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"It's a romance. You can't be murdering people in a romance, or you won't have anybody left to fall in love with," Kane pointed out. "Don't worry, though. I've saved all my murdering for today."
"Oh good, I was worried that today would be boring. I'll be sure to stay on my toes," Iris said. She relaxed back into her seat, drinking in her surroundings as Kane directed the car along a winding road that took them from the village. Iris had spent much of the day before poring over some of her business documents, speaking with the police, as well as looking through her to-be-read list. It was fascinating, really, that she wasn’t capable of filling her down time. Now that her business had essentially ground to a stop, Iris just didn't know what to do with herself. That had to be why she'd been overly excited about their excursion today. It would get her out of her apartment and give her an opportunity to explore somewhere new.
Even unwrapping and setting her painting up hadn’t taken all that much time, though Iris had enjoyed the thrill that trickled through every time she looked at her very own piece of art. Something was so romantic and magical about the scene in the painting that, time and time again, Iris had found herself staring at it, her mind wandering. There clearly was a community of people here who had some extra-sensory abilities and, despite her recent difficulties, Iris was intrigued. Would they have heard of her? Would they accept her into their community even if they thought she might be a fraud? Or was it time for Iris to take a new path in her life?
Those thoughts had kept her up much of the night, and it had taken three cups of coffee this morning before Iris had started to feel like a functioning human.
"So what do we know about this cove?" Kane asked. "And why are we heading to this particular cove? I'm sure there are loads of them along the coastline. Is this the cove that Grace's Cove is named for?"
"We're going to this cove because I bought my first piece of real artwork yesterday, and it is a depiction of this aforementioned cove," Iris said, a happy note in her tone. "And the artist herself suggested that since I loved the painting so much, I should go see the cove in person." Well, Aislinn had said more than that, but Iris wasn't ready to freak Kane out quite yet. Though she thought they were closer to discussing more about their personal lives and, depending on how she felt about today, maybe she would just open up to him about what she was dealing with. She would play that by ear.
"Well, I'm always up for a good cove exploration," Kane said as he slowed the car for a narrow turn. "I used to spend many hours as a kid clamoring over rocks and trying to find different critters in rock pools along the coast."
"Unfortunately, I have been warned not to go into the cove," Iris said sheepishly. "In fact, more than one person has now mentioned it to me. I don't know if it's local superstition or if there's actually danger to be found there, but we're not supposed to go into the cove."
"So we're just going to go look at it?" Kane asked with a soft chuckle.
"I guess? On the bright side, if it doesn't start raining, we'll have a nice lunch with a pretty view,” Iris said optimistically.
"So really you've invited me along not to go to a cove, but to go look at a cove. That would be like me inviting you for a drink, but just to look at a bottle of wine and not actually imbibe in one," Kane teased.
"Hey, it's not me with the weird rules. It's this town. I figure we better follow them as we're the newcomers here,” Iris grumbled as Kane slowed and let another car inch past on the narrow road.
"Fair enough. I feel like I do remember something about a dangerous cove now that I think about it. It was something to do with the riptides or swimming at the beach. I can't really remember, but I do recall the locals being very pushy about us not venturing to the cove the last time I was here. In fact, that actually makes me wonder why they suggested that you go this time,” Kane asked.
"Maybe they realized I would follow directions and not put myself in danger?" Iris arched an eyebrow at Kane.
"Touché, pretty lady, touché. Knowing me, I probably would've scrambled into the cove and gotten myself in some sort of trouble that would have made me the laughing stock of the town.” Kane smiled. Iris decidedly ignored how her body warmed when he referred to her as pretty. It was just a casual phrase, she reminded herself.
A song came on the radio that had Kane's lips curving up, and he reached over to turn the dial.
"Do you know this band? The Pogues? I swear this was the music of my childhood. It was always on in the background."
