Bébhinn: Don’t forget to get the internship info from your dad for my friend, Blair. When I tell you that she would be doing INCC a favor and not the other way around, I mean it. You can email me the info. I put my email in my contact. And in case you’ve forgotten, there’s a family tree pop quiz in your future.
He chuckled as he read her message, relieved that she seemed at ease enough to tease.
Dagr: I won’t forget. IF she is as great as you say and does get the position, it would be a miracle if she tolerates Dad outside of a week.
Bébhinn: Your dad is the one who will learn not to fuck around with Blair. She is quiet, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t plotting your downfall. LOL. Do you leave your Jeep in Wales and fly to London?
Dagr: You have interesting friends. I charter a jet from Flywales. It’s the only way to get a straight flight to London.
Bébhinn: My, my, my. Private, Mr. Griffiths. Sooo fancy.
Dagr: Your family isn’t the only ones who like to background check new people. I think you probably travel fancy yourself, Miss O’Faolain.
Bébhinn: I’m rolling my eyes. What will you do when you get back to London tomorrow? My Sunday is having lunch with my family and going to a birthday party for my friend Ciar Murphy’s dad, I think I mentioned him to you. He lives with my cousins next door.
Ciar Murphy. Yes, she had mentioned him. He sounded like an annoying little prick, though he had to admit that Bébhinn didn’t seem like the type of person to suffer fools.
Dagr: You have a full day, then. I’ll spend a couple of hours going over the cases I’m currently working before having dinner with the man who is the wildlife preserve’s biggest donor. The one Dad pissed off, and that I hope to smooth things over with in case he didn’t manage to on his own. Your plans sound better.
Bébhinn: I hope I get to meet your dad one day. He sounds interesting.
Dagr: He is equally the best and the worst. LOL. Like most family. Have you written in your journal yet?
She had told him about writing letters to her father in a journal and how it was helping her feel closer to him and yet also giving her closure. He saw waving dots appear and disappear several times, and he winced, hoping he didn’t make her sad by bringing it up.
Bébhinn: I have another hour and a half left on the ferry and plan on doing it in a few minutes. I’d really like to sip on a whiskey and relax. There’s so much I have to tell him about the trip. And you. But alas, drinking and driving…
And you.He was excruciatingly curious to see what she would tell her father.
Dagr: Don’t forget to tell him you forgot your sat phone AND brought a pillow to a cave party.
Bébhinn: Shithead. I’d better go and commit all my sins to paper. Tell your father I said hello. I’ll talk to you soon.
Dagr: Take care.
He felt good about their chat and, quite honestly, couldn’t wait to chat again. It was nice to have someone outside his father, friends, and work to talk to.
twenty-eight
BÉBHINN
Snowdonia Way Mountain Route
Daily Journal
Day 10
Holyhead Ferry to Dublin
Dad,
I’m on my way home, Dad! I did it! I completed the mountain route, and God, I wish you could have been by my side when I stood above Conwy Castle. I know exactly what you would have said in that moment. “We’re not in Oklahoma, sweet girl, that’s for sure.”
You’d be right. No red dirt here, but surely Wales and Oklahoma have the same stunning blue skies.
I just finished a greasy ferry meal and returned messages to my friends—I already called Mom, of course. I couldn’t wait to tell you how the last few days of the hike went until I got home, so here we are.
For starters, I got stuck in a snowstorm (yeah, I know, my sidekick, Hubris, thought we could beat the weather) and slept in a cave. Good news, your teachings and that badass survival course you made me take made navigation and building a fire a breeze.
