Frisky Business by Clodagh Murphy

live upstairs.’
    ‘Very nice to meet you, Kit,’ the woman said, shaking his hand. He got the feeling he was being thoroughly inspected.
    Romyintroduced him to the rest of the people in the room – Colm and Sarah from the basement, and Stefan, who lived upstairs – and he gave them an awkward wave.
    ‘Right, come on, you lot,’ May said, getting up from the sofa. ‘Let’s leave Romy and her friend in peace. Thank you for a lovely party, dear,’ she said, kissing Romy’s cheek on her way out. The others followed her lead and trooped out after her.
    ‘Would you like something to drink?’ Romy asked Kit when
    she had closed the door behind them. ‘Wine? Coffee? Tea?’ ‘I’d love a coffee.’ He still felt the chill of outside.
    ‘Sure! Coming right up,’ she said, gathering some empty plates from the buffet table.
    ‘Can I help you clear up?’ he asked.
    ‘Thanks. You could help me bring this stuff out to the kitchen,’ she said as she began to gather up plates and glasses. ‘Would you like something to eat?’
    Now that he thought about it, Kit realised he was ravenous. He glanced at the ravaged buffet as he collected cutlery and crumpled napkins. ‘I don’t want you to go to any trouble.’
    ‘Hungry?’
    ‘Starving!’ Kit admitted with a guilty smile. ‘I sort of missed dinner.’
    ‘Well, that’s what you get for spending the night up a tree.’ Kit laughed. ‘Yeah, unfortunately, you need an address to get a takeaway delivered.’
    ‘There’s not much left,’ Romy said, biting her lip, ‘but there’s still some cake. Or I could make you a sandwich.’
    ‘A sandwich would be great,’ Kit said as he followed Romy to the kitchen.
    Romy deposited the stuff on the worktop and indicated to Kit to do the same. ‘Cheese toastie?’ she asked as she loaded the dishwasher.
    ‘Perfect!’
    ‘Okay, have a seat.’ She nodded towards the little table.
    ‘It’s very nice of you to invite all your neighbours to your party,’ Kit said, sitting down while Romy busied herself with the coffee machine.
    ‘Oh, they’re not just neighbours,’ she said as she spooned
    coffee into the filter and switched on the machine. ‘They’re
    my tenants.’
    ‘Really? So you own this whole house?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Wow! It’s a great house.’
    ‘It is, isn’t it?’ Romy said as she sliced cheese and cut bread. ‘I fell in love with it the minute I saw it.’ She made a sandwich and buttered the outsides, then slid it into a pan. The smell of hot butter filled the air. ‘Of course, I’d originally intended to have sold it on by now, but then the property market went into freefall. But I’m kind of glad now the way things turned out. It means I get to live in it – and own it for a bit longer.’
    ‘Well, it’s very impressive. Mom told me you’d done really well for yourself.’
    ‘Not as well as you by all accounts,’ she said, flipping the
    sandwich over and pressing it down so it hissed. ‘I’ve heard you’re taking Wall Street by storm.’
    ‘Not anymore.’
    ‘Oh, sorry to hear that.’ She slid the sandwich onto a plate and handed it to him with a mug of steaming coffee.
    Kit shrugged, biting into his sandwich hungrily as Romy sat down opposite him with a coffee.
    ‘So what happened?’ she asked, looking at him over the rim of her mug, which she cupped in both hands.
    ‘Recession. The company I worked for went under.’
    ‘I’m sorry. I should have thought. I hate this bloody recession.’
    ‘Me too.’ Kit sighed. ‘I lost everything – my job, my apartmentin Manhattan, the lot. I had some savings, but I was burning through them so fast, it was scary. Eventually, I had no choice but to move back.’
    ‘So you’ve come back here to live?’
    ‘For the time being anyway,’ he nodded. ‘I’ve moved back in with my parents.’
    ‘I can see that.’ She smiled, nodding at his shirt, which was a pale washed-out pink.
    ‘Yeah. Mom still hasn’t got the hang of the