“I guess we’ll see.” I still hadn’t told Tyra about Mom leaving us money, and it was sort of the perfect time to tell her, but I got nervous that she would become irrational and insist we stay, so I would hold the news inside until we got back home.

  There was a soft knock on the door before it turned and opened, and Blaire stepped through the threshold, his hair tucked inside a ball cap.

  “You two almost ready to go?” he asked, his eyes rimmed with red, like he’d been upset or maybe even crying.

  Tyra launched herself in his arms before wrapping her whole body around him like a BabyBjörn. I watched as his grip on her tightened, his muscular arms flexing. Her body started shaking, and I knew she was crying. I wondered if this was what our mom had hoped for her two girls—to have them leave their hearts in a foreign land.

  He kissed her cheek, and I saw it then ... his own tears. It made my eyes water in response to seeing them so emotional. I looked away and finished putting my clothes into my suitcase before easily zipping it up. I hadn’t bought anything here, like I’d thought I would.

  “Patrick’s waiting with the car out front,” Blaire said, and I nodded in his direction without making eye contact.

  This drive to the airport was going to suck.

  Blaire wheeled both of our suitcases down the hall and out the door for us. The second I stepped outside and saw that it was raining, I almost started laughing. Even the sky was crying for us. Patrick’s green eyes met mine, his expression solemn, and I lost it. I started crying right then and there, bending over at the waist, trying to hide my face. Patrick was there instantly, his strong arms around my middle as he held on to me from behind.

  “Don’t cry.” His voice was strangled as he made a sniffing sound.

  I straightened my body and turned around to face him. “Aren’t you upset that I’m leaving?” I asked, suddenly feeling stupid around him instead of safe, like I’d felt the rest of the time.

  “More than ye know,” he said, blinking a few times, and that was when I noticed how moist his eyes were. “I’ve been thinking of ways to have ye miss your flight all morning,” he said, and we both laughed even though we weren’t happy.

  “We need to go.” Blaire’s voice filtered into the air.

  Patrick grabbed my hand, bringing my knuckles to his lips as he pressed a kiss there. “This is going to break me,” he said.

  He pulled me toward the passenger side, opened the door for me, and helped me inside. I felt broken already.

  Blaire and Tyra were wrapped up in each other in the backseat, neither one of them speaking a word, their foreheads pressed together as they breathed. It was an intimate moment, so I didn’t say anything to ruin it.

  We drove to the Dublin Airport in silence. Each one of us caught up in our own emotions, having conversations in our heads, talking to our hearts. Patrick held my hand the whole way, always caressing or squeezing and never stopping. Every so often, our eyes would meet and hold before he had to look away and focus back on the road again.

  There was so much that was spoken in those moments of quiet. So much that was said without words. Apparently, we didn’t need them.

  When he parked the car and shut off the engine, he reached across the seat and pulled me into his arms. It was awkward, but I didn’t care. I held on to him for dear life too.

  Blaire and Tyra exited the car. I only knew because I heard the doors opening and then slamming, and Patrick moved to press a button that popped the trunk before he was back to holding me in his arms.

  “I don’t want ye to go,” he said against my neck, and I felt my heart break in half at the sound of his voice. “Stay. Please, stay, Celeste.”

  “I can’t,” I said in response even though it wasn’t at all the truth.

  Like Tyra and I had talked about in our room, I could have stayed. There was absolutely nothing waiting for me at home. No mom. No job. No real obligations. Saying that I couldn’t stay just felt like the right thing to do. It would be crazy of me to stay in another country with a man I barely knew.

  Who in their right mind did something like that?

  He pulled away from me and wiped the tears that had started to fall from my cheeks. I looked at his face and did the same. It was odd, watching a grown man cry because his heart was breaking. Truth be told, it was sexy as hell even though I might have assumed the opposite before this moment.

  “We’d better go,” he said before looking away from me and reaching for his door handle.

