“Well, according to my perception, it’s going to be weeks of cleaning,” Luna groaned.
“Now, now, Ronan, you got to get her to stop being so negative. The woman is going to cast a negative vibe on Enchanted Cove. What happened to you, Luna?”
“I don’t know, Shaun, maybe losing my sister after my parents and then my abandonment in the Caribbean.”
Luna had enough. The air was being sucked out of the room, and she couldn't breathe. Giving herself the space she needed, she went outside. The cool air made her shiver as she stared into the night sky. “What in the world am I doing here? I’m trapped inside this blasted house with everyone. I should have stayed in the Caribbean and let Jonah do online college.”
“That will do him no good, Luna.” Ronan’s voice broke through the silence, and then he was there beside her, gazing at her.
“Maybe not, but it would do me good.”
“You mean you didn’t miss Enchanted Cove?”
“I didn't say that. It's just so many memories, so many thoughts and feelings, so much of everything. It’s too much for me to process.”
“And then I came back into your life.”
Luna looked at the water, its gentle rippling waves doing nothing to soothe her anxiety. “There is that. And for the life of me, I can’t seem to get away from you for five minutes.”
He turned to face her, and Luna felt her heart beating wildly in her chest. His eyes were a storm of emotions she couldn’t read, frightening and exciting as they’d always been. She couldn’t deny the electricity that still hummed between them after so many years.
It worried her. She feared that feeling, something she’d grown used to not having. Swallowing hard, the butterflies in her stomach settled down again as she stared at his lips.
“Maybe I don’t want to give you or me five minutes. We’ve been apart so long, now that you're near, I want to keep you there.”
“Always the hopeless romantic, forever dreaming of the perfect moment, hoping to capture it in a bottle like some fairytale movie.”
He smiled. “Maybe so, but you always loved that about me.”
“Maybe I still do, but I’m not twenty anymore and neither are you. I let go of those dreams and fantasies a long time ago.”
He leaned in just enough to stir up that dizzy sensation she’d always loved, his lips inches from hers. “Are you sure about that?”
“Yes, I am.” Luna let her eyes linger on his lips for a moment, then lifted them to his eyes and lost herself in them for a moment. Olive started barking just then as she came out the door. “Come here, baby. Is Daddy not paying attention to you?”
Luna used it to her advantage to win the little dog's heart, offering a few pieces of beef jerky still in her pocket from earlier.
“So…what happened to the kid’s dad?”
“What happened to…oh, Jonah’s dad?”
Thoughts racing a hundred miles an hour, Luna fought against a heart that was begging her to be truthful.
“Yes.”
“He left a long time ago.” She dusted off her hands after feeding Olive.
“No child support, and no time with his son. What kind of man would do that? Having a son is a man’s greatest gift; having any child is a gift. I take it your relationship with the man was short-lived.”
Luna refused to look at him, knowing if he looked into her eyes, he would see the lie. Ronan had always done that so easily. “You could say that.”
“Did you love him?”
Luna lowered her head and said, “Yes I did.”
Hearing her answer, he felt bad for trying to influence Luna to his advantage. He knew it was wrong, but he couldn’t help himself. They were virtual strangers now, but it didn’t matter to him. Luna was still the same woman he’d left behind.
It felt good to be home. The sea's sweeping waves soothed the savage spirit in him. “You know…I always found peace here. When we left for the Caribbean in search of Phoebe, I never felt at home there. Something about it never sat well with me. Enchanted Cove always called to my soul.”
