Finding Ellie (Complete)

Chapter 8

The patter of the rain on her window woke her up, not that she had gotten much sleep. Ellie figured she fell asleep around four and, since it was now 7:02 she was running on about three hours of slumber. In any case, she dragged herself out of bed and hopped in the shower deciding to forgo her usual, morning walk. She had no interest in bumping into Aidan any time soon. Honestly, she had no interest in bumping into anyone who was at Dunne’s the night before, not after that humiliating experience. It was bad enough Mrs. Callaghan had somehow heard all about it by the time she had made it to the B & B she didn’t need everyone else to look at her with pity.

            Having no desire to speak with anyone, Ellie padded softly down the stairs and was out the door before someone could take notice. She wasn’t sure where she would go but it needed to be away from Doolin—and away from Aidan—for the day. If it wasn’t for her fondness for Mrs. Callaghan she would have considered moving on to another county altogether. Wouldn’t that be ironic? She ran away to Ireland only to run away from what was transpiring in Ireland. But truth be told, she didn’t want to leave. Not just Ireland but Doolin itself. She had only been in the country for just over a week and it was quickly making its way into her heart. It wasn’t just one thing it was everything, the people, the culture, the food. She didn’t really want to think how difficult it would be when the time came to go back to Boston.

            She approached her car, feet crunching on the gravel and vaguely aware of something coming at her to her left. She registered the bark a second too late, the massive dog was running right at her and there was no way to stop it. Ellie braced herself for the impact.

            “Willo!” a booming voice called out.

            Well s**t. Just when she thought she had made a clean getaway. Why hadn’t she put two and two together? Where the dog was, Aidan was sure to be not far behind. It shouldn’t be so shocking that it didn’t occur to her since, when it came to Aidan any coherent thought seemed to fly right out the window.

            Willo ignored the pleas from her owner but had at least slowed down enough not to bowl her over. It almost looked like Willo was grinning as she closed in and jumped up on Ellie with excitement. The dog lifted herself up on her hind legs and placed her front paws on Ellie’s shoulders. However angry she was with Aidan at the moment Ellie couldn’t convey those feelings onto Willo. She couldn’t help but giggle as she stood nose to nose with the gentle beast. Petting her wiry, thick fur she could feel some of the humiliation and anger wash away. Maybe she was crazy but it was as if the big dog knew how she was feeling and had come over to give her a sympathetic hug.

            Aidan found his beloved dog and the woman who just wouldn’t get out of his head standing in what looked like a comforting bear hug. He had woken up early, surmised Ellie probably hadn’t slept much either and had successfully convinced Willo to go for a walk. He figured if they conveniently ended up passing by the B & B while on their little jaunt then maybe he could find the courage to walk up to the inn and see if she was there or, better yet, if she would actually speak with him.. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say to her, how he could even begin to apologize. When her laughter reached him, his mind went blank. He stood only a few feet away, watching them together. She had her arms around Willo, her eyes closed, the dog lapping at her cheek. And she was laughing

                                                                                                    ***

Aidan couldn’t help but let his mind go there, couldn’t help imagining her smiling and laughing like she was now but with his arms around her. What would happen if he kissed her, right there, just below her ear? Would she chuckle and tighten her arms around his neck? Would her breath hitch when he would grow serious and lift her up on her toes to get a better angle at her full mouth? He found he very much wanted all of it but no, he could never let himself go there, he wouldn’t. She would be his downfall if he did, he knew it. She would be the Coleen to his Connor.

            She was getting lost in the dog’s free expression of emotion when a clearing of the throat and a booming “Willo!” had Ellie snapping her head up, yanking her back to reality. She allowed Aidan to move Willo off her, careful not to touch or be touched. A part of her wanted to wring his neck while the other part wanted him to apologize and they’d end up in a heap on her bed. She needed to go and now.

            “Hello” Aidan said, quietly, almost hoping she wouldn’t hear him in fear of what she might say to him but no less deserved.

            Ellie turned her eyes on him. “Mr. Dunne” she nodded and climbed in her car. She wanted to look back, more than anything, but made herself stare straight ahead until she was a little ways down the road where she blew out a long breath. Why did he have to have a dimple?

                                                                                            ***

Aidan watched her drive away, stood there for what seemed like an eternity. He would gather up the nerve next time, he would make her listen.

            “Let’s go home.” He slapped the side of his leg calling to Willo but she was nowhere to be seen. Where had that dog gone to now? He closed his eyes when he saw Mrs. Callaghan at the front door, Willo sitting quite content beside her. The look in the old woman’s eyes told him she knew exactly what had happened and she did not appear delighted in the least.

            “Please Mrs. Callaghan I’m not in the mood this morning.”

