by Kris Bryant
“What don’t you like about this?” I ask. I’m confused. The team did everything we discussed.
“Are you sure? Why do I get the feeling that we’re missing something.” We both stare at the boards until it finally hits me. She came here just to meet Kerry. She probably smells the sex in the room and is sticking around to either make me uncomfortable or learn more about her. Probably both as I watch her turn her attention back to Kerry, asking her questions about her stay and what fun things there are to do in Ireland. When Kerry tells her she is the sheep shearing champion of southern Ireland, I lose it. For a second, I actually believe her but then she winks at me and I bust out laughing.
“For Christ’s sake, Sherry, it’s not as if Ireland is ancient. They have the internet and running water. Kerry even drives a car,” I say.
“Oh, the one you caused her to wreck?” Sherry asks.
“Ouch. Oh, and Kerry, Luke never ran my card.”
“I know. I told him not to,” Kerry says, shrugging her shoulders as if it’s no big deal.
“That wasn’t what we agreed upon,” I say. Sherry can tell I’m starting to get upset and wisely makes an exit.
“Well, you ladies have a good time. Grace, I’ll see you next week. We can discuss this then.” She gathers up her paperwork and heads out, closing the door behind her.
“Are you serious right now? You know all of that was my fault. I told you I would pay for it. You should have had Luke use my card.”
She comes over to me and puts her hands on my shoulders. “Grace, it was an accident. He fixed it almost for free. I told him not to run your card.”
“I know you’re saving every penny for your farm and I know every penny helps. Why won’t you let me help you?” She senses my frustration and kisses me quickly.
“I have a big family. We help each other out. It’s no big deal. Come on, let’s go back to the condo or go shopping for Ian.” My heart softens when she mentions his name.
“I owe you,” I say.
She grabs my shirt and gently pulls me to her. “You owe me nothing, okay? It was my decision. It’s over with and we are not going to talk about it again.” She punctuates her decision with a kiss. It works. My anger slips away.
“You win. Let’s get out of here. We have more important things to worry about.”
We sneak out of the office with very little interference and head to the closest mall. I figure we might as well knock it out while we are out of the condo because I have a feeling once we are back there, it’s going to take a lot for us to get back out again.
Chapter Twenty-one
“Are you sure you want to go?” Kerry and I are in bed, wrapped up in one another when she decides we should go to Morgan’s party. I’m okay either way. If we stay here, I get her all to myself and if we go, I get to show her off to all of my friends. Win, win.
“I want to know everything about you. Yesterday, I got to hang out at your job and see you in action. Today, I get to see you hang out with your friends. This is why I’m here. To get to know you better and see where and how you live. Remember, I took you all around Ireland. I think it’s only fair that you show me more about you.” Guilt trip sold. I sigh and send Morgan a text that we will be there in a little bit. I toss the phone on the nightstand. Kerry pounces on me. “I promise to make it up to you.” I nod like I don’t believe her. She kisses me until I do.
After much negotiation on how long we are going to be gone and wardrobe advice, we finally head to Morgan’s. The party is in full swing when we arrive.
“There you both are!” Morgan greets us with a group hug and drags us inside. She is already tipsy which surprises me. Normally, she doesn’t like to lose control, especially in a roomful of lesbians. That never ends well. “Come in, come in. We have so many people here who want to meet the mysterious Irish woman who has…” I put my hand over her mouth and shake my head. She laughs and pulls back. “We all want to meet you.” She grabs Kerry’s hand and drags her to the living room to introduce her around. At this point, I’m sure Kerry has to know she has my heart. Women don’t do what we’ve done and share what we have without having strong feelings involved. I decide to grab a glass of wine instead of helicoptering Morgan. She’s going to say what she’s going to say whether I want her to or not. I can hear my friends squawk over Kerry and I watch the introduction from the doorway. Kerry is fantastic with new people. I watch every single one of my friends smile genuinely at her, knowing they, too, are fascinated by her. Morgan slips away from the crowd and stands beside me.
