Somehow I blinked, and two days with Ryan had already passed. I had been so exhausted that first night, that I barely made it five minutes into the show he’d put on before snoring away. Exhaustion and disappointment raced through my veins when Ryan had walked me up the stairs, wrapping his arm around my waist the entire way, even when I told him I was perfectly okay to walk. He’d thenleft me at the door to the guest room without nothing more than a warm smile as a goodbye.
Even though he’d already told me he had all his shifts covered, the owner of a company couldn’t exactly up and leave with that short of a notice. So I spent most of Monday napping while he rushed into the office to put out a few fires.
A feeling heavier than disappointment fell upon me when the fire ragedon until Tuesday morning. Despite his best efforts in reassuring me he’d be home by early afternoon, I couldn’t help but be pissed off beyond belief. I didn’t come here to waste away my days napping and watching reruns ofThe Golden Girlson Lifetime.
Needless to say, when I saw his name flash across my screen twenty minutes past when he said he would be here, I was ready to lose my shit. Thenthe vow I’d committed to myself—not to be angry at the man who had run away for what seemed like no reasontwice—came back to life.Because I knew in my bones that no one ran away for no good reason at all when love was on the line. I took a deep breath and answered the call. “Hey. What’s up?”
“Be ready in an hour. Nothing fancy at all. I have somewhere I want to take you.”
I was too caughtoff guard to ask him anything, like who the hell did he think he was keeping me on the outskirts all day. And I realized maybe I was being just a tad too overly dramatic, seeing as I had all but barged into his life no more than a few days ago.
I made quick use of the time I had left with showering and getting ready. And just like he’d asked, I was at the door in exactly one hour, waiting patientlyfor his arrival. As I was locking the door behind me, a simple push button system he’d shown me the other day, he pulled up the driveway. With a huge smile on his face, he lifted his sunglasses up into his hair and waved me toward the car. “Let’s go. I don’t want to be late.”
As I lowered myself into his car and buckled my seat belt, I asked, “Where are we off to?”
“You’ll see,” he answered,arching his eyebrow and smiling before sliding his aviators back into place.
“I guess turnaround is fair play, huh?”
He shrugged, but I caught the small smile pulling on his lips.
Our twenty-minute drive to a far less opulent part of town was filled with talk about the projects he needed to wrap up and how he managed to schedule the rest of his week free. I was shocked when he admitted thathe didn’t want to clear his calendar in case things went south with us. Ryan was an enigma; that much was certain. But it seemed as if once he began sharing his feelings, the floodgates were open.
When we pulled into the parking lot of a small mom and pop hardware store, I was fairly confused. “Need something for a job?”
As he turned off the ignition and slid the car into Park,he looked overand smiled. “Not exactly. Come on in. I want to show you something.”
There was a noticeable bounce in his step as he walked to the entrance of the store. A strip of bells clanged, announcing our arrival and an old lady who had to be pushing eighty-five popped her head up from behind the counter. “Ryan!” she called out with excitement in her voice. “Get over here,” she demanded as she hobbledher way toward us. They hugged the way people who have known each other for a very long time do. It was almost like watching family members. “You’re too skinny. You need to eat. You come to dinner on Sunday. I’ll make you a big plate of spaghetti and meatballs.”
“Mom,” another woman called out from behind us. “Leave the poor man alone.” She was beautiful, tall, had olive skin and dark hair. Therewas no mistaking her for the older woman’s daughter. They had the same eyes, separated only by the years between them. “Hi, Ry.”
As if she’d just recognized that I was with him, the mother elbowed Ryan in the side, smiling up at him as she did so. “And who do we have here?”
“This is Quinn. He’s a friend from where I grew up,” he explained.
It wasn’t lost on me that he didn’t call it home. Ihad a feeling he’d never seen it as such.
“Quinn,” he said, turning his attention toward me. “This is Beatrice and her daughter, Aurora.” With a sweetness rivaling honey, they both said hello, shaking my hand and kissing me on both cheeks.
“He never brings anyone around here,” Beatrice said to her daughter. “Must be a special day.”
“Momma,” Aurora hushed. “You can’t say things like that.”
“Sure I can. I’m eighty-eight years old. I can say whatever I want.” While we all laughed at her words, she looped her arm through Ryan’s and said, “Come on out back. Everything’s just about all set up. You can help with the last few things.”
He was so sweet to her, covering her hand with his, making sure she didn’t trip or bump into anything as they walked toward the back of the store. “She’sa riot,” I said to Aurora who still stood beside me.
“And a handful, too.” She gave me a handbasket full of tools and supplies. “Ever since Dad died,” she continued, beckoning me to follow her as she loaded what I hoped to be the last of the items into the already-too-heavy basket, “she’s been a lot of work. But she loves being here, so I can’t tell her no. This was Dad’s baby. I mean after me,of course.”
“I’m sorry about your dad. How long has he been gone?” I adjusted the basket on my arm.
“Two years next month. Ryan was really broken up about it too. It hit him really hard.”
“How did they know each other?” Whether she knew it or not, she had piqued my curiosity.
“When Ryan moved here for college, this was the first place he came for a job. Dad was pretty resistant to change andreally wanted to do everything himself, but Ryan convinced him to give him a chance. The two became best friends.” She pulled some plumbing tape and PVC pipes and connectors from the shelf and turned to me. “He was an amazing father, don’t get me wrong, but I know he always wanted a son. And I think for the years that he had Ryan working here, he did.”
Damn, talk about hitting me right in thefeels.
