Come This Way Home by Liz Lyons

Author:Liz Lyons [Liz Lyons]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2010-05-13T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEn

There was a scattering of ancient archaeological sites dotted around Tobarnaree and by the end of sixth class in Colmcille’s primary school Sadie Miller had seen enough of the lot of them to last her a lifetime. Every school tour had landed them at another formation that had their teacher in the throes of enthusiasm he was eager to share but left the pupils wondering why they couldn’t go to somewhere a bit cooler or, God forbid, a bit more interesting. However, she had decided that if Ellen Carter was offering her money (possibly fifty euro, going on a past day’s touring around the Beara peninsula) to accompany them on a trip to a few historical sites she was most definitely willing to give over her time.

It was hard to know if Ellen was trying to come up with a schedule most likely to torture her already dangerously bored daughter further or if it was just a case of hapless good intentions on her part that tended to backfire badly. ‘Go on, Mother, let’s check out all those random rocks, roll ’em over and see if anything interesting pops out from underneath. That Patrick guy and his bunch of leprechaun snakes maybe or are the snakes all supposed to be poisoned by now? Silly me, I just keep forgetting,’ Jessica sniped sourly throughout a pre-tour breakfast at the lodge to which Ellen had invited Sadie. Her words were intended to deride her mother at every turn when they happened to be in the company of others. Left on their own she was perfectly happy to ignore her completely; a habit that Ellen seemed to tolerate, if not encourage, in the interests of a peaceful life.

Stubborn enthusiasm for undertaking a trip and coercing some good family memories from the six-week holiday made Ellen somewhat immune to her daughter’s swell of negativity. ‘I’m sure, darling, if you listen carefully you’ll find all the history fascinating and Sadie here will be a fount of information for us. This is her heritage so we couldn’t be in better company to explore it for ourselves. Nothing’s more valuable in these matters than the keen eye of the local.’ She looked at her daughter beseechingly but there was not a shadow of encouragement forthcoming from her dour expression.

If the inducement of money to be their paid tour guide was not enough for Sadie then the presence of a perennially smiling Ben Carter was. In fact, such was his attraction that she would have offered to pay for the privilege of accompanying them had Ellen not issued the invitation.

Tara Hickey had let out an impressively guttural wolf whistle the first morning she had clapped eyes on Ben striding across the cottage courtyard as if he owned the place. Sadie had told her he was good-looking but her friend’s shy description of him had failed to do him a shred of justice in Tara’s opinion. ‘They must have kidnapped him,’ she squealed from her perfect spying perch on the window seat of Gina and Sadie’s cottage.

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