Dreamer (The Seeker Series Book 2) (2 page)

CHAPTER TWO

“
Who
is it that can tell me who I am?
”

Shakespeare–King Lear (1.4.230)

Cassie and I spent a wonderful, if chilly, afternoon searching through the stalls at the Christmas Market, finding some unique gifts to take home to our family members. Grams and Mom aren’t much for trinkets, but I bought some beautiful Celtic design pendants I knew they would love. Grams prefers simple jewelry, so I chose a lovely Celtic knot design in sterling silver for her. For Mom, I found a lovely tree of life pendant I knew she would like. I picked out a bracelet with linked Celtic crosses for Tara. I was suddenly glad I hadn’t had a chance to do any Christmas shopping before I left; I wouldn’t have found anything this cool at the mall back home. I had downloaded an app before I left Albuquerque to figure out the euro to U.S. dollar conversion and figured I was keeping fairly well within my budget, all things considered. I was making some serious inroads into my babysitting money, but Grams and Mom had both slipped me some extra spending money for the trip. Cassie and I decided to devote today to shopping and save the sightseeing for tomorrow and the next day.

I told Cassie I wanted to check out the Claddagh shop Caoimhe had told us about. Jack had given me a beautiful charm bracelet for my birthday, and I thought it might be nice to get him one of the rings for his birthday, which was in a few weeks. I had to decide if I had the guts to buy him a ring. Was it too cheesy? Was I presuming too much? Did he even like jewelry? I have never had to buy a present for a man since I don’t have a father, uncle, or grandfather in my life. What did I really know about Jack, anyway? I knew he liked cars and that was about it. Aagh! I was freaking out right there on Quay Street. I stopped on a nearby bench, put my head into my hands and tried to breathe. Cassie sat by me, reaching over to brush my hair back, as it had fallen over my face.

“Hey, what’s wrong, sweetie? Are you tired? Do you need to go rest? I know you probably haven’t fully recovered from your injuries yet.”

I looked up at her with a horrified expression. “How on earth do you pick out gifts for a guy, Cassie? I want to get Jack a Claddagh ring but I’m afraid he’ll think it’s stupid or lame…” Yep. I verbally vomited a rant of insecurities for a good two minutes. When I finally stopped to suck in a breath, Cassie laid a hand on my arm to calm me down.

“Stop, Ally. You are working yourself into a froth.”

I looked at her and nodded.

“Now, why don’t you tell me why you want to buy Jack one of those rings? What’s your reasoning?”

“Well, I’ve always thought they were beautiful and I really like what they symbolize: love, friendship, and loyalty. I think it’s a perfect description of what I feel for him, and then there’s the whole Irish aspect to it. Is it lame? Will he think I’m pushing?”

She laughed a little bit. “Oh, I really doubt he’ll think you’re pushing. Didn’t he get you a bracelet with a compass rose on it? And I don’t think it’s lame at all. We’ll make sure to find a nice masculine design. If it truly symbolizes how you feel about him, then it’s a perfect gift. And don’t worry too much about future shopping for him, or any man in your life. A man who’s in love with you usually doesn’t care too much at all about gifts. I find they almost always prefer you wrapped up in something sexy for them to unwrap,” she finished with a knowing smile.

“Cassie!” I exclaimed. “Really? I mean, it’s good to know, but Jack and I don’t…I mean, we haven’t…well, yet…but someday…if everything…you know.”

She laughed and pulled me up from the bench. “Come on. Let’s find this shop. I think I might need to buy one of those rings for Gregory as well,” she said, referring to her gorgeous fiancé, whom she was planning to marry in June. “And tomorrow, we desperately need to find a hair salon for you because, damn girl, those doctors did a number on your hair. No offense, sweetie.”