            With hands on her hips she spoke sternly. “I don’t particularly care if you are in the mood or not, Aidan Dunne. You best sit down in my kitchen and you’re going to listen.”

            Aidan rubbed the back of his neck and slowly made his way inside. She made him feel like he was twelve years old again. Much like the time she had scolded him for having muddied the whole lobby of the B & B with his dirty trainers.

            “Look…,” Aidan started but Mrs. Callaghan was pushing him into a chair and quieted him by shoving a cookie in his mouth.

            “You’ll be listening while I talk.” She reached into her apron and produced one of those dog biscuits Willo loved so much. Despite the size of the dog, Mrs. Callaghan always allowed Willo in her home, at this moment that was something Aidan was thankful for. “That girl came to Ireland to get away from a bad marriage and a bad divorce. I understand what you’ve gone through with your mother and trust me when I say if I could give Coleen Dunne a piece of my mind, I would. But to go assuming Ellie is anything like your mother is unacceptable.”

            “I know, I just….”

            “I’m not finished.” Mrs. Callaghan softened her tone somewhat, fully understanding that Aidan was battling his own demons. “Aidan, I’ve watched you grow up from a gangly, little boy into a strong and handsome, young man but you’ll be missing the best parts of life if you don’t open yourself up to them.”

            “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.” Aidan looked on as she stirred a pot of what smelled like chicken soup.

            “You won’t let yourself love out of fear that you’ll end up like your father and I’m here to tell you that not every woman is like your mother. Certainly not the one you just watched drive away.” Mrs. Callaghan sat at the table and folded her hands in front of her. She could see that he was tired and had seen it on Ellie’s face as well. It was clear neither of them had had much sleep. Since she’d known Aidan from when he was a little boy she knew him to be a stubborn mule. Evidently, Ellie was as well or they both would have already been aware of the obvious attraction between them. Whether or not something tangible would come out of it she didn’t know, but she would help them see it.

            “That’s enough Mrs. Callaghan. My father died because of my so-called mother. She drove him to the bottle and he never looked back. He was blinded. I’ll sincerely apologize to Ellie but it will go no further.” Aidan shot up from his chair, he had heard plenty. “Willo, come.”

            The old woman wasn’t worried. She knew his temper meant she had hit the nail right on the head. He did have feelings for the pretty American and it scared him, especially given the fact that she had come into his life only a week ago. As for Ellie, Mrs. Callaghan had watched the exchange outside. It was hurt she had seen in the young woman not anger, not really.

            “He’ll come around,” Mrs. Callaghan whispered to herself. “If those two weren’t meant for each other I’ll eat my hat.”

                                                                                        ***

            Ellie stood in front of the castle. It was big, it was medieval and it was teaming with tourists. While driving who knows where she came across Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, ultimately stopping to check it out. The castle itself closed early to prepare for a banquet feast that happened every evening, the park stayed open later. She had presumed the steady drizzle would have warded off most visitors but no such luck. Like Blarney Castle, Bunratty was full of tour groups not listening, screaming, crying, and everything else in between. Maybe it was her foul mood spill over or just the fact that she had barely slept a wink the night before but all the people around her were irritating and driving her mad. Never in a million years would she tell Aidan he was right and she wasn’t seeing the “real” Ireland but then again she wasn’t sure where to find it. Ellie suspected the real Ireland had more to do with its people rather than places like these. She felt a little guilty thinking this as Bunratty was very nice. She did enjoy seeing the recreated farmhouses, village shops and streets from over a century ago.

Unfortunately, her morning encounter with Aidan had left her more shaken up than she cared to admit. Why did he have to have such an effect on her? One second she wanted to slap that idiotic, endearing lop-sided grin right off his face, the one that showed off his dimple perfectly. The next second she wanted him to tell her he couldn’t stand it anymore, grab her by the shoulders and kiss the living daylights out of her. She could feel her cheeks redden at this thought, feeling paranoid enough to believe people around her could see it as well.

Up ahead, Ellie spied the McNamara and Sons pub and figured “why not.” A working pub in a folk park could be exactly what she needed. When she was finally sitting down with a pint of Guinness she participated in one of her very favorite past times. People watching!

Ellie loved making up stories about everyone around her. Inspired, she took out her notebook to jot down ideas while she observed. Writing romance novels would be a cinch. Why hadn’t she thought about doing that before? There was the man sitting beside a younger version of him at the bar, for example. Ellie liked to think they were on a father/son trip because the son was leaving for the military soon and the father wanted to press upon the importance of telling people that you love them, especially that girl the son had been seeing. And there, the young couple sitting in the corner hunched over a map. It was likely a map of the park but Ellie imagined it being a road map. They were lost, saw Bunratty and decided to stop and see if they could get their bearings. Not married, this was their first, big vacation together. The young woman didn’t care if they were lost, she was so in love, it was clearly etched on her face and all the uptight, young man was worried about was if they would get to their hotel on time, worried they wouldn’t be able to keep to their schedule.

