Last Call for Love: A Novel by Rebekah Crane

Author:Rebekah Crane [Crane, Rebekah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyscape
Published: 2024-08-06T00:00:00+00:00

13

Emily K.

Salt Lake City, UT

7/14/2022

How is this spectacle not televised?

The Super Bowl. Monaco Grand Prix. Tour de France. March Madness. The World Cup. DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME. If there is one sporting event you attend anywhere in the world, make it the Annual Football Rounders Grudge Match on Inishglass in Ireland. Never heard of it? Imagine a kickball game at Woodstock. This is a full-on experience. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll cheer, and then you’ll party your ass off with strangers who will quickly become your best friends by dawn. You’ll wake up covered in face paint and glitter with seventy new contacts in your phone. Your voice will be hoarse. Your legs will hurt from dancing. And if you pick the right team to root for, you’ll wake up a winner.

Don’t come from a loving family and always wanted to be a part of one? The Annual Football Rounders Grudge Match is a lovefest (for everyone whose last name isn’t Murphy or Doherty). Come to Inishglass the first weekend in July and they’ll welcome you with open arms.

SIDE NOTE: How is there not a reality show about the Murphys and Dohertys? It’s the ancient grudge of Romeo and Juliet meets the hotness of Kardashians with the antics of The Parent Trap. If any Hollywood producer reads this review, contact me. People would so want to watch these two families go at it. Not only are they pretty, they’re pretty brutal.

The ferry ride back to Inishglass is smooth this July afternoon. The calm before the storm, Briggs thinks, as he stands on the packed deck of the boat, looking at the island, knowing it’s filled to capacity with visitors for the Annual Football Rounders Grudge Match. Even now, people on the boat recognize him as a local celebrity, offering him good luck, a few women attempting to pass him their numbers.

The weather for tomorrow’s game seems favorable, but apps can never be trusted when it comes to Inishglass. A sunny day can turn stormy in a matter of minutes.

Last year at this time, on the same ferry ride after visiting Peggy Murphy, Briggs wanted to turn around and avoid the damn event all together. It might be good for every business on the island, but the pageantry of it all is exhausting work. Briggs is comfortable being on display behind the bar, but not in front of hundreds of spectators. Years past, the only time he’s managed to catch a break from the crowds is his morning plunge.

Briggs grips the railing, his knuckles white, willing the boat to pick up speed. His doctor told him not to run, but hell, if he could, he’d sprint across the water, find Maeve, fling her over his shoulder, and disappear into his art studio for a week. It took herculean effort to control himself that day at the shore. So much had shifted for him in just a matter of weeks. It was disorienting. First his heart diagnosis, then his father’s birthday, and then Maeve appears.

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