It was all well and good to have a home up the hill. The views were lovely and there was none of the worry about flooding the valley people had, but did the damn hill have to be so steep?
Justine re-gripped the shopping bags and kept going.
“Alright then?”
Ergh, not young Marcus McShea. Not now, with her face red and shiny and puffing like the bellows. And him looking as jaunty and easy as if he were taking a stroll across the lawns of… somewhere flat and fancy… Buckingham Palace, that’d do.
He came even with her and slowed to her pace. “Car still not fixed?”
“No, they’re having trouble with parts, they say.”
He grunted and stayed alongside her. “Help you with the bags then?”
“No need, no need.”
“’Tis every need, since that’s my dinner you have in there. Can’t have you unable to cook it on account of your fingers dropping off from the weight.”
Dreadful lad; made her laugh every time. She surrendered most of the bags. “I’ll be keeping these, or I’ll feel too guilty at making my boss do all my work.”
“Not sure how I feel about being the boss of the lady closest I’ve ever had to a mam.”
“Best not repeat that around your actual mam.”
“She’d agree and thank you for the favour.”
She would too. Mrs McShea was every shade of delightful, but a mother she was not, and not ashamed to say so. How Marcus had turned out so well as anyone’s guess, and his sister too. Not that she was around much any more, with her big important job in the city.
Marcus must have read her mind. “Heard from Shauna earlier, she’s planning on a visit, couple of weekends’ time. Wants to introduce the new man.”
Oh, now that was news. She’d need to get Shauna’s room aired and made up, and should she do up a guest bedroom? Maybe, just to be on the safe side, but not say anything. Oh, and she’d better order in a good bit of beef, Shauna always loved a roast.
Justine was brought back to the present by Marcus’s laugh. “I can see you planning the dinner menu already. You spoil us.”
“Eh, and what would I do if I didn’t?”
The DNA of Stories 