“Uh... hey, Emmy.” He thrust his hand through his hair. “Can I come in?”
After a second’s hesitation, she nodded and opened the door wider. He followed her inside, but she didn’t offer him a drink, only went behind the counter as if she needed a barrier between them.
There was nothing for him to do but get to the point. “About last night... Emmy, I...”
“How long are you staying in Mistletoe?” she asked.
Her question caught him off guard. “I’ll be leavin’ the day after Mum’s party.”
She took a step back. “Then why...” She drew in a breath and leveled her gaze at him. “Why did you kiss me?”
“Because I wanted to,” he said without pause. “Why did you kiss me?”
Her cheeks reddened, and he would have thought it was cute if the tension between them wasn’t as thick as a castle wall. “Because I wanted to,” she whispered, glancing away.
Kieran moved toward the counter until he was almost leaning against it. “We can make it work, Emmy. Ireland’s not that far away.”
She scoffed. “It’s an ocean away.”
“But there’s plane rides, phone calls, FaceTime.” He could hear the desperate tone in his voice. “You can visit me—”
“And then what?” She held up her hands. “I have a business to run. Mistletoe is my home. I can’t be flying back and forth to Ireland because you don’t want to be here. That’s not fair.”
“I’ll be visitin’ too.”
But she was shaking her head before he finished speaking. “Maybe once. Twice.” Tears sprang in her eyes. “You don’t know how easy it would be for me to give in, Kieran. You were my first...”
His heart squeezed. “Your first what, lass?”
“My first love.” She took in a shaky breath.
He reeled at the news. “I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t. I was Sheryl’s friend. And for one amazing night, I was yours. Problem was, I didn’t want friendship. I wanted more, like I do now. And just like back then, I can’t have it. We were caught up in the festival, and nostalgia. Now it’s back to reality.”
“Emmy, I—”
“I’ve made bad decisions before because I tried to force something that wasn’t there. I can’t... Iwon’tdo it again.” The tears began to roll down her cheeks. “Just go, Kieran. Don’t make it any harder on me than it already is.”
He wanted to dispute everything she said, but he couldn’t. His place was in Ireland, and hers was here. Neither of them would budge on that. And it was selfish of him to start something with her that would eventually end.
Kieran opened the door and walked out into the cold night. He glanced at the candle in the window, and his heart sank in his chest.
Seven
That evening, a knock sounded on Kieran’s door.
“Are you decent?” Mum asked from the other side.
He added the T-shirt he’d just folded into his suitcase, then opened the door. Mum walked in as he went back to packing.
“I just stopped to tell you good night... What are you doing?” she said, alarm in her voice.
“I’ve got an early flight tomorrow morning.” He added his black toiletry bag to the suitcase.
“You’re leaving?”
He turned and looked at her, fighting the ache in his chest. More than once as he drove home from Emmy’s, he’d thought about going back to her, to try to work things out. She was giving up on them before they had a chance. But ultimately, he knew she was right. They lived in different worlds, literally. “I’ve got a business deal I need to tend to,” he said. “I told you about that apartment complex in Dublin—”
