He laughed. “I’m familiar,” he said. “Home of Barack Obama.”

“Yep,” she said with pride.

“Is this your first time to Ireland?”

“Yes, it is,” she said with a grin. She gestured to her face before asking, “I hope I don’t stick out too much.”

He understood what she meant. She was definitely the first black person he’d seen in Clifden that day. “A bit,” he said returning her knowing grin. “But in a good way. How do you like it so far?”

Antonia sighed. There was a far off look that shadowed her dark brown eyes. “I had a stressful time getting here from the airport, but I already love the countryside, it’s so...green.”

“Aye, that it is,” Aiden said. “It’s plenty green. How long do you think you’ll stay?”

Antonia appeared to think about it. “About two weeks, I think. It was originally going to be just the one, but things changed.”

“Good, good,” he murmured. After the old woman finally paid and left the checkout, Aiden stepped forward. He was running out of time. As the cashier rang his food items, he turned back to Antonia and made a quick note of her bare ring finger. “So uh, you’re going to tour the green countryside with your...boyfriend?”

Her gaze fell back to her empty shopping cart. “I’m traveling solo.”

Yes! Aiden ignored his pounding heart, took a deep breath and nodded. “That sounds lovely. You’ll be able to see the sights on your own time. Wake up and go to bed whenever you want.” The cashier, a shaggy haired teenager, pretended he wasn’t listening as he pushed Aiden’s third pizza through the scanner. A small smile played on the boy’s lips while Aiden rambled on. “I find that travel is more productive when you discover things on your own, you know? James Baldwin, he’s an American novelist, he wrote some beautiful essays about his time in France. He really dug in there and understood what Paris was all about. The stuff with the Algerians was a crying shame, though. But it gave him a chance to reflect on what it meant to be an American.” Shut up. Shut up. Shut the fuck up.

The curious expression on her face was enough to tell him that he was making a fool of himself. “I love James Baldwin,” she finally said.

He let out a breath.

“That’s eighty euros fifty-three,” said the young man, who looked like he was thoroughly enjoying this.

“Yeah,” Aiden said, inserting his card into the machine. “Anyway, I hope you enjoy your time here.”

“Me too,” Antonia said with a nod.

God, I’m out of time. Aiden waited for his card to read and for her to say something else. He couldn’t keep babbling at her. “Well, maybe I’ll see you around for the festival,” he offered. It was unlikely that he’d want to come back to this place once he settled in Tully Cross.

She looked down at her watch. Is she already bored of me? “It’s hard to say. I don’t know if I’ll be able to fit it in at this point.”