-Mckenna Page B

lunchtime when she bumped into him next. She was queuing for a sandwich in O’Brien’s and he was coming out of it, holding a caffè latte and a sandwich in one hand.
    ‘Our saving grace.’ He smiled, recognizing her.
    ‘It’s Ellie actually,’ she informed him, hoping that he would somehow remember her name.
    ‘Like above the shop,’ he said with a twinkle in his eye, as she reddened. She was mortified.
    ‘And I’m Rory, by the way, Rory Dunne.’
    Introductions over and standing there in front of him she couldn’t help but notice that he was much taller than her and had a very slight dimple in his right cheek. Stop it, she told herself.
    ‘Just going to take a break, if you care to join me.’
    ‘I have to wait for my sandwich.’
    ‘Then I’ll wait too.’
    She cursed herself for ordering a messy tuna and onion on rye but it was too late to change her order and she would just have to eat it in front of him. She watched as the girl wrapped it and gave her change.
    ‘Well, we can head back to the bowels of the old hall and the wail of two untuned guitars played by a bunch of desperadoes without a musical note in their souls, or take a walk up to the park.’
    She laughed. ‘The park please.’
    They fell into step side by side, chatting easily as they crossed the busy road, and managed to find an empty park bench beside the lake to sit on.
    ‘Always love those ducks,’ grinned Rory. ‘Talk a lot of sense, so they do.’
    Ellie was amused, for she had come to the same conclusion long ago that the ducks in St Stephen’s Green knew far more about life and what matters than they quacked on.
    She asked him about his band as she tried to eat her tuna sandwich in some kind of gracious way.
    ‘I’m not in a band,’ he protested. ‘I’m their big bad manager.’
    He sounded interesting, she thought.
    ‘I used to sing till I was about fourteen but I literally woke up one morning and my voice was gone.’
    ‘Gone?’
    ‘Yep, I got height and hair and hormones overnight but my singing voice was kaput, truly awful and broken. There was my singing career down the tubes before it even got started. So I gathered myself together and since I could play a few notes on the old man’s guitar I reckoned I’d find another way into the music business – I didn’t realize Dublin was full to bursting with would-be Rory Gallaghers and Edges, so I gave that up too. Managing bands was the obvious and the last resort.’
    She watched as he ate his sliced beef and mustard sandwich, praying that the tuna sandwich on her lap wouldn’t fall all over the place as she discreetly tried to nibble it. ‘And do you like it?’
    ‘Some days the guys drive me crazy when they don’t turn up, or forget where they are meant to be. They can be like a load of big babies that need serious handling, but most of the time it’s great.
    ‘What about you?’ he quizzed, turning his gaze on her. ‘How long have you been working in the hat shop?’
    ‘The shop has been in the family for years. It was my mother’s but she passed away a while ago and for some mad reason I decided to stay on and run it.’
    ‘Good for you!’
    ‘I’m not sure it was the wisest of decisions but I do love it.’
    ‘We all have to take risks,’ he said, fixing her with his blue eyes. ‘That’s what makes life interesting.’
    Ellie swallowed hard, knowing that sitting here talking to an utter stranger over an al fresco lunch in the sunshine was risky.
    ‘I’d better get back,’ she apologized, standing up.
    ‘Why don’t you stay longer, chill out for the afternoon?’
    ‘No, I can’t,’ she said, seriously tempted. ‘I’ve someone collecting a hat at two thirty.’
    ‘Well, I guess I’ll hang out here with the ducks for another hour, but if you’re free on Friday night the guys are doing a gig and you’re welcome to come along.’
    ‘Where?’
    ‘Across the street. It’ll probably be the last in good old McGonagle’s,’ he admitted as