Bridger Read online

  Tess looked uneasy about letting Jamie wander around Cork by herself. The sun had set already, the wintertime chasing it away early. “I don’t know, Jamie. What do you need? Maybe we have it here. I don’t want you to get lost. Your parents wouldn’t appreciate that.”

  “I’ll be fine, Mrs. Walsh. I run around by myself all the time at home.”

  That wasn’t far from the truth. Jamie never had a problem darting off without warning. Of course, half of the time I ended up bailing her out of whatever harebrained situation she had found herself in a few hours later.

  Tess tried to keep her in the house. “If you can wait until nine, the boys can take you on their way to work. They work as security guards at the university.”

  Jamie stood up, undeterred. “It won’t take long. I’ll be back by the time they leave. Ashlyn, do you want to come with?”

  I couldn’t believe she was putting me in this situation. Glancing at Tess, then to Liam, I saw him minutely shake his head. “No, James, I’m gonna stay here. You know, try to learn what the heck being offside means in soccer.”

  Desmond chuckled. “Americans. You just don’t get it. It’s called football.”

  I threw the pillow from the chair I was sitting in at him. “And you don’t get that it’s actually called soccer. Football is our sport.”

  Everyone laughed but Jamie, who seemed even more irritated. “Fine. I’ll be back in a bit.” Not asking for permission but taking the liberty on her own, she left.

  Tess sat in shock at the quick departure of my friend. Not being able to make heads or tails of it myself, I tried to cover for her. “Don’t worry, Jamie runs around all the time and always finds her way back home.”

  “I know, but it’s just not smart…” Tess trailed off as Jesse stood up. I had almost forgotten he and Liam were still here. Those two had been nearly silent all night long.

  “Let her go, Tess. Ash is right,” Jesse said as he left the room. Liam sat silently, his eyes straying between his mother and I.

  Tess looked at me, confused. I shook my head, just as confounded by Jamie’s actions. Yesterday she had been completely fine. She had been on cloud nine to be with new guys, in a new land, with an adventure at hand. Today she didn’t care. Her mood swings were going to give me whiplash.

  Desmond smacked Liam on the back of the head as he and Issac walked past him. “Are you gonna get ready for work? You know, that thing you have to do to pay the bills?”

  Liam looked at me as he answered his friends. “No, I think I’m going to call in tonight. You guys can hold down the fort, can’t you?”

  My stomach fluttered. It had nothing to do with being hungry, though I still was. Liam was ridiculously good looking and totally out of my league. When everyone left for work, we would basically be alone. That meant I needed to be interesting to him. God, let me be interesting to him.

  Desmond turned his eyes to me. Smiling, he nodded and turned to head into the hallway. “Brush your hair since you’ll have some free time.”

  Liam called back to an empty hall. “Only when you shower.”

  I laughed, then realized he was watching me once more. Now I was flat out nervous.

  Tess coughed loudly, causing both of us to jump. Oh, this was going from bad to ugly. She stood up, dismissing herself. “I’m going to get a start on the bread for in the morning. Please lock the front door when Jamie gets home.” She walked out of the room, leaving Liam and me sitting across the room from each other. We were completely at a loss for words. He shifted awkwardly at the unplanned intimacy that came from being alone.

  Rubbing his hands against the sides of the couch, he tried to make small talk. It looked like he was trying to start a fire. “Talking to your friends?”

  I laughed. “Yeah, Mary is asking if I’ve found any cute guys over here.”

  “Well, have you?”

  I eyed him, debating what would be the best way to play the situation. “I have, actually.”

  “Oh yeah? Desmond is a looker.”

  I laughed, falling into the banter he provided. “I wouldn’t touch Desmond with a ten foot pole. He’s as crazy as they come from the looks of it.”

  “Ah, so it’s Issac. Should have known.”

  “Nope,” I said, popping the ‘p’, which made Liam laugh.

  “I really hope you aren’t crushing on your own cousin. That’d be a little creepy.”

