Beside You

“Are we there yet?” Caoimhe whines. Bill, who is sitting in the back with her, bursts out laughing. Caoimhe gives him a dirty look and starts pouting, “Stop laughing at me Uncle Bill.” She crosses her arms and sticks out her lower lip.

I suppress a chuckle and smile, “No Sweetie we just started.” We had only been on the road for ten or so minutes which is why Bill found Caoimhe’s question so funny. “And remember Caoimhe, we’re in America and what do we do while we’re in America?”

“Talk in English” she says with a flawless English accent that she received from listening to Reaghan talk to her sister for hours on the phone.

“We’re gonna need to work on her accent” I joke to Tom.

Caoimhe continues, “But Mommy I don’t want to.” She crosses her arms tighter, “Daddy doesn’t talk in English.”

“She’s a stubborn little thing” I comment to Tom again.

“I wonder where she gets it?” he jokes, picking on all the times I’ve been stubborn with him. He raises his voice to talk to Caoimhe, “Well Keevie, Daddy’s not half American.”

“Well Daddy should try to speak in English too because he needs to practice” I give him a sideways glance and smirk.

“Ha ha” Bill taunts Tom.

“Bill you of all people have no room to talk. You’re the front man of the band and the one who answers all the interview questions” Tom retorts, “Not to mention how much of a perfectionist you are.”

Bill sticks his tongue out at Tom and I see the glint off his tongue ring in the rearview mirror. Tom sticks out his tongue in response. After that the supposed adults sat in silence for a few minutes while Caoimhe chatted away in English to no one in particular, her accent getting less English as she goes.

Bill gets bored soon and starts teaching Keevie a rhyming game. Tom notices that their distracted and looks at me real quick before focusing on the road again. “How long of drive is this anyway?”

“Um…it’s about three hours from New York City to Binghamton and then another hour from there.” I look at the digital clock and do the quick addition in my head, “We should be there around 4:30.”

“Ugh” Tom groans.

I snort in disbelief, “You’ve been on the road for longer before and most definitely been in the air longer. So what’s the problem?”

“I just don’t like driving that long. Not to mention American highways are hell to drive” he explains.

“Hell?” I raise my eyebrows.

“They’re nothing but a straight line. At least on the Autobahn there are curves in the roads and you can go pretty much any speed you want.”

“Well once we get to Binghamton I can take over or I can show you some different roads we can take.”

“What kind of roads?” he asks, his English heavily accented. He’s got an apprehensive look on his face.

“Dirt ones” I answer knowing he won’t like it. He’s a little anal about how the outside of his car looks. The inside not so much, but the outside has to be perfect.

“Eibhlin!” he huffs and whines.

“You’re the one who’s already sick of American highways and we’ve only been on the road for twenty minutes.” He just rolls his eyes and lets it go.

“Mommy?” Caoimhe asks from the back seat, “Can I speak deustch at GiGi’s house?” I pause, turning to look at her before she continues, “Uncle Ivan and Uncle Rob and Uncle Rich and Uncle Rence all do. And Breann and Thomas and Christain and Kyle and Kielye and Aaron do too sometimes.”

I think about it, looking at her puppy dog eyes. I sigh and smile, “I suppose but on one condition” I point my finger stiffly at her, “You have to help Daddy and Uncle Bill with their English.”

“Alright Mommy” she smiles happy with that deal. I look at Bill and Tom to see what they think about this idea and see that they have had a stunned look on their faces the entire time.

“What?” I ask confused.

Bill speaks up, “How big is your family?”

I smile wide and inwardly chuckle, “Huge.” It’s simple and fits my family to a T.