“Whoa.”I wave him off, and I turn to face Vanessa.“What’s going on?”
She inhales sharply, and I realize she’s really upset.
“Hey, now, are you okay?”Sam asks.
“You have a date.”Vanessa shakes her head.“You need to go.We can talk later.”
“You can tell me now,” I say.“Cillian’s not a toddler.He can wait.”
“I’m not a toddler either,” Vanessa says.“I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“What?”Sam glares.“Now I’m getting nervous.”
“Jack’s mom—I ran into her after our dinner the other night—she isn’t much of a fan.”
“Of hurling?”I can’t help my wry smile.“Because, honestly?Ditto.It’s a little overly complicated, and frankly, not much different than soccer, but with sticks, which seem unnecessary.”
A deep laugh behind me startles me a bit.
“You need to go,” Vanessa whispers.“We’ll talk more about this later.”
I point at Sam.“No telling her everything and leaving me out.That’s not what we do.”
Only, as I walk off, I worry that Vanessa needs to talk about whatever is wrong right now.So I text Sam frantically.
I was kidding, of course.Talk to her and fix it.If we need to key Jack’s mom’s car, send the address.
Sam sends a laughing emoji, so I’m going to trust that she can handle it.
“Do you really not like hurling?”Cillian asks.“Because that’s almost as un-Irish as you can get.”
I snort.“I’m not Irish, you know, but in this case, I was just being silly.I don’t really understand it, but I like it as well as I like any sports that don’t involve horses.”
“Which is to say, not much.”
I shrug.“You got me.”
“Then on the way to dinner, you have to tell me three things about you that I don’t already know,” Cillian says.“Or I’ll never be able to impress you with my brilliant insight ever again.”
“But I won’t be impressed if it’s something I’ve told you,” I say.“I’m hard to impress.”
He laughs.“Don’t I know it.”His hands loosen and then tighten again on the steering wheel of his sports car.“Look, when I learn these new things, I’ll reform my opinions of you with that information.The impress-you part comes later, when I’m able to apply that information to a new situation.You’ll see.”
“Fair enough,” I say.“But only if you do it, too.”
He shrugs.“That’s a valid stipulation.”
“Since you’re driving, I’ll start.”
“Perfect.”
“I like getting my nails done.”
He glances at my very bare, verynot-done nails.In fact, my index finger on my right hand still has a nail that’s completely ragged.I kept meaning to file it, but never had time.He cocks one eyebrow.
“I’m telling you that, because it’s something I really enjoy, but it’s something I haven’t had time for since I had kids, so I just quit doing it.It also saved money, which I spent on other very unglamorous things like diapers and baby clothing.I haven’t gotten my nails done in a really long time, and I miss it, but not enough to spend time and resources on that instead of my kids.”
“That tells me a lot about your priorities.Good one.”
