My mother was packing for our trip. I kept going over what Ellie had told me. It’s not that I don’t want to find him. I can’t. It would never work would it? He lives in Ireland, and I live in America. We’d rarely see each other. I suppose there’s video chatting, or phone calls, but that’s not the same. Long distance almost never works out. I mean, the relationship between James and I is a prime example. No, how could I compare Ryan to James. I haven’t thought about James in a while. Every now and then he pops into my head, but I haven’t really thought about things in a long time. I wasn’t about to start thinking about that now.
“What do you think? Does my checklist look complete?” My mom asked grinning. It’d been a while since I’d seen her this happy.
“Hm?” I hadn’t really been paying attention to what she said.
“Where are you?” She asked sarcastically.
“Sorry, just thinking.” I replied smiling.
“Ok. Oh Carrie, I can’t believe we’re actually going!” She sat down on the bed beside me. “It’s really amazing what John has done for us.”
“I still can’t believe it either.” I said giggling. “I am really glad it’s with you though mom.” I hugged her.
“Me too. We haven’t done anything like this together in a long time. I think the last time we went on a trip was to Florida.” She stopped herself. “I’m sorry sweetie, I didn’t mean to bring it up.” She kissed my forehead.
“It’s alright mom, I was just thinking about him myself.” I didn’t really want to discuss this right now though. She got up and started looking through her closet more.
“Really? What for?” I guess we’re talking about this.
“No reason really. Just thinking.” I hadn’t told her about Ryan. We weren’t dating, technically; and I didn’t feel like explaining everything to her.
“Ok, well have you met anyone? Not pushing you, just curious.” Just like my mom. She seems to have telepathic powers. I guess that’s what they call a mothers intuition. I also guess this would be a good time to tell her.
“Well. Sorta.” I shrugged. She turned around grinning.
“Sorta? Who is it?” She asked coming closer.
“His name is Ryan.” I looked around the room.
“Ryan huh? Ryan.” She was wondering about a last name.
“Ryan O’Connor.” I said looking down.
“Wow, he must have some Irish history in his family with that name!” She exclaimed.
“Yeah.” I chuckled. “Especially when he hails from Ireland.” My mom shot me a look. I looked at her.
“What?” She asked.
“Well, he’s from Ireland.” I said sheepishly looking at her.
“Why am I only hearing of him now?” She asked putting her hands on her hips.
“Because we weren’t officially an item. We met 3 weeks ago, while he was on vacation.”
“3 weeks ago? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because, as I said, we weren’t an official item.” I stood up and went over to her dresser.
“Where is he now then?” She asked grabbing some shoes from her closet.
“He’s back in Ireland. He went home a week ago.” I recalled his plane taking off.
“So, is he interested in you?” She asked out of pure curiosity.
“I think so.” I said grinning. “I tried telling him how I was falling for him, and he hushed me and told me he felt the same way. Then he said a little poem about kissing me in Ireland, when we are reunited.” I put down a knick knack and turned around to my mom who was in tears.
“Mom.” I sighed. She always got teary eyed about this stuff.
“Sorry, I can’t help it. It sounds like he’s interested.” She grinned. “Where in Ireland?”
“Cork.” I replied.
“We’re going to cork!” She exclaimed. “You can find him and.” I cut her short.
“No mom. I am not going to find him. It’d never work out.”
“Why?” She got wide-eyed. “Is he a non-believer?” I laughed at her seriousness.
“No mom. He is a Christian, which does make it that much harder.” I sighed and sat down. “It’d never work, there’s too much distance between Ireland and America.” I said. “I don’t know when I’ll ever be able to return after this trip.” I said trying to reason with my mother. Though I think I was also trying to reason with myself.
“You make good points. However.” Here came some advice I won’t forget. “If God truly wants you two together. He’ll make it happen.” She smiled and sat down next to me, and gave me a hug. “God will make it happen in his timing. Which is perfect as always.” How could I be so stupid? I left God out of everything. I prayed with my mother.
“Dear heavenly father. If it be your will. Show me what to do regarding Ryan. If you want this relationship to be. Make him easy to find.” My mother looked up at me.
“You want to find him?” She smiled.
“More than anything.” A tear went down my face. My mother wiped it.
“Yep. It’s happened.” She grinned.
“What’s happened?” I asked getting a tissue.
“You’ve fallen in love.” I smiled. I hadn’t really thought about it too much.
“Yeah. I have.” We finished packing my mothers things and I told her all about Ryan. How kind, smart, witty, funny, and talented his is.
“He’s a musician too?” She asked in awe.
“Yes he is. A very good musician at that.” I added.
“He sounds simply amazing sweetheart.” Came the tender voice. A voice I had come to count on so many times through heartbreak, and good times. The voice that could calm, sooth, aggravate, and sadden you all at once it seemed like. My daddy. I turned around.
“How long have you been standing there dad?” I asked grinning.
“Long enough to hear about Mr. Perfect.” He laughed. We all got a good chuckle. I told them about how his parents owned a bed and breakfast.
“Oh well it’s easy then. We find that, and there ya go!” My mom said.
“Sure, if I knew the name of it.” I said smacking my head onto the bed comforter.
“Oh. Well it’s alright. We’ll just ask around.” She said, trying to be optimistic. My dad got out his phone and started googling bed and breakfast’s in Cork.
“Good news or the bad news?” My father asked.
“Bad news, then good.” I said.
“Bad news, there’s about 4 owners with the last name O’Connor. Good news, only two of them have two owners.
“Well, that’s better than nothing I suppose.” I said. We planned out how we would try to find him including asking the bed and breakfast places if any of them had a son named Ryan. We would figure the rest out from there. The next day my mother and I went last minute shopping. We got a lot of travel sized items.
“Is that everything?” I asked looking over our list.
“I think so.” She said looking over my shoulder. We went to the cash register and checked out.
“What do you want to do for lunch?” My mom asked rubbing her stomach. “I’m starving.” I smiled.
“Have you ever heard of a pub name O’Callaghan’s?” I drove to her to the pub and we went inside.
“Welcome to O’Callaghan’s, how may I help you?” The same waitress that helped Ryan and I was working today.
“Table for 2 please.” I said smiling. She showed us to our seat and we sat down.
“Where’s your boyfriend today?” She asked politely, laying down our menu’s.
“He wasn’t my boyfriend.” I looked down and smiled.
“Oh, because he came in here and made the request to sit there, and have use of the stage.” She walked away with our drink order. I looked at my mom and started laughing and crying, at the same time.
“Oh sweetie, what’s the matter?” She asked. Through some tears due to laughter and sadness I tried to clear my throat, and explain.
“The day that he brought me here he played a song for me.” My mother smiled.
“Sounds like he’s fallen for you.”
“He never told me he requested it. He just made it seem like he had just found the place.” I added.
“Well, when you see him again, you can thank him.” She winked at me. “Now, what should I get?” She asked. I grinned again.
“Do you trust me?”