Jack Kelleher spoke around his mouthful of banana. “She a friend of yours, Natalie?”
I looked up and realized they were asking me because the newcomer was accompanied by Mike, who helpfully offered his hand to help her over a bump.
We were outside. Of course there were bumps. Why the hell was she wearing heels?
From this distance, I couldn’t see her features, but I could see the way her long dark hair flowed over her shoulders, held back by a headband, and the way her coat cinched at the waist and then flared out in an appropriately whimsical manner.
I stood and made my way over, acutely aware of the dirt on my legs and my butt and my hair and my face. I was dirt all over; I breathed it, ate it, smelled it. I blew my nose and black mucus came out. “Hi.”
Mike gestured at the girl. “Hey, Nat. This is Jane Ellington.” To the girl, he said, “Natalie’s a grad student on the dig.”
She stuck out her hand and revealed gleaming white teeth. “Nice to meet you.”
I held my hands up, showing the dirt smeared to the edges by the cool sliding sanitizer. “Probably shouldn’t shake. You’re kind of far from home.”
“I’m the sports foreign correspondence for Sports Today.”
I blinked several times. Sports Today was one of the largest news sites. “Well, that is just fascinating.”
She smiled broadly. “Do you mind if I ask a couple of questions?”
I glanced at Mike, who had on his agreeable, easy-going face. I wanted to tell him to wipe it off and put on something that would indicate now was not the time. “Now’s not a good time.”
“Maybe over dinner?”
I sighed and rubbed my head, remembering only afterward that the combination of sunscreen and dirt meant I was now a muddy mess. Great. “I don’t know. It’s been a long day...”
“A day looking for the remains of Ivernis?”
My defensive bristles went up at the slightly amused lilt in her voice. But Mike had brought her here, which must mean he thought she was worth talking to. “Sure. Fine. Dinner.”
Mike smiled and led her away. I looked forlornly after them.
Lauren came up beside me, wearing a neat blouse and skirt. She clearly was only here to socialize. “Do we hate her?”
“What? No!”
Lauren shrugged. “I don’t know. Looks like someone we should hate.”
“Just because she’s pretty and successful is not a reason to hate someone. I mean, we’re pretty and successful.”
Lauren refocused on the girl. “I can hate her for you.”
“Lauren! I don’t want you to do that!”
Lauren raised her brow. “Do you think she would be down here if my brother wasn’t?”
I blinked, and looked back at the twittering girl, and Mike, laughing. I crossed my arms and tried not to frown. “Kilky is interesting in its own right.”
“Yeah, but that’s not what’s going to be selling papers back home.”
“Well. Hmph. We still can’t hate her for trying to do a good job.”
“Okay.” Lauren nodded sagely. “But if she goes after Paul when I’m not around, I want you to take her out.”
Mike raised his brows when I finished dressing for dinner. “You’re wearing a dress.”
I smoothed my hands over the black sheath. “It’s been known to happen.”
We headed downstairs, but he didn’t drop the subject. “Twice. Once for the month mind, once in Paris. And your hair’s up. You’re channeling Tamera.”
I let out an exasperated huff, even though that was exactly what I was doing. “You sound like Cam.”
He opened the door outside and we headed for the coastal path. “Well, there’s a reason one of us is your best friend and the other is your boyfriend. Play nice with Jane, okay? I had to pull some strings to get her here.”
I stopped walking until he took my hand and gently tugged me back into motion. “Mike! You didn’t have to do that!”
He shrugged. “She wasn’t that far. Just in London.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “I don’t even know what the point of this is. Why am I talking to her?”
“Because you always want the media on your side. And if you lay out all the details, Ivernis won’t seem so mysterious and people will stop being interested.”
I raised my brows at him. “Does that work?”
“We’re gonna find out.”
Jane looked up when we walked into the restaurant. We sat, and Jane smiled at me. “Now I can see it.”
“See what?”
“The resemblance.”
“What?”
“You’re Tamara Bucherov’s daughter, right?”
I slowly swiveled to look at Mike. He raised his brows and shook his head slowly.
I looked back to Jane. “Yes.”
“But you’ve never modeled or anything before?”
“No.”
“And how long have you two been dating?”
“I’m sorry. Is this an article on Ivernis, or Mike?”
She smiled brightly, teeth flashing like only American teeth did. “Both. It’s a human interest story.”
“Well.” I wanted to leave, but dinner hadn’t even arrived. “I don’t really want my personal life written about. I’d rather talk about Ivernis.”
Jane leaned forward. “Look. You have this academic character, this Dr. Ceile, who’s trying to discredit you because of your personal life, right? Because of your mom and your boyfriend.” She nodded at Mike. “And that’s offensive and ridiculous. If he discredits you, it should be because you’re searching for the Irish Atlantis.”
I raised a brow. Mike tapped his foot against mine under the table, a clear indication not to be a smart ass. I mostly resisted. “Sounds about right.”
“So my job is to make people like you. And if they think Mike’s in love with you, it will be easier for them to love you.”
That was kind of weird logic, but okay. Still—”If you’re a sports journalist, how is this going to help the archaeologists involved on the dig? Everyone’s going to expect you to be on Mike’s side, which is my side, which is not going to convince the academic community that we’re to be taken seriously.”
She leaned forward. “Because I plan to write the story for our sister site, which does mainstream news. And I plan to make sure people will pay attention. I’m not a hack, you know. I’m not doing this as a favor to Mike, I’m doing it because there’s a story here.”
My fingers knitted together. “There is?”
“You’re a woman passionate about her career, and you’re being mocked because it’s easy to make Ivernis sound ludicrous and you sound frivolous. Mike told me about all the work you did to get your grant and prove an Iron Age site existed here. I want to show the world you did that work.” She shrugged. “Also, it doesn’t hurt for the public interest that you ended up in a relationship with the Leopards’ running back.”
Underneath the table, Mike took my hand and squeezed.
Jane placed her recorder on the table. “Are you in?”
I swallowed. “I’m in.”
We kept digging. Sometimes, in the field, everyone laughed hysterically and told stories and played mindless word games, but other days there were too many hours of where you were entirely in your own head. Too many repetitive hours of sticking the shovel in the ground, bending at the knee, lifting, throwing, over and over. Nothing there. Nothing here. No Ivernis.
On Thursday, I took a moment’s break and swept my eyes over the land. A smile twisted my lips. Would it hurt if I came here, years later, and there was nothing? Just sheep. Just grass and wind and heather.
Not Ivernis, here. Just Kilkarten.
I closed my eyes and breathed in the salt and earth.
Maybe I loved Kilkarten more than I loved Ivernis.