“Eventually they must have realized you were made for each other, though.”

“Aye. Got married in that bar the day she turned eighteen, and then there was nothing anyone could do to keep us apart.” He winks. “And grandbabies have a way of making people come around no matter what. We did every little thing together. She was my entire world for more than sixty years.”

“I can see that.” I flip to the next page and find more pictures of a teenage Dottie in various stages of laughter.

He clears his throat. “She had a heart condition. Born with it, and there wasn’t a thing we could do to fix it. Despite that she loved damn hard, and you couldn’t stop her from doing things she wanted to because she always said life was too short to be afraid of the end.”

“Sounds like a smart woman.”

“She was damn smart. Would’ve been some Wall Street working woman if she’d been born a few decades later. She’s the one who kept The Knight Cap going all those years. She made me promise if something happened to her that I’d stick around to make sure our boy Ronan got himself settled.”

“There’s that big heart you’re talking about.”

“Aye. She loved that boy like he was her own, ’specially after Jim and Cindy’s accident. Broke all of our hearts, but Ronan’s the most, I think. He’s a lot like me, needs a partner even if he’s done his damnedest to avoid it since we lost his parents.” He shakes his head, like he’s breaking himself out of a sad spell. “Anyway, the moment I heard about you giving him hell I thought: There she is, the reason he’s back here with me. She’s the woman who’s going to settle his restless soul.”

“Restless soul? He seems pretty settled here.”

“Now he is,” Gramps agrees. “But when he was younger he had a hard time staying in one place. He was always on the move. Even when he was in college, he took on a million things. Except for when he had a girlfriend.”

“Did he have a lot of girlfriends?”

Gramps gives me a sly look. “That I met? No. But you better believe Ronan was serious when he brought a lady to a family event like this one.”

“So you’ve met a few girlfriends then?” Ronan hasn’t even mentioned an ex, although I’m sure there must have been some along the way.

“Only one, other than you.”

“What happened?” I wave the question away. “You don’t need to answer that. It’s personal and I’m just curious.”

“It’s okay.” He pats my hand. “Ronan isn’t likely to talk about it, but it might help you understand him better. After his parents passed, he transferred colleges between his sophomore and junior year. I think his heart was already too broken, and he didn’t want to risk it getting any more mangled than it was, so he found a way to end things without causing either of them too much heartache.”

“That couldn’t have been easy for either of them.”

“It wasn’t, but he put all of his energy into school and working at the bar. He went on dates, but it never got serious, which was hard to watch, because Ronan has a big heart, and he needs someone who’s going to take care of it.” He winks and squeezes my hand. “Someone like you.”

We don’t leave Ronan’s grandfather’s until late in the afternoon.

“That was so much fun.” I buckle myself in. “Your family is so…normal.”

“I don’t know if I’d exactly call us normal, but I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”

“I had a fantastic time. Your brothers are great, and I can see why you and Henry are so close. He really loves you, you know.”

Ronan nods. “Yeah. I’m pretty lucky to have him.”

“That bar is so special to him. He has so many fantastic memories all caught up in that place, it’s a wonder he let you renovate.”

“Well, it helps that I made the suggestions a few years back and Grams had been on board. Gramps had a harder time with the possible changes because of how much of his heart is tied up in the place.”

“I can see how that would be difficult. What do think is going to happen to The Knight Cap once you start your brewery?” It’s heartbreaking to think of that legacy coming to an end.

“I don’t know. I’m hopeful Lars will take more of an interest in the management side of things, but he’s young yet, so we’ll see.” He taps the steering wheel, his expression hard to read, but it softens quickly. “We should stop and grab your SUV, shouldn’t we?”

“Oh yes! That’s a good idea, then I don’t have to worry about how I’m getting to work in the morning.”

He pulls into the lot behind the building and parks beside my SUV, tapping the wheel restlessly. “It’s still early, did you want to come back to my place?”

“Or you could come back to mine?” My apartment isn’t as nice as Ronan’s, but it’s cute and homey and a few minutes closer so getting up and out in the morning won’t be as much of a challenge.

“I could definitely do that.” His gaze moves over me in a slow sweep. “I haven’t quite had my fill of you yet, today.”

“I feel exactly the same way.” I lean over and kiss him on the cheek. “See you back at my place, then.”

chapter eighteen

Purse Strings

Blaire

Wow, you’re in a good mood,” Daphne observes the next morning. “It’s almost like you’ve got the post-laid afterglow going on.”

I stop writing the daily special on the chalkboard to look at her.

Her eyes go wide. “Holy hell! You did get laid!”

I slap her arm. “I don’t think the people outside heard you!”

She rushes toward the front door. I’m not sure if she’s kidding or actually planning to scream it down the street, but I chase after her and slide my body in front of the door before she can open it and shout my private information to the world.

She rolls her eyes. “I wasn’t really going to tell the entire neighborhood, you loon. What the hell happened?” She grabs me by the shoulders. “Oh my God, you slept with Ronan, didn’t you?”

Judging by her expression, I don’t need to respond with words.

“You did! How did that happen?”

“Well, Daphne, when a man and a woman get naked—”

She waves her hand in the air to stop me. “Don’t be sarcastic. I mean, I guess it was bound to happen because you two have turned bickering into foreplay, but what happened to make it finally happen?”

“Mistletoe.”

“Mistletoe?”

“He kissed me under the mistletoe at midnight on New Year’s.”

Her face falls. “That’s actually romantic.”

“Why do you look so disappointed?”

“Because I assumed you two would get into an argument and end up hate fucking each other or something. But that just sounds sweet.”

“If it makes you feel better, he’s a bit of a dirty talker.”

Her expression is a mix of surprise and glee. “He is not!”