Page 48 of Dirty Padraig: Dirty Dusters

That’s my tag.

I turn my head to look at Jaine as she lies on her back on the sectional in a pair of white jean shorts and a matching tank. I’m pretty sure the tatty high tops she’s wearing are the same ones she wore back when she was nineteen. She looks just like she did on that final day. The day she rejected me that one last time, and just before I cheated on her.

My thoughts drift back to when we used to lie side by side on her student bed, talking about everything and anything. We’d spend hours mapping out what our future together would look like.

Maybe it was a bit premature as we weren’t together that long, but I guess you just know when you’ve found your soul mate.

We never went so far as to talk about what we’d name our children if The Almighty decided to bless us with any. Finian may well have been my first choice too.

Back in our Yale days, everything was about the future because we actually had one. We were so young that it stretched out endlessly in front of us. These days, all we talk about is the past because we have no future, or at least not one together.

Looking at her now, it’s like time stood still. I wish it had so I could have a do-over and not fuck up my entire life by making one silly mistake.

Regardless of where we’ve ended up, I’m still grateful for every moment that I got to spend with her. I wouldn’t change it for the world. I wouldn’t change her either.

“Do you remember the day we first met, darlin’?” I break the amicable silence.

She groans out loud and turns her head to look at me. “You mean the day the contents of my pencil case rolled down the auditorium and landed at Professor Young’s feet?”

I laugh heartily at the memory. “I thought he was going to have a heart attack.”

“I was worried his hairpiece was going to fall off.” She sniggers.

“That wasn’t the first time we met, though.”

“Wasn’t it?” She frowns.

“You had just walked into the admin office.”

“The room that stank of lavender.” She wrinkles her nose.

“That’s the one. You were collecting your new class schedule from Miss Houser, and you almost knocked me over in your rush.”

“Sorry.” She smiles.

“I thought you were the most stunning girl I’d ever seen, with the most beautiful accent I’d ever heard, and you didn’t even know I existed.”

We stare at each other as our thoughts drift back.

“I knew you existed,” she admits quietly. Her expression is thoughtful, almost like she’s traveled back in time to the precise moment when our fates collided.

I raise a questioning eyebrow at her, and she smiles and rolls her eyes exaggeratedly.

“Well, you were always so sure of yourself, and I didn’t want to feed that massive ego of yours, but I used to sneak glances at you when you weren’t looking.”

“So youhadseen me before that day?”

“You were all I saw, Irish.”

“I wasallyou saw?” I raise the other eyebrow.

She shrugs. “I’d been admiring you for a while. All the girls had.” She fidgets with the cushion. “You were so handsome and popular and funny.”

“I have to agree with you there, darlin’. Iamall of those things.” I smile smugly, laughing when the cushion she was distracting herself with connects with the side of my head.

“You missed out vain.”

“That too. So, tell me more about this covert admiring malarkey. The fact that you couldn’t keep your eyes off my handsomeness.”

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