Love Like This

Keira shook her head. “Nope.”

This admission seemed to excite William. “We have a naysayer,” he exclaimed with a laugh. “Which means it’s our challenge to change your mind. Shane, lad?” He gestured for the tour guide to come over, which he did. Once he was standing beside him, William slung an arm across his shoulders. “You’ve been promoted,” he joked. “You’re no longer just to guide this young woman through the festival, you’re to guide her towards true love. I fear it may be a tall order!”

Keira shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. But despite her discomfort at being the center of the strange meeting, she knew she’d collected some excellent material for her article, thanks to the doddering old man and his antiquated opinions on relationships. Elliot was going to love this. And writing it, for Keira, would be somewhat therapeutic.

She just had to get through her first day with Shane and then she’d be able to purge herself of all this silliness by typing.

CHAPTER FIVE

“I don’t know how long this trip we’re going on is supposed to be,” Keira said as she got into the passenger side of Shane’s car and fiddled with her seat belt. “But I need a coffee ASAP. And if you could get me back with a few hours to spare before the festival kicks off that would be great. I need to get in some solid writing hours.” She finally got buckled in. “So, where are we going?”

When she received no response from Shane she looked over to see him wearing his characteristic amused expression. She folded her arms. “What?”

He gave her a shrug. “Well, it’s hardly the weather for sunglasses, that’s all I was thinking.”

Keira pushed her sunglasses resolutely against her nose. “There might be early morning glare,” she replied, cringing at the haughtiness she heard in her voice. “And anyway, you’re hardly one to judge someone else’s attire. Did you even use a mirror to dress this morning?”

Shane tipped his head back and laughed with abandon. Keira felt her lips twitch with satisfaction, then checked herself. She’d just allowed herself to take one step closer toward flirting with him, which definitely was not part of the ain’t nothing wrong with looking philosophy!

“I thought I would take you somewhere nearby to start off with,” Shane told her as he accelerated onto the main street. “So I’ve chosen the Burren, which is only a twenty-minute drive. It’s a national park. You heard of it?”

Keira shook her head. “I can’t wait,” she said as a mental picture formulated in her mind of a beautiful Irish scene.

She wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw Shane smirk. When they pulled up in the parking lot of the Burren twenty minutes later she realized why. There wasn’t a blade of grass in sight! The Burren was made of bleak, gray rock.

She turned to Shane, frowning. “Is this a prank? I thought you said it was a national park.”

Shane started laughing. “It is! One and a half thousand hectares of protected land, consisting almost entirely of limestone.”

Keira let out a sigh of exasperation. “So of all the places you could have taken me to show off the majesty of Ireland, you chose this.”

“I picked up on some snooty vibes back at William’s place,” Shane said, raising a combative eyebrow. “I figured this would be the best place to take you to get you off your high horse. Ireland isn’t some fantasy land filled with leprechauns, though there are some parts that play up the stereotypes for the sake of the tourists. But if you dig a little bit beneath the surface we’re a country with real heart, real romance. We have a rich and interesting history, if you let yourself give us a chance.”

Keira folded her arms. Everything he’d said about her was right, of course, but she wasn’t about to admit that. “I’m not snooty,” was all she said.

Shane just shrugged. “Come on, this way. The view from the top of the hill is incredible.”

Keira followed. “I don’t really have the appropriate footwear for a hike,” she complained.

“Don’t worry, I won’t take us on the three-hour mountain trek, although it’s breathtaking and a shame to miss out on.” He gave her a withering look. “Think you can handle a half hour loop? It’ll take us through meadows and some amazing woodland.”

“Yes, I think I can I manage thirty minutes,” Keira muttered.

“I meant without killing me,” Shane laughed.

He seemed to enjoy winding Keira up.

“I feel like we’ve gotten off to a bad start,” Keira said as she tried to keep up with his brisk pace. She wasn’t used to hilly walks. “Have I said something to insult you?”

At first, Shane ignored the question. Instead, he pointed to a wooden stake in the ground with several colorful arrows on it. “We’re following the orange trail, okay?”

