Joshua sighed and visibly relaxed as their plane taxied down the runway, lacing his fingers with Colin’s. “What!” Colin blurted out, grinning at him. “No deep breaths? No counting to sixty? No clutching my hand with white-knuckled fingers?”
“I’m too traumatized by that cab ride to give a good goddamn about takeoffs!”
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
IRELAND - DUBLIN
“Oh, holy crap,” Nate moaned. He grabbed the back of David’s jacket and dragged his carry-on behind him. “Who came up with this goddamn wackadoodle schedule anyway?”
Colin snickered as he and Joshua trailed behind their friends pushing a large cart piled high with luggage. “Stop your whining, or I’ll make you come and push this thing. Travel days always suck.” Nate gave no reply but lifted his middle finger high in the air.
“There it is!” David called, pointing. “You said Enterprise, right Colin?”
“Yep.”
“Better get up here. You have all the paperwork.”
The other three travelers gathered near the luggage cart while Colin spoke to the cashier. Then, after a moment, he turned. “David, did you say you wanted to drive? If so, they’ll need your driver’s license number, and we need to get you on the insurance.” He shot a glance at Joshua and Nate. “Either of you?”
“I’m happy to leave it in your capable hands,” Joshua told him while Nate wrinkled his nose and laughed out a rough rejection.
“Are youkiddingme? I can barely drive on therightside of the road. Handing me the keys to our rental car would be a huge mistake.” He leaned against the pile of luggage. “Whattimeis it?”
“It’s a little after nine in the morning, Ireland time,” Joshua told him.
“Oh my god,” Nate breathed out. “We’re inIreland! Has Colin kissed the sacred soil?”
“No. But I’m sure he’ll get around to it. He’ll probably wait ’til we’re in Killarney and he sees his Ahn-tee. That’s the real sacred soil for him. Killarney.”
“Is that how you say Auntie in Irish? Ahn-tee?”
Joshua laughed and glanced over to where his husband stood with David, signing papers. “No. He was only four years old when he tried to learnAintin, which is Irish for Auntie. But all he could manage was Ahn-tee, which is what he and Kathy both called Aileen from that time forward.”
“That’s rather sweet.”
“Well, I’m sure she’d never want him to change it now.”
* * *
Despite being jet-lagged and semi-exhausted,they were chattering with excitement as they pulled their rental van onto Highway N7 and headed for their first stop, the ancient Irish city of Kilkenny. Colin took the first shift, and though driving on the left side of the road felt awkward, he soon relaxed into it. Their route carried them past some of the most picturesque landscapes in Ireland. Breathtaking views of beautiful valleys and the rugged and sometimes desolate landscapes skirting the Wicklow Mountains were spread before them.
Halfway to Kilkenny, they stopped at a roadside park for lunch. Colin had purchased sandwiches, snacks, and drinks at the airport and now spread them out on the picnic table for everyone to enjoy. “It’s mostly turkey with a couple of ham thrown in,” he told them, then moved to a nearby stand of trees and stood, his back propped against a tall sycamore, gazing at the valley below him, his sandwich forgotten in his hand.
Joshua watched him from the picnic area. “Lookat him,” he murmured to David and Nate, tilting his head toward his husband. “He’s in heaven.”
“Who could blame him?” David said. “This country is breathtaking.” He paused for a moment, gazing at Colin. “But it’s more than that,” David added. “This place touches something personal within Colin. Something profound.”
“I bet he’s thinking of his sister,” Nate commented. “I think Ireland still means ‘Kathy’ to him.”
Joshua nodded, his eyes still fixed on Colin. “Well, that’s certainly part of it.” He rose, walked to where his husband stood, and leaned against his arm. “Would you rather be alone, babe?”
“No. Why would I?”
Joshua shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe thinking deep thoughts?”
Colin breathed out a laugh. “Oh, yeah. Real deep.” He wrapped an arm around Joshua’s shoulders and drew him against his side. “I’m tired and trying to figure out how much I slept on the plane.” He peered at his husband. “Did you sleep?”
“On theplane? C’mon, you know better! I had to stay alert. I had to feel every shudder and moment of turbulence.” He grinned at his husband. “Did you want us to fall out of the sky?”
