I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it.
I've had a long standing love of Irish lasses. Their eyes, complexion, smiles have always warmed my heart, and a few have broken it.
Constructive criticism as always is welcome in the comments, others will be dealt with in the usual manner.
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Things had worked out surprisingly well, with the help of a lawyer Cate had dealt with Chad's attack letting them plead down to second degree assault instead of sexual assault for our silence on the attack. I wasn't happy about it considering there was video of him admitting his intentions. He was still going to do time though and that's what I was concerned about. There was no reason he should be allowed to buy his way out of it like he had in the past. I bowed out of Catelyn's class which didn't make her happy, but it was only a few more weeks. I continued to assist her with grading but not as her teaching assistant, and would register for other classes for the spring to cover the credits I lost.
Cate had moved in more or less. She kept her apartment only because dropping the lease would end up costing her more. She wouldn't allow me to buy it out for her, and was very adamant about paying her own way no matter what I said. I offered to get her a small car but she declined stating she would get her own car in her own time. I secretly believed she would rather ride with me than drive herself to school. I didn't mind, I preferred it too.
"I straightened out the tickets, we leave the day after Christmas and come back on the eleventh." Cate snuck up behind me and reached around and stole a toast off the plate I was making for her.
"Mmm, I'm not sure if it's maple syrup or peanut butter that was America's true gift to the world." I turned and she kissed me.
"Both are equally as sweet, but that could just be your lips."
"Flattery will get you everywhere."
"I hope so." I said wiggling my eyebrows at her.
"You know that amount of time in a hotel is going to cost a fortune." She gave me her concerned look any time we brought up money. She knew I could afford it, but still hated to see me spend a dime of it on anything concerning her. I chuckled because she was like an anti-girlfriend. Not at all what one might expect when finding out her boyfriend is a millionaire.
"I looked into a long stay place, one of those sublet, rent your home while you're away sort of things, cheaper than a hotel. I can buy a loaf of bread and I have thee." I paused. "When we get away from the clutches of your family."
"Already regretting the decision to come?" She said around a mouthful of toast.
"Not in the least. I get to watch you with my family first, I'll have some idea of the introduction jitters by watching you."
"You keep saying they're going to love me, then you make it sound like I've volunteered for the Spanish Inquisition. Which is it?" She asked wide eyed.
"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! I'm teasing, they are going to love you. My mother nearly exploded when I told her I was bringing you home for Christmas."
Cate laughed. "Is your mum a clinger?"
"She might be with you. I can't say as I'd blame her though."
"What's your dad like? You don't talk about him as much."
"There's not much to talk about. He's a quiet guy, he lets my mom do the talking most of the time since arguing isn't only her nature but her job." I grinned, popping half a strawberry into my mouth, and offered the other half to Cate. She chomped down on it smiling.
"Does he have any hobbies or does she keep him on a short leash."
I laughed. "He's tried golf and will go occasionally with work buddies but I wouldn't call it a passion like a lot of people find it. We did use to love to fish. There is a good bit of it around here away from the city."
Cate let out a soft hum of acknowledgement. "Good to know." She smiled. "What else?"
I shrugged. "Mom said he's trying his hand at painting. I hear he planted twigs, as Mom called it last fall. He was never much of a gardener but that surprised her."
Cate turned and sat at the table and I set down the plate with the remainder of breakfast, peanut butter toast around a huge bowl of fruit and a cup of yogurt.
"A little different than the first breakfast you made for me." She smiled plucking a piece of melon off the top.
"Well yes, but I was trying harder to impress you then. What was it, three whole weeks ago?"
"Four I think." She said around a grape. "How long did you search for Irish breakfast ideas online?" She added laughing.
"Less time than I spent shopping for the ingredients." I grinned. I set my plate down and sat with her. "The healthiest thing on the plate was the grilled tomato and mushrooms."
She laughed. "We don't eat like that every day trust me. This is a more likely a breakfast, or at this time of the year a big bowl of oatmeal with a splash of cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar. Just the thing on a cold morning."
I nibbled on my toast and thought for a moment. "You're homesick."
She sighed and sipped her coffee. "I didn't think I was until the chance to go home came up. Now all I can think about is the things I miss about it." She was quiet a bit longer. "It's not that I'm not happy here, it's that it takes a bit of getting used to. Do you know what I mean?"
