Keira clutched the steering wheel of her rental car in her hands. She could only vaguely remember where she was going from the funny town name signs, remembering how Shane had sent photos to Bryn and Nina for her, how they'd laughed together that day. Was she behaving like a crazy person, driving somewhere she'd only been once to turn up on the doorstep of a man she'd known for less than a month to confess her love for him! Yep, it sounded pretty crazy in her head. If only Bryn could see her now.
It was midday and Keira realized she hadn't eaten any lunch and had no way to procure any for the next few hours. But she didn't care. She could forgo sustenance.
The drive seemed to take forever. All the adrenaline coursing through her body didn't help, since it had the effect of making time seem to pass slower. She checked her phone periodically, hoping that Shane would call her back and ease at least some of the tension she was feeling about him rejecting her. But he didn't. She ruminated on whether he'd listened to her most recent voicemail, what he thought about it if he had. Did he hate her? Would he be less than impressed-or even offended-when she turned up at his house like a possessed woman? But then she remembered Simon and Sylvia, their advice, their words, their love. That's what kept her going. All her memories of the festival converged together in her mind, each one another step that had taken her closer to this place, turning her more and more into a hopeless romantic.
It took her four hours total before she found herself on the road she recognized, the main street in Shane's town. She remembered the jokes he'd made about the different locations in the town. The "post office." The "nightclub." Doris the donkey. Her heart skipped with anticipation.
She craned her head, searching for the single track dirt road that led to the family's farm. Everything looked the same here-roads that were little more than muddy grooves made by tractor tires. Then suddenly she spotted it. She wasn't sure at all what made her know this was the road she was looking for since it looked exactly the same as the last three she'd passed, but something inside her told her this was it, she'd found it.
She yanked the steering wheel left, the car stuttering in protest as she failed to kick it down a gear into first. Consequently, she found herself thundering along the road at an uncomfortably fast pace.
Up ahead she saw something blocking the path. She just had time to slam the brakes on. The car ground to a halt behind a whole crowd of sheep.
Keira jerked forward, her chest straining against the seat belt, then thunked back against her seat. She felt the car stall, then everything fell silent.
She took a moment to check herself, to breathe and make sure nothing was broken-the car or herself. Confident that everything was indeed still in one piece, Keira glanced out the windshield at the backsides of a hundred sheep. There was no way through.
Without wasting a second to contemplate her next move, Keira threw the door open and leapt out the car, abandoning it in the middle of the path. She had to inch up against the hedges to squeeze alongside the sheep, who seemed to move like a slow-flowing river. The smell was less than pleasant, and the sheep didn't seem pleased by her intrusion. Keira had never realized quite how menacing sheep looked close up. They stared at her cautiously, and she couldn't help but imagine that they were sizing her up. She gulped and continued to shove her way past them.
Soon she found herself in the middle of the group. Everywhere she looked there was white wool, so much of it she couldn't even see below her waist. She could feel the pellets of sheep poo squelching beneath her feet, however.
At last she saw light at the end of the tunnel. She was just about near the front of the herd. She used her arms to help her wade through the crowd, like she was trying to propel herself through water. Then suddenly she was out. She wasted no time and ran the rest of the path toward the farmhouse.
When she made it to the house at the end, she was panting from the exertion. Sweat clung to her skin. The smell of sheep poo had followed her all the way, and she looked down to see her jeans covered in it, saturated up to the ankles. But even though she knew she looked like something that had crawled out of a swamp, she wasn't deterred.
She catapulted herself at the door of the farm house and began to knock.
The door flung open. There stood Hannah. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of Keira.
"Keira?" she gasped. "Is that you?"
Keira took a deep breath, still trying to catch it from her sprint here. All she could do was nod.
"What happened to you?" Hannah cried.
Keira was only able to manage the word "sheep." She jerked her thumb out behind her.
"Oh no," Hannah said, looking up the path. "The sheep escaped again." She looked over her shoulder, back into the cottage. "Dad! The sheep escaped!"
Keira waved her arms, trying to get Hannah's attention back. There were far more important things at stake than escaped sheep!
"Shane," she managed to stammer. "Is he here?"
Hannah paused and looked at her suspiciously. "Maybe…"
Keira finally managed to straighten up, the painful stitch in her side abating.
"Can you tell him I'm here?" Keira asked. "Hannah, please? I messed up, I know that. But I really need to talk to him."
Hannah folded her arms, trying to look menacing. She was far too cute for that, though Keira wasn't about to tell her.
"I'll see," she said through pursed lips. "But I'm not promising anything."
She shut the door, leaving Keira on the porch steps. Keira listened through the door, hearing the commotion from the other side, the sound of Shane's excited sisters talking rapidly.
The door flew open again and there was Calum, dressed in boots, with the family's sheep dog at his feet.
"Hi, Keira," he said, smiling broadly. "I'm just off to deal with an escaped sheep problem."
Then he hurried off down the path. Keira looked through the open door and saw Shane's six sisters standing in the bright, warm corridor, huddled conspiratorially together, talking quickly.
"But Shane said he didn't want to see her," Neala was saying.
"That was in the heat of the moment," Mary countered. "He'll change his mind when he finds out she drove all this way for him."
"We should at least tell him she's here," Elaine agreed.
"But you saw how furious he was when he got her voicemail," Siobhan added.
Keira felt bad listening in on them like this. She coughed in order to announce her presence. The sisters spun round, alarmed to see her standing outside on the doorstep.
"Sorry," Keira said shrugging. "Your dad had to sort out the sheep situation. He left the door open."
All six sisters stared at her. It was Neala who finally spoke.
"Keira, I think you should probably go," she said. "Shane doesn't want to see you."
But then Hannah interrupted. "Girls, we should give her a chance. Don't you think?"
