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“Like a chef?” he asked.
“Oh, no. That would be too stressful. No. I have degrees in culinary arts, food science, and chemistry, so I could do a lot of different things. But mostly, I just love eating food. So taste testing around Europe and creating a menu has been great.”
Finn listened in amazement. She was so educated, so motivated. And what was he? A college drop-out who’d barely finished secondary school. Oh, and a bus driver.
Still, he was happy enough with his own life choices to not feel too insecure about his lack of accomplishments compared to hers.
“That’s cracker, travelin’ all over,” he began. “Not many folks get to live out their dreams like that.”
A shadow moved over her features as she stared at the road ahead of them, but it vanished in a heartbeat.
“What about you?” she asked, though he could tell her smile was more forced than usual. “Are you living out your dreams?”
“Oh, aye. To be sure,” he answered in earnest. “I love me job. It’s nothin’ grand like what you’ve done, but I’m happy with it just the same.”
A soft look touched Maisie’s eyes. “Sometimes, the best dreams are the humble ones.”
There had been times when Finn had felt the judgments of others when he’d shared his simple dreams with them. He could see it in their eyes as he told them he was quite content being a tour guide. Some women avoided him altogether, while others laughed, figuring he was joking.
But Maisie? Aside from the support he’d received from his parents, he’d never felt so accepted.
“So what do you like about your job, then?” she asked.
“Hearin’ me own voice, mostly,” he replied. She laughed before he continued. “Naw, I just love me country, and I love gettin’ to share that love with others. I also love drivin’ and entertainin’, so it’s a no-brainer for me.”
She nodded, taking a minute to respond as they reached the crest of a small hill. “I get that. That’s how it was for me, too. Food is the greatest love of my life.”
“More than any wee fella?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Is that your clever way to ask if I have a boyfriend?”
“Aye, it is. Can you blame me, after you got your question in?”
“No, I can’t. And no, I don’t have a wee fella.”
“Grand. I like to know the women I’m flirtin’ with are available.”
“Women?” she asked. “As in, multiple?”
“Oh, aye. Pearl, Joyce, Renee. I’ve asked ’em all, you know.”
They reached the top of another dip of yet another hill, this time meeting with a steeper incline. Instead of fighting against gravity with already wary legs, Finn and Maisie got off their bikes and pushed them up the hill—much to the relief of Finn’s backside.
The cold air pinched at their cheeks with wet fingertips as they traveled through the mist that roved across the island, the light gray and cozy.
“So me next question is this,” he began, both of them leaning forward against their bikes’ handlebars as they made their way up the hill, “if you had both, what would you love more, a fella or food?”
Maisie blew out a heavy breath. “Ooh, now that’s an excellent question. I’m sorry to say it, but I think I’d go with food. It very rarely lets me down, and I literally can’t live without it.”
“Right. Remind me to never become your boyfriend.”
They reached the top of the hill, coming to a lookout point with a view of the ocean—or where a view would have been, were it not for the heavy fog.
Together, they pushed their bikes off the road for a breather, their tires leaving an indentation in the wet, green grass as rain dribbled down around them.
“Just yonder is Ballycastle,” he said, pointing through the mist, though no sight of the land could be found across the sea. “And beyond that, you’d see more of the beautiful country, if Norn Iron ever behaved.”
But of course, Maisie didn’t complain. She never did. Instead, she merely smiled as she cast her eyes around them as if she could still see the sites.
