Twelve Months of Kristal: 50 Loving States Maine

Maeve informs me over lunch that the doctor diagnosed her with COPD.

“Most likely from sneaking too many ciggies behind the inn. Always figured it was safe if no one caught me doing it. But according to the doctor and Dec, not so much.”

“Yeah, not so much,” I agree with a laugh. “I’m sorry you’re having to go through this, Maeve, but I’m crazy glad I can erase the expiration date on your sketch for now.”

I lower my voice to tell her this. We’re sitting side-by-side at our usual round table in the mostly empty dining room. But the inn finally has a few more guests now that the blizzard’s done and New Year’s Eve is only a couple of days away.

I don’t want anyone else to hear us talking about magical things. Actually I don’t want to deal with anyone else, period.

It’s hard enough having to draw Jae-Hyun over and over every morning. I don’t want to have to make more soon-to-be-departed sketches for the new guests trickling into the freezing dining room. So I’m keeping my voice down and putting lots of effort into making zero eye contact with anyone but Maeve.

“Well, mind you, I will have to cut down on salt and start exercising.” Maeve pulls a face on “exercising,” as if it was even worse than the chemo she suspected she might be in for when the nighttime cough first appeared. “But if I do that, Dr. Foss says I’ve got a lot of years left in me. Might even live to fuss over some grands!”

Maeve glances hopefully in the direction of the front sitting room where Declan and Siobhan have been catching up by the fireplace ever since they reunited in the inn’s driveway.

By the time I come back downstairs for dinner, Maeve’s upgraded from hopeful glances to full-on beaming.

“Just took a tray into the sitting room for Deckie and Shuvvie,” she tells Hayato and me when she joins us at our dining table. “They’re still talking. I can almost hear the pitter patter of future grans.”

As a lifelong purveyor of bad news, it feels great to be part of someone’s joy. However, Hayato doesn’t appear nearly as moved by Maeve’s update as me.

He spent most of the day at the beach, despite the weather. And now he seems even more focused on his plate than I was at lunch.

“You like long walks in the cold even more than us Irish,” Maeve says, trying to draw into our conversation.

But Hayato just says, “Yes, the beach at winter is beautiful,” before returning to the simple meal of shepherd’s pie Maeve prepared.

He looks pensive and miserable.

And I think back to our conversation from earlier. “I’m just trying to understand why a big business guy like you would believe a weird elf like me?”

Why do I have the feeling his all-day disappearing act has something to do with him not answering that question?

“Is everything all right?” I ask when we go back up to the room.

“It is better than all right,” he answers, bending down beside the door to take off his shoes. “Declan left his conversation long enough to text me that the airport has opened back up. The pilot has filed a flight plan. Tomorrow we will leave for Japan.”

“Japan?” I repeat, kicking my shoes off. “We’re going to Japan?”

“Yes, that was my original plan, before all of this came up. And I would like to get back to work.”

His face is a perfect blank, but I frown at his tone of voice. He sounds a lot like Maeve did when she talked about a future that included exercising.

I’ve been glowing all day because ROMANCE ACCOMPLISHED in huge bold-faced kanji with fireworks in the background and big hearts drawn in place of Declan’s and Siobhan’s eyes. But my heart deflates as I realize that where I see an epic romance come true, all Hayato sees is inconvenience.

“What about Declan and Siobhan?” I find myself asking. “Can’t we stay a few days longer? Give them some more time to reconnect?”

He stares at me for a long silent moment, then he says, “I’ll take a shower while you pack. I’d like to be ready to go if the pilot calls early tomorrow.”

His refusal to even consider my request hits me like a snowball to the face.

I know, I know… it’s not his fault that I’m falling for him. Even though I’ve told myself not to—like, several times. No promises, remember? Only negotiations. And I know I can’t expect him to think exactly like I do. How many times did Santa remind us orphaned elves from all over the world that we had to respect each other’s cultural and personal differences?

I also know we have a deal. Two-hundred and forty hours of companionship in exchange for him meeting with Jae-Hyun. And I’ve come too far and given up too much to risk him backing out on it now.