“Because I know he caught the perfect shot. I could tell by the way he looked at the screen after he took it.”
“It couldn’t just be that he was looking at the two gorgeous women?”
I ignore that. “I could tell. Not because of who we are, but because of what he saw between us.”
Ronan is staring at me. That sounded weird as hell.
“Sometimes you take a picture that you never thought was going to have the impact that it does. It makes you pause for a moment, knowing you’ve taken a beautiful image, captured a perfect moment.”
He stares at me, trying to figure me out, no doubt. We can’t have that.
“The picture,” I prompt.
He jolts himself out of whatever trance he’d gone into. “I can do that. But I’m changing the terms.”
“This isn’t a contract negotiation.”
“Everything is a negotiation. It keeps us on our toes.”
“What do you want?”
His eyes dip to my mouth, a look that has me desperate to shift in the seat.
“One song, and your number.”
“Any number?”
“Your trouble, Cora. Serious trouble.”
“You don’t know the half of it, Ronan. You need to be careful.”
He grins again. “Careful is my middle name.”
Why does that seem like the first untruth he’s told since he sat down beside me?
ronan
. . .
The party is winding down,thank fuck. I wanted to leave about two hours ago, but I couldn’t do that to Brandon. Not that I’ve had much time to talk to my brother. His new wife has monopolized most of his time.
Usually, I wouldn’t be bitter about that. Funny how overhearing an out of context conversation, and a fifteen-minute chat with the woman of my dreams, has me questioning my new in-law.
She’s been giving me funny looks most of the night. Partly because I called her Franny in my speech, which will be forever memorialized in her wedding video. I felt kinda bad about it for a short while.
After Cora and her sister left, I slipped away from the main crowd and kept to myself, or the few people I trust.
And I watched Franny, trying to figure her out. I never would have spotted it before, but I see it now and then. Thatpinch of something distasteful in her expressions, a judgmental frown or fake smile.
I have to give her the benefit of the doubt, she married my brother after all. Unless he falls out of love with her, she’s a fixture now.
At least one good thing came out of today. Cora gave me her card. It was only after she was gone I realized it didn’t have her personal number on there, but it had her business number, email, and address. She was trying to make a point while giving me what I asked for. I’m not even mad about it.
She also chose two songs for the mixtape. Both I’ve never heard before. ‘Dancing With Tears in My Eyes’ by Ultravox and ‘Shallow Tears’ by Light Asylum. There is a theme there but I’m not sure yet what it means.
It’s a simple process to record digital music on a cassette tape. As the sound manager at the recording studio can attest to. I’d be lost without him.
I’m itching to go listen to the two songs she chose. I like she picked something obscure. At least to me.
