Page 76 of Verses Of Us

“That’s a wedding ring, isn’t it?” Ciarán asked, nodding at her hand.

Alexis glanced down at her fingers. As she often did when anxious, she’d been spinning the gold band around her fourth finger absentmindedly. She fisted her hands, dropping them to her lap.

“No, not exactly. I mean, yes, it’s a wedding ring, but it’s not…” Exasperated with how nervous she was, she grimaced. “Sorry, yes. It’s a wedding ring, but I’m not married. Not anymore.”

“But you were married?”

A wave of sadness mixed with anger flickered through his eyes. He ran his thumb up and down his pint, drawing a line through the droplets on his glass. Then he lifted his gaze, his eyes wandering over her face before settling on her lips. The connection still tethered between them intensified, like a string that had always been there, even with miles between them. A tether stretched to its breaking point.

“Yeah, in 2016.” Alexis sipped her drink. “And we got divorced, oh, about two years ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Lex.”

“Don’t be.” She waved a hand in the air. “Honestly, I’m surprised we lasted that long.” She laughed, but it sounded sad. Her eyes drifting toward a new couple sitting further down from them at the bar. The man whispered something into his date’s ear. Alexis saw the rings on their fingers and hoped they were happily married. And to each other.

“Why do you keep wearing it?”

She breathed out a long sigh, returning her attention to Ciarán.

“As a deterrent.” Ciarán’s confused expression made her laugh. “I like pretending. It makes things… easier. Men stay away when they see it.”

Ciarán laughed into his beer. “And you want men to stay away?”

Her smile faded. “I’ve grown cautious over the years. And my marriage, well, it was a bunch of wasted time that has, I guess, soured my view of…” Again, she stopped herself from saying too much. Why was she so comfortable and wanting to divulge everything to him?

“Your view of love?” he said, reading her thoughts. She nodded. “That’s a shame. If anyone deserves to be loved, it’s a woman like you.”

The warmth in his voice made her tighten her thighs. “A woman like me?”

He shrugged, fixing his gaze on his glass. “You know, someone with beauty that goes deeper than the surface.” He paused, as if considering his words. “That pierces through a man’s soul with one glance. And a voice that warms up the iciest of hearts.”

She snorted, unable to keep it in, but couldn’t ignore the way her heart fluttered and the heat that spread across her skin like wildfire. “Didn’t I hear that in a song once?”

“I haven’t written it. Yet.” He nudged her shoulder with his.

“Thank you,” she whispered, hiding behind her glass.

“For?”

“What you said. I guess I forgot how much your words used to help. How they made me feel.”

The bartender wiped the counter clean. They drank quietly, watching him work. Even with all the unspoken words bogging her down, Alexis didn’t know what else to say.

“It’s funny I bumped into you today,” Ciarán said after a long pause. “I mean, other than us both being in Dublin at the same time. You popped into my head yesterday.”

“Did I?” She feigned surprise. He’d been on her mind ever since her feet touched the Irish ground. No, that wasn’t quite right. Even when she booked her trip months ago, she’d thought of nothing but him. Constantly.

“Yeah. I was thinking about… us.” He turned on his stool, his heated gaze stealing her breath away. In the past, that look led her to make mistakes she still regretted. “The fun we used to have.”

She twisted her mouth, noticing how she kept working her fingers through her ponytail. “Fun. That’s a good way of putting it.”

“How would you?”

Tumultuous. Highly emotional. Destructive.

So many words sprang to mind, bound by the anger she wanted to feel, the hurt she knew was hiding somewhere behind a wall of longing that spread through her limbs.

“Intense?” she offered.

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