  I put my hand over my face in mock shame. “You caught me. Don’t tell anyone.”

  His warm hands grasped mine and pulled me over to the couch. We fell onto the soft cushions together. “You know that only leaves one person.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. I might have snuck out earlier. Either way, Mary needs a picture of the cute guy.”

  He pretended to pout. “You better go find him then, I suppose.”

  “I think he’s sitting right next to me.”

  He smiled as I grabbed my laptop and sat back down beside him. I opened up the camera and snapped a candid before he could prepare. “Hey, that’s not fair! Try again.” He wrapped his arms around me, repositioning me on his lap and resting his chin on my shoulder.

  I snapped a few, each one sillier than the one before it. “Let’s do a serious one.”

  Liam pushed the laptop lid down gently. “I can do serious,” he said as he put his hand underneath my chin, our eyes now level with one another. Eyes smoldering, he leaned in, preparing to do something I hadn’t planned on. He stopped an inch away from my face, simply gazing at me. His breath played across my lips, causing my insides to burn with excitement. This hadn’t been part of the itinerary to Ireland. I felt my face heat up as he crossed lingering space between us. I pulled my face down at the last second. His lips met with my forehead, which he kissed sweetly.

  He was graceful in the denial, still smiling after being turned down. “I’ll have to work for that, won’t I?”

  I tried to hide the slight panic that had overwhelmed me by laughing. “You might. Or maybe your mom just didn’t pay me enough to accept those kinds of advances.”

  Liam acted as though he was pulling an invisible dagger out of his heart. “Ouch, you’re a cold one.”

  He had such an easygoing nature. It was wonderful. I curled up against his chest without even thinking about it. “I try.”

  “You know, you’re not as hard as you let on,” he murmured, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist as I got comfortable. “I’d say you’re a closet softie.”

  “Well, you’ll just have to wait and find out,” I said, leaning my head back against him.

  He sighed, leaning back into the couch and settling in for the long haul. “That sounds perfectly fine to me.”

  TEN

  A thrill of amazement stole its way through my body as I woke up the next morning and had a pair of arms wrapped around my waist. My head had found its place in the crook of Liam’s arm somewhere in the middle of the night as we had talked ourselves to sleep. That was a new experience for me.

  We had fallen asleep on the couch together. I was curled against his chest, and he didn’t seem to mind.

  Woah.

  “Good morning,” he said simply.

  I took a deep breath, attempting to slow my freight train of a heart. The best chance to not blow this would be to keep my mouth shut as much as possible, so this was the plan of attack to try. Keep it simple, Ash, I coached myself, no word vomit today. “Good morning. I didn’t mean to use you as a pillow.”

  Laughing, his response made me suck in a breath of horror. “No, I didn’t plan on you falling asleep and drooling on me, either. You’re just too funny to wake up.”

  Crap. Even while sleeping I managed to look like a fool. Looking at his shirt, there was no stain. I looked back to him accusingly.

  “Alright, so you’re just too cute to wake up. Plus you looked like you needed the sleep pretty bad. You haven’t slept all that much since you got here,” Liam amended, resting his arm around my shoulder again.

  “Wond
er whose fault that is?” I said while curling back into the crook of his arm. Might as well enjoy it while it lasted; the trip was only two weeks.

  Tess walked into the living room. She made a point of not looking our direction. She made her way to the fireplace to throw a log on what was now just smoldering ashes. From the side, though, I could tell she was beyond thrilled. Memaw was going to hear all about this. Maybe she already had. She finally faced us, struggling to keep nonchalance in her words. “Late night?”

  Liam laughed. “Not really, Ashlyn passed out not long after you left and I felt bad waking her up.” His content smile said it wasn’t just an act of kindness; he liked that I had fallen asleep on him.

  Sticking my tongue out at him, I turned back to Tess to defend my honor. “Don’t let him fool you, he told me all kinds of dirt on you and everyone else.”

