by Sophie Love
“But Shane said he didn’t want to see her,” Neala was saying.
“That was in the heat of the moment,” Mary countered. “He’ll change his mind when he finds out she drove all this way for him.”
“We should at least tell him she’s here,” Elaine agreed.
“But you saw how furious he was when he got her voicemail,” Siobhan added.
Keira felt bad listening in on them like this. She coughed in order to announce her presence. The sisters spun round, alarmed to see her standing outside on the doorstep.
“Sorry,” Keira said shrugging. “Your dad had to sort out the sheep situation. He left the door open.”
All six sisters stared at her. It was Neala who finally spoke.
“Keira, I think you should probably go,” she said. “Shane doesn’t want to see you.”
But then Hannah interrupted. “Girls, we should give her a chance. Don’t you think?”
There was a moment where the sisters exchanged glances with each other, biting their lips in deliberation. Then, at last, they relented.
“I suppose it’s up to him,” Aisling said with a shrug.
Hannah looked thrilled as she ran off to fetch Shane. Keira felt her stomach twist into knots at the thought of seeing him again after how badly it had ended between them.
Then suddenly he was there, standing at the top of the stairs.
Seeing him again sent bolts of desire racing through Keira. Her mouth became dry, her palms sweaty, and she could feel her heart beating more rapidly in her chest, thudding against her rib cage.
Shane surveyed the scene below him, looking down at the huddle of women watching him expectantly from the bottom of the staircase. Keira desperately wished she didn’t have an audience for this moment. It was awkward enough as it was.
Shane began to walk slowly down the stairs toward her. “What are you doing here, Keira?”
Keira looked from one sister’s face to the next. They were all watching her like hawks.
“Can we go somewhere private to talk?” she asked.
Shane reached the bottom step and folded his arms. “I don’t think there’s anything left to say. I think you covered everything in your article.”
“Oh there is,” Keira exclaimed. “Trust me. There is so much to say.”
Shane paused and took a deep breath. “Fine. Girls, could you leave us be?”
The sisters looked at each other, visibly disappointed to be being shut out of the drama. But they followed his command and filed out of the corridor, into the kitchen, shutting the door softly behind them. Though they’d left, Keira fully expected them to be crowding together on the other side of the door in order to listen in on the conversation, so it wasn’t like they’d be missing out entirely.
With the kitchen door shut, Keira turned her full attention to Shane. He raised an eyebrow.
“Well?”
Keira swallowed her nerves. “I’m not using the article. It’s not me, it’s not what I think. I was trying to impress the wrong person. But I know what’s important now.”
Shane folded his arms. “Which is?”
Keira let the words tumble out of her, the truth, the sheer insanity of her feelings for him. “You, Shane,” she stammered. “You and me. Everything’s changed since I came here, I was just too stubborn to realize. I didn’t want it to be true.”
“Didn’t want what to be true?”
“The fact I was falling in love with you.”
Shane’s eyebrows raised up his head. Keira tensed. This was the bravest she’d ever been in her life, much more so than the time she’d volunteered for this position in Elliot’s meeting. It was terrifying and exhilarating in equal parts.
“You love me?” Shane said, sounding shocked and in disbelief.
Keira threw her arms out wide in a shrugging gesture of resignation. “Yup. And I’m leaving tomorrow. I didn’t want to go without you knowing. And since you weren’t returning my calls, I decided to come here to tell you.”
Things weren’t going how Keira hoped they would. Shane wasn’t throwing his arms around her nor bestowing her with kisses. He hadn’t cracked a smile or teased her. The cheeky lad she’d fallen for hadn’t returned at all.
Shane sniffed. “What’s that smell?”
“I think it’s me,” Keira confessed. “The sheep escaped and blocked the road. I had to fight my way past them.” She looked down at her stained jeans and felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment.
She looked back up at Shane hopefully. For the first time he let his cold exterior crack slightly, an amused half-smile flickering across his lips. But he quickly suppressed it.
“I’ve got to say,” he began, “that fighting through a blockade of sheep is probably the most unique way anyone’s ever confessed their love for me.”
“Unique in a good way?” Keira asked tentatively.
Shane’s smile started to take hold. He seemed to have suddenly stopped fighting it. Then his body started to shake with chuckles. Soon, he was laughing loudly and uncontrollably. Despite herself, Keira joined in. Shane’s laughter had always been infectious and in this tense moment it was more so than ever.
“Yes,” he finally said. “Unique in a good way.”
He took a step towards her, then touched her arm lightly. Keira felt sparks ignite inside of her.
She looked up into his eyes. “Am I forgiven?”
Shane cupped her chin in his palm. He nodded. Then he brought his lips down to meet hers.
Keira gave in to her emotion. She sank into Shane, filled with relief and love and regret for having almost messed everything up so spectacularly.
Suddenly, the kitchen door burst open and out tumbled Shane’s sisters. They rushed at Keira and Shane, laughing and cheering, bundling them both into a hug.
“I’m so glad you’re back,” Hannah squealed. “You should have seen how miserable Shane’s been the last couple of days.”
“I can assure you I’ve been just as miserable,” Keira said to Shane’s sweetest, youngest sister.
