Floe de Lir

Chapter 3

Florida had beckoned to Steve Sanders the previous summer. He had claimed the trip to Universal was for little Madeline, but it had been obvious that Steve had created the trip for himself as a distraction from Janet's filing for separation.

He had convinced Dylan to come along and, though Dylan would have never admitted it, he did have an enjoyable time.

Until they had been stuck in a resort shop during a tornado warning.

A tornado, in Florida. A tornado, but not a hurricane.

No, the hurricane came a year later, when the last place Dylan wanted to have his flight grounded because of a hurricane was London.

Fucking London.

"You look like shit."

"Great to see you too, Mags," said Dylan, not bothering to hide his sarcasm.

"You didn't say this arsehole was with you," said Maggie Olivier, scrutinizing Dylan as she spoke with Steve.

"Did I forget to mention that?" asked Steve. "Just one night, Mags. We'll get a hotel tomorrow if we're still stuck here."

"You're always welcome, Steve, but I can't bring Dylarse back to the flat. Even if I wanted to, which I assure you I do not, Shane will kick him out the second he sees this ignoramus. And I, for one, do not want my best friend to think I went behind her back and let her ex stay in my flat when Dylarse himself knows why Brenda stopped talking to him."

"Look, Maggie, I don't even want to be here, okay?" said Dylan. "If it weren't for this fucking hurricane, I'd be in Cork already to start looking for Brenda."

There was a time when Dylan had gotten on well with Maggie and Shane both, but there had also been a time when Brenda's spirits hadn't noticeably sank every time Dylan had drawn near.

"Funny how you only care about Brenda after she disappears."

"Guess your best friend neglected to tell you how she's been avoiding my calls," said Dylan. "Seems she's made Donal her own personal secretary to screen all my calls."

"Unless she's been avoiding them for the last four years, that hardly makes any difference at all," said Maggie. "Did I miss the part where Brenda left you?"

"She wasn't exactly jumping all over herself to get me to stay," Dylan grumbled.

"Gee, I wonder why," said Maggie.

"Wait," Steve tuned into the conversation, "did you say four years? I thought it's been six years since you left Bren."

"Six years?" Maggie yelled. "Six years?"

"Uh, where did you hear that?" asked Dylan as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Kel," said Steve. "She told us you had left London two years before you returned four years ago, which would make it six."

"Did I say two years?" asked Dylan.

"I distinctly remember it because I told Kel I thought Brandon had mentioned something about you being with Bren about the time he was going to marry Kel, but Kelly told me we had heard wrong."

"So he's an arse and a liar," said Maggie.

"You're not helping," Dylan hissed to Steve. "Maggie, we tried booking a room, okay? No one's taking reservations. They're all full because of this damn hurricane."

"I'm sure you can find a vacancy in Ilford."

"That's nearly an hour away from Heathrow."

"Good thing you can drive then, innit?"