bowsie isn’t doing you any good.”
“What do you propose I do? I’ve been a filmmaker since I was fourteen. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to be. I’m not sure I’m suited to sell cars or work the bar in a pub.”
“That’s not what I meant. I’ve peeked at your mobile. Your agent has all sorts of projects he’s been texting you about. I’ve been taking calls, too. Why don’t you just talk to these people? See what they have for you? It couldn’t hurt.”
Dex took another swig of his beer. He shouldn’t be surprised by her snooping. There had never been any secrets between them. “It wouldn’t be the same. I was a decent cameraman, but Matt was the one who made the stories work. I can tell a story with pictures, but I can’t do it with words. He had all the talent in the partnership.”
Claire grabbed a scrap of paper from a nearby table and held it out to him. “Ian Stephens. I’ve taken three messages from him. A lovely man, by the way, with a very sexy English accent. He sounds like James frickin’ Bond. His number is right there, along with the number of the woman he’s working with, Marlena Jenner. She’s the producer on the project.”
He stared at the two numbers. “What is the project? Did you ask?”
“It’s a film about Aileen Quinn.”
“The writer?”
Clare nodded. “My favorite writer. Ireland’s favorite writer.”
“That’s not the kind of work I do.”
“That might be a good thing. At least no one would be shooting at you.”
“I’m not ready to go back to work,” he said.
“But you just said it, Dex. It’s who you are.”
“Hell, I’m not sure who I am anymore,” Dex whispered, his voice filling with emotion. “I—I just don’t know what I want.” He shook his head. “Wait, I do know. I know exactly what I want—to sleep through the night. That’s my fondest wish.”
Claire put her arm around his shoulders and they sat next to each other for a long while. This was the way it had always been between them. They had weathered tough times in the past, but they’d always had each other to lean on.
Their parents had lived a gypsy life, both of them actors who’d garnered a fair bit of success in Ireland’s small film industry. As a family, they’d lived in London, New York City, Toronto and then Dublin again. But when his father had been cast in an American television series, they’d all moved to California, an Irish family living amongst the movie stars and palm trees and the constant sunny weather.
It had been a difficult transition for Dex and Claire, at that point already in junior high, and they hadn’t made friends easily, preferring to spend time with each other. So when the series had been picked up for its fourth season and Claire and Dex were ready to enter high school, they decided to return to County Kerry and live with their father’s mother, a woman they affectionately called Nana Dee.
Dierdre O’Meara Kennedy had seen them through their teenage years, then sent them off to university—Dex to film school at UCLA and Claire to read history at Trinity in Dublin. Nana Dee had provided the only stable home they’d ever really had, and her little cottage on the Iveragh Peninsula was the place they’d always called home. Nana had passed away three years ago, and had left them her cottage filled with memories of her life.
“There is something you could do for me,” Claire said.
“I’m not going to help you mark your history exams,” he said. “Or untangle the mess you’ve made of your laptop. Or fix that banger of a car you drive.”
“We still have to clean out Nana’s house,” she said. “I know you considered staying there while you were home, but you’ve spent every night here. So I thought we could lease the cottage out. But to do that we have to go through everything and decide what we want to keep and what we’d like to donate to the parish for their tag sale.”
“She lived in that house for over fifty years,” Dex said.
“I know. But I trust you to go through it. It will occupy your mind,” she said. “And we could really use the extra money. My pittance as a history teacher won’t support your taste for beer and whiskey much longer.” Claire grabbed the bottle and took a long swig before handing it back to him. “Don’t misunderstand, I’m glad you’re here. But you’re starting to look a little pale and paunchy. You need to go outside. Get some sun and exercise.”
Dex chuckled. “All right. I suppose I can do that. What do we want to keep?”
“We’ll leave the furniture so we can let it out as a furnished cottage. And the clothes, I’ll go through. There’s probably some vintage stuff that I could wear. Sort out the mementos, the old photos and things, and we’ll go through those together.”
The idea appealed to Dex. He needed to focus his mind on something other than his lack of a plan for the future. Maybe if he exhausted himself with cleaning out his nana’s house, he’d finally get some sleep—and some perspective.
“Actually, I have someone who wants to look at the place tomorrow,” Claire said. “She’s going to be an exchange teacher at our school next term. Just show her around the cottage and tell her it will be all tidied up before she moves in in January.”
“I suppose I can do that, too,” he said.
Claire rested her head on his shoulder. “Good. Would you like me to make some popcorn? I’ve got the next series of Dr. Who ready to go. We could stay up and watch it.”
“It’s half past two,” Dex said.
“And it’s a Friday night. I don’t have to work tomorrow. We can stay up all night if you want to.”
“All right,” Dex said. “But I’ll make the popcorn. You never put enough butter on it.”
Claire laughed, then wrapped her arms around him and gave him a fierce hug. “Things will get better, baby brother. I promise they will.”
He smiled. He’d been born only six minutes after her, but she’d always called him her baby brother. “Yeah. I know they will,” Dex said.
Yet even as the words passed his lips, he didn’t believe there was any truth to them. His life, as he once knew it, was over. And now he was adrift in a dark sea of indecision. Things would never be the same. How could they be?
* * *
MARLENA JENNER STARED down at the road map and then looked at the signpost in front of her. Maybe she ought to just give up and ask for directions. It was nearly dark and she’d never find her way once she couldn’t see the road signs. There was no shame in admitting that she couldn’t navigate her way out of a paper bag. And it seemed as if she’d been driving around in circles for hours.
Crumpling the map up and tossing it aside, Marlie shook her head. “Just let it go,” she said. “Ireland is an island. And I’m on a peninsula. Sooner or later, I’ll find the place or I’ll run into water.
“Knockaunnaglashy,” she muttered, reading the road sign. “Where do they find
