Two For Joy by Patricia Scanlan Read Free Book Online Page A

that the lads will be breaking through tomorrow, maybe you might like to go shopping for a few hours. It will be a bit noisy, to say the least.’
    â€˜OK,’ she said. ‘You look a bit knackered, are you sure you wouldn’t like a beer, even, if I can’t persuade you to have tea or coffee?’
    He stretched tiredly. ‘A beer sounds mighty good to me. It’s a very humid night, isn’t it?’
    â€˜Very,’ Noreen agreed as she went into the kitchen and took a bottle of Miller out of the fridge. ‘Glass?’
    â€˜Naw, thanks, I’ll drink it out of the bottle. Are you going to have one yourself?’
    â€˜Oh!’ she was surprised. ‘Why not? It’s been a long day.’
    Oliver grinned and took a long draught of the cool golden liquid. ‘Larry likes to get started early,’ he said, referring to the builder who came every morning at seven thirty on the dot. ‘He’s been with me a long time. He’s one of my best. In fact he taught me a hell of a lot when I started out in the building trade, so I’ve no worries about the work being up to scratch. Larry’s a perfectionist,’ he said as he took another swig of beer.
    â€˜A bit like yourself, then,’ Noreen remarked. To her surprise a dull flush suffused his neck and cheeks and she realized that Oliver Flynn was quite shy, despite his outwardly calm, businesslike reserve.
    â€˜If that’s a compliment I’ll take it,’ he said, awkwardly.
    â€˜It’s a rare commodity now to find people who have high standards at work. It’s no wonder you’re booked solid,’ she said lightly, ‘I’m just glad that you and your high standards and Larry the perfectionist are looking after my extension.’
    â€˜That’s good. Thanks for the beer, Noreen. See you tomorrow,’ he said briskly as he laid the bottle on the table and left.
    Noreen closed the door after him, half sorry that he’d rushed off so soon. Oliver Flynn could be an interesting man if you could get behind the shyness long enough to get to know him. She’d been gone from Kilronan so long, she had no real friends left here now. She certainly didn’t count Rita and Maura as friends.
    She was lonely, she realized as she watched the lights of his car disappear over the hill. She’d been so busy sorting out things for her mother and getting the house and extension organized, she’d had little time to socialize. It had been nice having the bottle of beer with Oliver. She must get in a supply, and keep them cold in the fridge for the duration of the building works. Having a nightly beer with Oliver would be a pleasant way of ending the day; she might even get beyond his shyness and see what made him tick. Now that would be a challenge and a half, Noreen thought in amusement as she drew the curtains, locked the door, rinsed a few cups in the sink and switched out the lights.
    As she lay in bed later, looking out at a full moon that slanted slivers of white gold light through her window, she replayed the events of the day and fell asleep thinking about Oliver, hoping that he would stay and have a beer with her after work in the days to come.
    To her gratification when she offered him a beer the following evening he accepted and they chatted about inconsequential things. She deliberately kept the conversation light and made no personal observations. Oliver was a good listener and, over time, she found herself telling him about her resentment at having to leave her job in London to come home. ‘It’s not that I don’t love my mother, I do,’ she explained, anxious that he wouldn’t think her a selfish wagon. ‘It’s just that Rita and Maura think that just because they’re married and I’m not, I’m the one who has to give up everything to come home. They’re offloading it all on to my shoulders.’
    It was a huge relief to be able to