There was a moment where the sisters exchanged glances with each other, biting their lips in deliberation. Then, at last, they relented.
"I suppose it's up to him," Aisling said with a shrug.
Hannah looked thrilled as she ran off to fetch Shane. Keira felt her stomach twist into knots at the thought of seeing him again after how badly it had ended between them.
Then suddenly he was there, standing at the top of the stairs.
Seeing him again sent bolts of desire racing through Keira. Her mouth became dry, her palms sweaty, and she could feel her heart beating more rapidly in her chest, thudding against her rib cage.
Shane surveyed the scene below him, looking down at the huddle of women watching him expectantly from the bottom of the staircase. Keira desperately wished she didn't have an audience for this moment. It was awkward enough as it was.
Shane began to walk slowly down the stairs toward her. "What are you doing here, Keira?"
Keira looked from one sister's face to the next. They were all watching her like hawks.
"Can we go somewhere private to talk?" she asked.
Shane reached the bottom step and folded his arms. "I don't think there's anything left to say. I think you covered everything in your article."
"Oh there is," Keira exclaimed. "Trust me. There is so much to say."
Shane paused and took a deep breath. "Fine. Girls, could you leave us be?"
The sisters looked at each other, visibly disappointed to be being shut out of the drama. But they followed his command and filed out of the corridor, into the kitchen, shutting the door softly behind them. Though they'd left, Keira fully expected them to be crowding together on the other side of the door in order to listen in on the conversation, so it wasn't like they'd be missing out entirely.
With the kitchen door shut, Keira turned her full attention to Shane. He raised an eyebrow.
"Well?"
Keira swallowed her nerves. "I'm not using the article. It's not me, it's not what I think. I was trying to impress the wrong person. But I know what's important now."
Shane folded his arms. "Which is?"
Keira let the words tumble out of her, the truth, the sheer insanity of her feelings for him. "You, Shane," she stammered. "You and me. Everything's changed since I came here, I was just too stubborn to realize. I didn't want it to be true."
"Didn't want what to be true?"
"The fact I was falling in love with you."
Shane's eyebrows raised up his head. Keira tensed. This was the bravest she'd ever been in her life, much more so than the time she'd volunteered for this position in Elliot's meeting. It was terrifying and exhilarating in equal parts.
"You love me?" Shane said, sounding shocked and in disbelief.
Keira threw her arms out wide in a shrugging gesture of resignation. "Yup. And I'm leaving tomorrow. I didn't want to go without you knowing. And since you weren't returning my calls, I decided to come here to tell you."
Things weren't going how Keira hoped they would. Shane wasn't throwing his arms around her nor bestowing her with kisses. He hadn't cracked a smile or teased her. The cheeky lad she'd fallen for hadn't returned at all.
Shane sniffed. "What's that smell?"
"I think it's me," Keira confessed. "The sheep escaped and blocked the road. I had to fight my way past them." She looked down at her stained jeans and felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment.
She looked back up at Shane hopefully. For the first time he let his cold exterior crack slightly, an amused half-smile flickering across his lips. But he quickly suppressed it.
"I've got to say," he began, "that fighting through a blockade of sheep is probably the most unique way anyone's ever confessed their love for me."
"Unique in a good way?" Keira asked tentatively.
Shane's smile started to take hold. He seemed to have suddenly stopped fighting it. Then his body started to shake with chuckles. Soon, he was laughing loudly and uncontrollably. Despite herself, Keira joined in. Shane's laughter had always been infectious and in this tense moment it was more so than ever.
"Yes," he finally said. "Unique in a good way."
He took a step towards her, then touched her arm lightly. Keira felt sparks ignite inside of her.
She looked up into his eyes. "Am I forgiven?"
Shane cupped her chin in his palm. He nodded. Then he brought his lips down to meet hers.
Keira gave in to her emotion. She sank into Shane, filled with relief and love and regret for having almost messed everything up so spectacularly.
Suddenly, the kitchen door burst open and out tumbled Shane's sisters. They rushed at Keira and Shane, laughing and cheering, bundling them both into a hug.
"I'm so glad you're back," Hannah squealed. "You should have seen how miserable Shane's been the last couple of days."
"I can assure you I've been just as miserable," Keira said to Shane's sweetest, youngest sister.
Neala grabbed Keira's hand. "Come on, let's have a drink to celebrate."
She dragged Keira into the kitchen, the others following, merry and bouncing.
"I can't drink," Keira said, shaking her head. "I have to drive back."
"You can stay here," Hannah said. "Can't she, Shane?"
Shane's eyes widened and his face turned pink. Keira jumped in, saving him from the embarrassment of answering such an unintentionally personal question.
"I can't stay. My flight home is tomorrow so I need to be back at the B&B."
"Even if you're driving you can have one drink," Aisling said. "Go on!"
"Girls!" Shane snapped. "Keira doesn't want to drink. Don't force her to."
Everyone around the table fell silent. Keira looked across at Shane. Tears were sparkling in his eyes.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Shane looked around at his sisters. Almost as if they'd communicated telepathically the girls seemed to understand that he wanted them to leave. Keira felt a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach that whatever Shane was about to tell her was going to be bad.
She watched his sisters go, desperately willing them not to, as if their presence here could stop Shane from saying whatever it was on his mind that was causing his expression to look so suddenly downcast
As soon as they were gone, he exhaled. "What's wrong is it's the last night of the festival. You're going home tomorrow."
Keira stood there, suddenly cold. She felt crushed, like she was in an elevator plummeting to the ground floor.
"What are you saying?" she whispered, feeling tears choking her, lodging painfully in her throat. "I thought I was forgiven. I thought we were back on."
Shane looked at her with a grief-filled expression. "You are forgiven. But it's too late. We're out of time."