Page 54 of Darling Girls

‘Norah,’ she corrected. ‘With an “h”.’

But even as she said it, a memory was coming at her. ‘Wait . . . did you work at the grocery store?’

‘That’s me. My parents owned it. They still do. And this pub.’

‘You probably won’t remember this,’ Norah started, and to her delight, he rested his elbows on the bar, listening eagerly.

Miss Fairchild had dispatched Norah to the shop to collect her face cream and a few other things. It was miraculous, really, how she always had enough money for such things when so much else – like fruit for their lunchboxes – wasn’t in the budget.

It was no surprise she’d asked Norah to go; Norah was the fastest of the three girls. For a while Norah had made a game of seeing how fast she could be – timing herself as she ran all the way there and back. It had been fun, until Miss Fairchild got wind of it and started using her best times to shame Jessica and Alicia when they weren’t as fast.

For this reason, Norah was taking her time and didn’t bother ringing the bell to get the attention of the cashier. She was about to shoplift a Caramello Koala when he finally made an appearance.

‘Sorry, I didn’t see you there.’ He grinned, revealing a slight gap in his teeth. ‘Hey,’ he said. ‘You’re Nerida, right?’

‘Norah,’ she replied. ‘With an “h”.’

Ishir gestured to the chocolate in her hand. ‘Caramello Koala – my personal favourite.’

She put it back on the shelf and pushed Miss Fairchild’s items forward. ‘I’m not allowed unfortunately. The foster mother will lock me in the basement for buying chocolate.’ She laughed as if it were a joke. Telling the truth as if it were a joke was one of many ways she amused herself. ‘Anyhoo,’ she continued, ‘can you put this on the Wild Meadows account, please?’

Ishir wrote the total in the account book and put the face cream in a bag. As he handed over the bag, he took the chocolate off the shelf and dropped it in. ‘You know you want it.’

Norah shook her head. ‘I said –’

‘It’s on me,’ he said in a magnanimous tone that was perhaps supposed to make him sound like a wealthy person. It came out a bit weird, and he seemed to realise this because he immediately dropped his gaze. ‘I won’t put it on the account,’ he explained in a normal voice. ‘It’s a gift.’

‘Why would you give me a gift?’ Norah frowned. ‘What do you want?’

‘Nothing.’ He looked offended.

‘You must want something.’

‘No. Just to do a good deed.’ He looked like he was regretting it.

‘Oh.’

‘It’s no big deal. Really.’

But it was a big deal. Norah thought about it for ages afterwards, wondering if he’d come and ask her for something in return. He never did. It was the only time anyone other than her sisters had done something for her without wanting anything in return.

‘I gave chocolate to all the pretty girls,’ Ishir said, when Norah told him the story.

‘Oh.’

‘But you were the prettiest,’ he said, catching himself. ‘You were the most beautiful girl in our entire school. I would have given you the entire stash of Caramello Koalas if you’d wanted them.’

Norah couldn’t tell if he was serious. She decided to test him on it. ‘So, if I wanted a round of drinks for my friends?’

‘Then I’d tell you to put that credit card away.’

He grinned, and Norah got the same giddy feeling as when she arrived home to the dogs at the end of the day.

‘So you’re back here because of the bones?’ he asked, turning to reach for a glass. The tea towel hung from his back pocket now. Norah hadn’t known how sexy a tea towel could be.

‘Yep.’

‘And these guys too?’ He glanced over at the table.