Page 84 of Experiments in Offline Dating

“About as meh as you could get.” I should have thought of something funnier. I should have told him about it. But I didn’t have the energy to figure out how I felt about telling Tadhg about my dates now.

“Well, I won’t push. Seems like you need a little peace and quiet.”

“I do, actually. Is that rude?”

“Not at all.”

“Awesome.”

I put on my headphones and listened to my audiobook, looked out the window for long stretches, smoothed on the last of my lime-and-basil hand cream, and pulled out some knitting that didn’t take much counting or concentration. I carved out my little space in the backseat to recharge. And Tadhg said nothing more until we got to Dingle. This time his silence felt different—not annoyed or surly but considerate. And I was grateful for it.

DINGLE. DINGLE was tiny and beautiful. A box of crayons—pubs and restaurants and shops of all different colors and flavors on crowded, meandering streets. Most of them catered to tourists, sure, but that at least meant lots of food, pubs, and live music.

My quiet time, a shower, and a change of clothes at the B&B had revived me, and as we strolled up the cobbled streets to the pub, pointing things out to each other as we went, Finn in the lead, I almost forgot how overstimulated I felt.

“I’ve never been to Dingle, actually,” Tadhg said.

“What? How is that possible? You can basically see it from your bedroom window.”

“Yeah, I know. I guess I haven’t traveled as much as I would have liked to. Was always busy with some project or other.”

I turned to look at him as we walked, but I kept quiet, hoping he’d go on.

“So, don’t tell my dad or anything, otherwise he’ll get smug about it, but this trip is a little bit of an adventure for me as well.”

“Well. That’s pretty damn cute. You just earned yourself some points.”

“Oh, I did, did I?” he said through a small grin. “Do I have a lot? What’s my tally?”

“Negative six at the moment.” He laughed. “But you should have seen it before. Ouch.”

“I don’t doubt it. I hope I earned some points yesterday.”

Uh-oh. Swooping feeling. “Um.”

“And provided I ever make it into the positives, what are these points redeemable for?”

“Uhhh.” I stumbled. So many dirty things flashed through my mind. Blow job! Say “blow job”! “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

He grinned. “You don’t know, do you?”

“No idea.” Blow job!

And then we were there, and he was opening the door for me, and I was walking through it and into my next date. And thank fucking God for that. Because I can’t take much more of this.

There was music playing, and food smells in the air, and even a fire in the grate. It was a lot of sensations after the day I’d had, but I was hungry, and I would be happy to sit down and order some food.

“Right.” Tadhg looked around and then at his phone. “I don’t think he’s here just yet. Finn and I will be over here at the bar. Why don’t you grab that table, and I’ll send him a text.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. I put on my earplugs, found an empty table, and zoned out until I could order. The chairs were a little bit uncomfortable, and it wasn’t long before the server arrived and I could order a pint of Murphy’s. It was cool and rich and oh so smooth, and I closed my eyes and sank into myself a little further.

A buzz on the table. A text from Tadhg.

No answer yet.

That’s fine. Not in a huge hurry to hear about his brush with gout, or what kind of bicycle seat is best for his coccyx.

Then he was thirty-five minutes late and I was starving.