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Authors: Maeve Binchy

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The Copper Beech (46 page)

BOOK: The Copper Beech
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Charles had thought he would grow old in that job. That one day there would be a dinner for him where Josie would go and wear a long frock. He would be presented with a gold-plated clock. Now, none of this was going to happen.

He was going to be without a job in two and a half weeks’ time.

There were few work opportunities for a man in his sixties who had been let go from the one hotel where he had worked since he was sixteen. Charles Lynch would have liked to have talked to his son about it all, but he and Noel didn’t seem to have had a conversation for years now. If ever. The boy was always anxious to get to his room and resisted any questions or discussions. It wouldn’t be fair to lay all this on him now.

Charles wouldn’t find a sympathetic ear or any font of advice. Just tell Josie and get it over with, he told himself. But she was up to high doh about this woman coming from America. Maybe he should leave it for a couple of days. Charles sighed again about the bad timing of it all.

Dear Emily,

I wish that you hadn’t decided to go to Ireland, I will miss you greatly
.

I wish you had let me come and see you off

but then you were always one for the quick, impulsive decision. Why should I expect you to change now?

I know that I
should
say that I hope you will find all your heart’s desire in Dublin, but in a way I don’t want you to. I want you to say it was wonderful for
six weeks and then for you to come back home again
.

It’s not going to be the same without you here. There’s an exhibit opening and it’s just a block away and I can’t bring myself to go to it on my own. I won’t go to nearly as many theatre matinées as I did with you
.

I’ll collect your rent every Friday from the student who’s renting your apartment. I’ll keep an eye open in case she is growing any attitude-changing substances in your window boxes
.

You must write and tell me all about the place you are staying – don’t leave anything out. I am so glad you will have your laptop with you. There will be no excuse for you not to stay in touch. I’ll keep telling you small bits of news about Eric in the suitcase store. He really
is
interested in you, Emily, whether you believe it or not!

Hope you get your laptop up and running soon and I’ll hear all about your arrival in the land of the Shamrock
.

Love from your lonely friend,

Betsy

Hi, Betsy
,

What makes you think that I would have to wait to get to Ireland to hear from you? I’m at J.F. K. and the machine works
.

Nonsense! You won’t miss me – you and your fevered imagination! You will have a thousand fantasies. Eric does not fancy me, not even remotely. He is a man of very few words and none of them are small talk. He speaks about me to you because he is too shy to speak to you. Surely you know that?

I’ll miss you too, Bets, but this is something I have to do
.

I swear that I will keep in touch. You’ll probably get twenty-page letters from me every day and wish you hadn’t encouraged me!

Love

Emily

‘I wonder, should we have gone out to the airport to meet her?’ Josie Lynch said for the fifth time the next morning.

‘She said she would prefer to make her own way here,’ Charles said, as he had said on the previous four occasions.

Noel just drank his mug of tea and said nothing.

‘She wrote and said the plane could be in early if they got a good wind behind them.’ Josie spoke as if she were a frequent flyer herself.

‘So she could be here any time …’ Charles said with a heavy heart.

He hated having to go in to the hotel this morning, knowing that his days there were numbered. There would be time enough to tell Josie once this woman had settled in. Martin’s daughter! He hoped that she hadn’t inherited her father’s great thirst.

There was a ring at the doorbell. Josie’s face was all alarm. She snatched Noel’s mug of tea from him and swept up the empty eggcup and plate from in front of Charles. Patting her new hairdo again, she spoke in a high, false voice.

‘Answer the door, please, Noel, and welcome your cousin Emily in.’

AN ORION EBOOK
First published in Great Britain in 1992 by Orion Books.
This eBook first published in 2009 by Orion Books.
Copyright © Maeve Binchy 1992
The rights of Maeve Binchy to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the copyright, designs and patents act 1988.
All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781409106142
This eBook produced by Jouve, France.
Orion Books
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House
5 Upper St Martin’s Lane
London WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK Company
www.orionbooks.co.uk
BOOK: The Copper Beech
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