Excerpt
Ian wished he had stayed with them. He had been so sure that they were coming here. No doubt had crossed his mind. Till now. God, what a balls-up, he thought angrily.
He had left the newspaper somewhere. He was bored. He was annoyed with himself. He gritted his teeth to fight back an urge to kick the bar and thump his fist on the countertop.
The thought of the thirty-mile drive back through the darkness to Belfast maddened him even more.
And then they were there, four of them now, framed in the doorway, searching the room for a table. Janet pointed and the others followed her across the room. He lost sight of them and struggled with the overpowering temptation to turn his head and watch. Just a few minutes. Then slowly he turned to the left. They were not there. He looked at the bottles and the glasses behind the bar in front of him. Oh for a mirror, he thought. Then slowly, casually, he swung to the right. Before he had turned twenty degrees he saw them. They sat round a table near the one he had abandoned in the corner. Nora had her back to him. Janet sat opposite Nora, facing the bar. He did not take time to sort out in which chairs the other two were sitting. He relaxed. He felt his stomach give an exultant little leap. He lit another cigarette and ordered a double Scotch.
Now what do I do? Is seeing her enough? Is being in the same room with her enough?
He could feel physical vibrations from her body shudder through his own, like an electric current, stimulating surges of exhilaration from his head to his heels. Yes; that was enough. That was beautiful. At times he turned round and for a few moments, longer if Janet was not looking his way, he allowed his eyes to linger on Nora’s back, her shoulders, her upper arms, on the long, shiny black hair that hid her neck. She wore a pale pink dress. Her white, angora cardigan hung over the back of her chair. The galvanising electrical surges increased the voltage of their charge and centred it in Ian’s lower belly.
‘Ian?’
He turned. Nora stood in front of him smiling that enrapturing smile. Her cardigan hung in the crook of her arm, and she held a small, black handbag in her hand. ‘It is you,’ she said.
‘Nora! What a pleasure to see you again?’
Libros Libertad 