Island in the Sea Read Online Free PDF Page B

should move to the restaurant and share a bottle of burgundy and a couple of sirloin steaks.”
    â€œAre you sure?” Samantha murmured. “I don’t want to take up your time.”
    â€œI’ve never been surer of anything.” Lionel signaled the bartender for their check. He took her arm and led her into the restaurant. He gazed at the silk tablecloths set with bone white china and gleaming silverware and gulped.
    â€œDo your sisters really wear your underwear?” he asked, as the maître d’ led them to a table by the window.
    Samantha turned around and her face broke into a smile. “We’re a very close family.”
    *   *   *
    They ate filet mignon in béarnaise sauce and Samantha told him about growing up in a fishing village on the west coast of Ireland.
    â€œWhen I was little we used to sell seashells to the tourists,” she said, tearing apart a baguette. “I had to tape my coins under my pillow so my brothers wouldn’t spend them on ice cream.”
    â€œWhen I was a baby, my sisters wrapped me in tissue paper and placed me under the Christmas tree,” Lionel said. He sipped a Château Tour Bordeaux. “My mother found me with a red bow glued to my forehead. She was furious because she had to cut off my curls.”
    â€œI’m sure you were quite handsome bald,” Samantha smiled.
    â€œMarian didn’t think so.” Lionel cut a thick slice of steak. “She didn’t give me another haircut until I was five years old.”
    â€œThat’s what’s wonderful about children; they can be mischievous and innocent at the same time. Yesterday I discovered Abigail wearing her mother’s Prada suit; she said she was tired of being eight and wanted to get an important job.” Samantha nibbled grilled asparagus. “After I made her take it off, she climbed into my lap and watched The Sound of Music .”
    â€œIs that what you’re doing in London?” Lionel leaned back in his chair. “Being a nanny and waiting to meet some young barrister in a children’s boutique on King’s Road. You’ll help him buy the perfect christening gift for his nephew and bond over cashmere baby booties and Tiffany’s rattles. He’ll take you to meet his parents at their Mayfair club and propose with his grandmother’s sapphire ring.”
    â€œI took this job to save money to go to university,” Samantha replied. “Most children in Cleggan leave school at sixteen and become shopkeepers and fishermen. I want to teach geography and history and literature.”
    â€œI spent a year at Cambridge reading one-thousand-page tomes by Leo Tolstoy and Aldous Huxley.” Lionel sighed. “Then I discovered the Romantic poets and felt like Alexander Graham Bell inventing the telephone. All I wanted to do was tinker with blank verse and anapestic meter. To be honest I wasn’t good enough so I decided to become a songwriter. I’m going to get a job and earn enough money to rent a recording studio. I’ll compose the greatest love songs since Elton John and Bernie Taupin.”
    â€œWhat did your parents say?” Samantha asked.
    â€œThey think I’m still in Cambridge attending lectures and watching bumps races.” Lionel fiddled with his wineglass.
    â€œYou quit university?” Samantha put her fork on her plate.
    â€œThey’ll be furious of course, but I couldn’t wait any longer,” Lionel explained. “Mick Jagger and Keith Richards didn’t need a degree; they just had a notepad and a bottle of whiskey.”
    â€œThis has been lovely but I have to go,” Samantha said, as she pushed back her chair. She gathered her purse and walked to the door.
    â€œWait.” Lionel rushed after her. “We haven’t tried their flourless chocolate cake.”
    â€œDinner was delicious,” Samantha said. “I’ll send you my half of