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We stayed joined until my legs and arms wouldn’t let me hold her any longer. I kissed her forehead and helped her get dressed again. I wondered if it would always be this way between us, out of control and intense, a need so great neither of us could control it.
Tucking myself back into my jeans, I turned to her, catching her waist. “I love you,” I murmured.
Her satisfied grin inflated my ego more than a sold-out stadium chanting my name. “I love you too.”
“Hey, Pops. Thanks for making time for me.” He and I sat across from each other at his kitchen table the next evening, overflowing bowls of ice cream sundaes in front of us.
He scooped up a spoonful, his eyes rolling back in his head the second he tasted the creamy ice cream, chocolate sauce, brownie crumble, and banana slices. “You said it was important. And if you’re giving me a full-fat sundae, I can assume you’re bribing me.”
I grinned. Dad looked good, I had to admit. I would never understand his attraction to Mona, but she’d somehow been good for him. He was back to driving and thankfully hadn’t had any further accidents. Mona got him out walking every day and he’d gotten her to embrace some of the responsibilities of motherhood that she’d shirked all those years Kenna was growing up on her own.
“I’m definitely bribing you.” I placed my spoon down and leaned forward. “I’d like to ask for Mom’s wedding ring.”
Dad’s spoon clattered into the bowl, and when he scraped his chair back, there were tears in his eyes. He came around the table and nearly tackled me with his hug. He smacked my back so hard my teeth rattled.
“I’ve been praying for this day, son.” He pulled back and removed his glasses to swipe at his eyes. “I’ll be right back.”
He lumbered out of the room and came back just moments later, as if he’d known right where to look for the ring he’d given his wife decades before. He held it aloft, gazing at it fondly.
It was gold and simple, a traditional Irish claddagh ring. I’d already picked out an over-the-top diamond engagement ring that would make the diamond tennis bracelet Justin bought his mistress look like costume jewelry, but I wanted to give Kenna my mother’s wedding ring too. I wore Kenna’s good luck charm around my neck, and I wanted my family’s traditional ring on Kenna’s finger in return.
“May you and Kenna have all the love your mother and I had.” Dad kissed the ring and handed it to me, tears blurring both of our vision. I took the ring and gazed at it, remembering it from when I’d snoop through Dad’s things as a child. I didn’t have a memory of it on my mother’s hand, but knowing it had been there was enough. “Your mother would have loved Kenna like her own daughter. She and I both approve.”
I stood and hugged my father, both of us fighting back emotions for different reasons. Grief left a hole in the fabric of a family. Time didn’t heal the wound, but it made it livable. Choosing to keep on living and loving was the best gift we could offer our loved ones who were gone. It wasn’t easy to keep going and Pops and I had definitely stalled out for a long time there, but we were back on track. I knew Mom would be proud.
After we finished our ice cream sundaes and I’d gotten home, the ring hidden safely in my pocket, Kenna met me at the door. Excitement radiated from her.
“What did you do?” I asked wearily, only slightly teasing. Kenna was always doing something to the house these days. It was like the renovation switch had been flipped and she couldn’t flip it back off.
“I put up new artwork.”
I squinted at her, trying to figure out why she looked so damn pleased with herself. She started walking away, crooking her finger for me to follow. Considering she was wearing those cutoff jean shorts I loved so much, I followed gladly. Until she got to the wall across from the glass slider to the back patio. She pointed to an eight-by-ten frame and I nearly swallowed my tongue. It was the cover of the magazine that had interviewed me out in New York.
There I was, in all my worn-jeans-and-T-shirt glory, tanned skin with white wrinkles fanning out from the corners of my eyes from years of fishing on my boat. Add in a grin I was trying to hide beneath the bill of my hat and a sensational headline about my disappearance from the music scene ten years ago. My story was truly out there for public consumption.
Oddly, I didn’t feel panicked anymore. I knew I’d have another wave of tourists coming through town just to try to catch sight of me. I’d probably have to lie low for another few months, but I didn’t mind running into fans and posing for pictures. The fame didn’t scare me any longer. I knew I was strong enough not to be bullied into getting back into performing. My life was here, with Kenna, a co-owner of a local boat club.
“A courier dropped off the magazine this evening.” Kenna pulled a copy of the magazine off the coffee table and handed it to me. “I’m so proud of you.”
I pulled her into my arms and tugged her to the couch where we read the article together. Kenna gasped as she read the part about wanting the woman I loved to be proud of me.
“You loved me even then?” Kenna asked, snuggling closer.
I put the magazine down and gave her my full attention. “I loved you long before then. I was just too scared to admit it. That interview was for you.” Sheepishly, I shrugged. “Well, it was for me too. It was a way to show you I was serious about us. I wanted to come clean with the world. Put the past behind us so we could move forward and have a future.”
“I am proud of you, you know,” Kenna repeated, love shining in her pretty blue eyes.
I squeezed my arm around her tighter. “And I’m proud of you. Your example of putting your life together again was what motivated me to do the same.”
Kenna smiled. “We both gave ourselves a second chance.”
“Exactly. Let’s not waste it.”
Kenna climbed into my lap and we spent the rest of the evening lost in each other.
Epilogue
Kenna