This would have been the exact same way Chad would have acted with anything they did together. In fact, he had. They had gone to New York City for their honeymoon. Not a tropical island, not Paris, or London. And while Ellie loved New York she knew very well why he, not them, had chosen to go there. He couldn’t leave work, even for a week and had scheduled two meetings leaving her to go shopping or to a spa. The days they were together he had scheduled everything to the minute. No spontaneity whatsoever and had a royal tantrum when Ellie suggested ice cream in the park. Their schedule didn’t allow any silly distractions and if they detoured they wouldn’t make their next destination in time.

All right, maybe she wasn’t cut out to write romance novels. She slipped her notebook back in her bag and sat back. McNamara’s was a nice pub, but not Dunne’s in her opinion. She supposed she was biased though. This pub didn’t have Colm or Carrick, no Fiona and no offence to the girl singing in the corner, but she was no Brenna. Even if Brenna looked like she wanted to burn holes in Ellie’s soul every time she walked in; she was still part of what made Dunne’s, well, Dunne’s.

It seemed dear Brenna was quite taken with Aidan and had been for some time now. Everyone knew she had set her sights on him. Everyone hoped that Aidan wouldn’t get seduced by her ways. So, unbeknownst to Ellie, it had been a relief when she suddenly cropped up in Doolin. The people who knew, and loved, Aidan had already made up their minds that the little American was perfect for him. The fact that Ellie and Aidan seemed to despise each other at the moment was but a small hiccup.

            She finished her drink, gathered her belongings and headed out. It was getting late and she had great plans for early the next morning.

                                                                                            ***

Aidan might have decided to walk to Dunne’s that night and he might have looked for Ellie’s car as he passed by the B & B. He frowned a bit when it still hadn’t been there but he held onto hope that she had driven down to the pub. She had been there almost every night since her arrival. He couldn’t imagine her not being there. But when he got to the pub and she was nowhere in sight his mood soured.

            Fiona was unusually busy behind the bar so he couldn’t ask her if Ellie had been there and he sure as hell wasn’t going to ask Colm and Carrick. Those two had probably been instructed by their wives to report back anything and everything. This was all starting to feel like a damn soap opera. The village would know by morning that Ellie had never showed up at the pub and that Aidan was, for a lack of better words, sulking about it all night. He wasn’t being sulky. He was nothing more than used to the woman having a meal at his establishment and was now worried when she didn’t show. That was called concern. He wasn’t sitting in his office missing the musical laughter coming from her. And he certainly wasn’t missing the scent of honey that was unmistakably her. When he locked the door after the last patron left he couldn’t have been happier. He dismissed the rest of the staff and told them to leave it to him. None of them questioned it, except for Brenna who had tried to stay with him, and left before he could change his mind.

The pub was his pride and joy, left to him by a father who couldn’t make it work. He was sure Connor Dunne was looking down proudly on him now, proud that he had made a name for himself. But the night had been torture, not knowing where Ellie was. How dare she make him worry and wait? After the last garbage bag was in the bin he left and started his walk home. It wasn’t far but he now wished he would have taken his truck. At least when he passed the B & B Ellie’s car was there. He wasn’t sure why but he was relieved to see it, knowing she was safe.

            At home he couldn’t sleep again. Was she so angry with him that she would not come to the pub anymore? He didn’t know if he could accept that. At nearly four-thirty in the morning, he gave up and went into the kitchen, maybe a cup of chamomile tea would help him unwind. It was the lights that got his attention. A car passing by so early in the morning wasn’t necessarily uncommon as a lot of fishermen left the harbor early. However, when he looked out the window, the lights of the vehicle illuminated a figure he knew right away to be Ellie walking quickly along the road. Where was she going? There was nothing up there for her at this time of day?

            Without thinking twice he grabbed his coat and left behind her. He didn’t take his car fearing he would get noticed and kept a considerable distance so she wouldn’t know she was being followed. He lost sight of her for several minutes when he reached the harbor then he found her walking along the lime stones and down to the water. What in the world was she doing? Did she not realize how dangerous it could be? She could lose her footing and fall in. The crashing waves would make short work of her. Alarmed, he hurried as quickly as he could over the large flat stones.

“Where are you?” he muttered, having lost sight of her again and casting an eye over the rocks. He couldn’t see her, had she already fallen in? But no, there she was standing too close to the edge. She was looking out toward the ocean completely oblivious to the fact that he was making his way to her.

He finally got close enough to grab her by the elbow and pull her back so she was safely away from the edge.

“What the hell are you doing?”

He was shocked when she jerked her arm back and turned to face him with tears running down her cheeks.