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Dancing to an Irish Reel
Claire Fullerton
Publication date: March 6, 2015
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult
On sabbatical from her job in the LA record business, twenty five year old Hailey Crossan takes a trip to Ireland for the vacation of a lifetime. What she finds is a job offer too good to turn down.
But her new life in Ireland comes with one major complication—Liam Hennessey. He’s a famous Irish musician whose entire live has revolved around performing. And Hailey falls in love with him. Because Liam’s not so sure love can fit into his life, he’s afraid to come closer, but neither can he bring himself to go away.
And so begins Hailey’s journey to a colorful land that changes her life, unites her with friends more colorful than the Irish landscape, and teaches her more about love than she’s ever known before.
The next day, I went to work at the Centre. It was an unremarkable day beyond the fact there had been no mention of Adrian and no word from Liam. When my thoughts turned to Liam, the disquieting stirrings of doubt and uncertainty rumbled within me. I told myself what I didn’t know wouldn’t hurt me, that no news was good news, and I became a study in annoying, placating platitudes. Why is it, I wondered, the second you begin to let somebody in, you give them the power to wreak havoc on your peace of mind?
At the end of the day, I went back to Inverin and took a long walk through the bog to clear my head, but the minute I returned, I became unsettled all over again, wondering why Liam had suddenly changed the dynamic. Not knowing what was going on was really starting to bother me, so I took my journal onto the porch and started writing, hoping it would soothe the troubling energy. I looked up at the sounds of a car scratching up the driveway. Seconds later, Liam slid open the door and stepped in with an air of cool indifference there was no way I could’ve missed.
“Hiya,” Liam said, as if he had seen me ten minutes earlier. “I was just down the road at the Cruiscan and am on my way home; I thought I’d stop in for a second.”
Okay, I thought, I get it: this means you’re not staying.
“Are you playing tonight?” I asked, knowing full well he was.
“Yah, at ten thirty, are you going to be there?”
Okay, I thought, I get this: he’s not asking me to come with him, he’s asking me if I’m going to be sitting there in the crowd watching him—as if he’s just curious. What’s he doing?
“Well, I wasn’t planning on it,” I said with the emphasis on the word planning. “Maybe I will.”
“Oh no, that’s okay,” he said, then without saying another word, he walked out to his car and returned with the sunglasses I’d left behind.
“Here.” Liam placed them on the table. “Well, I won’t be seeing you for a week or so because I’m leaving tomorrow.”
“I know,” I said, “you’ll be going on the boat from port to port.”
“We’ll be coming in Sunday night to play Hughes. We’ll be at the Spiddal Pier around nine; there’ll be a lot of people there. Come if you want,” he said. “If not, I’ll see you another time.”
Why is he being so casual? I thought. What is this; invasion of the body snatchers? Who took his personality? Is he trying to appear cool, or does he legitimately mean this? Why do I think this is an act?
I just nodded because I was starting to get the picture, and was thinking indifference should be met with indifference. Not only that, he was starting to get on my nerves. “All right, have a good time,” I said.
“See ya,” Liam said, and then he walked out the door.
Oddly, the next morning I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I was so grateful that I decided to jump right into the middle of it so that it would stay. There was no need to think about Liam anymore because he was gone and wouldn’t be back for days. If this was going to be confusing, then I was going to be bigger than my confusion. Maybe I wasn’t the one who was confused after all, maybe it was Liam, and I was only being drawn into his confusion. Whichever was the case, I didn’t have to think about him for a while and I was glad.
About the Author
Claire Fullerton is the author of Paranormal Mystery, “A Portal in Time,” set in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California (Vinspire Publishing) and “Dancing to an Irish Reel,” Fiction, set in Connemara, Ireland, (Vinspire Publishing.) She is a three time award winning essayist, a former newspaper columnist, a contributor to magazines, and a four time contributor to the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book series. Claire hails from Memphis,TN and now lives in Malibu, CA. Currently, Claire is writing her third novel, which is based on her award winning essay in the 2013 San Francisco Writer’s Conference.
Thank you for having me on your blog!
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