42
Books and Brews is packed. It’s the first of two events being hosted this weekend, this one being Hughie’s twelfth birthday party.
Being a big book nerd like us, he wanted to host a party at the bookstore with the family and a select group of friends.
Even Mom flew in for it. It must be a Dublin thing, but the parents of Hughie’s friends didn’t mind so much there was a fully stocked pub within the same footprint as the bookstore.
I didn’t immediately get a job with Trinity after my year with them ended. So, in the downtime, I helped Niall transform his spot. There was a retail space vacant next to Books and Brews so, with some of the book advance, we reinvested it into the shop.
The back of the new space was transformed to have a decent sized commercial kitchen to support the now expanded bakery.
It also provided a space for Niall to prepare pub snacks for patrons, which increased his evening foot traffic.
We installed an additional seating area in the bakery, set separate from the pub and bookstore, to host events for the local kids.
With, of course, a focus on reading and LGBTQ+ activities.
The other event was the first stop on our book tour for releasing Michael’s book, Breaking the Moon.
Once we had the title, it somehow jumpstarted our brains and we were able to tie up any remaining loose ends. Once the final draft was complete, Niall approached Irene with it and asked her agent to shop it. To consider it payment for all the times Niall was left to cleanup Nora’s messes.
It didn’t take long. Irene’s agent found a publisher within a week and had multiple contracts lined up. Niall and I signed the second offer that came in, because the contract also offered optioning for a movie. And, just a little over a year later, the book was published.
The kids were split into multiple activities, with Niall and I taking turns between hanging out with the adults and the children.
Then there were the inbetweeners. Samuel, Noah, Lily, and Delilah. When class ended, I thought that might be the end of them hanging around, but it wasn’t. They continued to work through the book with us, but I think they actually wanted to hang out with Hughie.
Which worked to our benefit. Niall and I almost had an endless supply of babysitters at any moment.
Right now, I’m with the kids. When preparing for the party, I had asked Hughie exactly what children his age like to do.
Some kids were sharing books they picked out from the bookshelves.
Some were playing Mario Kart World that we have set up with a projector on the back wall.
Others were watching rugby on the televisions set up between the bakery and pub walls.
Leo and John have left the adults and are vying for turns playing Switch.
Rugby, while visually very appealing, I still don’t understand.
No matter how many times Niall or his friends try explaining it to me.
Football/soccer? I’ve gotten much better.
American Football? Of course. But rugby’s going to take time, much like curling did when I became obsessed with the Olympics.
“Uncle Danny, come play me in Mario Kart. But you can’t be Waluigi!”
I plop down in the chair next to Hughie. “Yes, I’m aware of your ridiculous rules. I also know I can’t be Princess Peach because that’s Uncle Niall.”
“I heard that!”
I choose Toad and we begin to play. “Uncle Danny, can I ask you something?”
“Absolutely bud. What’s up?”
Hughie looks over his shoulder towards the bar, so I turn and look too. “Don’t look!” His eyes dart back to the bar. “Okay I think we’re safe.”
I’m now understanding it’s something Niall isn’t meant to hear. “You know, Hughie, secrets aren’t the best. And you know how your Uncle Niall gets.”
“Yeah, yeah. So don’t say anything but I need to know your ring size.”
Toad goes flying off the edge of a cliff. “I’m sorry… what did you say? Why would you need to know my—”
“Don’t say it out loud! Here, I have this,” he pauses the game and pulls a thin piece of paper out of his pocket. “If you don’t know, this tells me what your ring size is. I can just—”
“Hughie, what’s this about?”
Hughie looks over his shoulder again, then leans in close. “Uncle Niall said something about rings but not knowing anything about them or what to do, and he mentioned not even knowing your size. I think…I think he wants to marry you.”
I put the controller down. “So, you took it upon yourself to find my ring size, instead of waiting for Uncle Niall?”
Hughie laughs. “I think we all know Uncle Niall is a bit helpless at times. Remember when he tried to build that bookcase for me and all the shelves were facing the wrong way, and it kinda leaned to the left?”
“It really did lean to the left. I feel if you had put a single book on it, we would have seen it implode.”
“Exactly, and that’s why I decided to step in and help. What is it we call him at those moments? From American Dad? The tit?”
I laugh. “The boob.”
What would a proposal look like from Niall? A wedding? Life here in Dublin has been amazing. Having a part-time teaching position at Trinity, helping out in the book pub whenever I can. It was exactly what I needed, a fresh start after how shitty things went back home.
What I do know is Dublin surely is my home now.
“How about this. Tomorrow morning you and I can run out to get donuts before the book launch event, and you and I can jump in a jewelry store and have them measure my ring size? You and I can look at what options they have and, since you’re on the inside, I’ll point at what types of things not to get. ”
Hughie rolls his eyes. “Could you imagine if he was left to himself to pick something out? Like with purple and green stones or something? What would you even do when the boob strikes again.”