  We were laughing as Jesse, Desmond, and Issac came through the door. Their expressions cut through our joking immediately.

  “Ashlyn, where’s Jamie?” Jesse asked.

  Thinking back, I realized I’d never seen Jamie come home last night. Looking back at Liam, I hoped he’d seen her before he had fallen asleep. His face was enough of a “no” that he didn’t need to say he hadn’t seen her, either.

  I leapt up. “Oh, crap. Maybe she came in after we fell asleep. We never locked the door.”

  Jesse crossed the length of the room at a dead sprint. Grabbing Liam by the collar of his shirt and yanking him up, Jesse held him an inch off the floor and less than that from his face. “Liam, what the hell were you doing last night?” Liam had begun to change colors. It was from either the lack of blood to his head, the shock of being lifted off the ground, or maybe it was a mixture of both.

  Tess was instantly towering over Jesse, who dropped Liam immediately, eyes on the floor. “Jesse, Liam, a word, if you don't mind.” Looking toward me, she nodded in the direction of the bedrooms. “Ashlyn, please go check that your friend got home all right.”

  Desmond and Issac stood stock straight, saying nothing. They were purposely not looking in my direction. They weren't being a great deal of support to anyone at the moment. I ran down the hall, banging open doors to see if Jamie was home. Reaching the end of the hall, the only room left was ours.

  Empty.

  Blanching, I spun to go back out to the living room when I heard a door open.

  “Ash? Did you finally decide to come hang out with me?”

  Oh, thank God. I didn’t ever think I’d be thrilled to hear Jamie’s sulking voice, but the time had come. Turning back around, Jamie was standing in the bathroom doorway. She was decked out in a thick, fuzzy robe she must have found in there. Her hair rolled up in a towel on the top of her head, she tapped her foot irritably. “You know, for complaining that I’m boy crazy, you sure did get on with one of them quick. You have to play with them a little longer, you know, make them wonder if you’re interested in them. You played all your cards last night,” she said, coaching me on the techniques of how to get a guy.

  I was not in the mood to hear her pep talk about how to land Liam. I was doing just fine on my own by the look of things, thank you very much. “Jamie, when did you get home last night?”

  “I’m not sure. After exploring the convenience mart, I went for a walk. I wanted to see what kinds of things were around this little town. There's a pub that the locals go to. I even played pool with this old bloke – that’s what they call men over here, by the way,” she said, apparently very proud of herself for learning the local lingo.

  I wasn’t over being irritated, so knowing she had been out half the night talking to random men was only adding fuel to the fire. Add on the fact that she was underage and roaming bars in foreign countries, and I could have smacked her upside her toweled head. “Jamie, I’m going to walk away now.”

  “That's not surprising. You haven’t talked to me since we got here.”

  That stopped me short. “Are you serious? The minute we got here you ran to find a room and were on the computer for the rest of the night! Then yesterday you sulked until you decided to go run off by yourself! What do you want me to do, ignore the people we’re staying with and talk to Reese all night on the computer beside you? Sorry, but Tess and the guys are great. You were the one flirting non-stop with them when we first got here.”

  Jamie turned red. “No, I didn’t. I only flirted with Michael. And at least you actually know Reese, instead of laying all over a guy you barely know.”

  I threw my arms up in frustration. The Reese and Liam jibe was out of line. We weren’t going there right now. “Who the heck is Michael?”

  “Funny you don’t even know your own cousin’s name, but you know Jesse’s posse pretty well,” she said, alluding to my unplanned sleeping arrangement once more.

  “You know what, just stay in the room all day. I don’t care if you don’t come out.” I stomped out of the room, slamming the door on my way.

  I’d never argued with Jamie before today. She wasn’t the same person who had been my best friend for the past two years. I thought we knew each other in and out, but at this point I wasn’t quite sure.

  No one was in the living room when I got there, but it was easy to hear where they had gone.

  Something thudded against the kitchen table that sounded like a fist. Jesse was half growling, half whispering his frustrations. “Liam, I don’t care if you were talking to the Queen herself last night, you can’t let down your guard like that!”