“None taken,” I said ruefully while reaching up to straighten my slouch beanie, which had nearly fallen off my head, prompting Cassie’s rude, yet truthful comment about my hair. I had to have 17 stitches in the back of my head, courtesy of a close encounter with a glass trophy case. The doctors had shaved off a healthy chunk of hair to clear the area and I didn’t know if any salon would be able to disguise it. I would finally be able to give myself a gentle wash tomorrow morning. I had been carefully washing my bangs since Friday, but a full wash was forbidden until tomorrow. My head had never felt more disgusting and itchy, and now I was going to have to find a new hairstyle. I had been wearing my bright red hair curling well below my shoulder blades with longish bangs I would sweep to the side. I was hoping I didn’t end up with some butch-looking haircut, because I really, really didn’t think I could pull it off.

We found the jewelry shop, Thomas Dillon’s Claddagh Gold, on the corner of William Street and Quay Street and entered the bright yellow door set in the red-painted brick wall. We decided to look into the attached museum before shopping, thinking some background info might be a good idea. The museum had displays for many of the various legends of the Claddagh ring, but the one I liked the best was the story of Richard Joyce, who was captured by an Algerian corsair on his way to the West Indies and sold as a slave to a Moorish goldsmith. In 1689, when King William III of England demanded all the slaves be set free, the goldsmith tried to convince Richard to stay and marry his daughter. But Richard refused, determined to return to Galway to the girl he had left behind. He set up shop as a goldsmith and made her the first Claddagh ring. Now there’s romance for you. It should be made into a movie. Sigh. Well, I quickly discovered my true love would have to settle for sterling silver, rather than 18 carat or even rose gold. I did not have 500 or so euros to spare, no matter how much I loved him. I found a beautiful ring for about 60 euros, including the engraving ‘love, Ally.’ Apparently Cassie had more disposable income to throw around than I did because Gregory would be getting a gold ring. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts. I splurged and bought a matching one for myself, caught up in the romance of the whole thing. If Jack poo-pooed the idea of us wearing matching rings, well, I was screwed. Before I could freak myself out again, Cassie steered me out of the store and down the street to a charming teashop called The Secret Garden so we could warm up with afternoon tea and scones.

I stayed up late that night so I could Skype Jack, calculating if it was 1:00 a.m. in Galway it would be 6:00 p.m. in Albuquerque and he would be home from work. I kept myself awake by reading more in the book I brought,
A Ring of Endless Light,
which turned out to be a story about a girl who was dealing with a lot of deaths in her life. Sounds depressing, I know, but it wasn’t. The girl was a little younger than me and found out she had the ability to communicate telepathically with dolphins, which was really cool. I wondered if I would be able to do that, what with my burgeoning psychic powers and all. Hmm, where could I find a dolphin to try it out on? Reading about the protagonist’s emotional journey was helping me think more clearly about what I had been through over the past few months. Anyway, it was turning out to be a pretty good book. I texted Jack to let him know to log on and then there he was—I missed his handsome face so much! I wish I could have the real thing, but this digital version was good in a pinch.

“Hey, beautiful. What time is it there?” Jack asked.

“It’s about 1:00 a.m. Jack, are you naked?” Darn this pixelation! I could make out an expanse of brown chest, but not much else.

He laughed. “No. I have pants on. I’m not into naked Skyping. I just got out of the shower. Let me grab a shirt real quick.” He stepped away from his monitor.

“Don’t get dressed on my account,” I called to him.

I could hear him chuckling as he came back to the computer, pulling a white t-shirt over his head. “I’ll get naked as soon as you do, querida. Now let me look at you. How are you feeling? I still think it was too soon for you to hop on a plane overseas. Are you tired? Has Cassie let you get any rest? And why are you staying up so late to talk to me?”

“Calm down, Jack. One thing at a time. I’m fine. Cassie let me sleep in late and we did some shopping this afternoon. I’m staying up late because I miss you like crazy.”

“Yeah, I miss you too. This sucks.”

“I completely agree.” We stared at each other for a minute, which seemed weirdly awkward on Skype, although we could spend lots of time together at home not talking.

“You still look tired, babe,” he said with a worried look on his face.

