Page 36 of Where the Waves Kiss the Shore
Tierney smiled. “Yeah, that would be fun.”
She turned back to fiddle with her camera settings, and Kasia sat back on her elbows, enjoying the look of concentration on Tierney’s face and the way her hands moved expertly to control the camera. Her hair shone with chestnut highlights in the afternoon sun, and Kasia wanted to run her fingers through it.
After she’d watched Tierney snapping away for over half an hour, Kasia quietly cleared her throat. Tierney looked up from her viewfinder and a curly lock of hair obscured her face for a moment. Tucking it behind her ear, Tierney raised an eyebrow.
“Sorry,” Kasia said. “I can see you’re engrossed. I do need to get back, though. I can manage without you this afternoon, if you’d like to stay longer.” Where had that come from? She’dspent long enough complaining about Tierney’s poor work ethic. Now she was giving her an excuse to avoid chores?
“No, I’ve got rooms to prepare. I’m all done here, and I got some good shots.” She unclipped the camera and held it out to Kasia, who flicked through the images politely. They all looked the same on the tiny screen.
“You’ve certainly taken plenty.” She handed the camera back. “I’d love to see them on a larger screen when you’ve downloaded them.” She stood up and gathered their lunch items as Tierney took her equipment apart.
As they started their slow stroll back to the hotel, it occurred to her that, lovely though their picnic had been, full of promises of excursions and relish-making, she hadn’t fulfilled her mission. “You know, you shouldn’t worry about Megan. It’s only natural for friendships to move on. You’ll still be best friends, even if Megan’s in a serious relationship.”
Tierney stopped dead and lowered her equipment to the ground. “What the hell do you know about it?”
The fury in her tone made Kasia take a step back. Tierney had a lot of faults, but Kasia hadn’t thought being easily angered was one of them. She instinctively put her hands on Tierney’s shoulders to calm her. “Hey, I’m sorry.”
Tierney shrugged her off. “You can bug me all you want about the hotel. You’ve got a right to know about your future. But stay out of my personal life.” She picked up her equipment and marched off down the path.
Kasia watched for a moment, dumbfounded by the change in mood, and she wondered what sort of wound she’d poked. Joey must be right. Something bad had happened when Tierney was back home. But the way she’d lashed out had hurt. As if Kasia was overstepping the mark as an employee to ask Tierney about her life. She straightened her shoulders and followed Tierneydown the path, trying not to think about why the echo of Tierney’s words stung so hard.
EIGHTEEN
Tierney skulked through the kitchen,pleased Kasia was nowhere to be seen. Her gut burned with shame at the way she’d spoken yesterday. She’d just received an email from Megan telling her to back off, and it had had hit her hard. Poor Kasia’s line of questioning had just pushed her buttons. She wished she could apologize, but she didn’t know how without explaining everything. And she couldn’t face sharing her whole nightmare family situation, let alone her poor way of handling it, with anyone at the moment.
Today was Christmas Eve, and she was feeling more isolated than she’d felt at any other time in her life. She wandered into the foyer. A large Christmas tree the full height of the stairs shone brightly, and Christmas carols were playing on the sound system. No one could say Kasia didn’t know how to prepare for Christmas.
The lobby was empty. The visitors would be upstairs, getting ready for their big night out at the Emerald Bar. She wondered if Kasia and Joey would be going, but she didn’t dare text Joey, in case Kasia had told them about her outburst.
She dropped onto the nearest couch and lay staring up at the lights until they blurred with her unshed tears. She closed her eyes for a moment. She didn’t have anywhere else to be.
“Tierney.”
Someone shook her shoulder. She blinked up at hundreds of tiny lights as she got her bearings. She must’ve fallen asleep on the couch in the lobby. She turned and looked at Kasia. “Sorry, just dozed off. What time is it?” She struggled to sit up.
Kasia sat down alongside her. “Are you okay? I haven’t seen you all day. I’m worried about you.”
She blinked under Kasia’s concerned gaze. Why was she not angry about the way Tierney had spoken to her? “I’m sorry about yesterday.”
“No,I’msorry. I shouldn’t have pushed my nose into your business. Is that why you’ve been avoiding me?”
Kasia’s concern for her well-being made her feel even worse about how she had stewed in the misery of believing she was alone and that no one cared. She shook herself and tried to smile. “It’s nothing you’ve done. It’s just all my shit piling up, and I took it out on you. Can we put it behind us, please?”
“Of course.” But Kasia’s brow remained furrowed. “You look tired. Have you eaten? What are you doing tonight? Do you want me to walk you back to the cottage?”
Tierney couldn’t deal with all the questions, but she didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts either. “If you and Joey are going to the Emerald, can I come with you, please?”
Kasia’s eyes widened. “Of course. Do you want to come to Mass first?”
Going to church with her granny on the rare Christmases her dad had allowed her to go to Inishderry had been among the dearest memories of her childhood. She couldn’t miss the chance to revisit that happiness. She ran for the door with a new spurt of energy, then turned back to Kasia still sitting on thecouch. “I’ll go get ready and be back by six thirty. Don’t leave without me!”
Back at the cottage, she showered quickly, letting the water run down her face and re-energize her. She hadn’t done any laundry for a few days, so she searched for clean clothes, finally landing on cargo pants and a white tee that showed off her curves a little. She laughed at herself. Who was she showing them off to at the Emerald Bar? She knew who she wanted to notice her, but Kasia was off-limits. She had to keep it that way, no matter how her body thrummed when Kasia brushed against her in the kitchen or behind the reception desk. A quick towel dry of her hair, a spray of scent, and she was ready to go. She pulled on her warm down coat and was back out of the house ahead of schedule.
As she burst through the doors of the hotel, Kasia and Joey were waiting in the foyer, talking quietly. She heard Kasia say, “So just leave it for tonight, okay?”
She wondered if they’d been talking about her.It’s not all about me, remember.
Kasia looked up, and a surprising smile lit her face. “You cleaned up quick.” She checked her watch. “And you’re ten minutes early.”
