“I saw!”
“Really cool dude. On his way to Belfast.” Colin blew out a quick breath, and Joshua saw his hands tremble. He smiled and hugged Colin’s arm against his body, pressing his forehead to Colin’s shoulder.
“I love how excited you are.”
“There’s nothing like flying to Ireland. I remember being so eager to get there when I was a kid that I was damn near sick.”
“Was Kathy with you?”
“Yeah. Before she… died.” Colin fell silent, staring down at the floor.
“Honey, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…”
“No, Josh, it’s OK. Hard not to remember my sister when I’m flying to Ireland.”
“You guys spent a lot of summers there?”
“Every summer.”
“And after she… passed?”
“I went alone, though…” Again, he hesitated, then drew Joshua close as if seeking comfort from his nearness. “It was hard for me after she died. Going to Ireland. Seemed wrong without her. Everything seemed wrong. I felt as though I was being disloyal to her.”
“If you enjoyed Ireland without her?”
Colin nodded, and Joshua felt the arm around his body tighten, drawing him closer.
“Perfectly natural reaction under the circumstances,” Joshua murmured.
He touched Joshua’s cheek. “Being in Ireland with you,” Colin told him. “… made everything right again. It’s like…” he hesitated as if thinking. “You brought the joy back.”
“You mean you finally gave yourself permission to be happy?”
“Now, now…”
Joshua laughed, leaning against his husband. “Sorry. Putting my shingle away.” He felt someone clutch his arm. “What!”
“Comeon!” Nate blurted out, dragging him forward. “Snuggle later! Time togo!”
“It’s like traveling with a ten-year-old,” Colin muttered, stumbling after Joshua.
* * *
Their flightto LaGuardia arrived ten minutes late, which caused the four travelers to miss their scheduled shuttle to JFK. “Oh, goddammit to hell!” Nate bristled. “Now what! Our flight to Heathrow leaves at 6:00 p.m.! We’ll miss it if we don’t get to JFK in time and the whole schedule falls apart.”
Colin grabbed Nate’s shoulders and moved him to where a row of taxicabs sat waiting. “Hey,” he said to the nearest driver, waving a pair of one-hundred-dollar bills under his nose. “This is your tip if you get us to JFK in time for our Heathrow flight.”
“Where’s your luggage?”
“Happily,itmade it to the shuttle, so I assume it’s being loaded onto our plane.”
“Get in. I’ll get you there.”
Nate blanched and pointed to the taxi. “We won’t all fit!”
“Sit on David’s lap,” Colin instructed, shoving him toward the vehicle.
Their driver was as good as his word, and while Joshua cowered in terror against Colin’s arm, he broke every New York speed law getting them to JFK and pulled up at the terminal just in time for them to make their flight to Heathrow. While David, Nate, and Joshua applauded, Colin slapped the two bills into the cabbie’s hand, then wheeled and rushed them toward security. They arrived at the gate with mere seconds to spare.
