Paris Is Always a Good Idea - Jenn McKinlay Page 0,49
sure enough, I slid down the pole, finally landing in a heap on the floor. I looked like a felled gazelle that had some extra junk in the trunk.
“That’s the way,” Darby said.
I gave her a dubious look.
“It was an excellent start,” she insisted.
The lesson continued until I finally managed to spin and slide down the pole without dropping like a rock. We went on to the fireman and the scissor sit. By the time I’d gotten a handle on those, my arms were shaking, my core was wrecked, I had a blister, and I was drenched in sweat. It felt amazing!
When I swiveled down from the final hold, I slapped the floor twice and breathlessly announced, “I’m tapping out.”
Darby leaned over me and asked, “You all right?”
“Sure,” I said. “Don’t I look all right?”
“Take some Nurofen,” she said. She gave me a knowing look. “You’re going to be sore tomorrow, but on the upside, you have new skills.”
I used the pole to pull myself to my feet. “It’s a bit like flying, you know, when you’re not flailing.”
“That’s why I fell in love with it,” Darby said. “And if I can do it, anyone can, and now I’m teaching it to others.”
“In other words, you’re living the dream,” I said.
“Aye, I’ve always believed that if I can think it, I can do it,” she said. “And I’ve yet to see any evidence that that’s not true.”
“You’re an amazing woman, Darby O’Shea,” I said. I went to hug her and only whimpered a little when I lifted my arms.
chapter eleven
IT WAS EARLY afternoon when I drove off with a wave, watching the pretty house and the cottages get smaller and smaller as I went. I motored slowly through the town of Finn’s Hollow, smiling as I passed the Top of the Hill where it sat at the bottom.
I wasn’t sure where I wanted to land that night. I knew I needed to make my way back to Dublin, but there was no rush, as my flight to Paris wasn’t until tomorrow. I decided to take my time and soak in the beautiful countryside of the west counties, not knowing when I’d ever be back this way again.
I was just outside of Limerick and headed into County Clare when the mercurial Irish weather decided to make a mockery of my life choices. I’d gotten a wild hair to go see the famed Cliffs of Moher before heading to Dublin, and I was almost there when a fierce storm blew in, blotting out the colors of the landscape with a blanket of ominous gray.
My small car was buffeted by the wind as the rain came at me sideways, making my wipers practically useless as they tried to swish the rain off the glass. My knuckles gripped the steering wheel until they cramped, and my heart started keeping time with the beat of the wipers. I squinted through the storm, hoping I didn’t surprise any cows or sheep on the roadway, because with the rain this thick, I doubted I’d see them until I was on top of them.
I cursed myself for not checking the weather. Then I double-cursed myself for leaving Darby’s delightful cottages. Why had I been in such a hurry to leave? Quite simply, because I was on a quest and Colin’s part in it was over.
Had I bothered to check the weather, I’d have chosen differently, but now I was probably going to die on some back road in Ireland. My car would be swept off the road and into a bog, to be sucked into the earth and exhumed hundreds of years from now. My body just a skeleton labeled rando female X, who was smothered by gobs of mud in her car because she was too stupid to live.
A strange noise gurgled out of my throat, something between a whine and a whimper. I was alone in the middle of nowhere, leaving me just vulnerable enough for a scorching case of nerves to come rushing at me, jostling me just like the wind rocked my car.
What if I died out here? I’d never get to see my dad or Annabelle again. I’d never remember what falling in love, laughing wholeheartedly, or being happy felt like.
Panic was making my head buzz, my skin itch, and my breath raspy. My heart was speeding up and slowing down in a weird rhythm that was making it hard to focus on anything except not passing out. My grand adventure, my new