Page 27 of What Love Can Do

“Well, there’s only a handful of bridges in Forestville. One is half rotted, two are for car traffic, and this one—this is the only secluded one, the kind a kid might come to if she wanted to be alone.” Lilly stared out at the bridge, remembering the picnics she shared with her father here. She’d often wanted to ask him why he’d looked so sad, but somehow felt it wasn’t for her to know. So she’d just twirled and pranced and acted goofy just to make him smile, and that had been enough. “My dad and I…we used to come out here,” she confessed. “It was one of his favorite spots. And now that I think about it…that makes sense.”

“What does? What makes sense?” Quinn asked, beginning a slow walk toward the bridge, the closer end of which was shrouded in the heavy shadows of two large oak trees.

He still had no idea that his mother and her father used to be boyfriend and girlfriend—lovers. He had no idea his mother had split up her parents before they were married, that her father might have brought her here because he remembered good times with Maggie, before she left him and ran off with that O’Neill boy from Dublin. Lilly wasn’t sure she was the right person to tell him either.

“Nothing,” she said, stepping onto the bridge, hearing it crackle and creak underneath their weight. “Just that all the town kids have spent time here at some point in their lives.” She walked halfway over the creek and sat, dangling her legs over the roped-off edge. “See? The perfect place for dangling.”

Quinn followed suit and slid his legs off of the edge of the bridge. They faced a beautiful sunset that illuminated the sky in a miasmic swirl of pinks, oranges, and purples. “I can’t believe I’m here. Wow…it’s not the Pacific, but it’s something,” he said, resting his arms against the taut ropes. He cast watery eyes on her and gave her a reaffirming nod. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome, Quinn,” she said and turned to watch the sun fall slowly in the sky. “You want to see the Pacific?”

He nodded. “I know it seems odd, given I’m from Ireland and have seen plenty of water.”

“Or maybe it seems perfectly right. That an Irish boy who’d even consider putting down roots in America for even the shortest of times would still want that soulful connection to the water.”

He stared at her as if she’d just unveiled the secrets of the universe. “I hadn’t consciously thought of it that way, but you’re right. I want to see what the world outside of Ireland has to offer, yet I want a bit of familiarity, too. Maybe that’s why being here feels a little like being home. Maybe that’s why Mam was able to settle in Ireland so easily.”

She nodded. “Makes sense. So you’d visit the water often then?”

“Not as much as Con, but one of my favorite places was about forty minutes from Dublin, a pretty little fishing village by the name of Howth that had amazing views of the Irish Sea. I’d take the DART, walk the pier out to the lighthouse, explore St. Mary’s Abbey above the village. On Sunday, the town held a farmer’s market, and I’d buy produce for The Cranky Yankee.”

She laughed with delight. “Your family restaurant?”

He nodded.

“So you helped run it?”

“After my father died, yes. About two years before Mam passed.” He stared out at the creek, a sudden faraway look in his gaze, and she knew grief had taken hold of him again.

Reaching out, she took his hand. “I’m sorry. Losing both your parents so soon. It can’t be easy.”

He smiled, lifted her hand to kiss it the way he’d done the night before, then released it. “No. Not easy. But the truth is, my family’s suffered quite a few tragedies in Dublin. That’s why I think it will do all of us good, my three other brothers included, to get away for a while.”

She blinked. “But you said you’re only planning on staying a week. I mean, I know you said you might stay on longer but are your other brothers planning on joining you at some point?”

“It’s more that I’m hoping they will. You see, Brady, Sean and Riley are more tied to Dublin, and are needing a bit of convincing to leave, even for a brief time. That’s partially why I’m here. To get the lay of the land, and determine if this is what Mam would have really wanted. To come back here. Home to Green Valley.”

“Sorry. I’m not following.”

“Based on what I’ve read of Mam’s journal, I want to spread part of her ashes here in Green Valley. Despite some reluctance on their part, my brothers will come around to that, provided I’m sure, after seeing this place, that it’s what Mam would have wanted.”

“And what do you think so far?”

“I think she would. I’m not as spiritual as Con, but even I can feel her here. And Con’s said the same thing. This is where she’d want to be, and we all want to do right by her.”

“You will, Quinn. I’ve no doubt of that.”

He smiled. Then, clearly feeling overcome with emotion and needing to get the conversation back on safer territory, he gestured to the basket she’d brought with her. “Planning to seduce me with more of your sweets, Lil? Because I assure you, it’s not necessary. I’m already at your mercy.”

God, how she wished that were true. “Okay,” she said, picking up the basket. “I’ll just take this back and—”

He snatched the basket away from her. “Now, now. Let’s not be hasty. I said it wasn’t necessary, but it’s certainly most appreciated. Seems I’m always hungry around you.”

His comment had its intended effect, making her shiver with desire, but she forced herself to say, “Let’s eat before it gets too dark.”

Opening her basket, she offered him a variety of leftovers from their kitchen, still mostly fresh, and he delighted in eating them but only if Lilly fed them to him—first with her hands, then using only her mouth. When she tried passing a slice of dilled cucumber using only her lips, he took it but it fumbled and fell to the planks.

“Agh, see what a mess you made? Let me get that,” he said, eyeing her chin. “You have a cucumber seed right there.” And then his tongue was sliding slowly across her chin, as he lapped up the seed, if in fact there was even a seed. She rather hoped he was only making that up so he could run his tongue across her.

---