Neala grabbed Keira’s hand. “Come on, let’s have a drink to celebrate.”
She dragged Keira into the kitchen, the others following, merry and bouncing.
“I can’t drink,” Keira said, shaking her head. “I have to drive back.”
“You can stay here,” Hannah said. “Can’t she, Shane?”
Shane’s eyes widened and his face turned pink. Keira jumped in, saving him from the embarrassment of answering such an unintentionally personal question.
“I can’t stay. My flight home is tomorrow so I need to be back at the B&B.”
“Even if you’re driving you can have one drink,” Aisling said. “Go on!”
“Girls!” Shane snapped. “Keira doesn’t want to drink. Don’t force her to.”
Everyone around the table fell silent. Keira looked across at Shane. Tears were sparkling in his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
Shane looked around at his sisters. Almost as if they’d communicated telepathically the girls seemed to understand that he wanted them to leave. Keira felt a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach that whatever Shane was about to tell her was going to be bad.
She watched his sisters go, desperately willing them not to, as if their presence here could stop Shane from saying whatever it was on his mind that was causing his expression to look so suddenly downcast
As soon as they were gone, he exhaled. “What’s wrong is it’s the last night of the festival. You’re going home tomorrow.”
Keira stood there, suddenly cold. She felt crushed, like she was in an elevator plummeting to the ground floor.
“What are you saying?” she whispered, feeling tears choking her, lodging painfully in her throat. “I thought I was forgiven. I thought we were back on.”
Shane looked at her with a grief-filled expression. “You are forgiven. But it’s too late. We’re out of time.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
&nbs
p; The drive back to Lisdoonvarna was a heart-wrenching affair for Keira. She kept playing over in her head the meeting with Shane, feeling uncertain and confused. She felt like he’d given up on her, like he’d fallen at the first hurdle. Or was she just reading into the situation what she wanted? Maybe Shane hadn’t had the heart to break it to her that he didn’t feel the same way and had just used her flight home tomorrow as an excuse. He hadn’t said the exact words, “I love you,” after all.
The darkening sky matched Keira’s mood. As she drove along the winding streets, her heart grew heavier and heavier. She wished she hadn’t left it so long to act on her feelings for Shane. And she wished she’d thrown out the article as soon as she’d started falling for him. She’d set herself up to fail, set their relationship a trap that was only ever going to be walked right into. She’d messed it all up, left it too late. In some ways the closeness was more unbearable than if Shane had flat out refused her.
She reached the outskirts of Lisdoonvarna to find the streets filled with people. It was the last day of the festival and people were clearly up for making the most out of it. She briefly toyed with the idea of honking her horn to force them to move, but there were so many people it would be futile. Instead, she slowed her car and crawled along behind them, feeling like she’d replaced her wooly sheep blockade with a tipsy human one. It was just her luck that when all she wanted to do was get into bed and hide she was surrounded by people.
People started to knock on her window and cheer at her, singing songs in their drunken joy. Keira felt the absolute opposite. While their festival had ended in love and romance, hers had ended in heartbreak.
She inched along the road, moving at a snail’s pace. No one seemed in a hurry to get anywhere. She passed the troubadour and a group of people dancing around him, then inched past a stall selling street food. She realized as she went how much she would miss this place. It wasn’t just Shane she’d fallen in love with, it was Ireland. The thought of returning to New York City filled her with dread.
As she reached the main road, she saw that huge banners had been strung up across the street announcing the final dance of the festival. It was an all-night party. Keira realized with a groan that she would be kept up all night and she knew from experience that sleep deprivation would make her black mood even worse.
She noticed in the small cobbled town square that there was a stage set up, with a sparkly backdrop and two red velvet thrones. A microphone stood in the middle of the stage, and a large crowd of people were clustered together in front of it, clutching drinks in their hands and looking expectant. Keira saw there was a sign at the top of the stage. It read: Mr. Lisdoonvarna and The Queen of the Burren. She frowned, confused.
Just then, everyone in front of the stage erupted into applause, and a huge crowd of people surged forward, stopping Keira in her tracks. She was completely surrounded. There was literally no way through. Her car had been entirely blocked in, as if it were just another spectator to whatever was about to go down on the stage.
She sighed, resigned, and wound down her window. May as well hear what was going on, she reasoned.
To her surprise, it was William who took to the stage. He had smartened up for the occasion in a shimmery suit. The crowd started chanting, “Matchmaker! Matchmaker!” William waved humbly, like a celebrity in front of dedicated fans. He was carrying his huge matchmaker’s book. Behind him, his flame-haired receptionist, Maeve, followed him onto the stage. She looked like a glamorous assistant in a sparkling emerald dress.
William walked up to the microphone. “It is the moment you have all been waiting for!” he called out. “The announcement of this year’s most eligible bachelors, the crowning of Mr. Lisdoonvarna and the Queen of the Burren.”
Everyone clapped loudly.
“As always, we have crowns for the winners of his coveted prize,” William continued.
Behind him, Maeve produced a velvet cushion with two crowns set on the top.
“Without further ado, I will now announce the winners.”
