Trying not to smile, I suggested, “Why don’t you just tell him if he says anything bad about your sister again, you can no longer be friends?”
“Aye, but I’m also telling him he’s a turd.”
Heather’s giggle made Taran crack, and she burst into laughter. The really wonderful thing about it was that she turned her cheek into my shoulder to try to hide her amusement. I grinned at the unrestrained intimacy of the moment, my hand dropping to her thigh to give it a quick squeeze.
Hope, fucking awful hope, sprang to life as she lifted her cheek from my shoulder to look up at me, warmth and tenderness in her dark gaze that I hadn’t seen for almost two decades. I wanted to latch on to it, to freeze it in time, a terrifying desperation clawing at me as she turned to grin at Angus.
The magnitude of the task laid before me hit me full force, studying Taran’s profile as she chatted with my children.
I was utterly in love with this woman.
Always had been.
Always would be.
And I knew in that terrifyingknowingthat lived in your very soul that this time between us was my one and only chance to bring us back together.
30.Taran
Being with Quinn’s children was easier than I thought it would be. I’d built it up as some kind of monster in my mind—that they would be this constant reminder of all that had been lost between us.
Yet, it didn’t feel that way for the few hours we spent with them at dinner.
Watching them interact with their father, seeing the bond and love, I knew how right this was. Heather and Angus were meant to be in this world, were meant to be loved by Quinn and Kiera.
It was a bittersweet realization but also profound. It soothed a wound that hadn’t healed for nineteen years, and I hadn’t expected that.
They were also a wonderful distraction, so much so it was difficult to believe that only just this morning someone had attempted to kidnap me.
However, that memory returned after we dropped off the kids at Kiera and Gary’s house—a large bungalow in a leafy, narrow-laned residential area in the hills above the town.
Quinn and I drove in silence back into Oban and parked at his hotel. Despite the immensity of the day, it was like theadrenaline still hadn’t left my system. I booked the last room available, but the thought of heading to it to be alone filled me with dread. So, when Quinn suggested we get a drink in the bar, I followed.
A couple was just getting up from a cozy booth in the back, so I snagged it while Quinn ordered us a couple of NA beers.
I watched him while his back was turned, admiring the length of his body and those broad shoulders. A flush of heat warmed through me and a warning siren went off in my head. When Quinn moved toward the table with drinks in hand, it was easy to dull the siren and let the attraction wash over me instead.
He was so handsome, the sight of him caused a physical ache.
I shimmied over to let him into the booth and though there was plenty of space, he still sat close enough for our legs to touch, for his arm to brush mine every time he reached for his drink.
After asking me how I was after the events of the day, it wasn’t entirely unexpected when Quinn enquired gruffly, “What did Kiera say to you?”
I bit my lip to halt a smile because I knew he’d been stewing on it ever since Kiera trapped me in conversation at the hockey game.
It had been a strange interaction because half of me had wanted to get up and walk away. Every time I looked at her pretty face, the jealousy of knowing she’d had Quinn for all those years was almost overwhelming. But the other half of me needed to know what she had to say.
In the end, I was glad I’d stayed to listen.
My fingers trailed a droplet of liquid as it spilled over my pint glass. “She … Kiera wanted to apologize for her part in what happened between us. She said much the same as you, that she couldn’t remember a lot about that night. But she admitted to not caring much about our breakup.”
Quinn muttered angrily under his breath.
“It’s fine,” I assured him.
“Then why are you refusing to look at me?”
I turned pointedly to look at him. There was fear there but also that tender affection I’d tried to hide from for months. “She said she was just a kid like we were and that it took her a while to realize that it would have been better if you’d co-parented with Heather. That you … you never let her in, that you were distant, and when she realized I wasn’t coming back to Leth Sholas … that’s when she knew how …” I glanced away again. “How much we’d loved each other and how much damage had been caused. She said she was sorry for her part.
