2006
"Oi, James!"
Glancing up from a half-packed cardboard box, James immediately found himself on the receiving end of Anna Quinn's smirk—
"What—", he asked, regarding the thirteen year old in confusion.
"Heads!"
Needless to say, all questions were answered as soon as he was unceremoniously clattered across the face by an unidentified flying object.
What the hell?
Frowning, James passed it from one hand to the other.
While he and Anna had been strong-armed into helping Erin go through some of her old school things that were still in the Quinn's house in Derry, James couldn't say he had anticipated coming across the familiar dark pink journal that was currently in his hands...
"Isn't this Erin's diary from school?"
Anna laughed at the question—sure that the achingly 90s photograph glued to the cover and the bright yellow writing that read 'Erin's Diary: Warning! Keep Out!' were a dead give-away.
"Well done", she replied sarcastically, nodding with encouragement towards the pages within.
James only rolled his eyes in response, firmly setting Erin's diary aside.
To him, having a gawk inside his wife's teenaged diary would have been tantamount to the same invasion now as it would have been when the words were freshly written.
"Ach, yer no fun!"
"Anna, I'm not reading your sister's—"
"What're ye doin' with my old diary?"
Suddenly appearing at the door of her childhood bedroom, Erin pointedly regarded her husband and sister, clearly expecting some sort of answer.
"It's not our fault yeh've got a serious hoardin' problem!", Anna replied, her eyes glinting with mischief as her older sister lovingly scooped up the old journal.
Feverishly scanning the pages, an excited smile spread across Erin's face—one that instantly reminded James of her almost weekly reactions upon reading her own column in the newspaper.
"This is class! I really documented absolutely everythin'!"
Anna smirked, having already read the terrifyingly self-assured and downright cringeworthy piece of 'literature' for herself.
Eating a Mars Bar? Admitting you look like a spud after cutting yourself a fridge? Hoaking through bins for some poor fella's discarded bus ticket? Voice of a generation, her hole!
"A wee bit too much of everythin', eh?"
Ignoring her younger sister's snarkiness, Erin gestured frantically towards James who had been watching the whole exchange play out in amusement.
"C'mere, you. Look at this."
He chuckled softly, already getting up to join her.
"I'm allowed to read the Erin Quinn's diary?"
Erin rolled her eyes at her husband's theatrics. "Ach, shut up!"
Grinning at her lopsidely, there was no other way about it—as prickly as Erin Quinn could sometimes be, James Maguire was utterly charmed
"I'm honoured", he accepted gently, taking the journal out of Erin's hands on the proffered page. And he was honoured. Genuinely.
Biting back a smile in return, she watched as James silently began to read.
As he did, Erin felt the familiar rise of butterflies in her stomach and could only imagine how she would have felt if she had somehow managed to work up the nerve to show that particular page to him twelve years earlier...
"I'll bet you are", Erin replied primly, watching as her husband's gaze grew only softer and softer until she was sure he had dissolved into a puddle right before her eyes.
Erin stiffled a giggle.
Dear James,
It feels a bit strange writing this. Even though I'll probably never actually show it to you. But it felt important that...I don't know...that I had it on record or something. The fact is, I can't imagine this place without you. I don't want to imagine it. We're better for having you here...at least I know I am.
You're one of my best friends in the whole wide world, and if you were to leave, I'd miss you. I'd really miss you. So please...don't try anything like that again.
Erin xxx
Finally looking up at Erin once again, James cleared his throat.
"I'm not going anywhere", he vowed quietly, a little floored by the openness and honesty her sixteen year old self's half-confession.
While James was a little sad that he hadn't even suspected Erin's feelings that day in '94, the two of them had got there in their own time...something that he would be eternally grateful for. "Promise."
She smiled, letting her head drop into the crook of his neck as his arm came around her waist.
"Glad to hear it", she replied teasingly, peppering his neck with a single playful kiss. "I don't mind havin' you around."
Awkwardly watching the affectionate display between her sister and brother-in-law, Anna may as well have been faced with the two teenaged doses that she scarcely remembered them as.
She screwed up her nose, half-entertained/half-disgusted.
"What're yeh lookin' at us like that for? We're in love!"
"Boke!"