Saving Christmas in the Little Irish Village (The Little Irish Village #5)

Chapter 7

7

Hannah watched her mam’s face light up upon seeing their guest. Nora Kelly loved a full house, and her longing for a pet appeared to be forgotten at the sight of Thomas’s hesitant smile. He loitered with his hands dug into his jeans pockets, waiting to be invited to join them. He’d obviously won her mam over since he’d arrived yesterday, Hannah thought. Unlike herself, and she squirmed on her seat, squashing the memory of what had happened less than forty minutes ago on the upstairs landing.

‘Have you ants in your pants, Hannah?’ Liam enquired with a raised bushy brow.

Mercifully, Thomas appeared not to have heard this remark. There’d been enough discussion about her underwear for one day.

Nora warmly welcomed him to come and sit down like he was her long-lost son returning home from the Great War, and Hannah took advantage of being able to check him out undetected as he sat down at the opposite end of the table to where her dad presided at the head.

Hmm, mid-brown hair, preppy haircut, glasses hiding a set of silvery-grey eyes, clean-shaven and a cute smile. She noticed his mouth quirking a little higher on the right, giving him a cheeky look. He was tall, lanky like a runner and dressed casually but smartly in weekend wear. Beneath his sweater, she could see the muscle definition around his broad shoulders and biceps, further suggesting someone who enjoyed marathons. He’d probably get on great guns with Imo, she thought, finishing her inventory and giving him an ‘A’ for attractive and an ‘NMT’ for not my type . His look screamed conformist, and she decided that this man her mam was fawning over was not a breaker nor a bender of the rules.

‘And of course, you’ve already met Hannah, but let me properly introduce you,’ Mam tinkled as Nan served their guest a miserly piece of pie. ‘Thomas Flynn, this is my middle daughter, Hannah Kelly. And, Kitty, there’s plenty to go around.’ She frowned at her mother-in-law.

There was nothing for it but to put what had happened earlier behind her, because while their paths were unlikely to cross during the day, mealtimes were a different story. Her pride did not extend to missing out on Nan and Mam’s cooking while she was home. As such, she steeled herself and raised her head to look Thomas square in the eye, only to see mirth glittering back at her. She gritted her teeth. Her tumbling backwards like so wasn’t something to laugh about. Sure, what if she’d broken something? Hannah fumed, knowing full well that if the situation had been reversed, she’d have been crying-laughing.

‘Nice to meet you again,’ she mumbled insincerely, putting her nose in the air and looking away. Mam would undoubtedly be in her ear about being rude to their guest the first chance she got. Well, too bad because it wasn’t Mam who’d been caught in flagrante delicto!

Liam was more interested in what Kitty was dishing him up than his daughter’s haughty behaviour. ‘Don’t forget the pastry, like, Mam. You seem to be tunnelling under it with your spoon. What is it you’re hoping to find?’ He then adopted a jokey tone, ‘There’s gold under that there pie!’

Kitty didn’t crack a smile. ‘No pastry for you, son. It’s just the chicken, vegetables and lovely green slaw. It’s a new recipe I’m after finding.’

‘But, Mam?—’

‘Don’t be but mamming me. ’Tis the way it is, son.’

‘Kitty’s looking after you,’ Nora appeased, but Liam’s arms were folded over his chest, and he’d slumped in his seat like a belligerent child about to shout, ‘It’s not fair!’ However, he said, ‘I’ve a word of advice for you, young Thomas.’

‘Please, everyone, call me Tom.’

‘Well, Tom, don’t go having a heart attack. It’s not worth the aggravation. I’ve had nothing but kale, cabbage and anything green grown in the ground since the summer. If it keeps up, I will wake up one morning to find sprouts growing out of my ears.’

‘They’re superfoods, son,’ Kitty soothed.

‘They’re vegetables, and man can’t live on vegetables alone. So don’t be getting ideas about Christmas. It’s the full monty I’ll be having, thanks very much.’

‘I don’t know what you’re complaining about. People are starving in the world, and there’s you with plenty of chicken on your plate,’ Kitty said, placing it in front of him.

‘Nan’s got a point, Dad.’

‘Don’t you be putting your ten pence in and all,’ Liam shot across at his daughter.

Hannah grinned then glanced at Tom to see what he made of the bickering banter that was par for the course around the Kelly family table, albeit a diluted version, given her sisters weren’t here. A smile twitched at the corners of his mouth.

Silence settled over the table as they all began to hoe in. Nora slipped another slice of pie on his plate as Tom cleared his mean serving up.

‘Thanks, Mrs Kelly.’

‘If I’m to call you Tom, you’ll call me Nora. Fair’s fair.’

