Page 1 of His Royal Request

1

Charlie

The smell of mouthwatering fried fish and Guinness was overwhelming. The chatter around me was barely understandable. I knew they were speaking English, but I understood only a few words. I felt like I had a huge sign hanging over me telling everyone I don’t belong.

I expected to feel more. A connection, maybe?

“Can I get ye another, darlin’?” The kind-faced older man with a wiry, white beard smiled at me. He’d left me alone except to refill my drink, but I’d begun to think he was curious about the girl that was clearly out of her element from the number of times I’d caught him glancing my direction. It seemed everyone in the pub knew each other or talked like they did. Despite my effort to blend in, I was sticking out among the Limerick natives.

“No, thank you.” I smiled at him and returned my attention to my plate. I’d ordered the fish and chips mostly because it was one of the only options I recognized, and it turned out to be a great choice. It was the most delicious fish I’d ever had. If I’d known this existed years ago, I never would have eaten the lackluster version from back home. Indiana wasn’t exactly known for this dish. Back home it came either from the frozen food section or was dripping in grease. Nothing extraordinary.

“You let me know if you need anything. I can call ye a cab if ye need.”

“Thanks.” I nodded and peeked up at him.

He stared into my eyes for a long moment before nodding once and walking away. It felt like he recognized something in me. Maybe he saw the same lost, scared girl I did every time I looked in the mirror.

I hadn’t always been this unsure of myself. It took me graduating from college and realizing I had no plans or prospects for the future sinking in to get to this point.

My entire life I’d known each step to take to reach the next goal. I knew where I was and how to get to what I wanted. Up until college ended. I’d earned a degree in a field I’d probably never use. There weren’t many international relations positions in the suburbs of Indianapolis. It was something I should have realized four years sooner, but I was at Purdue. That had been the vision since I was five, and I hadn’t thought much further past that.

Now I was twenty-two with no idea what my next step was.

The front door of the pub swung open and what looked like an entire soccer team walked in. The men were still in uniform, covered in grass and mud stains. They took over the entire back half of the room, but their presence loomed larger. They were boisterous and demanding from the second they entered. Trays of beer were quickly filled and brought out to them. The older man who had just talked to me smiled at the group. He didn’t seem a bit put off by their lively interruption to the calm afternoon.

“Lads, how was the match? Did you show up the city, boys?” His eyes twinkled when the team cheered in response.

“You’ve got to come to the next one, Roger. It was brilliant.” One of the men called out and the rest of his team held up their pints.

“Very good.”

I slowly savored my food while watching the team settle in and relive the highlights of the game for Roger. Their animation and joking were captivating. Each of them seemed larger than life, holding nothing back even though they were in public.

I’d never seen men like this, with the exception of rowdy frat parties, in public. These guys weren’t out of control though. Just spirited.

The door opened again, and a single man walked in. He slid onto a stool at the end of the bar furthest from the door, a few spots away from me.

I turned back to my plate, reminding myself not to stare. It was one thing to watch the soccer players when I was the only one around, but I didn’t want this new guy to catch me.

Roger walked by, smiling at me, on his way to the new customer. “What’ll it be?”

“Just a pint.”

I turned at his voice. He didn’t have an Irish accent, at least not one that sounded like the of the patrons around us. He spoke with a lilt, but nothing as pronounced as Roger’s. I almost asked him where he was from, but chickened out.

Roger poured a glass and slid it over. “Let me know if you need anything else, sir.”

The voices from the corner turned into dull background noise while I stared across the bar to the mirror across from me. What was I doing here?

I was being reckless. Completely irresponsible.

I should be back home applying for jobs. I hadn’t taken out student loans to travel through Europe. I needed to get a job and start building my own life. Normal me would be all over that. She’d have a color-coded list of open positions ranked by how qualified I was and how interested I’d be in the career.

Instead, I was three thousand miles from home. In a pub. Alone.

Dad and Liza, my step-mom, had been supportive of me coming here. Liza even paid for my airplane tickets as my graduation present. Dad said I needed to get out and see more of the world, that it was what my mom would have wanted, but being here didn’t feel right. I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, maybe a feeling like I belonged, but it was missing.

I could go back to the hotel and call the airline to exchange my ticket. By tomorrow night I’d be back home, but it would mean admitting defeat. Telling my parents that I couldn’t make it on my own.