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not?’
     
    She looked confused.
     
    ‘I bought it for you,’ he said. ‘So there’s no point in not accepting it.’
     
    ‘It’s really lovely,’ she told him. ‘But I don’t think I’m allowed to accept gifts from our customers.’
     
    ‘I don’t see the problem,’ he said. ‘D’you think it would be easier if you were accepting a gift from someone you were going out with?’
     
    ‘That’s a completely different - oh!’ She stared at him, and he laughed.
     
    ‘What time d’you finish?’ he asked.
     
    ‘Not till ten tonight,’ she told him.
     
    ‘Meet me for a drink when you’re done?’
     
    She looked at him in astonishment. She liked Brendan Delahaye. He was the first man she’d never tried to impress, because he was a customer and she was a waitress and she didn’t think of him in the same way as she thought of other men; slightly mysterious people she didn’t really understand and for whom she had to be someone other than herself. Besides, Brendan was a grown-up, older and (despite not being a Dubliner) wiser than her.
     
    ‘Are you going to turn me down?’ He looked at her enquiringly. ‘I hope not. I had to pluck up my courage to ask you.’
     
    ‘You didn’t.’ She giggled self-consciously.
     
    ‘Of course I did. A lovely girl like you. I told myself I’d be devastated if you said no.’
     
    ‘Would you really?’
     
    ‘Yes.’ His voice softened. ‘Yes, I would.’
     
    ‘In that case I’d better say yes.’ She smiled.
     
    ‘The Dame Tavern,’ he said. ‘I’ll see you there.’
     
    ‘OK,’ she told him. ‘I’m looking forward to it.’
     
    ‘Me too,’ he said.
     
     
    The pub was crowded. Dominique stood on tiptoe, trying to peer over the heads of the other, taller people who were clustered around the bar. This hadn’t been a good choice, she thought. Brendan might be here but she’d never see him in the Friday-night crush. Her fingers unconsciously played with the coral necklace around her throat as she looked anxiously for him.
     
    ‘There you are.’
     
    She turned at the touch of his hand on her shoulder. He’d never touched her before. And although since she’d started going out with the gang from work at the weekend there were other men who’d put their arms around her and held her tight, she’d never got the sudden hot quiver of excitement she had at that first, casual touch from Brendan Delahaye. She was utterly astounded at how she felt. She wanted to pull him to her and kiss him straight away. She wanted to hold him and never let him go.
     
    But she didn’t. She just smiled in relief and said that she was glad to see him. He smiled at her too and kissed her quickly on the cheek. And once again Dominique was overwhelmed by feelings she’d never had before.
     
    ‘What would you like to drink?’ he asked.
     
    She asked for a West Coast Cooler, which made him smile, but he ordered it for her and a pint of Guinness for himself, then manoeuvred her to an alcove, where she sat on a high bar stool and he stood behind her.
     
    ‘A bit crazy to meet up late on the Friday before Christmas,’ he said, and she nodded as she took a sip of her drink. ‘Don’t tell me you like that stuff?’
     
    ‘Why?’ She looked apprehensive.
     
    ‘A spritzer,’ he said. ‘What sort of drink is that!’
     
    ‘White wine and—’
     
    ‘Oh, I know what it actually is,’ he assured her. ‘It’s just - I’m an ordinary sort of man myself. I don’t do fancy drinks.’
     
    She smiled at him. ‘I don’t think it’s that fancy really. It’s the only one I like. I can’t drink beer and I don’t like spirits. In fact,’ she shrugged slightly, ‘I’m not into alcohol that much, to be honest.’
     
    ‘Ah well,’ he teased. ‘Maybe that’s a good thing, Domino. There’s a lot of people in this bar tonight who’re going to wish in the morning that they weren’t into alcohol.’
     
    ‘Are you always going to call me that?’