He does not know what to expect, handing over this.extremely sensitive information to a stranger.
Seeing her nonchalance, he experiences an impulse to ask it for back.
Niall is a practical person, and he shows compassion in practical ways.
She spent much of her childhood and adolescence planning elaborate schemes to remove herself from.family conflict, staying.completely silent, keeping her face.and body expressionless and immobile, wordlessly leaving the room and making her way to her bedroom, closing the door quietly. Locking herself in the toilet. Leaving the.house for.an.indefinite number of hours and sitting in the.school car park by herself.
When.she thinks of Christmastime.now.she.thinks.of Carricklea, lights strung up over Main Street, the glowing plaatic Santa Claus in the window.of Kelleher's with its animated arm.waving a stiff, repetitive greeting. Tinfoil snowflakes hanging in the town pharmacy. The door of the butcher shop swinging open and shut, voices calling out on.the corner.
