Who's Your Paddy?

Chapter 11

After spending most of the morning getting dolled up for a new passport photo, I picked up the renewal paperwork from the post office, ran to Walgreen's and opted to skip out on going to the office.

I only had about three hours to kill before my appointment with Roisin, so getting Liam and The Land of Dreams out of my head was something I considered a wise move. I needed the room to don my reporter's hat.

Of course, I was also fooling myself. The feature made me think of him. Answering Michelle's lengthy reply would make me think of him, and preparing for Roisin's interview at the Harp would certainly bring my thoughts back to him too.

I turned off my computer in frustration and picked up the telephone to call the one person guaranteed not to make me think about Liam—my mother.

"Hey, Ma."

"Annie Lee, it's about damn time. Lindsey said you were busy, but since when are you too busy for your mother?"

"I know, sorry."

"Lindsey talk to you about Michelle? She's getting married, isn't that great? It's about time you start thinking about that..."

I'd love to say the rest of our conversation was filled with heart warming banter. It wasn't. The minute she followed up her marriage crack with a ticking clock analogy, I was gone. I had all I could do to mutter simple answers and wiggle out of the call with a lie.

Make this stop.

I devoured a cold cut sandwich for lunch and drove to the Harp to meet Roisin. For the entire colorless drive, I couldn't get what Paul had said out of my mind. Maybe Liam was thinking that I mixed business with pleasure for less than genuine reasons.

The usual feeling I got when walking in the Harp was instant comfort. It was like sliding into a pair of fuzzy slippers after being pinched in high heels all day. That wasn't the case when Roisin greeted me; anxiety ridden and awkward, her innocent comment only exaggerated the discontent.

"Ye just missed Liam," she said.

"Uh...oh?"

"He stopped fer lunch. Couldn't stop talkin' 'bout you. Jayses."

I was tempted to ask her, but knew it would open a can of worms. As it turned out, I didn't have to ponder it long--my photographer Jim showed up and distracted both of us.

After Jim left, I motioned to a booth. "Let's get down to it shall we?"

She scooted across the bench and looked up at me with trepidation.

I smiled and reached across to pat the back of her hand. "First, relax, Ro. This should be easy, like we talk at the bar. Okay?"

She nodded.

"And I want to thank you for entrusting me with the opportunity."

"I'm hopin' I don't regret it Annie. Tis only 'cause of knowin' you and knowin' yer with Liam that I'm botherin'."

"I promise to do my best to make you proud."

I dug out my notepad and recorder.

"Since I've already got some of your background from our casual conversations, I've come up with a few questions for areas we haven't discussed. I'd like to mainly focus on some of the events that brought you here. We can get as elaborate or as restrained as you want, but understand that anything you say while officially on the record will be something I'm allowed to print. I say for the sake of your privacy, as well as wanting to preserve our friendship. Okay?"