  I stepped outside, feeling unsteady on my own two feet. I’d never experienced anything like this before.

  “We’ll come back,” Tyra said from behind the car, and I started nodding when Patrick was at my side again.

  “I mean,” I started, “we could come back.”

  “Okay,” Patrick said, but I could tell that he didn’t believe me. Not in the slightest. “Sure.”

  He knew that once we returned home and immersed ourselves in our own familiar worlds, we most likely wouldn’t come back to Ireland. Our intentions were honorable now, but that all changed once you slipped back into your old routines and habits.

  “I’ll text you. And we can video-chat,” I said, trying to sound hopeful, but I wasn’t even sure why. What was I alluding to? Were we a couple now? Were we dating long distance?

  “Ye bet your arse we’ll video-chat. And text,” Patrick said, surprising me.

  We hadn’t talked about this part of things. It’d seemed like both of us wanted to pretend it wasn’t happening, so we’d put it off or ignored it altogether.

  “Come on. We still have to go through security,” Tyra said, suddenly sounding anxious to leave.

  Before I could move to grab my suitcase, Patrick’s hand stopped me. “I got ye something,” he said before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small silver ring.

  I opened my hand, and he dropped it into my palm, where I grabbed it between my fingers and studied it. There was a crown on top of a heart, which was being held on each side by a set of hands.

  “It’s a claddagh ring,” he said. “Originated here in Ireland.” He started pointing at the parts of the ring as he explained it further. “The hands represent friendship. The heart represents love. And the crown represents loyalty.”

  It felt like a boulder had lodged itself in my throat. I couldn’t breathe.

  “It’s beautiful,” I squeaked out, managing to find the words.

  “Tradition says that the direction ye wear the heart shows if you’re taken or not. If the heart points toward ye, your heart isn’t available. But if it points outward, then you’re single.”

  I turned the heart to point toward me as I slipped it on my ring finger on my right hand. “My heart is definitely not available,” I said.

  He picked me up in the air and held me tight as he kissed me hard, claiming me like he had the first night we were together. “I’m going to miss ye something fierce, my girl.”

  “Me too.”

  They walked us into the entrance, but we had to hurry through security, or we were going to be late.

  “Text me the second ye land in America,” he said, and I told him I would.

  He grabbed me one last time and kissed me, his tongue sweeping in, touching mine, and my insides heated, wanting him.

  And as his eyes started to water again, he turned away from me, grabbed Blaire, and disappeared out the glass doors.

  “This sucks,” Tyra said, and I threw my arm around her in agreement.

  This definitely sucked.

  I NEED HER

  PATRICK

  The drive back to Kilkenny was fecking brutal. My heart felt like it was in pieces inside my chest. It was a different kind of ache than when I’d lost my mum and my brother. This felt like I might never breathe right again. Like something inside me was now missing and was never coming back. Maybe it was a limb or a bone ... something I could technically live without but would never be the same again after losing it.

  “I’m a mess,” Blaire said, interrupting my own pity party.

  I knew that he and Tyra had connected as well, but of course, I assumed that what they had couldn’t even compare to the bond that Celeste and I had formed. It was an arsehole thing of me to think.

  “Did you tell her to text you when she lands?” I asked.

  “No,” he said, and I looked at him like he’d fecked up already. “I told her to call.”

  “It’ll be three in the morning here by the time they land,” I said, hoping like hell I’d be able to sleep without her. I’d gotten used to having her body tucked up against mine.

  “I know what time it will be. I don’t care.”

  Maybe I should have told Celeste to call. I’d only asked her to text. I was an idiot. She was going to think that Blaire liked her sister more than I liked her.

  “What are we gonna do?” he asked.

  But I couldn’t focus on Blaire and his feelings right now. I needed to get some kind of a handle on my own.

  “We’re gonna go back to the inn. You’re going to fix the leaky faucet in room twelve and tighten the hinges on rooms four and two, and I’m going to check the books and make sure all the upcoming guests are situated and everyone is happy. And then we’ll meet in the pub after.”

