‘You still doing your sculptures, Henry?’ Peggy asked him. The librarian was all fluttering eyelashes.
‘Sure am,’ Henry replied, flashing a big smile at Peggy.
‘Henry is one of Vinalhaven’s artists,’ she told Emer. ‘We’ve a few living here, as well as writers.’
‘We love the seclusion,’ Henry told her. ‘Very peaceful for creating.’
‘But of course Henry is also a born islander, unlike me,’ Peggy tittered. ‘Though I feel like this is where I belong, for sure.’
‘Vinalhaven worked its magic on you, right, Peggy?’ Henry winked at Emer. She felt a little awkward with this familiarity.
‘Well, isn’t it just so beautiful here?’ Peggy turned to Emer.
‘Yes, it is, really the prettiest place I’ve been,’ Emer said honestly. ‘All the wooden houses, with pumpkins lined up outside, and the leaves on the trees are just stunning.’
‘Yeah, we take Halloween very seriously here on Vinalhaven.’ Henry grinned at her. ‘Fall has to be the time of year when the island looks its best.’
‘All the fall foliage,’ Peggy agreed. ‘Isn’t it gorgeous? Is this time of year as pretty in Ireland?’
‘It can be,’ Emer said, wishing she could get away without being rude. She craved to be walking on her own again. ‘But mostly it rains a lot in Ireland. We get very grey days.’
‘Oh, I don’t like the rain,’ Peggy prattled on. ‘Prefer the snow to the rain.’
‘Have to agree, nothing beats the purity of first snow,’ Henry said.
‘So you here on your own?’ Peggy grilled Emer. ‘Got a husband with you? Kids?’
‘Oh no, no,’ Emer said, edging away.
‘My husband’s an island man,’ Peggy chatted on, oblivious to Emer’s discomfort. ‘Three kids. Bobby is five, Ellie seven, and Tammy nine.’
‘Hard to believe,’ Henry said. ‘You look so young, Peggy.’
Peggy giggled like a schoolgirl. ‘Must be island life,’ she said. ‘And we all go to bed not long after Teddy because he has to be up so early for the fishing. You know, all those early nights must count for something.’
‘I’m a bit of a night owl,’ Henry said. ‘How about you, Emer?’
‘Oh well, it depends,’ she said. ‘I used to have to work night shifts.’
‘That so?’ Peggy asked. ‘What hospital did you work in? Was it here or in Ireland?’
‘Boston,’ Emer said quickly, and then made a pretence at looking at the time on her phone. ‘Oh, I’d best be going. Sorry, Susannah’s expecting me.’
Henry gave her a knowing look as Peggy waved goodbye.
‘Do come back soon!’ she said. ‘I love a good chat.’
Emer slipped out of the library and down the steps. She hadn’t considered what it might be like to live in an island community. All she’d been thinking about when she took the job was getting out of Boston, and going somewhere new. A place Orla had never been. A place with no memories. But she should have known. Growing up in rural Ireland meant everyone knew everybody’s business. There were no secrets in their townland in Meath. This could be supportive, but also unbearably claustrophobic. It had been the reason why Orla had gone off travelling when she was barely eighteen, not even bothering to go to college. Once Mammy was gone, Orla couldn’t bear to stay in Ireland. Emer had been more of a homebody: still training as a nurse in Dublin and coming home every weekend to see Daddy. It wasn’t fair. Why had she had to witness both her mother and her sister struck down with cancer? And now here she was, putting herself through it all over again for a stranger. It wasn’t the same as being a nurse in a hospital. Caring for Susannah Olsen would be more personal, no matter how much professional distance she tried to maintain.
‘Emer, wait up!’
She jumped to hear her name, and spun on her heel. It was Henry.
‘You forgot your book,’ he said, holding out the library copy of Twilight.
‘Oh, thanks,’ she mumbled, not looking at his face, embarrassed for him to see her choice of reading matter.
‘Let me know if it’s any good.’ She could hear the tease in his voice, and looked up. He had eyes the colour of autumn, brown flecked with amber and green. He looked taller, too, outside the library. Although his dark head was streaked with a few grey hairs, and he was clearly a bit older than her, there was a boyishness to his open smile.
‘I was just looking for something light,’ she said.
‘I wouldn’t say vampires are very light,’ Henry said, grinning. ‘But I’ve seen this book everywhere. Peggy was just saying the teenage girls are obsessed with it on the island.’
Emer winced to think of Peggy comparing her reading taste with Henry to that of a teenage girl. ‘Oh well, that sounds a bit rubbish,’ she said, stuffing the book into her bag.
They stood for a moment in awkward silence. She waited for him to get into his pick-up, feeling it was rude just to walk away.
‘Hey, would you like to go for a coffee sometime?’ Henry suggested.
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ she faltered, surprised by his forwardness.
‘We could go for one now,’ he pushed, giving her a warm smile.
Emer felt panic rise in her chest. This man Henry was very nice, and a coffee was just a coffee, but it felt a little like a date and she wasn’t ready for a date right now with anyone.
‘Oh, thank you, but I can’t,’ she said hastily. ‘Like I said in the library, I have to get back to Susannah.’
‘I thought you were just making that up to get away from Peggy,’ he said. ‘Another time then.’ He made for the pick-up and his white husky dog, who was almost clambering out of the open window, so keen was he to see his master returning. ‘Good luck with Susannah,’ Henry said as he got in the pick-up.
After buying some groceries in the market shop, Emer walked fast back to Susannah’s house, feeling guilty she’d been so long. By the time she got back she