‘And me Liam.’

‘I’ll stick with Mrs Kelly.’ Kitty was tight-lipped.

‘Of course, Mrs Kelly,’ Tom directed at her politely.

Nan was behaving strangely, and Hannah wondered what her problem was. Nora and Liam were staring at her quizzically, too.

‘And thanks, Nora. This is delicious.’ Tom smiled across the table.

Ten out of ten for good manners, Hannah thought.

‘You’re a wonderful cook.’

Good manners bordering on an apple polisher, as Nan would say. Arse licker was more Hannah’s terminology.

Nora, however, puffed up like her pastry topping. ‘Ah, it’s only a simple chicken pot pie, but I’m after making the pastry myself. None of that pre-rolled frozen malarkey.’

‘Rub it in, why don’t you,’ Liam grumbled.

‘Home cooking is a real treat.’ Tom forked up the remainder of his pie, which proved his point.

He’d just cemented himself in Mam’s good books for life, though Nan clearly hadn’t taken to him.

Hannah’s attention returned to Tom as he explained why he was hard done by on the home-cooking front.

‘My recipe repertoire is limited to bangers and mash and spag bol. I tend to order in or eat out mostly. It’s easier when you’re cooking for one.’

So he lived alone then. Hannah thought that he’d also unwittingly ensured he’d be sent back to wherever it was he’d come from with some frozen meals to pop in his freezer. Then, trying to redeem herself where Mam was concerned, she feigned interest. ‘So, where do you call home then, Tom?’

‘An apartment in Drumcondra, not far from Croke Park. And yourself?’

‘Cork City in a house-share. I work for a non-profit organisation. Feed the World with Bees.’

‘Hannah.’ Nora Kelly’s voice held a warning note. ‘Cop yourself on now. Tom’s no room for a hive if he’s living in an apartment.’

There were a cluster of hives at the bottom of the Shamrock’s beer garden thanks to Hannah doing her bit to ensure the world’s bee population survived.

‘Hive maybe, but have you done your Christmas shopping yet, Tom?’

‘Er—’

‘Because I’ve just the thing. I’m your one-stop Christmas shop.’

‘You sound like a pushy little elf,’ Liam remarked.

‘She looks like one, too, with that hair,’ Kitty added.

‘If she were dressed in green, maybe.’ Nora got the final word on the subject in.

Hannah ignored them all and began giving Tom the same spiel she’d given the foot traffic in Cork the other day. To give credit where it was due, his eyes didn’t immediately glaze over as she told him about the perfect Christmas gifts still stored in the boot of her car. To her amazement, Tom leaned toward her, head tilted to one side, his body language screaming he was interested in what she had to say! And so she talked. And talked. And when she’d finally run out of things to tell him about on the bee front, her reward was an order for a ten-pack of her seed cards. He flashed her that cute grin as she said, ‘The bees of the world thank you.’

Hannah’s NMT verdict wavered slightly, and she was curious about him. It wasn’t every day she met someone interested in what she had to say. ‘So then, Tom, what’s brought you to Emerald Bay in the depths of winter?’

‘Work, actually.’

She hadn’t expected that. Hannah wiped her assumption he was visiting family. ‘Sure, you’re very dedicated, working over the weekend.’

‘So are you.’ Silver glints danced in his eyes.

Touché, Hannah thought, only aware of herself and Tom at the table now. She’d never met a man who suited glasses as well as he did. ‘What is it you do then?’

Kitty erupted into a violent coughing fit, and Liam pushed his chair back.

The spell was broken, and Hannah felt like she was coming up for air. She turned her concerned gaze toward her nan, watching as her dad pressed a glass of water into her hand. Kitty took a grateful sip, and the cough subsided to a random hiccup.

‘Sorry about that. Something went down the wrong way.’ Kitty placed her knife and fork on her plate, half her meal untouched, and rose from her seat. ‘I’ll put the kettle on, shall I?’

‘We’ve not finished our lunch yet, Kitty, and you’ve barely touched yours. Are you feeling all right?’ Nora asked, concern etched between her eyebrows.

With a look of resignation, Kitty sighed and sank back into her seat. ‘I’m grand. I just fancied a cup of tea.’

She didn’t sound grand, Hannah thought. She was about to push her nan for more when a gust of frigid air brought her eldest sister, Shannon, and James sailing through the door. Shannon dumped the bag she was carrying and rubbed her hands together, saying something smelled good. James, however, had a bundle wrapped in a colourful sweater in his arms. Hannah could see two pointy ears twitching and not much else. What on earth was it?

For the second time that day, a piercing scream rang out, only this time it was Nora Kelly, not Hannah.

‘Get that rat out of here!’