  “Yeah, or I might just head straight to the pub and drink myself silly until you get there,” he said before inhaling a long, loud breath.

  “We’ve been lazy lately. We need to do our jobs,” I said, putting on my boss voice. I hated using it and saying those things, but they were true.

  We’d put things off to spend time with the girls, and while I wouldn’t change it for anything, this was my business, my job, the way I made a living. We had to continue doing it right.

  My phone vibrated, letting me know that I had a text message from the international app. I saw Celeste’s name, and I couldn’t press the button fast enough.

  Miss you already. I love the ring. Thank you.

  I loved her. I stopped myself from typing that back in response. Instead, I closed the app and continued driving, determined to text her when I could give her my full attention, which wasn’t now.

  We got back to the inn in record time, and the sounds of music were already spilling out of the pub’s doors. It was still light out, but that never stopped anyone from having a good time. The instant I stepped out of my car and onto the dirt, I missed her even more. She had just been here, walking on this dirt, in the pub, behind the check-in counter.

  A place that hadn’t known her a week ago was now filled with memories of nothing but her. How had that happened so quickly? How could a stranger change the atmosphere of something I’d rebuilt without her in mind?

  “I have to go to my place. I’ll see ye later,” I said toward Blaire, who was already walking in the direction of the pub before I stopped him. “Do your work first. Drink after,” I insisted, and he rolled his eyes before saluting me like a soldier.

  Stepping into my house, I was hit with a wave of emotions I hadn’t expected. It almost bowled me right over. I saw her there, standing inside of my hearth, spinning around, a gorgeous smile on her face. She was everywhere. I feared that she always would be.

  Pulling out my phone, I knew she was already in the air and most likely not on Wi-Fi, but I sent her a text anyway, so she would see it when she landed.

  I can’t stop thinking about ye. I miss ye so much that it hurts, sweetheart. Come back.

  Before I could erase it or edit the message, I pressed Send. I hadn’t been raised to be this emotionally open and honest. At least, not from my dad’s perspective, but my mum had had far more of an influence over me than anyone else. I learned how to express myself and how to stay true to my heart. Which was how I found the strength to leave England and move to Ireland in the first place. My mum had raised me to live in my truth, no matter what anyone else said.

  I spent the rest of the evening staring at my phone, waiting for her to land. After handling some minor issue with guests and making the rounds so that they felt welcome, I bailed on Blaire and went home instead of to the pub. I knew he was drowning his sorrows in whiskey. I simply wanted to toss my head in my pillow and breathe in the scent of her.

  I must have fallen asleep because the sound of a text message woke me. My cell was lying next to me, and I grabbed it so fast, the brightness of the screen blinding my eyes. Turning it down, I pressed on the message.

  Landed. Safe and sound. But have to admit, I hate being away from you.

  My heart beat in triple time as I frantically typed out a response.

  I’m glad you’re safe. But I hate that you’re so far away.

  The three dots appeared, and I knew that she was typing. I felt excited and exhilarated ... like a kid. No one had made me feel like this in years.

  You’re awake! I hope I didn’t wake you. Actually, I kind of hope I did. Patrick ... I just ... miss you. I miss you so much already. Is that stupid?

  She attached a screenshot of what appeared to be her cell phone wallpaper. It was a picture of us at the Cliffs of Moher. I laughed because I’d already done the exact same thing, although I’d chosen a different photo. I snapped a screenshot of mine and sent it to her.

  Not stupid. Come back. Or I’ll come there and bring ye home.

  LOL. Not sure I’d mind that. Go to sleep. Talk tomorrow.

  Even though I didn’t want to let her go, I agreed, placing my phone on the charger and closing my eyes again.

  When I reopened them, the light was streaming in through my window. It was a new day. One more where she still wasn’t here.

