Ellie pushed through the crowded bar in the Clarence, relieved when she spotted Rory at a table in the corner, on his mobile, waiting for her. He looked even better than she remembered in an expensive black jacket and jeans. His eyes lit up when he saw her and Ellie was glad she’d made the effort to dress up too and was wearing an exquisite Kenzo wrap dress she’d bought in Tokyo. They automatically reached for each other and hugged.
‘Let me get you a drink?’ he offered.
Ellie ordered a glass of chilled white wine and they chatted easily. He was such good company. Although a few of his friends came over to talk to him she noticed he didn’t invite them to sit down.
‘Come on, let’s get out of here,’ he suggested. ‘I’m starving.’
They walked through Temple Bar, which was already buzzing. Music blared from every doorway, rock, traditional, jazz and soul. The bars and restaurants were filling up, people already spilling out on to the streets with glasses and cigarettes in hand. Ellie was careful of her heels on the cobblestones in one of the city’s oldest districts.
‘This is the best place in the world to break new bands,’ said Rory proudly as they turned into Meeting House Square. ‘There’s venues and a great dedication. That’s what it’s about. All the music scouts come here because the place has got an energy.’
He had booked at Eden, one of her favourite restaurants, and the waitress led them to a table overlooking the square. Ellie ordered a cocktail as they studied the menu. She still felt a little nervous of spending an evening alone with him.
However, once they had ordered and the waiter had opened a bottle of red wine she could feel herself beginning to relax and unwind. She was surprised at how Rory made her feel so completely at ease.
‘This is my stomping ground,’ he explained. ‘I’ve an office nearby. Well, part of an office, I share it with two other guys, and my place is over near Custom House Quay.’
‘Living in town or close to town is great,’ she agreed. ‘You only have to walk out the door and you’ve got everything.’
‘I used to wait tables in the place down the road,’ he laughed. ‘They fired me when I dropped a tray of spaghetti in someone’s lap. It wasn’t pretty!’
‘Was that while you were in college?’
‘Never made it to college,’ he admitted, ‘too busy making a prat of myself trying to get a record deal with a bunch of useless eejits who thought they were the hottest band in town. The record companies ran a mile.’
‘But that’s changed now.’
‘Yeah, with Rothko and one or two of the new acts I look after, I guess I’m beginning to build up the business. I try and get the best for them, promote and yet protect their talent.’
‘They’re a great band,’ she agreed.
‘What about you?’ he asked, turning the tables on her as the waitress served their main courses. ‘How did you get into all this feathers and bows and hat stuff?’
‘I grew up with it. My mother was French. She trained as a milliner in Paris and served her apprenticeship with her sister. They worked with all the top designers. I suppose she would have stayed working with her except that she fell in love with an Irishman.’
‘Your father?’
‘Yes. Maman was so in love with him that she came to live in his city.’
‘And they lived happily ever after?’
‘Not quite!’ she admitted. ‘My dad got bored, unsettled. The marriage didn’t last and they broke up when I was three. I don’t really remember him. My mother stayed on here. She worked in Brown Thomas’s and then began making hats for clients. I was quite small when she opened the hat shop. So it’s what I’ve grown up with.’
‘She sounds a remarkable woman.’
‘She was. She died a few months ago and I still really miss her.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he said sympathetically. ‘I didn’t mean to make you feel sad.’
‘I suppose it’s good to talk about her, even if it does make me sad,’ she admitted.
‘What about you?’ he asked a few seconds later, trying to rescue the conversation. ‘You went to college and all that jazz, I bet!’
‘Yep! Up the road to the College of Art! I studied fashion.’
‘Hence the great style,’ he teased.
‘Then a stint in Paris. Not as grand as it seems as I was staying with my aunt and studying like crazy all day. After six months I got a job with a lunatic of a designer but I learned a lot from him. Then back here, working with Mum, and then I got a great offer from Hyland’s and a chance to design and source fabrics for the fashion trade. It’s strange but making hats . . . I guess it’s in the blood.’
‘Like music and madness.’
‘Maybe,’ she laughed.
They had a perfect meal, the conversation entertaining and fun as Rory described the trials and tribulations and hairy existence of the music business. When they had finished neither of them wanted to part.
‘The River Club and Lillie’s are both close by,’ he suggested, taking her hand as they walked along the boardwalk by the Liffey. The tide was full in, the lights of the city reflected on the water, the moon a dappled path along the dark river’s way.
Rory stopped and pulled her into his arms, Ellie responding to his warm kisses. He tasted of wine and his skin smelled so good as she nuzzled against him.
‘I’ve been wanting to do that all night,’ he confessed, ‘since the minute I saw you.’
She giggled, because the thought had equally crossed her mind. They walked slowly, talking and kissing all the time, crossing O’Connell Bridge, neither of them interested in clubbing. Rory hailed a taxi outside Trinity College. She gave the driver her address and leaned back against Rory’s shoulder.
The driver let them off outside her door. Ellie pulled Rory into her arms as they stood on the steps saying goodnight.
‘I don’t want to let you go,’ he admitted, candidly.
Ellie took a sharp breath. She had never met anyone like him, dated anyone like him, kissed or wanted anyone like him.
‘But I don’t want to push things, Ellie,’ he said softly.
She considered. It had been so long since she had let anyone touch her or be close to her. He was charming and witty and made her smile and she found him so damned attractive it was unbelievable.
‘There’s good French brandy and whiskey and chocolate if you’d like to come in,’ she said, knowing that she didn’t want this perfect night to end either.
He kissed her again.
‘You got me on the chocolate,’ he teased as they walked up the stairs.