Girls and the city” a hit in the ratings 10 страница

newsagent looked perplexed and continued serving the customers.

“I’m Rob,” the man said, helping her put all her chocolate back into the bag, and held his hand out.

“I’m Holly,” she said, a little embarrassed by his overfriendliness as she took his hand. “And I’m a chocoholic.”

He laughed.

“Thanks for the help,” she said gratefully, getting to her feet.

“No problem.” He held the door open for her. He was good-looking, she thought, a few years older than her, and

had the oddest colored eyes, a kind of a gray-green color. She squinted at him and took a closer look.

He cleared his throat.

She blushed, suddenly realizing she had been staring at him like a fool. She walked out to her car and placed the

bulging bag in the backseat. Rob followed her over. Her heart did a little flip.

“Hi again,” he said. “Em... I was wondering if you would like to go for a drink?” Then he laughed, glancing at his

watch. “Actually, it’s a bit too early for that, how about a coffee?”

He was a very confident man and he rested himself coolly against the car opposite Holly, his hands sat in the

pockets of his jeans with his thumbs resting outside, and those weird eyes just stared back at her. However, he

didn’t make her feel uncomfortable; in fact, he was acting very relaxed, as though asking a stranger out for coffee

was the most natural thing in the world. Was this what people did these days?

“Em...” Holly thought about it. What harm could it do to go for a coffee with a man who had been so polite to her?

The fact that he was absolutely gorgeous also helped. But regardless of his beauty, Holly really craved company and

he seemed like a nice, decent man to talk to. Sharon and Denise were at work and Holly couldn’t keep calling over

to her mother’s house, Elizabeth had work to do too. Holly really needed to start meeting new people. Many of

Gerry and Holly’s other friends had been Gerry’s friends from work and from various other walks of life, but once

he had died all those “friends” of theirs hadn’t been much of a familiar feature around her house. At least she knew

who her true friends were.

She was just about to say yes to Rob when he glanced down at her hand and his smile faded. “Oh sorry, I didn’t

realize...” He backed away from her awkwardly, as if she had some kind of disease. “I have to rush off anyway.”

He smiled quickly at her and took off down the road.

Holly stared after him, confused. Had she said something wrong? Had she taken too long to decide? Had she

broken one of the silent rules of this new meeting-people game? She looked down at the hand that had caused him

to run away from her and saw her wedding ring sparkle back at her. She sighed loudly and rubbed her face tiredly.

Just then the teenager from the shop walked by with a gang of friends and a cigarette in his mouth and snorted at

her.

She just couldn’t win.

Holly slammed the door of her car and looked around. She wasn’t in the mood to go home, she was sick of staring at

the walls all day every day and talking to herself. It was still only ten o’clock in the morning and it was beautifully

sunny and warm outside. Across the road her local cafe, the Greasy Spoon, was setting up tables and chairs outside.

Her stomach grumbled. A nice big Irish breakfast was exactly what she needed. She took her sunglasses from the

glove compartment of her car, carried her newspapers with both hands and wandered across the road. A plump

lady was cleaning the tables. Her hair was tied back tightly in a large bun and a bright red-and-white checked apron

covered her flowery dress. Holly felt like she had walked straight into a country kitchen.

“Been a while since these tables have seen sunlight,” she said happily to Holly as she approached the cafe.

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“Yeah, it’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” Holly said, and the two of them stared up at the clear blue sky. It was funny

how good weather in Ireland always seemed to be the conversation of the day with everyone. It was such a rare

sight that everyone felt blessed when it finally arrived.

“You want to sit out here, love?”

“Yes I do, might as well make the most out of it, it’ll probably be gone in an hour,” Holly laughed, taking a seat.

“You need to think positively, love.” She busied herself around Holly. “Right, I’ll get you the menu,” she said,

turning to leave.

“No, it’s OK,” Holly called after her, “I know what I want. I’ll have the Irish breakfast.”

“No problem, love.” She smiled, and her eyes widened when she saw the pile of newspapers on the table. “You

thinking of starting your own newsagents?” she chuckled.

Holly looked down at the pile and laughed at the sight of the Arab Leader lying on the top. She had grabbed every

single paper and hadn’t even thought to check what they were. She doubted very much the Arab Leader contained

any articles about the documentary.

“Well, to tell you the truth, love,” the woman said, cleaning the table beside her, “you’d be doing us all a favor if

you put that miserable ol’ bastard out of business.” She glared across the road to the newsagent. Holly laughed as

the woman waddled back into the cafe.

Holly just sat there for a while watching the world go by. She loved catching snippets of people’s conversations as

they walked by; it gave her a sneaky peek into the lives of others. She loved to guess what people did for a living,

where they were headed to as they rushed by, where they lived, if they were married or single... Sharon and Holly

loved going for coffee in Bewley’s cafe overlooking Grafton Street, as it was the best place for people-spotting.

They would create little scenarios in their heads to pass the time, but Holly seemed to be doing this very regularly

these days. Just another demonstration of how her mind was caught in other people’s lives instead of focusing on

her own. For example, the new story she was creating involved the man walking down the path holding hands with

his wife. Holly decided that he was secretly gay and the man headed toward them was his lover. Holly watched

their faces as they approached each other, wondering if they would make eye contact. They went one better than

that and Holly tried not to giggle as the three of them stopped just in front of her table.

“Excuse me? Have you got the time?” the lover asked the secretly gay man and his wife.

“Yes, it’s a quarter past ten,” the secretly gay man answered him, looking at his watch.

“Thanks a lot,” the lover said, touching his arm, and walked on.

Now it was as clear as day to Holly that that had been secret code for a rendezvous later. She continued her peoplespotting

for a little while longer until she eventually got bored and decided to live her own life for a change.

Holly flicked through the pages of the tabloids and came to a small article in the review section that caught her eye.

GIRLS AND THE CITY” A HIT IN THE RATINGS

Дата добавления: 2015-10-29