“C’mon, Colin,” Nate whined. “We deserve to know about our own vacation.”
“Finish your dinner, then we’ll have our Ireland trip meeting.”
“We’re done!” Nate told him. He dropped his fork and shot out of his chair. “Let’s meet!”
Colin rose. “You guys sit there,” he said, pointing to the couch. “I’ll be right back.” He bolted up the stairs, and when he rejoined them, he held a legal pad and more than a dozen printouts. “OK,” he said after dragging a chair from the dining room. “First off, you need to take two weeks off work starting July fourteenth, and you won’t be back ’til Sunday, July thirtieth.” He placed the chair directly in front of the couch and held out a piece of paper to David, who peered at it with curiosity.
“What’s this?”
“That is the login information for our joint PayPal trip account. And that figure on the bottom is the amount of money I need you to put in there ASAP.”
David read the figure and then nodded. “Seems reasonable.”
“No, no, no!” Nate exclaimed. “I want to know what this money is being spent on! You can’t keep secrets from us about our trip!”
“SureI can,” Colin told him, grinning.
Nate opened his mouth to speak, then wheeled to face Joshua, who was shaking with soft laughter. “Don’t encourage him!”
Joshua shrugged in helpless resignation and gestured to Colin. “C’mon, babe. I know there’s more.”
“Our itinerary…” Colin began.
“About damned time,” Nate grumbled.
“…begins with our flight to Dublin,” Colin told them. “We’ll grab our rental car, um, actually our rentalvan, and drive to Kilkenny.” He glanced up at his friends. “Takes about an hour and a half.”
“You cool driving on the wrong side of the road?” David asked him.
“Well, for them, it’snotthe wrong side!” He gave a casual shrug. “I did it on our honeymoon,” he said, then grinned at David. “You can drive if you like.”
David lifted his eyebrows as if considering.
“Then what?” Nate exclaimed. “What happens in Kilkenny?”
“We’re stayingherefor two days,” Colin said and handed David a printout featuring a picture of an ivy-covered mansion. “It’s a little pricy, but you can see why.”
The three men bent over the printout and studied the image of the luxurious manor house.
“Colin, it’s beautiful,” David exclaimed.
“I already made our reservations.” He consulted his legal pad. “While we’re in Kilkenny, we’ll be visiting Kilkenny Castle and Kilfane Glen and Waterfall.” He handed David two more printouts. “Then we’ll head for Killarney.”
“Colin, this is amazing,” David said, showing the printouts to Nate.
“Why did you pick these attractions, Colin?” Nate asked, peering at the images in David’s hand.
“Because they’re the most romantic.”
Joshua smiled at him, and Colin reached to caress his cheek.
“On the way to Killarney, we stop at the Rock of Cashel.” He handed David another printout. “It says here: ‘One of the most inspiring collections of medieval buildings in Ireland.’ Then we head to Blarney Castle, where the playwright here can kiss the stone. We have to hit the road early that day, or we’ll be standing in line for hours. If we get there early enough, we should be OK. We’ll still have to stand for a while because there are always crowds.”
“I’m kissing that stone,” Nate insisted.
“Like youneedany help being eloquent and persuasive,” David pointed out.
“Still kissing it.”