  Liam argued back in the same hushed tone. “What was I supposed to do? Weren't we supposed to be on guard and make sure she was safe? I can’t help it if she decides to stay out all night, you’re the one who said to let her go.”

  What? They were talking about Jamie? Was she in danger? I took a few steps closer, stopping shortly before the doors to enter the kitchen.

  Tess’s voice came out hard over both of the guys. “It doesn’t matter what happened. It’s over. You both need to keep a better eye on her.”

  Liam wasn’t ready to let it go, though. “Jesse, you’re the one that should getting chewed out, not me. You have the whole lot out there and you can’t keep a peg on her. What does it take, a GPS device? A leash? There were three of you and she still could have been anywhere. What if something happened?”

  “Nothing happened. We would know if it did. You just need to make sure that Ashlyn doesn’t get in the way,” Jesse said.

  A pause ensued. “What do you mean by that?” Liam asked, his question obviously a layered one.

  I was in the way? So last night’s conversation hadn’t meant a thing. Liam was just doing his job; keeping me out of the way of whatever else the rest of them were up to.

  I should have known that Liam didn’t like me. He was out of my league, anyway. Hadn’t I always said it would take the hand of God to find someone interested in me? Here was the proof.

  Tess intercepted the argument before it could get out hand. “Jesse, back off. Liam can handle his job. You need to do yours.”

  Someone let out an infuriated sigh. Slamming through the saloon-like doors that separated the kitchen from the living room, Jesse came to a halt right before he nearly ran me over.

  I made sure the intent behind my question was understood. I glared at Liam as he stood behind Jesse, both of them staring at me. “Um, hi. Am I in your way?”

  Liam looked appropriately abashed. “Ashlyn, I can explain…”

  “Don’t worry about it. Jamie and I can find something to do and stay out of your way.” Turning on my heel, I walked back down the hall, going back to the room that housed the person I least wanted to talk to right now.

  Knocking on the door, Jamie came and opened it up. She was still sulking. "Back to yell at me some more, Mom?"

  She had some nerve. Walking in, I grabbed my book bag and threw some money and food in it. "No, I was curious if you would want to show me around the city, actually."

  Jamie regained her usual bouncy step immediately. Yanking the towel
off her head, she ran into the bathroom to put on clothes. "Of course! Let's do it!" There was a pause. "Wait, is everyone else coming, too?"

  I smiled, knowing my response would make her day. "No, we need some girl time. It'll just be us."

  A squeal erupted from the bathroom. Today was going to be interesting.

  * * *

  Once we were away from the overpopulated, tension-ridden house, Jamie went back to being her normal, bubbly self. We walked all over Cork, catching rides in the backs of trucks as people passed. We covered an impressive distance, having started early in the morning and just now heading home as the sun was setting.

  We went to the Blarney Castle Estate and took pictures of each other kissing the Blarney stone. After that we went to the Cork Vision Centre to learn about the history of the town. Jamie was a huge history buff, which had been a surprise to me when I first met her. She ate up all the historic stuff the Vision Centre had to offer, buying multiple maps and making me swear we’d go to Desmond Castle. Apparently it had been used as a prison for captured American sailors during the American War of Independence.

  Snapping her video camera shut for what felt like the hundredth time, Jamie sighed with satisfaction. “We’re going to be able to make such awesome movies from all this footage.”

  I laughed. “No one will ever see those videos anyway, James. You know you’re not allowed to post those on the Internet without first showing me.”

  “You never know when they could come in handy. Helps to remember all the good stuff that happens.”

  As we walked, she turned the camera back on and put it in my face. “Close up! I want to remember how happy you were to meet your family. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

  As the sun set and we were on our way back to the little house, I shared with Jamie the argument between Jesse and Liam. After finishing the frustrated tirade, Jamie said nothing. She just continued to kick a particularly large rock she had found along the road about a mile back.