Don't Let Me Fall Again

Chapter Four - Differences

It barely took me a minute to get ready, quickly tying my hair back into a messy bun and throwing on the clothes that I packed especially for the beach. With my lemon shorts and red bikini, I looked ready to get no tan but more freckles (and after Ryan loaded tons of sunscreen all over me, I hopefully wasn’t going to be fried) … Since I was feeling exhausted one moment, and then full of energy the next, Cormac decided on driving everyone across to the beach. Ryan took Sinead, James and I in his car, while the rest of my family who had cars drove my friends, both Irish and American, over to the beach.

‘Such a nice day,’ Hannah said, putting on her sunglasses. ‘It’s strange, though, for November … Usually we have loads of rain now.’

‘Maybe the clouds ran out of it last month,’ Niall said, shaking his head. ‘You should’ve seen it … Thought we were in the middle of a hurricane.’

‘Ireland doesn’t get hurricanes,’ said Gráinne, rolling her eyes. ‘And I thought you were smart, Niall.’

‘Aha, you’re wrong there, missy,’ Declan grinned. ‘You just weren’t alive for the last one … It was in the eighties.’

After Uncle Cormac pointed out where we were going to have our picnic, I grabbed the picnic basket and blankets out of the trunk of his car. Ciara and Shane took the same sandcastle equipment we used to use when we were little kids out of Uncle Finbar’s car, and Hannah, Niall and Séamus grabbed Gráinne by the arms and legs and carried her off into the sea. Sinead seemed to be giving James, Kyle, Sam, Scott and Drake a guided tour of the little beach, from where you could find all of the crabs and starfish to where the best places were to build a sandcastle.

Ryan was smirking as he helped me lay out the blankets on a level area of sand. ‘Are there any little caves that we can sneak off to around here?’

I chuckled. ‘As far as I know there isn’t … But there’s a lovely ice-cream shop across the road. I’m really in the mood for some ice-cream … strawberry ice-cream, or maybe raspberry ice-cream … Actually, we can go to the chipper – that’s where you buy fish and chips, in case you don’t know … It’s not the healthiest food, but it’s absolutely gorgeous. Yeah, that sounds really good. Come on, let’s ask everyone and see what they want … I’ll pay for yours if you forgot to bring your money.’

‘Chips? Like potato chips in a packet?’ he frowned.

‘No, no, no,’ I said, rolling my eyes. ‘Chips over here mean fries. They’re lovely. Oh, and potato chips are called crisps over here. Sorry, I thought you’d know that,’ I laughed.

After getting everyone’s orders and writing a big list in case I forgot anything, Uncle Cormac, Ryan and I headed over to the chipper. I was absolutely starving, even though I ate three slices of toast for breakfast … but I was eating for two now, so I kinda had an excuse.

‘Ryan, why don’t you tell Cormac about your grandma?’ I said, attempting to start a conversation between my uncle and boyfriend. No one was really talking, and it was getting really awkward. Maybe if Ryan started telling Cormac about his Irish roots, Cormac would accept him a bit more.

Ryan gave me a knowing look, and then began talking all about his grandmother and how she moved to America and that he had always wanted to see where she was from. Then Cormac, who remembered Fiona O’Sullivan, began telling Ryan stories about her and my nanny. Smiling, I watched the two men slowly begin to bond, and then we walked into the chipper. The unhealthy yet extremely satisfying smell of deep-fried greasy food wafted towards us, and my tummy growled with hunger. Uncle Cormac told the lad on the other side of the counter what we wanted (in Irish because we were still in Connemara), and after a few more minutes we got our orders and brought them back to everyone at the beach.