“Oh, I’m fine. I need to get used to sleeping here, that’s all. I miss my pillow.” I told him about the hotel and meeting the cute little old ladies this morning and how pretty all the Irish accents were. I didn’t tell him about the ring I had bought, since I wanted to keep it secret until his birthday later in January. I told him Cassie was taking me to get my hair fixed the next day. “Will you still love me if I come home with freaky hair?”

“You know I will. I love your hair, but it doesn’t matter what you do with it. I would prefer, however, if you don’t mess with the color. At least we’ll still have that. And even if they mess it up, it will grow out, sweetheart. Don’t worry, okay? Please?”

“Yeah, I know. It’s stupid. It’s only hair. It makes me mad.”

“Believe me, I understand. That asshole Trevino better hope I never get a chance to be alone with him,” Jack fumed.

“I can’t tell you how much I wish we were together right this second so I could wrap my arms around you and kiss you really, really good.”

“Back at you. Go to bed, okay? I love you.”

“Love you too. Bye.” I finished on a yawn, disconnected, and fell back on my pillow, pulling the comforter up as I went.

***

December 26

I had spent the last few days exploring Galway with Cassie. Caoimhe and Fionnuala even took us to see a few of the sights they especially recommended, including the Spanish Arch and the Lynch Window, where in 1493 the mayor of Galway hanged his own son for murdering a young Spanish man. Apparently the mayor’s son thought there was more to their friendship than just friendship—wink, wink—and stabbed him when the feelings were not reciprocated. Jeez, drama much? Find a new boyfriend and move on. Anyway, this is supposedly where the word ‘lynching’ originated. I was going to return to Albuquerque full of useless little tidbits like this. The ladies were wonderful tour guides; if you want to get the inside scoop on a new city, find some locals to hang around with. They took us to lunch at a friend’s house and we got to sample some real Irish cooking; no touristy stuff for us. Their friend’s name was Maire—pronounced Myra—another very sweet elderly lady, who prepared some very tasty little hand-held pies stuffed full of vegetables, a mashed potato dish with cabbage and leeks called
colcannon,
and a delicious lemon tart for dessert. I wondered how Maire knew I was a vegetarian. Maybe she was, too, and it was simply a happy coincidence.

Cassie made good on her promise to take me to a salon to get my poor hair fixed. She found a high-end salon and treated me to a spa day, including a facial, mani-pedi, and haircut and style. I walked out of there polished, buffed, and with a lot less hair. I ended up with a short bob with a shorter, layered back—the stylist worked really hard to disguise the giant missing chunk—long front, and side-swept bangs.

“Wow, Ally. You look…so sophisticated. I can’t believe how much older you look. Wow,” Cassie enthused. “Do you like it?”

“I don’t know yet. I never planned to go this short.” I ran my hands through the short, short back. The stylist had been very careful around my stitches and you really couldn’t tell from the back there was a missing chunk—as long as I styled it correctly, which she had shown me. “I’ll have to get used to it. Like Jack said, it’s only hair and it will grow back.”

“That’s the spirit. I bet he’s going to love it.”

***

He did say he loved it on when I Skyped to thank him and Megan for the cheerleader charm to add to my bracelet. Megan had handed me the small package at the airport and made me promise not to open it until Christmas morning. Jack made me model my new haircut from all the different angles and said he could hardly wait to run his fingers through it, which made Megan giggle. She told me I looked like a grown-up, so I guess I could live with it. It’s not like I had much choice, anyway. Jack then sent Megan out of his room so we could talk privately. I could hear her singing, “Jack and Ally, sitting in a tree…” as she skipped out of the room.

“I am so sorry about that,” Jack said, shaking his head.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. You know I think she’s adorable.”

“So, how are you doing? Really doing, querida? Are you nervous about the meeting tomorrow?”

His sweet concern did much to calm my nerves. “Yeah, I’m a little nervous, but I mostly want to get it all over with. I’m seriously ready to be with you, Jack, and not only see you onscreen.”

“Right back at you, babe. I need to have you here in my arms. For now, I’m going to let you go and get some sleep. I love you, you know.”