Prologue

The next six months brought a lot of excitement for my group of friends. Natalie and Justin's relationship made me miss Colin more than ever. Linda's sad revelation had me wondering what was really going on. On the surface it was looking more and more like she was a murderer, although after my own experiences I was sure that were other factors I wasn't aware of. And then Sharon had told us her surprising news.

Colin and I emailed and video chatted a few times a week. The best was when he occasionally sent an actual snail mail letter. It smelled like him, which was bittersweet because it was the closest thing to touching him but it made me miss him even more. I longed to be with him, but after the unexpected expense of the first trip to Ireland, I just couldn't afford another this soon. I was still paying the credit card bills.

I booted up my laptop, and logged on to Skype. I let the program fall to the background as I checked my email. There was a short one sent from Colin the previous day, which I had already read.

Should be on about 6 tomorrow. I'll call you.

It was 5:58pm, so he should be calling me on Skype any minute. I read the other two emails in my inbox – one from Natalie asking if I would be at class tomorrow, and another from Alice. I replied to both of them, and then checked my Facebook page. At 6:10, there was still no sign of Colin. He wasn't even logged into Skype yet. Perhaps he was late getting off work.

Colin is calling you…

My computer told me that Colin was connecting through Skype. I immediately answered, and the screen flickered to life with Colin's face. He smiled, but looked a little distracted.

"Hey, babe," he said immediately. "Sorry I'm l…l…late." The audio quality left something to be desired.

"That's ok," I told him. "Where are you?" The background on the screen was unfamiliar. He was obviously in some sort of restaurant or café, but not one in Limavady. It was loud and busy. Colin was wearing earphones so that he could hear me.

"I'm in the city….yeah, sorry…It's kind of loud in here."

We talked for about thirty minutes, but Colin had to type half of the conversation because I couldn't hear him. It was disappointing, especially considering what I had thought we had planned for tonight. Colin had finally gotten a laptop, instead of just the desktop computer that Cassie and he shared in their living room. Now he would be able to take it into his bedroom, for a little more privacy during our conversations.

"I thought we had…planned to…you know, have a bit more privacy," I asked.

"Oh yeah," Colin nodded. "I…..home….hours." The background noise was too much, and Colin had to type his response.

Sorry! I meant to be home by now. Got held up. Stopped here to make sure I met you on time. I will be home in a couple hours. Do you just want to meet then?

Yeah. That's fine.

I was frustrated. Colin was usually diligent about meeting me for our video chats. I guess one time of having conflicting plans shouldn't make me upset. And he had made a point to Skype with me even in the middle of whatever it was he was doing. It was just that I had been looking forward to talking to him and seeing him.

Oh, well. I'll just have to wait a couple of hours. Not too big a deal. At least then he'll be at home in the privacy of his own bedroom, so maybe we can actually try the video sex I had been looking forward to all week.

Three hours later, I was fuming. I had decided to go to bed early, and not wait up for him. He could just beg for forgiveness tomorrow by email. Then my door bell rang.

Who would be ringing my doorbell at this time? How annoying!

This minor annoyance built on the anger that was already present, and now I was in livid. I stomped to the door, and swung it open with an angry snarl on my lips. I was speechless.

"I hope you're not too mad at me. I need a place to stay," Colin said, standing outside my door. He had to drop his bags to catch me as I jumped into his arms.

"I love you!" I whispered into his ear and then kissed the lips I had been missing for so long.