Atonement(33)

“Too many to be honest but I never get tired of seeing the old Continent. My grandparents moved from the Netherlands to Norway so I try to see them once every couple of years. They are getting up in age and I like to visit them.”

I swigged from my Guinness. “Norway? Why there?”

“The immigrant problem in the Netherlands mostly,” he responded flippantly before his crystal blue eyes met mine again. “They aren’t racist or anything. They are actually sweet people who were both adolescents during World War II. They saw what happened to their Jewish neighbors and they watched people disappear and most of them never came back.

“The Netherlands has a rather large Muslim population for such a small country. Most of the immigrants are Moroccans, Algerians, Somalis and Turks. They also have a sizeable minority of other immigrants too but it was the Muslim reaction to Nine Eleven which made up their minds. They also watched their whole small town change. They lived in Ede, a small town called Lunteren. They were happy there but they decided they wanted to spend their golden years somewhere peaceful and quiet. They live in the small town of Oppegård, which is just right outside of Oslo.”

I suddenly felt like the crappiest person on earth, making him explain to me why his grandparents’ had moved when it was within their right to do so.

“Listen, I’m sorry. That was completely and unequivocally out of line. I would love to meet them some day. I know we weren’t planning to go that far out but maybe next time?” I offered.

Colin raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “Who said anything about a next time? We haven’t left yet and you might hate me as a traveling companion.”

We both laughed again and that is what I found so absolutely mind-boggling about him. His brother made me feel sexy and like a dog in heat but Colin just relaxed me. I felt like myself and he made me laugh, he was self-deprecating; he didn’t take life too seriously and somehow I just felt like he got me.

It was true: he wasn’t an alpha male at all but when I really sat down and thought about it, I didn’t want one. I never desired a man to tell me what to do, how to think, how I should act or dress or tell me to take my clothes off, spread my legs. Men like that made delicious fantasies but I never would have wanted to share a life with one and that was the God’s to honest truth.

Colin was just normal. He was good looking, sexy, smart and he had so much potential. I just wanted him to actually do something with his life so that when we did sit down and carve out a plan, we knew what to expect. I could see him as my husband, the father of my children. He was a good natured soul with a kind heart and although not weak by any stretch of the imagination, he was human and that vulnerable part of him spoke to me like no other man in the world.

I sipped from my Guinness again before I swirled the black liquid around in my pint glass. “Maybe we could make a pit stop this time. We could always rearrange our schedule. I’ve been to Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and France but I have never been to Scandinavia before. Maybe we can take a week out of somewhere else after we leave France and fly up to see your grandparents. I would really like that.”

Colin finished his pint before his blue eyes met mine. “You’re serious? You want to meet my grandparents?”

“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

He snickered under his breath. “That is a definite first but I can’t say I am surprised. You’re full of surprises and that is why I find you so goddamn intriguing.”

I looked at him slyly before I smiled again. “If you like, we can visit them after our first few days in Paris and then fly back in and enjoy the rest of our European vacation. I think that would be great idea.”

Colin looked down at his watch before he pulled out his iPhone and placed a call. The person who sounded vaguely older and female answered shortly after the third ring. He switched from English to Dutch and spoke animatedly with whom I had to assume was his grandmother.

The way the language flowed from his tongue, he’d obviously grown up speaking the language. I didn’t know any Dutch but the language always struck me as an amalgamation of French and German on acid. I looked down at my watch and realized it was shortly eight in the evening here so it was barely after five in the morning there.

I hated the feeling of butterflies as they lit up my stomach just watching him and the small smile it forced on my lips. Is this how two people fell in love? Was it the slow burn and the ache of not wanting to be apart from another person? I enjoyed his company and was just as comfortable sitting across from him enjoying a beer as I was if we were doing something more physical.