  If I’d thought that things would get better with time, I was mistaken. Celeste and Tyra had been gone for ten days, and I swore to feck that I’d been aware of every single minute of all ten of those days. We texted on and off throughout the day and video-chatted at least once a day. Seeing her face fill my screen made my heart ache and swell at the same time.

  Technology was a gift. It helped. But it didn’t seem to ease what I truly wanted ... her ... here ... with me. That desire wasn’t lessening. And Blaire was no longer my comrade in that regard.

  I’d felt connected with him initially in our conjoined misery, but as time passed, Blaire missed Tyra less and less. And the same went for her, apparently. It wasn’t that Blaire hadn’t really liked Tyra. He had. But he saw a future together as an unrealistic option, and he let the thought of being with her go.

  My thoughts refused to do the same. Being with Celeste hadn’t felt unrealistic or impossible. It felt like something we could make happen if we both chose to. That wasn’t saying that there wouldn’t be challenges or that it wouldn’t be hard, but it would be worth it. Because being together mattered more than being apart.

  “I’ve never seen you so miserable.” Blaire sidled up to me at the bar and took my drink for his own, finishing it off.

  “I hate being here without her,” I said, not caring what his response might be or if he’d make fun of me.

  “I miss Tyra too, but ...” He paused.

  I realized that the way we missed the sisters wasn’t the same, and we both knew it. Blaire missed Tyra because she was fun and silly and had brought a lot of laughter into his life, but I missed Celeste on a level that could only be described as soulful. She completed me, and as American as that sounded, it was the truth.

  “I had to let her go. And you need to do the same,” he pushed, and I felt myself getting angry.

  I didn’t like being told what to do or how to feel. Especially not when it came to my feelings or Celeste.

  “There is no letting her go,” I argued.

  “There is if you just try. I mean”—he downed the rest of the drink before slapping my shoulder—“Tyra’s going on a date later.”

  I practically choked on the air around us. “A date? And ye don’t care?” I asked, knowing that if Celeste told me the same thing, I’d lose my damn mind, go to the airport, and get on a plane, just to fecking stop it from happening.

  “Nah,” he said like it was no big deal. “I have a date this weekend too. Tyra and I had fun while she was here, but now, she’s not.”

  It really was that simple for him, and I couldn’t begrudge him for it. I just had to walk my own path.

  “I’ve got to go see her,” I said point-blank.

  “Yeah, I know,” Blaire said with a smile that made his trademark dimples appear.

  “Am I being a fool?” I asked, suddenly wondering what he did think.

  “Only one way to find out.”

  I pushed up from the barstool and clapped him on the back. “Guess I’m going to America.”

  “Come back with the lass or don’t come back,” he teased before wishing me good luck.

  I’D KNOW THAT ACCENT ANYWHERE

  CELESTE

  It had been almost two weeks since we’d been back from Ireland, and it still felt ... weird. Nothing about being back in Dallas, in our childhood home, should have felt off, but it did, and I knew exactly why.

  I didn’t belong here anymore. In this place. Without him.

  When I’d stepped onto the front porch and into our house, it was like stepping back in time somehow. And it had nothing to do with Mom and everything to do with me. As I looked around at all of our things, noticing that nothing had changed in the days since we’d left, I knew that I would never be the same again. This trip had taken my being and shaken it up like a snow globe. All of my pieces were in new places, settled down differently. And I wasn’t even mad about it; I just didn’t know what to do.

  Patrick and I talked every day, but neither one of us made plans to see the other or even brought the idea up. I had no clue what we were doing.

  Do I have a boyfriend? Am I in a long-distance relationship with someone in another country?

  It sure felt that way, but we never defined it or even tried to. I thought we were both scared. Especially after seeing how quickly whatever Tyra and Blaire had had slipped away into nothing. They both seemed fine with it, but if you had asked me a couple weeks ago, I would have sworn that they were just as into one another as Patrick and I were.

 

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