Page 92 of Not Another Yesterday
My stomach drops.Oh god. She’s even prettier than I imagined.
She’s petite, but there’s a quiet confidence in the way she rides—the fluidity of her posture, her sure grip on the reins. I scan her face: big, ocean-blue eyes fringed with lashes, a delicate nose, pouty lips.
That jealous monster in my chest jerks to life as though awoken by storm sirens. But I force it back into hibernation; it’s just one more thing I’ve learned about myself over these past few months, one more thing I realized was preventing me from giving an unadulterated version of myself to Ronan. Jealousy. The need for control, to be so in tune with every aspect of him because I feared he’d abandon me. Except my failure to leave him be, to trust that he was doing what was best for him in the moment, that he loved me and wouldn’t purposely hurt me, totally backfired.
It only dawned on me recently that Miranda isn’t a threat. Never was a threat. And if I had stopped to truly listen to Ronan, had chosen to believe him in all the ways he told and showed me he loved me, then maybe, just maybe, things would be different.
Miranda pulls her horses up to the truck. “Hello, sir. Long time no see!” she says in that soulful voice I’ve heard before.
“I know!” Steve says. “Feels like it’s been forever.”
“I mean, it kinda has been. What, like four years? You’re like… a total man now,” she says, then laughs. “I was actually just telling Rony about how you Soult guys are, like, really hot.”
Steve chuckles, clearly unsure what to do with that.
“What are you up to? Trying to find Rony?” she asks.
“Nope. Just giving Cat here a tour of the ranch.” He leans back slightly, shifting in his seat to give me center stage. “Randi, this is Cat. Cat, this is Randi.” His voice is wound like a bowstring, ready to snap.
I raise my hand in a greeting.
“Holy shit,” Miranda breathes. She looks… genuinely stunned. “Rony’s feline? Jesus, you’re even more beautiful in person than in the pictures I’ve seen of you.” Her tone is so earnest, so void of sarcasm or disdain, that it renders me momentarily speechless. My body reacts, though, just like it always does at compliments. I could fry an egg on my face.
“Nice to meet you,” I say.
“Nice to meet you, too,” she says boisterously. She’s so opposite to me. I met her two seconds ago and already know her personality is gargantuan.“Jesus, it’s so weird to actually see you in person. I’ve been hearing about you forever now,” she says, her eyes wide. “Nice to know Rony didn’t just invent you,” she giggles, making me smile.
“Nah, Cat’s very much a real person,” Steve chuckles. “Have you seen my little brother?”
“Last time I saw him he was getting ready to head to the airport to pick up his best boyfriend,” she says, smirking.
“Okay, good,” Steve says.
Miranda raises her eyebrows, briefly glancing at me before her eyes settle on Steve again. “You’re trying to avoid him?”
Steve takes on a sheepish expression. “Well, just for now, I guess.”
“Huh.” She considers that for a beat, then nods. “Well, have a good tour then.” Her eyes swing back to me. “I’ll see you later, Cat-like-the-feline.” She grins at me, gives her horse a squeeze with her legs, and continues on her ride.
“She’s nice,” I say. “And really beautiful.”
“Yeah,” Steve says simply, shifting the truck back into drive.
“She calls Ronan ‘Rony?’”
Steve laughs. “Yeah. She has for as long as I can remember. And he fucking hates it.”
“Does she know he hates it?”
“Fuck yeah she does. I think she does itespeciallybecause he hates it. Randi is just… Randi. She’s not great with other people’s boundaries. Sometimes that’s good, other times not so much.”
Ronan
“Hello, hello!” my grandmother chirps as she emerges from the house. Correction, she darts straight past me to welcome Shane, Tori, and Seamus the second we clamber out of the truck this afternoon. Gotta admit, my best friend’s arrival makes my visit to the ranch even better than usual.
I just stand there while my grandma pulls first Tori, then Shane into her arms like she’s met them hundreds of times.
“You have no idea how wonderful it is to finally see you again, Shane!” she says. Are those tears in her eyes?Good god. So sappy.“I always hear so much about you.”
