Upside Down Inside Out Read Online Free PDF Page A

alcohol as she passed doorways, the noise from inside mingling with the traffic sounds.
    She liked walking through the Dublin streets. In the early days she’d driven her battered old car to and from work each day. When she’d worked part time, it hadn’t been so bad. But when she’d gone fulltime, she’d realised it was quicker to walk from one side of Dublin to the other than sit stranded each morning and evening in a traffic jam along the quays, looking down into the murky water of the Liffey.
    Eva waited at the pedestrian lights, wondering again what the urgent work business was that Dermot had mentioned. And why he needed to talk to her about it. She smiled at the irony. Here she was dropping everything to talk to Dermot about his work and she hadn’t told him about Ambrose’s offer yet. She hadn’t told anybody. Not her parents. Not her sister. Not even Lainey.
    It was still early days with Dermot, though, she told herself. They weren’t at the stage where they confided fully in each other, after all.
    Which stage is that? The stage where you like each other? a voice piped up inside her head.
    We like each other, she insisted.
    Do you?
    Did she? She thought about it as she walked on. The awful thing was she really wasn’t too sure any more. She’d slowly been realising they didn’t have anything in common. They didn’t read the same books or like the same films. They didn’t even laugh at the same things.
    Perhaps she was just out of practice. Perhaps this was what relationships were like these days. After all, Dermot had broken something of a boyfriend drought. A long drought, in fact. In the past ten years she had gone out with only two other men, neither of whom lasted longer than two months - her decision both times. She was probably expecting too much. There were bound to be some things about Dermot that annoyed her.
    Some things? Everything, more like it.
    They’d met when he started calling into the shop nearly four months previously. She’d noticed him immediately, with his smart suit, groomed hair, quick movements. Like a glossy bird, Eva had thought. Preened and sure of himself. With great charm, he’d insisted she - not Ambrose - served him, each time he came in. Then, one Friday evening, he’d asked her out for a drink. Very flattered, she’d accepted. Then dinner. Even more flattered, she’d accepted again.
    And again. They had fallen into a routine almost without her realising it.
    They usually saw each other during the week. He was too busy showing properties to clients at weekends, he’d explained. They’d meet for dinner, a drink or a film. They’d kissed, but not a lot. Dermot always called a halt to that side of things too. ‘Let’s get to know each other first,’ he’d always said. Eva hadn’t known whether to be impressed at his self restraint or disappointed at the lack of passion between them.
    This holiday to New York had been his idea. His cousin had an apartment they’d be able to stay in. ‘A bedroom each,’ he’d said quickly, ‘plenty of room for us both.’
    ‘New York? Really? That would be brilliant.’ She’d never been to New York. She’d always wanted to go there.
    ‘You see, I’ve a little proposition I want to put to you while we’re away.’ He’d given her a meaningful look.
    Eva’s stomach had flipped in quite an unpleasant way. ‘Proposition?’ she’d repeated, not liking how close the word was to ‘proposal’. She’d pressed him for details but he wouldn’t elaborate. ‘No, this is something to discuss when we’re in a nice New York restaurant with a good bottle of wine in front of us, all relaxed.’
    She’d fought back the sudden rush of panic his
    words had given her. Was he talking about a marriage proposal? After just three months together? She didn’t want to ask him outright in case he wasn’t thinking in that direction at all. She’d be mortified if she’d misunderstood him completely.
    Lainey had been delighted at