Keira nodded. They continued ascending the gray hillside. The landscape was so barren Keira felt as if she were walking on the surface of the moon. The craggy craters on either side of her added further to the illusion. When she saw a tuft of grass – somehow growing through a crack in the rock – it gave her a bit of a shock to think that grass could grow on the moon. She had to remind herself that this place was actually on Earth.

“Well?” Keira pressed. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“About whether we got off on the wrong foot or not?” Shane said. Then he chewed his bottom lip in contemplation. “Why does it matter?”

“Because we have thirty days to spend together so we may as well get along.”

Shane fell silent again. Keira couldn’t help but feel frustrated by the amount of time it took him to answer a question. She wasn’t comfortable with the silences he was constantly bestowing on her. It made her feel awkward.

“I wonder,” he said finally, “if you just don’t like the idea that someone might not like you.”

“Excuse me?” Keira felt instantly insulted by his comment and immediately put up a defensive front.

“You have one of those nice-guy complexes. You expect everyone to find your quirky Americanness charming and I don’t.”

“Me charming?” Keira scoffed. “You’re the one with the whole cheeky Irish chappy thing going on!”

“That bothers you?”

“It’s an infuriating stereotype.”

Keira could hear herself growing snappy. In complete contrast, Shane’s tone hadn’t changed at all. He was completely neutral, as though the conversation wasn’t even remotely irksome.

“I think you’re finding a lot more than just me infuriating,” Shane said. “I mean, you weren’t that nice to William.”

“And?” Keira scoffed. “I’m here to work, not make friends. And I feel no obligation to be nice to someone with such old-fashioned ideas about love. It annoys me when people think they know exactly what men and women want from one another.”

Shane raised his eyebrows. “For someone who says they’re happy in their long-term relationship you seem very hostile towards the concept of love.”

Keira shot him a look. “It’s not love that’s the problem. It’s this idea that it’s a picture-perfect thing. That some old man who’s never met you in your life can just match you to someone else he doesn’t know from Adam, and then you’ll fall instantly in love and stay that way forever and ever. Real life isn’t like a novel.”

Even as she spoke, Keira could tell that Shane was enjoying her reaction. He was deliberately winding her up. Two can play that game, Keira thought.

“So you’re a romantic then?” she said. “Is that what you’re telling me? I suppose you’ve only ever been with your high school sweetheart and plan on marrying her.”

Suddenly, Shane fell silent, and Keira could tell she’d accidentally spoken out of turn. She snapped her lips shut, knowing not to press it any further.

They reached the top of the hill and an incredible view opened up before Keira. It was like looking at the cooled lava of a volcano, or the surface of an asteroid. Keira had never seen anything quite like this alien landscape, and never had she felt so small or insignificant.

For the first time since arriving, Keira felt a new sense of humbleness. Maybe Elliot had made a mistake sending her to Ireland. Joshua would never have come over all sentimental at the sight of a beautiful, mystical landscape. He’d remain cynical and cold just like Elliot needed him to be. But Keira herself could feel something in her core softening. For the first time since arriving in Ireland she felt as though something in its bleak barrenness had touched her.

“Come on,” Shane said, his voice lacking all of the joviality she’d become accustomed to. “Let’s go.”

“Can we stay a bit longer?” Keira asked.

“I thought you needed a coffee.”

“It can wait.”

They stood side by side, silent, watching the world. There was no one around for miles, not another living soul. Keira couldn’t recall any other point in her life when she’d been in such a remote location. Back home in New York City she was always surrounded by people, by noise and civilization. But here there was just nature in its starkest form.

“Did I say something to upset you?” Keira asked Shane.

It had been a good ten minutes since he’d uttered a word. It felt so strange to not hear him taking a swipe at her.

“Actually, yes,” Shane said finally.

“Oh.” Keira hadn’t been expecting such candor. In some ways it was refreshing. But the brutal truth could be just that: brutal. “I’m sorry for whatever it was I said.”

Shane looked at her for the first time in a long time. “I’m not sure you are.”

He began walking again, descending now, leaving Keira standing, floundering on the precipice of the world. She finally pulled herself together and followed.

“That’s not fair,” she said, stepping up beside him, swinging her arms in wide arcs in order to keep up.

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