The Month Of July

Chapter 8

The photo I've added is an Aerial view of Dublin.

I watch Dublin zoom by from outside of the car window. We pull into a neighborhood that's right by the water and Danny stops in one of the house's driveways. This house isn't very different from the rest, it looks old and a little bit on the small side. He takes my bags from the trunk. I get out, wondering if this is his house. Danny unlocks the door and sets my suitcase down inside the doorway. He runs back to the car and grabs his suitcases as well. I walk in slowly and take my shoes off.

The outside of this house is definitely deceiving. It's all open concept, a black and white theme throughout the house. The kitchen is really modern and so is the living room. There are instruments everywhere, a bass in one corner, a baby grand piano in the other. He takes me up a floating staircase that has a frosted floor-to-ceiling window on the back wall. The upper floor is just as nice, two bedrooms, one bathroom.

"There's a pocket door powder room in the laundry room as well." He smiles and goes downstairs. I take a minute to admire Danny's room, looking at the pictures. I come downstairs and sit beside Dan on the couch.

"Your house is wonderful."

"Thank you, I try. Would you like some tea?"

"That would be great."

"Coming up." He turns on the kettle, a stove kettle so it screams. He sits back down with two cups of water and a million tea boxes. "I have so many flavors of tea. You pick, I already have a favourite." I choose peppermint tea, just to spice things up. Danny takes a lemon tea and puts the boxes back. "So, I want to know about the airplane thing."

"This is a long story."

"I have all day."

"No you don't."

"In New York we have almost the whole day." There's a five hour time difference between Dublin and New York. Dublin being five hours ahead.

"Whatever. My brother was ten when I was born. When I was two, my parents divorced, my dad getting custody of me. My mom finally got me back full time, I visited her every second weekend but I barely knew her, she got me back when I was eight. Four months after she got me back, she had cancer. She didn't live long after that. She was quite young, 36 actually. My older brother moved away because he couldn't bear the pain. I ended up back in the custody of my dad. I don't really remember my brother, I see pictures of him but he lived by himself when he was eighteen and before that, he lived with my mom. Then when I was twenty one, my dad had a heart attack and his heart rate dropped exponentially. He died of heart failure two months later." By now, I'm crying. "So that's why I'm scared of death." I sum up. Danny pulls me into a hug.

"That makes sense."

"Anyway, this is good tea by the way."

"Thank you! I have no clue how I ended up with it but hey!" I laugh. "Would you like something to eat?"

"Not really. It's weird because when we're having dinner, it's lunchtime in New York."

"Yeah, it's definitely something to get used to. What do you want to do? I'll pack and do laundry after." So we're here in Dublin for nine days, enough time for me to get over jet lag and then have to get used to Florida time. But maybe I want to leave in a week so I'm not exhausted in Disney. That's all things that Danny and I have left to talk about.

"I kind of want to talk about our plans first."

"Sure!" I sit up on the couch so I can look Danny in the eyes.

"So what I have planned, is that we are in Disney from the 10th to the 13th. The tickets are already booked. Then we rent a little house on Clearwater Beach. But the thing is, when do you want to leave Dublin?"

"Well, think about the jet lag, give it three days in Florida to start to adjust. So we'll want to leave on the 7th or 6th." Danny stares at me blankly with a smirk on his face.

"What?"

"You're just so gorgeous. Come here." He holds out his arms to give me a hug. I give him a hug and then snuggle into his chest.

"Anyway, shall I book the tickets so that we leave on the 6th? That's in six days."

"Okay, sure." I get up to grab Danny's laptop. "Not now!" He pulls me back. "I want to cuddle."

I sigh and lay into his chest. Danny slides his hand down my spine and I shudder. "Sorry."

"Oh, it's fine." I find myself starting to drift off to sleep. I woke up at two this morning and I've found myself incapable to fall asleep on a plane. My eyes close and the sound around me gets completely blocked out.

"Sabrina." I wake up with Danny inches from my face. "I'd let you sleep because clearly you need it, but I think we should eat first, then you can go to bed." He had a point, if I could just wait till after dinner, get a little more tired, it'll help with the jet lag. Unwillingly, I get up off the couch. I put something a little more appropriate on, something that won't make me look like I just got off the plane. We look around for somewhere. "I'm telling you now, your best option is a pub."

"Okay." We walk into Danny's favourite pub. I feel uncomfortable sitting in a pub with someone as famous as Danny. It's not all that crowded, but not exactly empty. We order something simple, just something to eat and run. But I have a feeling that's not going to end that way. I finish quickly and Danny does too. "I'm assuming you want to stay and drink for a while?"

"Nope, I'm tired." He pays and we leave. Well, that's surprising. Actually, that's a little more than surprising. Maybe he'll sneak out? I should stop being so skeptical.

He's tired, we've had a long flight, long days for the past two months, why wouldn't he just go to bed? But I can't get it out of my head, 'why would he just leave?' because he never just left. I lay down in bed with him, placing my head on his bare chest. His hand moves up and down my forearm, making me fall asleep.