"Of course. They get played quite often in Southie, in Boston. It's a fairly Irish part of town." Iris smiled and lapsed into silence. Shane MacGowan's voice filled the car, achingly beautiful in a scratchy and irreverent way, and any lingering tension from dealing with issues with her ex-boyfriend yesterday slid from Iris. The road they followed was a bit precarious, with steep cliffs that shot down to the ocean on the left side and a ragged rock wall on the right. At times, there was only enough room for one car and, more than once, Kane had to pull his car to the side in order to let a stream of vehicles pass by. It kind of felt like they were hanging on the edge of the world, and Iris found herself humming along to the music. Her eyes caught on where the ocean kissed the horizon and, for a moment, Iris could forget her troubles. Maybe that was the entire point of travel. She got to leave everything behind her and live in the moment.
It wasn't long before Iris saw a little stone cottage and pointed at a dirt road to the left of it.
"You're supposed to follow this road, I'm told."
"Your wish is my command," Kane said. Turning the car from the main road, they bumped along the dirt lane until they reached a low stone wall that prevented them from proceeding farther. Kane pulled the car to a stop.
"Do you want me to grab your tote bag from the trunk? Or do you want to explore a little bit first?"
"I'll just bring the tote with me. It's not all that heavy,” Iris said. But, of course, Kane got the tote from the trunk and put it on his shoulder instead of handing it to her. They walked in companionable silence across the green field and along a narrow dirt path that led to the cliff's edge. There, a little wooden door stood as a gate to a trail leading farther down the cliff. Someone had placed a picnic table next to it, and Kane dropped the tote bag onto the table before proceeding to the cliff's edge. Iris walked to him and then stopped, her heartbeat picking up speed as she stared at one of the most beautiful natural landscapes she had ever seen. They were high up, higher than Iris had even anticipated, and the steep drop down to the water dizzied her for a moment. Steadying herself, she took a few deep breaths and opened her senses.
Love. That was the first thought that filled her. There was a lot of love in this cove, and the magnitude of it washed over her. Iris understood why people wanted to protect this space. There was very clearly magic here, and not just the kind found in the beauty of nature. Though it was beautiful, starkly and devastatingly so. The cliff walls hugged the ocean in an almost perfect C, the sheer walls dropping directly down into the moody blue water that lapped gently onto a golden sand beach far below them. She could see now why her painting had been titled The Beginning. Because in a place like this, it was easy to believe that all new beginnings could stem from these waters.
"Okay, I retract my earlier statements about it being silly to just go look at a cove and not go into said cove." Kane rocked back on his heels, his hands in his pockets. "This is breathtaking, yet a part of me does feel it would be unsafe to try to navigate that narrow path all the way down to the water. Perhaps they've had one or two tourists take a tumble and hurt themselves. And I can't blame them for not wanting that to happen again. We are a fair ways away from any sort of medical help at the moment."
"I'm absolutely fine with just enjoying the cove from up here for now," Iris said. "Shall we have a seat and soak in all this beauty? At least while the rain holds off?" Iris eyed the clouds suspiciously, seeing they had darkened since leaving the village.
"I think that would be the prudent choice,” Kane said, a note of relief in his voice.
They turned, but not before Iris caught a flash of turquoise-blue light shining from the depths of the water. She paused, her heart hammering in her chest as the light pulsed with the flow of the waves before winking from sight. Had she imagined that moment? Or was it a trick of the sunlight? She peered once more at the darkening clouds, but no wayward streams of sunlight had broken through.
“Pay attention,” Lara whispered in her head. Iris was immediately annoyed. To what? The glowing water? To Kane? To her feet so she didn’t trip and tumble over the edge of the cliff? Grumbling at her spirit guides, she joined Kane at the table where he unpacked the food she’d brought.
"So what did you do with your day yesterday while I was playing in my made-up world?" Kane asked, and Iris studied him for a moment. She realized she wanted to tell him what she was dealing with because his opinion now mattered to her for some reason. Why it mattered to her was a thought for another time, and Iris tucked that away. However, when she asked her spirit guides again if Kane was trustworthy, they assured her he was. Which meant if she wanted to take the leap into truly making a friend here, Kane was a worthy candidate. He also seemed genuinely interested in her life.
