"What does it say about me?"
"That you're like no other woman I've ever been with. Seriously, Ray, you've got me out of my fucking mind."
She snuggled against me again. "That's good because I'm terrified, Ronan. I've never felt like this with anyone."
I tightened my arms around her.
nineteen
. . .
Rachel
"That table is so clean, I think I could see myself," Nora quipped. She followed the comment with a loud clatter as she loudly set down a tray of salt and pepper shakers.
I was flustered enough by her comment that I spilled the bowl with the sugar packets. Nora chuckled as she walked over to help me pick up the sugar. She glanced out the window, the same window I'd been staring out. "Yep, I see what caught your attention."
Ronan was unloading cinder blocks from the back of a truck. It was a cool day, but the heavy labor had caused him to strip down to just a T-shirt. Sweat made the thin cotton material to stick to his skin. Everything about him made my body pulse with electricity. We'd both been working a lot, but we'd managed in our few week relationship to find short spurts of time to be together.
"I seem to remember my good friend Rachel insisting that she had no interest in the very fine-looking construction worker because she was no longer dating." Nora handed me a few packets of sugar.
"Did I say that?" I asked teasingly. "I should have prefaced that by saying unless someone truly amazing happens to walk into my life."
Nora held up her hand. "Stop. I'm already so jealous I want to chew a hole through my tongue." She sighed. "Is he as amazing inallaspects of life?" she asked with a suggestive head tilt. Her hand shot up again. "Nope. Never mind. Of course, he is, or you would have already told him to pack up his hammer and nails and move on." She reached over and squeezed my hand. "I'm happy for you, my friend. You deserve nothing but the best. How is he with Jack? If he's not good with him then I say use him for his hot body for a few months and send him packing. Preferably my direction."
Before I could answer she sighed and frowned. "Oh, he's great with Jack too, isn't he?"
"Jack wakes up asking about his best friend Ronan."
Nora hugged me. "I'm so happy for you."
"If only the rest of my life were going as smoothly as my love life," I said. "The increase in rent is taking anything extra I had. That pittance was going into a savings account for a small house somewhere on the edge of town. Instead, the extra is going to stay inside that same little apartment, and next year we'll have to move for sure."
"Nothing ever seems to get easier in life, does it?" She patted the pocket on her apron. "I bought a few lottery tickets this morning. And if I become a multimillionaire, I promise to buy you and Jack that house." Nora started placing refilled salt and pepper shakers on the tables. I helped her.
Carol walked through with her purse. "I'm off to get this rotten tooth taken care of. Thanks again for closing up, Rachel."
"Good luck with the tooth," I called back to her.
"She's been so grumpy this week because of that tooth," Nora noted.
"Well, a toothache sucks. But yeah, she has been. Well, I'm going to have a glass of tea and take a break. I can finish up here if you want to head out."
"You sure?" Nora was already untying her apron.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Love ya." She hurried to the back to change. I walked to the kitchen to pour myself some iced tea. I returned to the window to watch Ronan finish his task of moving bricks. He paused as he felt me watching him. He turned back. We stared at each other for a second, then a white smile flashed across his face, and he held up his gloved hand. I waved back and blew him a kiss.
"Your phone was ringing," Nora said as she scurried through to the exit.
"Thanks. See you tomorrow."
I hurried to the locker room. My phone was no longer ringing. It was a missed call from Mom, and she hadn't left a message. I called her right back. She answered with a sniffle.
"Mom? What's wrong? Is it your chest?"
"Yes," she sniffled. "I mean no," she said abruptly. "It's fine. I'm fine, but the medical bill came." She sniffled again. "Oh, Ray, what are we going to do? The insurance barely covered anything. We owe sixteen thousand dollars."