as Sandra continues to bombard me with questions and as Angie tries to soothe me, I’m pulled back into his world again, and deep regret and sadness washes over me.
“Shit, you really have it bad,” Sandra says after a moment, after I try to describe how he made me feel.
“Yeah,” Angie says softly, holding my hand. “I though a one-night stand would get Cole out of your system. I didn’t think you’d fall for the guy.”
“I didn’t fall for him,” I tell her, reaching forward and grabbing a bottle of Powerade. “I didn’t even know him.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t be sad that you don’t get to see him again,” Sandra says. “He didn’t want to see you tonight?”
An even bigger sigh rumbles through me now. “He did. Well, it was more than that. He wanted me to come with him to his hometown.”
“What?” Angie screeches. “His hometown? Isn’t it Dublin?”
“He lives here, yeah, but he meant like the place he grew up in. A town called Shambles. Where his father lives.”
“He wanted you to meet his dad!” Sandra practically yells. “Holy shit.”
I nod, knowing what’s coming next. I can’t help but give them a shy smile. “He wanted to bring me home to meet his father and pretend to be his fiancé.”
Complete silence.
I glance at Sandra’s dumbfounded face, then over at Angie’s.
“Huh?” Angie finally asks.
“You heard me.”
“He wanted you to pretend to be his fiancé? Why?” Sandra asks. Then she excitedly slaps my knee. “Oh. Oh! Is this one of those inheritance things, where like you have to be married in order to qualify for an inheritance? Are you going to get rich? This is like a Hallmark movie!”
It sounds far-fetched (I mean, this all does) but it makes me pause. If his father is dying, could that really be the reason? “I don’t think so,” I say slowly. “I mean, that would mean you would actually have to get married right, not just pretend you will?”
“I don’t know,” she says. “This is crazy.”
“It is crazy. He knows it’s crazy too. Obviously I said no.”
“Obviously. So what was his reasoning?” Angie asks curiously. “You don’t just spring that insane plot on someone without a good explanation.”
I almost feel like it’s too personal to tell. “His father is dying. He has prostate cancer. Padraig is going back to be with him.” Both of my sisters’ faces fall in unison. “He said his father always wanted him to settle down and be a family man. I guess he’s a perpetual bachelor. He said he wanted to pretend that he’d finally found love.”
“So that his father could die knowing he’s okay,” Sandra says tearfully. She wipes her eyes. “Oh my god, that’s so sad.”
“That’s precious,” Angie says. “And you said no to that?”
I jerk back in surprise and give her a look. “You think I should have said yes?”
“Well, not initially, but I have to admit, that’s a really sweet reason.”
“You should have said yes. What happened to your resolution?” Sandra adds.
“Oh my god,” I exclaim, getting to my feet and turning around to look down at them. “I can’t believe you two!”
“What about us?” Sandra says defensively. “We’re just trying to help you do the things you said you set out to do.”
“I turned him down because of you guys!”
“Us?” Angie says. “Why?”
“Because! This!” I gesture wildly to the hotel room. “Because this is our Stephens Sisters trip. What kind of asshole would I be if I decided to ditch you guys to go follow my one-night stand to his hometown, let alone the whole pretending part? A major asshole.”
“Pfft,” Sandra says. “I’d ditch you both for a hot piece of Irish ass any day.”
“She’s right, you know,” Angie says. “I saw her looking around last night for any excuse to not come home.”
“I can’t believe you,” I say again, my hands pressed into my temples. “You really wouldn’t have cared?”
“Valerie, look,” Angie says. “We’re just happy we got to see you on this trip at all. You weren’t even supposed to come. We’ve had fun, more fun than we’ve had together in a long time, and if you didn’t go to Shambles or whatever with this guy, we’d have even more fun. But the whole reason for this trip isn’t just for us to bond. It’s for you to bond with yourself. To figure out what you want from life.”
“To say yes when you’d normally say no,” Sandra adds. “It’s January first and you’ve already failed bigtime.”