Page 104 of Game Changer

Please don’t stay cranky at me, cranky leprechaun.

Right, you really need to stop calling her that before it actually comes out of your mouth and you die.

“I may have promised no retaliation, but I can punish you inotherways if you’re not careful!”

***

Dinner with her parents was fun. He knew they’d likely not see a lot of them throughout their visit, but he’d asked Lisa to at least make time to hang out with them for dinner. She was reluctant, her family seemed to tire her, and she was obviously more than over being the butt of their jokes and ribbing at the dinner table.

“Lis?” AJ asked as he finished his dessert. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Why don’t you sound like your family?”

“Huh?”

“Well, they all have a much stronger accent than you. You seem very mild in comparison, for example, to your brother who I can barely understand.”

“Oh!” she stopped and thought about what AJ had said for a moment. “I think it’s cause dad used to train me for public speaking competitions when I was younger.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, it’s a big thing here. It’s called a Feis. Competitive speech, music, dance and drama. I entered every year with a poem, some years with my violin or singing. Once, as part of a dramatic production of King Lear.”

“But never dancing?”

“You should know by now, Pim. I don’t dance. At least not well.”

“Yeah, my toes still throb when it rains, since that ball.”

“Hey!” she feigned feeling wounded.

It’s like no time at all has passed.

***

As they climbed into bed, discussing the journey so far, it occurred to AJ that there had been no real awkwardness or reacquaintance period. They’d picked up their in-the-flesh relationship with eagerness and ease. All of his stressing and anxiety had been for nothing.

Which you knew deep down, anyway.

I’ve missed her.

“I’ve missed you, Pim. I kinda like having you around,” she breathed as she cuddled into him sleepily echoing his thoughts.

“I kinda like being around. Maybe someday we’ll make it permanent.”

Once I get divorced, of course.

Chapter 32

He’d been surprised when Lisa agreed to go to the forest. He’d pretended to take her temperature and playfully asked Google what his girlfriend could be dying of. He listed her symptoms, including, but not limited to. One, volunteering to go outside into fresh air. Next, volunteering to exercise, volunteering to spend time with Jeremy on a mountain without a single threat of pushing him off of it, and most concerning of all, not even grumbling about it. He had fully expected Google to answer that Armageddon was coming. Instead, Lisa had playfully shoved him and warned she could easily change her mind. She threatened to put her pajamas back on and do the only real exercise she enjoyed: that bag-to-mouth dance with a share-size bag of cheesy Doritos she had precisely no intention of sharing with anyone.

He smiled to himself. He was excited to explore some of Ireland while he was there this time. Other than seeing Lisa and spending quality time with her, he was most looking forward to filling his lungs with crisp, clear Irish air. A welcome break from the stifling heat and one billion percent humidity back in ‘Bama.

He thought he’d have a fight on his hands while trying to convince Lisa to take the six-mile path – except there’d been little to no convincing – or negotiations, of any kind. She’d thrown down her terms. The longer trails were out, which he’d expected and, while he got the impression she was wishing she’d convinced them to take the scenic drive, rather than the walk, she’d willingly agreed to take the six-mile option. And he had no idea why, other than suspecting she wanted to spend time with him, and she knew he wanted to exercise so her options were to wait for him, or exercise with him.

I’m glad she opted for exercise. The outdoors looks good on her. I like when her cheeks are pink.

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