“She’s fucking perfect. And I’m jealous. Don’t let her slip away,” Morgan says.
“Well, a Dublin-Dallas relationship really isn’t in the cards for us. I have no idea what I’m going to do,” I say.
“You make it work. Simple as that,” she says, then leaves me. There is no way I would take Kerry away from her family, and I can’t leave my life here. I guess we will ride this out until we drift apart. I convince myself I’m okay with that, but the thought actually terrifies me. A long weekend once a month isn’t fair to either one of us. She’s far too special to me to tether her like that. If I really care about her, I should do the honorable thing and stop this before it turns into something we both end up regretting. Kerry looks at me from across the room and raises an eyebrow at me. That’s my cue. I head over to her and whisk her away from my inquisitive friends.
“She needs to have some genuine Texas barbecue, ladies. I’ll bring her back in a few minutes.” We head outside and I help Kerry fix her plate. She’s unsure of what she should eat, so I advise her to try a little bit of everything. We find an empty bench and she dives into the food. She impresses me by cleaning her plate of everything but the baked beans. They are too sweet for her.
“If I lived here, I would gain five pounds every week. This is delicious,” she says.
“Funny because I think the same about if I lived in Ireland. I would be huge.”
“Well then, we’ll just have to work out to stay fit and beautiful,” she says. I toast to that. “Now, does Morgan have any local beer? I mean, I can get Bud Light in Dublin.”
“Your wish is my command. Can I leave you alone or will I have to fight the lesbians off of you when I return?”
She shrugs. “Well, I’m yours so you don’t have to worry. Although I did see a very cute butch girl in there I wouldn’t mind…” My possessive kiss shuts her up. I leave her, both of us smiling, and head for the kitchen. By the time I return with a local beer from Deep Ellum Brewery, she is already flanked by two young lesbians. I roll my eyes. She stands up when I reach her because there isn’t any place for me to sit now.
“Really? I was gone for like two minutes.” I smile so she knows I’m teasing. Right there, in front of her new friends and everybody watching us, she pulls me into her arms and kisses me. Not a cute peck on the lips kind of kiss, but the kind that makes everything around you disappear. The kind that makes people around you blush and swoon. “Okay, you’re forgiven,” I say, breathlessly and unashamed. I step out of her arms and hand her the beer, because if I don’t leave her embrace, I will embarrass both of us by dropping to my knees. “This is from a local brewer. It’s not as strong as an Irish Red, but similar.” I watch as she takes a sip, the tiniest of bubbles resting against her lips as she pulls the bottle away from her mouth.
“Mmm. Not bad for American beer,” she says. I pinch her side playfully. Two girls I used to play softball with, Lindsay and Ellie, come over and introduce themselves to Kerry. They draw us into conversation and we spend at least a half of an hour with them. Morgan eventually drags Kerry over to meet other friends.
“So what’s the story there?” Lindsay asks.
“What do you mean?”
“She’s from Ireland. Are you girls going to try the long distance thing or not? Because if you aren’t, then I might want to start something with her. She’s really great,” she says. My mouth literally drops open. I can’t even speak. Lindsay laughs
and playfully pushes my shoulder. “You should see your face right now. I’m just kidding. But she is wonderful. You should hang onto her. You deserve this, Grace. It’s been a long time for you.” Even she won’t mention my ex’s name. That relationship was more toxic than I thought.
“Thanks, Lindsay. What’s going on with you? Anything?” Lindsay is a very nice woman, but has very little self-confidence and tends to date the wrong girls, too.
