Ronan shrugged, “Sure. Spent a few hours atmy parent’s house on Sunday morning. Went for a drive up the coastafterwards. The area sure has grown since I moved away.”
Payson smiled, leaning against the nearlycompleted shelf closest to her. “It’s nice to get out and justdrive sometimes. Make any stops?”
Continuing to sip his coffee while he set outthe tools he’d need to get started, he replied almost cheerfully,“Nah. I just wanted the view, the air. You make that drivemuch?”
Her heart did a little flutter as he activelyengaged in casual conversation with her and asked after herinterests. The open, fun Ronan was shining through more and more.“Whenever I can. Especially in summer; I like to put the top downand just feel the wind washing over me, feel the car hugging thecurves.”
Ronan nodded as he laid out the plans he’dsketched.
Payson’s mind kept tripping up on something.Watching Ronan’s lips, she could almost feel the heat against her,feel the scratch of his beard. More intensely than the brief teasehe’d given her Saturday. She could almost feel his body pressed upagainst her backside, moving with her to the rhythm, hands grippingher hips. The memories were so vivid, she was overwhelmed bysensation.
Before she could make too much of a fool ofherself, before she started drooling, Payson abruptly changed thesubject, “Well, I won’t keep distracting you. I’ll just, uh, goopen up the shop for the day.” Turning on one foot, she skedaddledtoward the front of the shop.
~
Listening to Ronan hammering away, Paysonapologized to her one customer of the day for the noise. “I’d loveto see what you make with the bottles; email me a picture so I canpost it to the website.” The customer happily left with acollection of pirate-era glass rum bottles.
Since Saturday, Payson had been floating andsmiling when no one was looking. Ronan was still a grouch, but lessand less so every day. No further action, unfortunately. Shedesperately wanted to taste him again, feel his breath mix withhers.
Despite the improvement in his demeanor, he’dbeen painfully standoffish. Like he was avoiding letting her in anyfurther. His mother had brought them lunch, but he’d eaten quicklythen found an excuse to run errands. Actually, every time she triedto spend any time with him the last few days, he’d found an excuseto not be around her.
Flipping on her computer, she sat on herstool at the register to update the shop website to distractherself. Getting sucked in, playing with different arrangements ofthe latest photos and reviews from customers, she didn’t notice avisitor approaching her store. The jingling bells on the doormanaged to interrupt her deep concentration. Turning from hercomputer screen to greet her customer, she was startled to see herolder sister standing in front of her. Eyes red and puffy.
“Jen, are you ok? What are you doing all theway up here in Seaview?” She walked around the counter to greet hersister.
Jen sniffled briefly, holding back her tears.“I should have called first, I’m sorry. It’s just… I didn’t knowwhere else to go.”
Fearing the worst, Payson wrapped her armsaround her sister. “What’s going on? The kids are ok? Cara isok?”
“The kids are fine. Cara is fine, at least Iassume she is as I haven’t heard from her in a few weeks.” Shestarted blubbering again. “Tony and I got into a big fight. Hiswork wants to transfer him to Colorado, and he expects me and thekids to pack up and move our lives.” Jen pulled away, pacing backand forth.
Payson cringed as her sister flung her armswildly in the air as Jen’s sadness turned to fury, fearing she’dknock over one of the more fragile displays. She’d seen her sisterthis upset more than a few times. Having learned her lesson earlyon, it was best to let it run its course, else she direct it atPayson. Apparently, throwing things while angry was a familytrait.
Jen continued in her rant as Payson lookedfor her opportunity to move the conversation to a safer location.“What about my job? I love working at the museum. What about thekids? It’s the middle of the school year; we’re not just packing upand moving across the country.”
Payson hated to see her sister so upset.More, she hated the idea of her family moving even further away. Itwas hard enough to see them in Boston more than a few times a year.“Have you told him how you feel?”
Snapping back, her sister continued hertirade, just missing a 19thcentury crystal vase. “Ofcourse I’ve told him. His job pays better, the schools are better,won’t it be great for the kids to learn to ski and hike and allthat nature crap.”
Not wanting to stir the pot, but knowing hersister needed to talk it through, Payson risked interrupting topropose a change in venue. “Jen, can you hang on just a moment; I’mgoing to see if I can have Ronan run the shop for a while so we cango upstairs and chat. I’ll make some tea, and we can have someprivacy.”
Confused, her sister looked at her, “Who’sRonan? What happened to Natalie?”
Well, Payson wasn’t quite sure how to explainRonan. “Natalie’s working full time at the art gallery now. Ronanis… a friend. He’s helping out for a bit.”
Hoping her sister wouldn’t knock anythingover in another tirade, or scare away any customers, Payson draggedher along to the back room. Ronan was bent over the table top he’djust finished and was using it as a desk to sketch out the drawersand shelves he’d promised. “Ronan, can I interrupt you for aminute?”
Looking up from his drawings, he offered asweet smile before he remembered he was supposed to be actingaloof, “What’s up?”
“This is my sister, Jen. Jen, this isRonan.”
Jen faked a smile, but her heart wasn’t init. “Hi.” She managed between sniffles.
“Would you mind watching the front for a bit?I need to talk to my sister.” Her eyes glanced meaningfully in thedirection of her sister, hoping he’d catch the urgent family dramasituation, so she wouldn’t have to explain her melodramatic sisterjust yet.
She didn’t know what to expect, having neverasked him to watch the shop before. He’d helped with a lot of theheavy lifting but had never had to deal with customers or theregister before. He responded with a concerned, “Of course. Do youhave a minute to show me the basics?”
Grateful, Payson asked her sister to hang ona minute. “Yeah, come on up.”
