Alice marched into the White Harte with a broad smile. She enjoyed her Sunday evenings with the lads, and they accepted her so readily and completely that she had willingly abandoned her previous habits and limited social circle. She had always been an outsider, so her welcome into the Harteys was doubly important to her. On this occasion, as she approached the usual corner table, her grin vanished. Matt looked up, and upon seeing her, his face reddened, and the lads stopped talking. She said hello amid an uncomfortable silence. It seemed all too obvious that they’d been chatting about her. They recovered quickly, making room for her to sit and solicitously asking what she preferred from the bar. That sorted, she asked: “So, what did I interrupt, then?”
HarteysThey looked from one to the