I nodded. "I think the least amount of culture shock you could get would have been moving to Canada. At least we speak the same language. All the people you know and love are in Ireland."
"Almost all." She said smiling and rubbed the calf of my leg with her foot.
I smiled. "Almost all. You know the environment, the way people are and will or should act. This place must seem like the wild west to you."
"That's an exaggeration. I agree that it's not my normal environment, and at times I stand still like a frightened kitten looking around wondering what the hell I was thinking. It's not nearly as bad here as it was in the city."
"That's why I like it here. If you feel like it you can immerse yourself in the city, and when you don't, you can drive out to the woods and water and commune with nature."
"Exactly, I've wondered over the past few months if I could have survived that big city lifestyle."
"Survived? I'm sure you would have survived, but would you have been happy. That's the real question." I eyed the last piece of toast on her plate, raising an eyebrow. She smiled and turned it so I could reach it. "Did you want anything else?"
"No, I'm good thanks."
"What to do on a Saturday in December." I mused.
"Well since I have a still have a job, I imagine I should catch up on the stuff I missed this week."
I shook my head in the negative. "No. You've got ten days until the holiday break and there isn't anything you can't catch up with on Monday. Try again."
She bit her lip nervously. "I guess I should get started on my Christmas shopping." She sighed.
"Now you're thinking."
"We are not going crazy!" She said pointing a stern finger at me.
"You're not the only one who's been thinking. I'm not so dense as to realize why you've been playing twenty questions with me about my family." I laughed. "I was thinking of an American delicacies basket for your folks."
"A box full of junk food?" She laughed. "Da would like that, Mum would not."
"Not junk food, American food. A bottle of real maple syrup for starters, maybe a nice bottle of bourbon for Dad, some Hawaiian coffee, that sort of thing."
"That's an excellent idea, and don't think for a minute that Mum won't tipple the bourbon." She said smiling.
We spent the day battling crowds and filling in our mental lists. We'd made one trip to the car already putting bags in the trunk and heading back inside.
"You know who I have no idea what to get for Christmas, is you." She said.
As we approached the doors of the mall I thought about it, and realized there was nothing more that I wanted in this world than her. It must have been fate because the song came on over the public address system as we entered the doors again and I laughed.
I sang along. "All I want for Christmas is you." I kissed her behind the ear bringing about a big smile.
"Yes, but unwrapping me on Christmas morning might be a little awkward with the family looking on." We both began laughing.
"I'm game if you are." I mirrored her smile. She decided we needed to split up for a bit and go our separate ways. I didn't like the idea much but she wanted a little time to search on her own for a few things. We agreed to meet back at the food court later. I walked along peeking in windows and gathering and tossing out ideas. I smiled at the window of a lingerie store and went inside. I walked around and rejected multiple ideas. I went around a corner and found a rack of silk and satin nightshirts and smiled.
A short while later I passed a jeweler and stopped. In the window was a display of blue stones. I stared for a few moments, all I could see was her eyes, how they crinkled at the corners when she smiled, how they sparkled in the sunlight and how they changed subtly with her mood getting gray when she was sad, and bright like a spring day when she was happy. I wanted to see those eyes every day for the rest of my life.
She had found a table amazingly enough in this crowd and there were two coffee cups in front of her. Beneath the table looped over her bent knee was one of the generic mall shopping bags no doubt purchased to hide the source of the contents. I laughed because I had one dangling from my hand as well.
"I've only been gone a short while and you've already left me for someone else?" I said frowning.
She rolled her eyes at me, something I caused her to do often. "It's hot chocolate, sit down a moment. It's probably cooled enough to drink now."
"Sorry, I got tied up in line."
"I'd guessed as much. Find what you were looking for?" She grinned.
"I found one thing I was looking for, and one I wasn't." I sat, opened the top of the cup and tested the heat.
"How's your list coming along then?"
"I'm done, other than stopping buy the liquor store and picking up a few bottles."
"That's quick, did you already have a lot done?"
"No, we just keep it small in my family. A few years ago my parents said they didn't want anything, and we got into a argument, well more of a debate, and they shared something that I've come to agree with, that it's not the presents under the tree that matter, it's the people around it."
"I like that." Cate was grinning ear to ear. She reached out and took my hand.
"I think that will all change as soon as there are grandkids though." I added laughing.
