Maeve Binchy - Tara Road

'I don't really know. Mam says I might be a journalist or a lawyer because I have an enquiring mind. Annie says I should be bouncer in a casino. Would you like me to be an auctioneer and work in your office with you?'

'Not really, Brian. I think people should choose their own line of work, follow their own star.'

'What did your parents want you to do?'

'I think they hoped I'd marry a rich farmer's daughter and get my hands on some land.'

'I'm glad you didn't. But suppose I did want to be an auctioneer I could, couldn't I? Then I could see you every day in the office, even if you didn't come home to live again.'

'Sure, Brian, I'd love to see you every day, we'll work something out.’

'And even when Bernadette's baby comes you'll still have time for us?' Brian's face was anxious.

Danny couldn't find the words to speak. He gripped Brian's shoulder very hard. When he did speak his voice was choked. 'I’ll always have time for you and Annie, Brian, believe me. Always.'

'I knew you would, I was just checking,' said Brian.

They took Danny on a tour, pointing out all the sights of Westville and ending up at the burger bar beside the bus station where Annie and Brian were catching the bus to the Maines.

Zach and Hubie turned up to say goodbye. 'It's going to be real dull with you gone,' Zach said.

'It's going to be fairly dull with Kelly, she's a girl, you know,' Brian said. Zach nodded sympathetically.

'If that guy Sean Maine puts a hand on you, I'll know and I'll be up there so quick…' Hubie said.

'Will you stop talking about people putting hands on me? My parents are listening to you,’ hissed Annie.

Danny and Ria got into the car and drove back to Tudor Drive.

'You were right to bring them out here, it's a great holiday for them.'

'Well, you paid their fares.' She was giving credit where it was due. In her list she had written down: Make it easy for him. Be cool and calm rather than eager. Don't let him think he is a villain. Don't gush. Don't say that you knew he'd come back. Make no plans for Bernadette's future, that's up to him . Ria smiled to herself. They might laugh at her lists, but they had their uses.

'You're happy here?' Danny said.

I'm fine,' she agreed.

'What's that place over there?' He pointed to a cluster of trees in the distance.

'That's Memorial Park, they keep it beautifully.'

'Could we go and walk there, sit there for a bit?'

'Sure, but would you not prefer to go home? The garden in Tudor Drive is as good as it gets.'

'I'd prefer somewhere… I don't know… somewhere a bit separate from things.'

'Right, Memorial Park it is. There's car parking around this way.'

They walked together and looked at the names of the men from Westville who had died in the World Wars, in Korea and Vietnam.

'What a waste war is. Look, that boy was only four years older than Annie,' Ria said.

'I know, he could have been one of those old men playing chess there instead of a name on a piece of stone,' Danny said.

She longed to touch him but she remembered her advice to herself. They sat down on a wooden seat and he reached out to hold her hand in his.

'You probably know what I have to say,' he said.

She worried slightly, just a little. Surely he should say what he wanted to say not what he had to say. Still it was only words. 'Say it, Danny.'

'I admire you so much, I really do… and I hate to have to tell you bad news. I can't tell you how much I hate it. The only one thing you'll have to give me some little credit for is that I came out to tell you myself.'

She felt a big heavy stone suddenly develop below her throat, under the jaunty scarf that she had tied so cheerfully that morning.

'So?' she said, not trusting herself to say anything more.

'It's very bad, Ria.'

'No, it can't be all that bad.' Ria realised that he was not coming back to her. This was not what this was all about. Her list hadn't been necessary at all. It didn't matter now whether she was calm or cool or gushy, he wasn't coming back.

She heard herself speaking. 'Danny, I've already had the worst news, nothing will ever be as bad as that. There can't be anything else you have to tell me.'

'There is,' he said.

And on a wooden seat in Memorial Park, Westville, he told Ria that her home was gone. Part of the assets in the estate of Barney McCarthy, which would be put into the hands of the receiver very shortly.

'There's a party tonight, we can go to it,' Sean Maine said the moment Annie arrived.

'Do we have to take Brian and Kelly?’

'No way. My mom got them a video to watch.' 'I don't have any party clothes,' Annie said sadly. 'You look just great.' The admiration in Sean's eyes was plain. Kitty wouldn't believe it. What a pity she wasn't here to watch this triumph! But of course Kitty would have the jeans off him by this stage, Annie thought disapprovingly. There would be none of that sort of thing as far as Annie was concerned; she must make that very clear from the start. Hubie had said it was totally unfair to look as good as she did and then not play. It was like putting delicious food on the table and then taking it away before people could eat it, he said. Really it was all very complicated.

'All right, Hilary, what is it? What are you trying to tell me?'

'And how did you know that I wanted to tell you anything, Mam?' Hilary asked.

'You're like Pliers. He goes round in a circle when he's trying to let you know he wants to go for a walk, you're doing the same.'

'Nothing's written in stone, Mam.'

'Tell me.'

'I mean if Ria were only here I'd sound her out before telling you anything at all…'

'Do I have to beat it out of you, Hilary?'

'Martin and I were wondering would you mind if we went to live in the country?'

'The country ?

'I knew you'd mind. Martin said you wouldn't.'

'Whereabouts in the country?' Nora Johnson was astounded.

'Well, Martin's old home. You know, none of his brothers want to live there and the house is falling down and there's a teacher's job in the local school, and I'd be able to get a job there as well.'

'You'd live in the west?' Nora Johnson as a Dubliner regarded the country as a place you went for holidays.

'If you wouldn't be upset by it, Mam, yes we would.'

'I wouldn't be upset by anything. But Hilary, child, in the name of God what would possess you to go over there?' She should have known.

'It's going to be much cheaper, Mam. We've done our sums, the cost of living is much lower there, less petrol on commuting, and of course we'll get a little nest egg from selling our own house.'

'And what will you do with the little nest egg?'

'We'll just hold on to it, Mam, it would be a great comfort to us as we grow older.'

Nora nodded her head. For Martin and Hilary it might be the only comfort. 'And what made you make up your mind?'

'When we were there last I looked up and wasn't the place all surrounded by trees,' Hilary said. 'I knew then it was right for us.'

'I suppose you have sex with the customers?' Jack roared at Gertie.

'Ah, Jack, will you give over.' Gertie struggled to get herself free of his grip. 'What are you talking about?'

'You're my woman and you're not going out like any old cheap tart just to have a tenner in your handbag.'

'Let me go. You're hurting me, Jack, I beg you.'

'Where do you do it? Up against the wall, is it?'

'You know this is only madness.' She was terrified now; she hadn't seen him like this for a long time. She knew that Ria and the children were up visiting the Maines this weekend. What a different story Ria would tell. Suppose Sheila could see her now.

'You knew I'd discover, didn't you?'