Page 343 of Well Played

Hugging her arms around herself, Maeve looked up to the sky for a moment before speaking again.

“You know, this is a lot of baggage to sift through at one time. I appreciate your candor, but I need to digest this. If you don’t mind, I think we should postpone lunch. I really have little of an appetite now, or the capacity to articulate how and what I am feeling.”

“Of course, I understand. Shall we go?”

“Yes, please.”

Driving back in silence to Newry, Liam didn’t want to chance asking anything or try to explain something that might confuse Maeve even more. As they drove back in silence to Newry, Liam glanced at her from time to time, monitoring for any reaction he could read. However, she only responded with a cool and stoic expression fixed on her features, while the surrounding landscape rose and fell away as the car ticked off the distance to their destination. He continued mentally kicking himself for his stupidity, and as he finally pulled into the parking lot and parked next to Maeve’s car. Turning, he watched her exit his car.

“Thanks Liam. It was good to get a few things cleared up. Maybe …”

“I really am sorry, Maeve, that my lunch plans didn’t work out as we were hoping for this afternoon. But no worries. I can promise you that after this festival and match is over, you won’t have to deal with me any longer. I will have to shift my full focus to make the last cut for the Olympic team.”

Before she could respond, Liam shifted the gears of his car, extending a brief courtesy wave, and drove off out of the parking lot, leaving no question to himself about whether he needed to move on.

5

“So,nothing was resolved, or something was? Which is it? I’m confused.”

Maeve looked over at Oonagh, frowning as they both continued to find ways to spread out all the information and give aways the Down GAA expected to be passed out from their booth located on the edge of the Land of Giants area in Warrenpoint’s Municipal Park. Although the festival didn’t officially start until 10:00 a.m. and the Giants Parade at 1:00 p.m., families were out earlier, taking their kids to see where the giant Fionn Mac Cumhaill was sleeping on his motorcycle. It was a tradition for kids to get their pictures taken in front of the sleeping giant as they shouted and banged on his foot to wake up.

“Like I said. He said he loved me, and before I could even wrap my head around his revelation and his declaration of love, he just apologized for ruining our lunch and promised I would never have to worry about seeing him again.”

“And you just let him leave without a better explanation?”

“He didn’t give me the chance! He peeled out of the parking lot as fast as he could before I even took three steps away from his car after closing the door.”

“And you haven’t spoken to him or seen him since this happened over a week ago?”

“Nope. He only communicates now strictly by text or email. Besides, how was I supposed to react when he finally told me the truth of what had happened that night? It was a lot to process. Feckin’ bloody plike.”

“Please tell me how you really feel,” Oonagh laughed. “I feel blessed that I was the only one who knew what happened to you that night. Shane once told me that after you left for the States, he’d run into Liam a few times when he was performing in Belfast. He had the impression that there was more to the story on his end, and always looked a bit sad. But now we know.”

“Enough about Liam. Don’t forget to put aside and label at least seven boxes of the colored lanyards to put on the GAA and Olympic parade floats. The lanyards that are free tour passes to visit the Croker; the players can toss them to the kids along the parade route. By the way, thanks for volunteering to help set up the booth.”

“No problem, any time. Do you think the Church Lane Coffee stand is open now? I could use a coffee and a nibble. You interested? I can run over and pickup an order.”

“Yes, please; the largest coffee they have and a wee bun. I’ll stand guard here until the volunteers from Down show up.”

Pulling up a chair in the booth, Maeve sat down to relax, stealthy doing a bit of people watch as more vendors finished setting up. A few came over to introduce themselves and exchanged a bit of craic making sure she knew where the location of the secret loo was so she wouldn’t have to stand on long public lines. They were also excited to have the Newry, Mourne, and Down District Council, and the GAA bring more attention to this corner of Ireland and its history.

Just as Oonagh returned to the booth with their coffee, Maeve heard what sounded like distant thunder rolling in. Sheknew it wasn’t the actual weather because the sky was clear, and the sun was shining, but she could guess what was happening.

“Oh, sweet Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—would you look at that? Our hometown hero had arrived. You’d think he was the bloody pied piper the way his fans are following him, trying to touch his person for luck.”

Maeve choked on her coffee, laughing at Oonagh’s very accurate description of the ‘fandamonium’ Liam McCann’s public arrival generated.

“And here I thought it was only the wee lads and lasses who followed his tune.”

“Bollocks … where are the damn fairies when you need them? My guess is they’re still hiding out at the Fairy Glenn in Rostrevor. They must have missed the memo.”

Moving his way down the street through the growing crowd following him, they watched as Liam finished signing a few autographs while posing for a few pictures and selfies, before reaching his final target to where Maeve and Oonagh sat.

“Good morning, ladies. Isn’t it a grand day to welcome Fionn Mac Cumhaill to our legendary festival and celebratory craic?”

Oonagh couldn’t suppress her feelings, giving Liam an eye roll.

“My aren’t you a gas. Hitting the bottle a bit early this morning, or are you still langered from a night out with the boys?”

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