#12 The Quay

Molly could tell how excited Kevin was to introduce her to his friends.  He barely stopped talking in the car on the way to the pub.  She smiled as he talked about each of his friends trying to give her a bit of knowledge about them before they met.  Up until this time he had never really talked much about Dublin, or his friends when they were together.  Molly tried to keep all this information organized in her mind.  Matt was the jokester, Juliana was shy, Damon was a sports fanatic, and Erin was friendly and an old friend.

Molly thought it was a little strange that Kevin mentioned Erin as an “old friend” and was curious about Kevin's wording.

“Kevin,” she asked, “When you say old friend are you talking about an old girl friend?”

“Well, actually,” Kevin hesitated as he tried to state this matter of fact, “Erin and I did date for a while.  Nothing serious though.”

Molly knew that “nothing serious” for a male, did not necessarily mean the same thing for a woman.  Was there something more here?

“So how long do you consider 'for a while', Kevin?” Molly would gather a lot from this answer.

Kevin hesitated, then answered, “Oh, maybe for about a year, or so. We stopped dating last spring.”

Molly knew very well that Erin would be the one to watch out for.  If they stopped dating last spring, that would have been just before Kevin started traveling to Kilmore Quay for sailing lessons.  This was definitely going to be an interesting evening.

Kevin pulled into a parking lot next to an old brick building.  As they exited the car Molly could hear the music from inside.  They walked around to the front of the building and entered through old wooden doors that looked like they had come from an ancient castle.

Kevin guided Molly to a spot he knew well.  It was the place this group had been meeting since college days.  Everyone looked up as they arrived at the snug in the corner and began to scoot around so that Kevin and Molly could join them.

Molly felt all eyes on her, and was not accustomed to this kind of scrutiny.  She tried to keep her calm demeanor through introductions and the many questions that the group had for her.  Quite a few were about sailing, and living in the small village of Kilmore Quay.  The sailing questions she felt very comfortable with and answered easily.  It was difficult to justify to people who lived in a big city why anyone would want to live in a small village,  but Molly tried her best. During this entire time she noticed how intently Erin was watching her.

As luck would have it, Erin ended up sitting next to Kevin.  Between intently watching Molly, she seemed to move ever so closely to Kevin as the night went on.  Kevin didn't seem to notice as he was busy in conversation with Damon about the upcoming rugby game.  Molly noticed, and Erin noticed that Molly noticed.  This was making Molly very uncomfortable and after a drink she excused herself to the toilet.

She no sooner had gathered herself together and was washing her hands in the sink when Erin entered the room.

“So you've taken our Kevin away from us,”  Erin stated.

Erin, “I've done no such thing. Kevin makes all of his own choices.”  Molly was going to hold her ground here.  She knew Erin was not over whatever relationship she had with Kevin.

“I guess that means that if I want to be close to Kevin, I'll have to sign up to take sailing lessons with you down south,”  Erin's voice was getting a little terse at this point.

“Erin, that's between you and Kevin. I'd be glad to have another private client.  I don't do group training sessions, so you would be on your own with me,” Molly wanted to make her position clear hoping Erin would get the point.  Erin turned and left the room, but not before flashing Molly an envious look that meant she had something up her sleeves.

As Molly returned to the table she noticed that Erin was now pretty much leaning on Kevin's one shoulder and he was not pushing her away.  So typical of a man.  They just don't get it.

“Molly, Erin just mentioned to me that she might be interested in taking some sailing lessons.  Could we do that together?”  Kevin had no idea what he was getting into.

Molly was prepared and had an even better idea to quash Erin's attempt to override Molly's rules. “Kevin, I was thinking it would be a great time if all of this group could take a weekend trip down to Kilmore Quay and we could take the big yacht out around the Saltees with you as skipper.  We could do a beach barbecue and all,”  Molly smiled at Erin as she said this.

Damon and Matt immediately thought this would be wonderful.  Juliana smiled at the idea and nodded her head.  Erin muttered a quiet “okay” and didn't say much more all evening.  The conversation turned to all that the group would be able to do during a sailing weekend and Kevin mentioned some of the local pubs, B&Bs, and sights that would be a fun getaway for them all.  Molly had felt she had won this round, but knew Erin would not let up if she was after Kevin.