M Sellars - Miranda

“Aye, I realize that, but at least we’re here together.”

“True.” I smiled then leaned over and kissed her on the forehead before settling back against the counter once again. “So, what about you? How did you sleep in this nice suite?”

“Honestly, not all that well.”

I took a swig of my java then nodded. “Yeah, I thought that might be the case. I couldn’t help but notice you were tossing and turning most of the night.”

After a thick pause she almost whispered, “I just couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

“Yeah…not surprised…” I let out a sigh and then sipped my coffee for a moment. I wasn’t sure how to get around talking about what had happened, but I really didn’t want to go there. Finally, I offered a generic reply, “Don’t worry. Hopefully this will all be over soon.”

“Not soon enough,” she mumbled.

“I know…but soon.”

She gave me a questioning look. “How will you be able to…”

I had a fairly good notion I knew what she was about to ask, so I headed her off. “I wonder how long Ben is going to want us to stay away from the house?”

Felicity cocked her head and stared at me, obviously nonplussed by my overt and unapologetic shift of subject. I could tell by her expression that she was trying to decide how to proceed with the conversation. I just hoped she didn’t try to push it back onto her original track.

Finally, she said, “Well…if it’s going to be for very long I’ll be needing to go by the house for a few more things then. I didn’t pack much last night…or should I say, this morning.”

“Same here,” I agreed.

“And we’ll need to get someone to look after the cats,” she added. “A day or two is fine, but no longer than that.”

“Yeah, true. We could probably get RJ to do that.”

“Aye, maybe.”

I shrugged and said, “Well, if we end up having to extend our stay, I guess we could just pretend it’s a vacation.”

“We could,” Felicity said, nodding. “And since you mention it…”

Even as she started to speak I remembered our conversation just prior to my leaving for Carswell. With everything that had happened in the past forty-eight hours, it had completely slipped my mind. Until now, that is.

“Yeah… Yeah… I know,” I replied, shaking my head. “Vacation… I promised we’d get away and go to Ireland, didn’t I?”

“You did…” she said. “And I’m holding you to it…”

It was my own fault. I had managed to shove us directly into this topic with my offhand remark, and unfortunately, it required a response that wasn’t as far removed from the current situation as I would have liked. Having no choice, however, I started to appeal. “Felicity, honey, we will, I promise…but I’m not sure it would be a good idea for…”

“Hold on then,” she interrupted, shaking her head. “Let me finish. I’ll be needing some time to clear my schedule, so it’s not like we can leave just yet anyway. But…I did go ahead and reserve our airline tickets for mid July.”

I sighed and nodded. “Okay… Good. That’ll work. I’ve got to line up some time off myself. That should give me plenty of time.”

“Aye. I thought as much,” she said with a nod.

“How long am I taking off?”

“Four weeks.”

“Yeah…I think I can probably arrange that. I’ll just have to farm some stuff out.”

“Me too,” she said. “Oh, and I also talked to Austin. He insists we stay with him for at least part of the trip.”

“I’m good with that. But, are you really sure you want me hanging out in pubs with your brother?” I gibed.

She shook her head and snorted. “Like it matters. I can drink the both of you under the table and you know it.”

“You have a point.”

“Of course I do.”

“Okay,” I said, feeling relieved that we’d managed to veer off the morbid path I’d inadvertently started us down. “So I guess if we’re staying here for a bit, we can just call this a pre-vacation warm-up.”

Felicity leaned to one side in order to look around and past me. “Aye, well there’s a refrigerator behind you. If we’re going to pretend, then I’m thinking some Guinness is in order. And maybe a bottle of Black Bush, and a few other things as well.”

“We can do that,” I said then drained my cup and turned toward the coffeemaker. “Need some more?” I asked as I took the small carafe in hand and glanced back at her over my shoulder.

“Is there any more sugar?”

I twisted my head back around and looked on the tray where the glasses and mugs were arranged but came up empty.

Looking back at her, I shook my head. “Afraid not.”

“We’ll have to fix that too,” she announced as she held her cup toward me. “Just a little then.”

I slowly added some of the hot java to her mug and then emptied the remaining contents of the carafe into my own. Once I’d placed the vessel back onto the base and switched it off, we continued to stand in the kitchenette-like alcove. An awkward quiet welled up between us to fill the room. The vacation talk had apparently played itself out, and that didn’t bode well for keeping the subject off last night’s events.

I wasn’t absolutely certain what my wife was thinking about, but I had a good idea. And I was crystal clear on what was occupying my own brain. Unfortunately, it was a sure bet we were both back on the same page, which is exactly where I didn’t want to be. The problem was, I couldn’t think of anything else to say that wouldn’t just be another obviously heavy-handed attempt at a verbal diversion.

Felicity cleared her throat then took a sip of her coffee, all the while keeping her jade green eyes fixed firmly on my face over the rim of the cup. A few seconds stretched into several and then eventually folded themselves into a minute plus. Finally, she spoke.

“How’s your head?” she asked.

Apparently, my assumption was correct, and we were going back to square one. She was just going to take a different approach.

I looked at her and shrugged. “Fine.”

“No headache?”

“Nope.”

“And nothing else either?”

I kept my mouth shut and simply shook my head.

She regarded me quietly for a moment, waiting for me to expand on the answer. When I didn’t, she pressed forward. “So first you changed the subject, now you’re playing mute,” she began. “Would you mind telling me what we are going to do with this gorilla in the corner? Do we just keep ignoring it then?”

“I take it you mean the voices…” I grumbled. “Or, lack thereof, I guess.”

She huffed out an exasperated breath. “Aye, Rowan, for a start. Although we both know there’s more you’re not saying.”

I exhaled heavily myself and then turned up my mug and drained what was left of my now lukewarm coffee. After setting the empty cup aside, I shrugged and said, “I don’t think we’ve really ignored it. We just haven’t fed it, so to speak.”

“Cac capaill,” she spat. “Be honest, Row… You’re avoiding it like the damn plague and you know it.”

I shrugged. “Okay, maybe a little.”

“A little?” she yelped.

“All right… Fine… More than a little,” I admitted as I pushed off from the counter and walked out into the bedroom area. I knew I couldn’t escape, but I didn’t want to fight with her, and that’s probably where this was heading.

She was right behind me. “And you call me stubborn,” she snapped. “What’s going on? Why are you avoiding this?”

“Because I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, I think maybe it’s time you did.”

“What for?”

“Because, obviously it’s bothering you.”

I turned around and looked at her. “Well hell yes, it’s bothering me. Is it not supposed to?”