Dingle All The Way by Clodagh Murphy EPUB & PDF – eBook Details
- Author: Clodagh Murphy
- Language: English
- Formats: PDF / EPUB
- Status: Available For Free Download
- Series: None
- Price: Free
- File Size: 1 MB
‘ARE you sure you don’t want me to take you the rest of the way?’ the taxi
driver asked, swinging Mary’s case out of the boot.
‘No, thanks. It’s not much further and I want to surprise them. My family
doesn’t know I’m coming home for Christmas.’
‘Ah, that’s lovely. I’m sure they’ll be thrilled.’
Mary smiled, knowing they would be.
‘Well, good luck. And happy Christmas.’ He turned and walked back to
the front of the car.
‘Happy Christmas!’
He slid into the driver’s seat, shut the door and then he was gone, leaving
Mary alone in the darkness on the deserted road. She rolled her shoulders,
taking a moment to decompress before tackling the hill to her parents’ house.
She was stiff all over after a long, wearying journey, from last night’s taxi
ride to JFK with a belligerent driver who’d kept up a constant stream of
invective about the holiday traffic, to the delayed flight that had spent longer
in the air than scheduled due to heavy turbulence. Then there’d been the short
flight to Kerry Airport, and finally the half-hour taxi ride along dark and
tortuously twisty roads to the tiny village of Inch. After four years living in
straight-edged, brightly-lit Manhattan, she’d found the drive nerve-wracking
and she realised now every muscle in her body had been clenched the entire
time.
But it was worth it to be here, she thought, gazing over the broad expanse
of Inch Strand below her and breathing in a deep lungful of salty air. There
was a profound stillness here that was instantly calming, the only sound the
distant hiss of waves washing on the beach below. She felt all the stress of
the past week melting away at the prospect of a few days of fresh sea air,
plenty of sleep, good home-cooked food and lots of quality time with her
family. It was just what she needed to heal her battered heart.
She couldn’t wait to see her mother’s face when she showed up at the
door. She’d asked the taxi driver to leave her halfway up the hillside at the
turn-off to the narrow lane that led to her parents’ house, so that no one
would see her coming. The rumbling of her suitcase wheels echoed loudly in
the thick silence as she turned away from the sea and dragged it behind her
up the steep incline. She was looking forward to a long hot bath, a big mug of
proper tea and snuggling up in a soft, warm bed. Tomorrow she’d sleep late
and go for an invigorating walk on the beach, and in the evening the whole
family would gather around the long table in the sun room for their traditional
Christmas Eve dinner of Aidan’s glorious fish pie. The next few days would
follow a familiar, comforting rhythm, and she already felt her spirits lift in
anticipation.
But when she turned the final bend in the road that brought the house into
view, there was no welcoming light glowing into the darkness. If anything
the pitch blackness only seemed to deepen, thrown into relief by the cheery
glow of the other houses dotted around on the hillside. Her footsteps
crunched on the gravel as she trudged across the driveway, her heart sinking.
So much for her big surprise!
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