“Nah. It’s okay though. I’m not ready to settle down yet. I’m only twenty-five. I have plenty of time,” she says. I see her watching Morgan out of the corner of her eye and automatically think of playing matchmaker. Morgan wants stability. Lindsay needs somebody to boost her confidence and Morgan just might be that person. I’d casually bring it up to her today, but she’s not in the right frame of mind right now. Plus, she’s flitting about, my girlfriend on her arm, so I file it away for next week instead. After about twenty minutes of having friends come up to tell me how happy they are for me, I decide it’s time to go home and celebrate how happy everybody is for us. Kerry is sitting with Morgan and a few others.
“Have you had enough of my friends? Can we go home yet?” I whisper. Kerry leans up and cups my face closer to her ear to hear me better. “I miss you.” She faces me and kisses my lips.
“Ladies, thank you so much for your hospitality and kindness. It’s been a pleasure getting to know you,” she says. My friends protest a bit, but Morgan shuts them down and gets us to the door quickly.
“I want you to stay, but I know that your time is limited. Go have fun. Kerry, you’re wonderful. Be good to Gracie.” Morgan kisses us and shoves us out of the door.
“Trust me. That was the best thing Morgan could have done for us,” I say. Kerry still looks surprised. “We can always go back.” I turn and head back to the door. Kerry grabs me.
“I trust you. Let’s go home,” she says, kissing me hard. She makes me smile.
Chapter Twenty-two
Sunday we are blessed with much needed rain. Our outdoor plans are scratched and we decide to stay inside. I offer to take her to the Dallas Museum of Art, but she assures me she just wants to relax. I’m sure it’s jet lag, or the fact that we’ve had sex every waking moment, but she is exhausted. I let her drift back to sleep and head to the kitchen to make us breakfast. I have all of the ingredients for a bacon, egg, and potato casserole. It will take about an hour to prepare and cook. I slip it in the oven and head to the bathroom for a much needed shower. I’m deliciously sore everywhere and smile the entire time I scrub down. I’m genuinely happy. Kerry is wonderful. This is great and bad at the same time. I’m going to miss her when she leaves tomorrow. I’m already thinking about my next trip to Ireland. And logically I know to cut this off right now. Let this just be what this is. An in the moment affair. But I can’t. My heart is already heavily invested. The one thing I wasn’t going to allow to happen. I was going to keep my heart out of this. Too late.
“Babe, are you hungry?” I lean down and place a soft kiss on Kerry’s cheek. She stirs and makes a small nondescript noise. I feel guilty for waking her up, but I know she needs to eat. I nuzzle her cheek and her ear until she opens her eyes. “I made you breakfast in bed. Do you need to sleep more or can you eat?”
“I’m surprisingly hungry.” She moves into a sitting position. “Thank you, love, this looks great.” I automatically lift my eyebrows when she calls me love and there is a slight hesitation in her movements when she sees my reaction. This breakfast just got interesting. I play it off and move over to the other side of the bed to eat next to her. We both devour our breakfast, obviously needing energy.
“We can watch a movie if you want. What kind of movies do you like?” I ask.
“I watch every single movie that I can. Remember, I’m twenty-eight years old and still live at home. I need to escape every night.”
“Stop. You live at home because you are saving up for something better. There’s nothing wrong with that. Plus, that’s just the way it is over in Ireland. I admire what you’re doing. It’s smart. Things are just different over here,” I say.
“It’s embarrassing. I didn’t want to tell your friends that I still live at home. I wanted to impress them for you,” she says.
I laugh. Probably not the best timing because I see hurt flash in her eyes and I quickly explain. “I’m only laughing because every single woman at that party would jump at the opportunity to have you move in with them. One of my friends actually asked me if we were going to do the long distance thing, and if not, could she step in. A woman living at home at your age is not a weakness. Sure, if you weren’t saving up your money and playing video games and smoking weed living in your parents’ basement then yeah, that’s kind of a loser life, but you have goals and dreams. It’s admirable.”
“I just sometimes feel like I’m not good enough for you. You have this incredible job. You live in a great condo in one of the best cities in the world. Your car is beautiful, your office is fantastic. You have the perfect life,” she says.
