“Whatever you say, boss.”
“Is that what I am now, the boss?”
“You bet! You’ve always been the boss. You just never knew it.”
Ronan had a hard time leaving that night, saying goodbye, and going back to the motel with Olive. It felt strange being away from her now that Luna was back in his life. “What do you think, Olive? Do you like her?”
Olive offered her thoughts as an excited bark. Ronan was all too happy to give her a loving scratch behind the ears. “Yeah, I love her, too. She’s wonderful, and nothing changes that. God, I hadn’t realized how good it felt to be near her. Tomorrow night we're going to the movies. I wonder what they are going to play.”
Olive stared at him as if he had twelve heads, and Ronan laughed. “Well, we're headed straight to bed. We'renotgoing to the office, so I can hear James talk about his wife while stuffing his mouth with tons of food.”
He slept like the dead that night, exhausted from all the hard work. He wasn’t getting any younger. When morning came, he hopped on his motorcycle and headed to Luna’s house.
“Good morning, sunshine. Where’s the kiddo?”
“He’s at school. Did you forget he’s only sixteen?”
“Not at all. I just like hanging out with him. He’s really smart and kind of reminds me of me.” He laughed until he saw the sad look on Luna’s face. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. I think it’s time to clean up Phoebe's things, and I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.”
“I can help.”
“Tomorrow. I need one more day to come to terms with it. You have that noon boat charter, and I have more cleaning to do. Tonight is the movie, which I think is going to be fun, and then we can clean up her stuff.”
Ronan heard the hint of sadness in her voice. It pained him to see her distraught over her sister's things. “We don’t have to get rid of them. We can put them in a room and shut the door.”
“No.” Their eyes met. She frowned. “It's time. I don’t need to be coddled anymore. It's been almost twenty years, so it’s time. I appreciate that you're going to help me.”
“Well then, I best get busy with this day, as should you. We can talk later.”
“Okay.”
Ronan still hadn’t forgotten that kiss. It felt like yesterday when they were young and together, in love. It haunted him for the rest of the day after he left her standing there because she’d been nibbling on her bottom lip.
Movie night was great but not surprising as they settled down on a picnic blanket with snacks he got from Shaun. “Jaws! I remember coming here to see this when I was sixteen, I think. This is one of my favorite movies.”
“Hey, guys. Do you mind if I join you?” Nicky plopped herself down beside them, ruining the moment for Ronan.
“No. Not at all.”
“Good, because Luna wanted me to come and hang out. She said I spend too much time alone,andshe didn't want this to be an actual date.”
Seven
The night was perfect, but Ronan seemed less than thrilled. By the time they left, he was quiet and thoughtful, taking her back to her door. At this point, Luna was getting used to riding on his motorcycle.
“Thank you for a lovely evening and the ride home. I’m getting used to riding on the back of this.”
“Good, because I want to take you on a trip in a few days.”
“I don’t know, Ronan. I mean we aren’t…don’t you think we should just focus on…”
His fingers touched her lips. “Shh. Don’t worry about it. We're friends. It's nothing more, I promise. I just want to spend some time with you. Before we started dating, don't you remember all the fun we used to have?”
“I do.”
He smiled, a heart-stopping smile like she remembered. “Good, friends and fun. That’s what we're about.”