Maeve handed him a gold envelope. William opened it.
“This year’s Queen of the Burren is.... Keira Swanson!”
The crowd began to clap. Keira froze in her seat. There had to be some kind of mistake. She hadn’t even entered the competition! Was William playing with her?
When people began to catch on to the fact that the crowned winner was sitting in her car in the middle of the crowd, they started to turn and chant, cheering her on. Keira shook her head. The last thing she wanted was to be dragged up on stage. She was still covered in sheep poo!
But the crowd wasn’t backing down. And now William was calling to her as well.
Maeve took the microphone. “Keira, if you don’t come up here for your crown we’ll just come down there and put it on you!”
Feeling like she had no choice, Keira reluctantly unclipped her seatbelt and got out of the car. Everyone cheered and made way for her to make it to the stage. People she’d never met before clapped her on the shoulder and congratulated her. Keira felt worse than ever to know so many people wanted this crown and yet she was the one getting it.
She made it onto the stage and Maeve hugged her. Then William did too. He took the microphone again.
“For those of you who haven’t met Miss Swanson, she is a reporter from New York City. When she first got here, she was cynical about love, the festival, romance in general. I hope this crown will go some way in helping her change her mind.”
Maeve placed the crown on Keira’s head. Little did William know just how much she’d really changed.
“Now it’s time to announce Mr. Lisdoonvarna,” William said into the microphone. “Now this is someone many of you will know. I’ve been wanting to crown him for years but never found the correct lady to match him with. That is, until Keira came along.”
Keira had a horrible feeling she knew just where this was going. He was going to announce Orin, the bar man, the man she saw as a father figure. This was going to be an embarrassing moment of humiliation, a punishment for the article and her snooty attitude. William must have been planning this since day one! No doubt Orin was in on it as well. She pouted, bracing herself for the humiliation, knowing that the crowd would get a great kick out of laughing at her expense.
“This year’s Mr. Lisdoonvarna is, of course, everyone’s favorite tour guide… Shane Lawder!”
Keira let her mouth fall open with surprise. She turned to William, frowning.
“What?” she demanded.
William patted the book. “I matched you two on day one,” he said.
Keira’s eyes widened. “Why didn’t you tell me!” she exclaimed.
“You had a boyfriend. And a lot of learning to do.” William smiled.
Keira couldn’t believe it. Would things have been different for her and Shane if William had let them in on his secret? It felt like just another kick in the teeth, another moment of too little too late.
“Shane isn’t here,” she told William sadly. “He went back home.”
Just then, Maeve pointed out into the crowd. “No, he didn’t!” she exclaimed.
Keira looked out over the rows of people and saw him, Shane, working his way through the crowd. People were urging him on, pushing him forward. Just a few feet behind her own surrounded car she noticed Shane’s. He’d followed her here?
Her heart leapt into her mouth. Was this really happening?
Shane fought to the front of the stage and was given a helpful shove from the people around him. When he stood up, he raced toward Keira and pulled her into an embrace, lifting her off her feet and twirling her around in a circle.
“What are you doing here?” Keira cried.
He set her down on her feet and looked deeply into her eyes. “My sisters convinced me I was being an idiot. That I was wasting the last night we had together. They told me that even if it was only one night we had left we should make the most of it.”
Keira gazed adoringly in
to his eyes. Then they kissed passionately. The crowd roared with pleasure.
Maeve plopped Shane’s crown onto his head. He laughed, holding it in place with one hand, while his focus remained solely on Keira. She lost herself in the moment, feeling like there was no one in the world watching them, feeling like it was just her and Shane in this beautiful moment, holding on to the present day and making the most of it while it lasted.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Keira and Shane lost themselves in the music. They danced like it was their last night on earth.
“Would you like some wine?” Shane asked.
But Keira shook her head. She didn’t want fuzzy memories of this evening. She wanted to remember every second in sharp clarity. Plus, she was drunk enough on love as it was.
“I do want a picture though,” Keira said.
She’d been so busy taking pictures of signs of strange town names and sheep’s behinds she realized she hadn’t taken any photographs of the things that mattered, like Shane, and Orin, and William. That’s what she wanted to preserve from her time here, the people, their faces, not a bunch of comical photographs.
“Here,” Shane said, taking her camera. He tapped the man dancing next to him on the shoulder. “Could you take a picture of us?”
The man agreed and Keira posed next to Shane. Just as the flash went off on the camera, Shane grabbed her and planted a huge, wet smacker on her lips. When he released her, Keira burst out laughing and smacked him.
“I want a proper one!” she cried. “One where I can see your gorgeous face.” Then to the man who’d taken it, she asked, “Another, please!”
This time Shane put his arm around her and posed properly. When the man handed back her camera, Keira looked at the two pictures. Both filled her with such joy. In the first Shane’s cheeky spirit was captured perfectly. That he’d caught her off guard with his sneaky kiss attack seemed very apt to Keira, representing so perfectly the way he’d knocked her off her feet with his love. In the second picture they both looked so happy and loved up, it looked like they were a real couple. Keira didn’t quite recognize herself in the photo. She’d never looked so happy before.
