Chapter 15
Eamonn
Over the next week, Heath and Louisa didn’t say a word to each other in the flat. That made the times when they were all in the kitchen very uncomfortable. At least Eamonn had Rafe to help relieve the tension with ajoke.
October was in full fall mode. Eamonn smiled as he walked through piles of leaves to the gym. He had woken up early this Sunday morning, and instead of lying in bed, he decided to get some gym time in. As he lifted weights and jogged around the indoor track, he found himself thinking about Rafe. No one memory in particular, just a montage running in his head. Rafe smiling, Rafe cooking at the stove, Rafe lining up his snooker shot. He also realized that it’d been weeks since he thought of his ex-boyfriend. He hadn’t even been tempted to check his Instagram feed to see what stars he’d taken selfies with. Those years with Nathan seemed to have happened another lifetime ago. With each loop around the track, he moved further away from thatpain.
It was just before eight when Eamonn returned to Sweeney Hall. He put on a fresh pot for tea. Nathan had preferred using the electric tea maker, but Eamonn would never convert. He heated his water the old-fashioned way in akettle.
The door swung open. Rafe placed his backpack on the table. Since it was the first truly chilly day of autumn, he wore a corduroy jacket, and he looked damn good init.
“You’re up early,” Rafesaid.
“Likewise.”
He filled up his water bottle at thesink.
“Going somewhere?” Eamonnasked.
“I’m going on a day trip to Stonehenge as part of an assignment for my sedimentology class.” Rafe capped his bottle and placed it in the side sleeve of hisbackpack.
“Are you hiking there?” Eamonn nodded at his backpack, which was packed to thegills.
“There’s this tour group. You go out to the site on a chartered bus, and the leader gives a guided tour. And they providelunch.”
“What do you need a guided tour of Stonehenge for?” Eamonn pointed at the fridge. “Here are old rocks.” He pointed at the microwave. “Here are more old rocks. End oftour!”
“Stonehenge is one of the great geological and historical mysteries of our planet. Ithinkit’ll be a little more in-depth.” Rafe opened one of the cupboards and retrieved a bag of trail mix. He brushed against Eamonn on his way back to the table, giving his body another morning workout. “Have you everbeen?”
“In primary school, but I just remember being bored out of my bloody mind. When does the tourleave?”
“Not until eleven, but I want to give myself enough time to get to London ontime.”
“London?” The tea kettle screamed on the stove. Eamonn turned off the burner and moved the kettleoff.
“That’s where the tour leaves from.” Rafe poured some trail mix into his hand and knocked it back likepills.
Eamonn pulled out a map of England on his phone. There was Stonehenge, there was Stroude, and then there was London completely in the opposite direction. He showed it toRafe.
“You’re going to travel all the way into London just to drive all the way to Stonehenge, then all the way back to London to come backhere.”
“That’s where these tours leavefrom.”
“And all this for what? Some tour guide to tell you something you could’ve read about online. And where’s lunch comingfrom?”
“I think it’s just sandwiches. What? It’s not like there are tours leaving from Surrey. It all leaves fromLondon.”
“You are not a tourist. You came to England to get the real British experience. No real British person would be caught dead on one of those tourbusses.”
Rafe seemed to absorb what he was saying. “Well, I want to see Stonehenge. What other option do I have?” He checked the clock on the wall. “I need to getgoing.”
“I’ll take you,” Eamonn said just as Rafe swung the dooropen.
Rafe came back inside. “Really?”
“Really.” Stonehenge was only an hour drive. They could leave now, look at the rocks for a few minutes, and be back by lunchtime. Eamonn would finish his class assignments tonight. “Just give me a few minutes to shower. And you can leave that ghastly knapsackhere.”
“How are we going to getthere?”