“That’s so not true. I work too hard, too many hours when I should be focusing on myself. I finally find the girl of my dreams and she lives four thousand miles away. My car? It’s just a thing. My office? Designed to keep me there late every night. My life isn’t perfect. I struggle every day with my decisions. We all do. This is normal,” I say.
“The girl of your dreams, huh?”
That makes me smile. “Without a doubt. Sure, she was stubborn and mean when I first met her, but I broke her down and now she’s mine,” I say, right before she jumps on me and tickles me.
“Stubborn and mean? Take it back,” she says. I shake my head no. She tickles me some more. “Take it back.” I smile at her and shake my head again.
“Stubborn. And. Mean.” I over pronounce each word. She growls at me and slides my hands up over my head. Her body is already on top of mine, but now I can’t move at all. “Stubborn.” She barely runs her lips over mine and pulls back when I lean in for a kiss. “And.” She moves her lips down to my neck. I feel her warm breath against my skin, but I know she isn’t going to kiss me. Her featherlike kisses are driving me crazy, but I keep going. “Mean.” She leans up to look in my eyes.
“Do you really think that?” She releases my hands, and I automatically reach out to hold her face close to mine.
“Oh, God, no. I’m just having fun. Yes, you are stubborn, but never mean. Truly. The girl of my dreams.”
“Grace, what are we going to do? We both know long distance relationships never last.”
“We take this day by day. Hour by hour if we have to. Let’s not make any decisions right now, okay? I have you for another twenty-four hours and I’d like to enjoy every single minute of them. Can we do that? Please?” I’m actually begging her. She nods. I pull her to me and we stay like that for a long time. I’m wondering what is going to happen when she leaves and I can only imagine that she is doing the same.
“Am I hurting you?” Her body is more to my side than actually on top of me and her weight feels great. She fits me perfectly.
“You could never hurt me. You are too slight.” I quickly add that part because emotionally she could destroy me.
“But I’m taller than you, and certainly stronger,” she says.
“You are perfect.” I’m suddenly very sad because this is true and I don’t know how many more of these moments we will have.
*
“My bag is packed,” Kerry says.
“You mean bags, right?” I ask. She has three sitting by the door.
“Well, those two are for Ian. Mine is packed.” Her flight is at eleven tomorrow morning, which means we need to leave at eight. That gives us ten hours to sleep and have our last few hours of alone time. We haven’t discussed the future. I have no idea if I will see her again. I know I want to and I know I will do everything I can to get me there or her here, but I don’t know how she feels.
“That baby is a month old and already spoile
d,” I say.
“He’s a Mulligan and he deserves it. Plus, he’s the cutest baby in the world and I can’t wait to see him again,” she says. I love how much her face lights up when she mentions him. She will make a great mom someday. I set the alarm for six thirty and reach out to her. She slides into the bed with me and rests against me.
“Thanks for coming all this way to see me and get to know my life.”
“Dallas is large. You have a great life here. I’m kind of jealous,” she says.
“My life is nothing to be jealous of, trust me. I work too hard and I do nothing but work.”
“You have nice things, a nice home, and for the most part, nice friends,” she says. She told me last night that a few of the women at the party were snobby, which doesn’t surprise me. Morgan really is my only true friend.
“I’m sorry a few were rude to you. Some women just have a hard time around a beautiful woman. Most of those girls I only see during softball season. I miss half the games so I’m not super close with them,” I say. “But I’m most sorry that we didn’t get out more. Wait. No, no I’m not sorry. I love our alone time.” She holds my hand.
“I did have a great time. Texas is so very different from Ireland. And the weather here? It’s so hot. We should have gone swimming.” Last night I took her up to the roof where there is a community pool for our building. We almost skinny dipped, but at the last moment, a group of people showed up. By the time we got back to the condo to put on swimsuits, we were so turned on that swimming was completely forgotten.
“I liked what we did instead.”