Page 54 of An Irish Kiss
“You feel it too?”
Too?Her heart thudded.So he did feel something for her.This wasn’t as one-sided as she’d feared.It was enough for her to find her courage and plant her feet in honesty and say, “I… I feel like I could quite like you,” she admitted.
His lips curved higher on one side.“I feel like I could quite like you, too.”He leaned closer.“I feel like I already do.”
“But you can’t,” she blurted.“You’re leaving soon.Tomorrow, right?”
His nose wrinkled, and he sat back in his chair.“Do I have to?”
She half-laughed.“What, are you going to spend your entire time in Ireland at the hotel?”
He bit his bottom lip.
“I don’t want to put a dampener on things, but I’m just trying to be realistic.Especially…”
“Especially because I’m leaving,” he murmured.
“And the other thing.”
“The other thing?Oh.Right.The other thing.”
The thing they’d barely touched on today, not since the visit to the thatched cottage this morning.“See, that’s what’s bothering me.I don’t see how we can pursue this,” she motioned between them again, “when you still want to pursue that,” she added softly.Even though his latest revelation felt like the splinter of discord had been removed.She could understand why someone who had gone through his experiences might be passionate about righting perceived wrongs.
He studied her for a long moment, his blue eyes inky in the candlelight.
The waiter arrived with a bowl of apple crumble and cream, and a board of cheeses and chutney, crackers and dried fruit.He placed both in the middle and provided a couple of spoons as Aidan had requested.
Aidan gestured for her to go first, so she took a spoonful of the apple crumble, and nearly moaned at its sweet perfection.Then she pushed the bowl to him.“It’s really good.”
“Everything about today has been good.”
Except the question she’d just asked.How could they pretend all was fine, when they kept dancing around the problem she’d just raised?
* * *
She was so right.And so wrong.
So right to ask that question when he’d firmly shoved it from his mind.So right for him in so many ways, even if it felt like a rush.Right for him in her faith, her love for her family, her sense of fun and humour, her sense of compassion for others and passion for books and all kinds of interesting things.And with her accent and sparkling eyes and vibrant hair, well she definitely ticked all the right boxes in attraction.
Yet she was also so wrong.Wrong because they lived in different countries, although that could possibly work out.And most of all wrong because of this wedge between them, which he still hadn’t figured out how to resolve.
Best to tackle the easier one first.
He nudged the cheese platter to one side then reached across the table and held her hand.“So, you mentioned before about wondering what to do with your life.”She nodded.“Are you committed to staying in Ireland, or would you be willing to see where life—God—might take you?”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that you could explore living somewhere else, if you felt like God wanted you to.”
She wet her bottom lip.“You mean like Australia?”
He smiled.“I’ve heard it’s quite nice there.”
“Lots of sunshine.”
“And the people are relaxed and friendly.”
“That’s a plus.”
