anyone quite as game as Nan. No matter what he suggested they do, she seemed to take it in stride, happy to simply spend the day in his company.
He’d always wondered how his parents had managed to make such a success of marriage. But now, he realized that they loved to spend time with each other. It didn’t matter what they were doing, as long as they were doing it together. That’s what it was like with Nan. Easy, relaxed, with nothing but fun in front of them.
Riley navigated out of the harbor at Ballykirk, then turned inland into Bantry Bay. As the boat chugged on, he scanned the coastline, searching the gray rocks for movement. When he finally caught it, he pointed. “Look. Seals.”
Nan stepped out onto the deck, bracing her hands on the rail. “Right there,” she cried, jumping up and down in childish delight. “Oh, look, there’s a baby, too.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “Can we get closer?”
“Not here, it’s too shallow,” Riley said. “But maybe a bit farther down the coast.”
She came back into the cabin and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I didn’t realize there were seals in Ireland.”
“They’re the stuff of legends here. Haven’t you ever heard of selkies?”
“No,” she said. “There wasn’t anything in my guidebooks about that. Tell me.”
“Well, by day, selkies are seals. They swim in the sea and sun on the rocks. But at night, they shed their skins and become human. Not just average humans, but extraordinarily beautiful men and women, seductive, with dark hair and pale skin. Ordinary people see them and they instantly fall in love. But the only way to keep a selkie is to find their skin, which they always carefully hide after they come out of the sea. If you can hide a selkie’s skin, then you can keep them human.”
“And are they happy together, the humans and the selkies?”
He shook his head. “A selkie will always long for the sea. They’re drawn to it, to the beaches and the cliffs and the crashing waves on the shore. At night, they stand on the shore, their sad songs drifting out on the sea breeze.”
“Can they ever go back?” Nan asked.
“Only if they find their skin. And then, once they go back, they can never return again. They still watch over their children though and are said to swim with them when they’re in the water. They say that children of a selkie have the dark hair and pale skin of that parent, but they also have webs between their fingers and toes.”
“I love that story,” she said.
“Oh, there are many tales of selkies,” he said. “Some of them very romantic and very tragic. My da used to tease us that my ma was a selkie. We were never really sure if it was the truth until we got a little older. Once, my little brother and I tore the house apart looking for her skin. She was furious at us, but my da was the one who got the punishment for telling us the tale.”
“I can understand how you’d believe him. I believe you and I know for a fact that seals can’t become humans.”
He held up his hand. “See. There’s a slight webbing there.”
They searched the coast together and found more seals. Riley got closer to the shore and a few of the more curious animals swam near the boat. “They’re not afraid,” he explained. “Ireland is a sanctuary for seals and whales and dolphins. So they don’t have to worry about hunters or fishermen.”
Riley picked up an empty bucket from the deck. “Here. Bump this on the side of the boat. They’ll think you’re dumping bait and they might swim closer.”
“Can we feed them?”
He shook his head. “It’s not a good idea. They’ll turn into beggars and spend all their time on the docks looking for tourists to feel them.”
“Like the sheep on the pass?”
He nodded. “But they recognize the fishing boats and they’ll come out looking for discarded bait. There are harbor dolphins in the bay, too. And out in the Atlantic, you can see whales this time of year.”
“It’s all so beautiful,” she said. She pushed up on her toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for showing it to me.”
They pulled into Bantry Harbor an hour later, after exploring the coastline and following a pair of dolphins through the water. Riley helped Nan out of her boating wardrobe before leaving the boat for dry land.
“It’s a market day, today,” Riley explained. “You’ll need to know that all prices are negotiable and if they think you’re a tourist, they’ll expect you to pay full price.”
As they walked along the quay toward the quaint market district, Riley was greeted by some of the locals, fishermen and farmers who sold him their wares for the pub. They all insisted on introductions to Nan, engaging her in small talk as they tried to convince her to buy.
As they strolled, they listened to a few of the local musicians-an old man playing Beatles songs on a battered piano and a boy singing songs to an out-of-tune guitar. Riley grabbed a handful of coins from his pocket and dropped them in the boy’s guitar case, then nodded. “Keep at it, lad. You sound grand.”
Nan smiled at him as they continued up the street. “That was nice,” she said.
“I used to come here to market day with my folks and they’d let me busk for a few hours. It used to kill my brothers when I came home with a punt or two and all I had to do for it was sing.” He pointed to a pub with outdoor seating. “They have the best sausage sandwiches in all of County Cork. Why don’t we have a bite and then we’ll walk up to the gardens.”
They found an empty table and Riley ordered them a few pints of Guinness and a couple of sandwiches. Nan must have been hungrier than she let on, because she devoured the sandwich in a matter of minutes. He ordered another, then watched her eat from across the table.
“We have sausage like this in Wisconsin. Bratwurst,” she said. “You’d like them. We cook them on a grill and then put them in beer and onions. I live near the football stadium and on game days my whole house smells like bratwurst.” She smiled at him. “Have you ever been to America?”
Riley shook his head. “Never. But I’d like to see it. My manager says I should go there to perform, to Boston or Chicago.”
“Chicago,” she said. “That’s just a few hours away from where I live. I could come and see you. Or you could come and stay with me and I could show you around.” She glanced at their surroundings. “Although, I don’t think I have sights like this to show you.”
“I wouldn’t be coming for the sights,” Riley said. “I’d be coming to see you.”
“We do have some interesting things. You can go to the top of the Sears Tower in Chicago. Although it isn’t called the Sears Tower anymore. And we have a zoo in Madison. And I’d want to take you down to the terrace at the student union. Oh, and we could go to the House on the Rock. Or the Wisconsin Dells and ride the ducks.”
Riley stared at Nan from across the table, his chin cupped in his hand, his fingers slowly turning the beer glass in front of him. He loved to listen to her talk, even if it was about something he didn’t understand. A house on a rock? Riding ducks?
There were times when he wanted to crawl inside her head and know everything she knew and feel everything she felt. What did she think of him? Was she as infatuated with him as he was with her?
“What are these potatoes?” she asked, holding out a forkful before popping it in her mouth. “I’m going to look like a potato when I leave here, all round and doughy.”
“That’s boxty,” he said.
She took a bite of the boxty, then rolled her eyes. “Oh, this is so good. It’s like hash browns mixed with mashed potatoes. This would be really good with a little garlic. Or maybe some onions?”
He continued to watch her enjoy her meal, but his thoughts focused only on the words she’d just spoken.
“If you wanted to stay a few days longer, you could,” Riley said, trying to bring up the subject casually. “The cottage isn’t booked for the rest of the summer.”
“I’m on a budget. Ten days was all I could afford.”
“You wouldn’t have to pay,” he said. “You’d be my guest.”
“I wish I could,” Nan said. “It’s already Friday. It seems like the time has flown by so quickly.”
“After the show at the pub tomorrow night, my schedule is completely yours.”
