My Mother's Secret Read Online Free PDF

we are exactly on time.’
    ‘They were probably thrown into a complete panic because of us being early in the first place.’ Davey abandoned the text to Roisin and shoved his phone in his pocket. ‘OK, let’s go.’
    They disembarked the aircraft, cleared immigration and went directly to the car hire desk. Davey had rented a VW Golf for their drive to Wexford. Fortunately for his efforts to impress upon Camilla that modern Ireland was a smoothly efficient and businesslike country, the rental agency was completely competent, and less than twenty minutes later they were driving out of the car park.
    ‘I can’t believe it’s so warm.’ Davey took his sunglasses out of his jacket pocket and put them on. ‘It’s not normally like this.’
    ‘Climate change,’ said Camilla.
    ‘Everyone in Ireland would like climate change to mean hotter summers,’ Davey told her. ‘But maybe not as humid as this; it’s like Singapore, for heaven’s sake!’
    ‘Not quite,’ Camilla told him. ‘In Singapore, the temperature—’
    ‘It was a figure of speech!’ cried Davey. ‘I do know it’s not the same here, honestly. Still hot and sticky, though.’
    Camilla raised an eyebrow.
    ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m a bit tense.’
    She relaxed back into the seat and looked around her with interest. It was her first visit to Ireland and she was surprised at how much it seemed to matter to Davey that she approved of it. Ever since he’d received the invitation to his parents’ anniversary party, he’d been praising and deprecating his homeland in equal measure.
    ‘We’re very outgoing,’ he’d said on numerous occasions. ‘More chatty, more open. But we’re hopeless at stuff too. Sort of hopeful that things’ll work out rather than making sure they do. Though it usually ends up OK.’
    She’d smiled.
    ‘It’s not the same as Denmark.’
    She couldn’t count the number of times he’d said that. As though Denmark was a shining beacon of all that was right and smart and – most of all – efficient in the world and Ireland was some kind of shambolic maelstrom where things got done by luck rather than intent. Yet so far Camilla had seen nothing but competency and good humour, and Davey’s clear complex about his homeland intrigued her.
    Camilla Rasmussen had known Davey Sheehan for about six months and she cared for him very much. She didn’t permit herself to use emotive words like love, which conveyed feelings that she wasn’t yet prepared to acknowledge as far as Davey was concerned; but he was an attractive companion, she enjoyed his company, and he was fun. They had a shared interest in renewable energy (she worked for a sustainable energy organisation, while his company produced turbines for wind farms); they both enjoyed playing chess and were addicted to online puzzle games. If she were looking for a long-term relationship, she told herself, if she were even thinking of marriage, then Davey Sheehan would be high on the list. She was surprised he hadn’t been married before. At thirty-seven, most men she knew had been around the block at least once. But Davey had neither married nor lived with anyone, which was both an advantage and a disadvantage. She’d ironed out most of the disadvantages, such as his initial inability to remember there was another person in the house which meant him having to learn to compromise on TV programmes, music and decor; his habit of forgetting that they owned both a washing machine and a dishwasher; his meltdowns when something was moved from where he’d put it, especially when he’d put it in the wrong place. And, more importantly, his lack of knowledge about what actually constituted a home-cooked meal – Davey wasn’t a reconstructed man in the kitchen, and if it couldn’t be heated in a microwave, he didn’t eat it. Well, hadn’t eaten it; it was different now.
    However, the advantages of living with someone who hadn’t had another woman’s likes and dislikes