“Never.”
“Do you like cats, though?”
“I don’t not like them.”
“Well, I suppose that’s a good enough answer.” She nudged him playfully. “I don’t think we could see each other again if you didn’t like my cats.”
Flynn’s eyes darted to hers, and for a moment, they just stared at each other. “I’m sure I would like them quite a lot,” he said finally. But he’d probably never get the chance to meet them, a point she had just inadvertently driven home for both of them.
“Anyway, tell me what I’m looking at.” She gestured to the screen in front of her, where she could see blueprints for the house he was designing, hoping to diffuse the suddenly melancholy mood between them.
“I have to go to Dubai, Ruby,” he said quietly.
“I know you do. And I have to go home to Virginia.”
“I wish it weren’t that way.”
“Me too.” She threaded her fingers through his, remembering her thoughts from the park. “But we’ve come a long way since we met, when we thought we’d only get that one day together in London. Maybe we should try to find an excuse to see each other again after we go home.”
“I’m not sure it would be wise,” he said, eyes downcast.
“No?”
“I’m a man who’s always on the move, Ruby. I don’t think I could make a long-distance relationship work.”
She forced a smile. Where were these feelings coming from anyway? She’d barely started thinking about the possibility of a long-distance relationship, but now that she’d thrown the idea out there and he’d rejected it, she felt a crushing disappointment. “Maybe I just meant we could stay friends. But anyway, show me the house.”
Flynn leaned in, pointing to the screen. “This is a two-story, contemporary style home, but I wanted to incorporate the feel of the area.” He clicked the mouse, bringing up a gallery of photos. “See these pictures? This is the home site in the Wye River Valley in Wales.”
“Wow.” The home site itself was wooded, overlooking a lush green valley, which sloped down to the river at the bottom. Its hillsides were dotted with quaint little houses. “It’s stunning.”
“I thought so too. I wanted to make sure Aidan’s house maximized his views of the valley and also blended in with its surroundings.” He spent the next thirty minutes showing her every detail, from the floor-to-ceiling windows in the master bedroom to the enormous deck overlooking the valley. His final rendering showed a house built of a reddish wood with white trim, rustic and almost antique-looking, while also undeniably sleek and modern in its design.
“Flynn, this is really something. I mean…not that I doubted your talents or anything, but you’ve created something really unique and beautiful, and from what you’ve told me, it also suits exactly what Aidan’s looking for.”
A wide smile broke over Flynn’s face, so unabashedly pleased and proud that it melted her heart into a gooey lovesick mess inside her chest. “You really think so?”
“I do. It’s amazing.”You should be doing this full time instead of overseeing the construction of hotels that all look exactly the same. But it wasn’t her place to tell him what he should do with his life. After all, family ties were important and strong, and only Flynn could decide if and when to break free of them.
She returned to the couch, buzzing with a kind of restless energy that had been building inside her over the last day or two. She really needed something to do now that she was starting to feel better, or she was going to go crazy cooped up in this apartment.
“I went shopping while you were asleep,” Flynn said, closing his laptop and joining her on the couch.
“Oh yeah? What’s for dinner?”
“Not that kind of shopping.” He reached into a paper bag beside the couch and pulled out a Nintendo Switch.
Ruby gaped at him and then at the gaming console in his hands. “You bought a Switch?”
“Yes. I thought you could show me how to play.”
“Really?” She couldn’t contain the grin she felt spreading across her face.
“I was curious after hearing you talk about video games.” He handed her the box, shamelessly letting her take the lead in setting it up.
Thirty minutes later, they were seated side by side, each holding a joy-con while she kicked his butt in Mario Kart. She laughed until her lungs ached when Flynn got taken out by a Goomba. God, she’d missed this so much. She hadn’t even realized how much until the console was back in her hands.
“Oh no.” He threw his hands in the air as his cart spun out on the track, but he was smiling. “I’m rubbish at this game.”
