Page 26 of London, Love, & A Little Something Irish

“When I went to In-N-Out, it made me think of you. I really missed you, you know. It was weird not texting you all the time.”

I tilt my head. “Yeah? You were pretty quiet though.”

He waves his hand. “Oh, time difference. You know. But I’m back. I’m yours now.” He puts his hand over my hand.

He says it with this sudden enthusiasm, like he’s overcompensating for how weird things were before his trip. He’s all smiles, holding my hand a little tighter than usual. It’s sweet. But something about the way he’s talking just doesn’t… sit right. I don’t know what it is. It’s so subtle, it’s barely even there.

It’s like he did a 180 all of a sudden after California. What happened?

“I’ve been thinking a lot about us,” he continues, his tone turning serious. “My time away made me realize what’s really important. The future is important. The past needs to be in the past, and I want to move forward. I realized I missed you when I was away.”

Sorry, what? Moving forwardhow?

“What made you think of all of these things?” I ask, because this is really different from the way he was previously acting towards me. He’s never really been lovey-dovey towards me.

“Nothing important, nothing you need to know,” he quickly replies. His eyes dart around me and he’s just acting odd.

“Oh, that’s… okay. Yeah, things were a little weird. We’ll see how it all goes,” I reply, my voice hesitant.

But I don’t get the chance to say more because my phone buzzes again.

Nathan: I saw a pink house today and I thought of you. I know you mentioned your favorite color is pink. Maybe I could take you to see it on my motorbike. I think you’d love it.

My heart flips again, harder this time. And as Joel keeps talking about his plans for the summer, I’m only half listening.

Because one guy is talking about our future.

The other one makes me feel seen—and like I actually have a future.

And then a lightbulb goes off in my mind. Maybe this doesn’t have to be a big deal. Maybe I’m overthinking it—something I’m really, really good at. I should just let it happen and see where it goes. Go with the flow. That’s a thing people do, right? I don’t need to plan tomorrow or figure out where this relationship is heading right this second. I don’t need to think about the fact that the spark isn’t there. It’s okay that I’m still figuring this out between us. I just need to focus on this coming weekend. That’s it.

It’s time to go to Bournemouth. As we’re about to board the train at Waterloo, I’m reminded of how much I love being in London.

“Sometimes, as I’m walking around London in the busy-ness of it all, I’m just hit with this reminder of how much I love being here,” I say to Joel as we step onto the train.

“There’s a reason why London is the best city in the world,” he replies with a smirk.

“Debatable,” I laugh, teasing. “It is so magical, though. I do feel like Hallie inThe Parent Trapbeing here, always taking everything in.”

“I’ve always loved London,” he says, “There’s nowhere like it for me.”

“Moving to London has been a little dreamtucked away in my heart for a while,” I admit as we find our seats. “Every time I’d come up to visit London, my heart would come alive.”

Actually, it goes deeper than just visiting. It’s not just the city I love. It’s the way it’s tied to childhood dreams I didn’t even realize were still alive.

“That’s the magic of it,” he says. “But what sparked it in you?”

“I have to say, it was totallyThe Parent Trap,” I say, laughing. “I even tried Oreos with peanut butter because of Annie and Hallie—and, no surprise, Ilovedthe combination. That plus milk. You can’t have Oreos without milk.”

He chuckles. “American influence runs deep.”

“Growing up in the States, I totally lived vicariously through movies and TV shows. So as a thirteen year-old girl, seeing London on the screen made my heart leap a little. I loved seeing Hallie get all classy, enjoying the sights of London and the whimsy of her life here, taking it all in.”

We settle into our seats across from each other at one of the train tables.

“Paris and Rome were up there too,” I add.

“What did you think of them?” he asks.

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