Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
K ate
Jessie waves her hand in the air to get my attention, so I walk down the sidewalk to where she’s sitting outside on this beautiful June day. After spending nearly six months together touring Europe, I was worried we might never want to speak to one another again, but thankfully, our trip only made our friendship stronger.
“I ordered you a diet Coke. Why do you look like you just lost your favorite purse? What’s wrong?” she asks as she removes her bag from my chair so I can sit.
“Nothing. Well, nothing I want to talk about. What’s new?” I ask and then burst into laughter. “That was stupid. I just spent half a year with you, and I’ve only been away from you for like twenty-four hours.”
She smiles, making her slightly round face grow wider. “Just something we always say. But seriously, what’s wrong? Did your parents not like the gift you bought them from our trip?”
I wave away that idea and pick up the menu from my plate. “No, they loved the dish from Spain, just like I knew they would. It’s something else. Ronan.”
Jessie’s eyes get wide. “The Ronan, as in your first love and the only guy you’ve ever wanted to be with in your entire life? That Ronan?”
Clearly, I’ve talked about him more than I thought.
“Yeah, I guess. Ronan King. My first boyfriend. He was in an accident while we were gone. On New Year’s Eve, in fact. Some drunk driver hit him and messed him up pretty badly.”
“Head injury? Jeez, that’s rough. I had a cousin who was in a bad car accident, and when he came out of the coma, he was never the same again.”
I think about what she’s saying and shake my head. “I don’t think he was in a coma. Actually, I don’t know. By the way he was acting today when I saw him, maybe. He didn’t even seem like the same person I knew and loved once upon a time.”
That makes her smile. “I love how you get so romantic whenever you talk about him. Once upon a time. It sounds like a fairy tale.”
I scan the menu to find something I might like before the server comes over. “It was like a fairy tale being with Ronan. He was sweet and sexy, and I thought we’d be together forever.”
Jessie’s heard the story of how things ended with Ronan, so she finishes my thought for me. “And then he cheated on you, broke your heart, and you’ve never found another guy you love like him again. I know.”
“Well, it’s worse now. He lost his right hand in that car accident, and now he’s so unhappy. It was like I didn’t even recognize him today. He didn’t want to see me and told me to go away. The Ronan I knew would have never said that to me.”
My friend, never someone to waste a tear on any man, pushes her fingertips against my arm. “Hey, you’re really bothered by this. I thought this guy was ancient history.”
I shrug and nod, but I’m not sure that’s how I’d classify Ronan. “He is. Or not. I don’t know. Ronan is Ronan. He was my first everything. First boyfriend. First love. First guy I ever slept with. I grew up when I was with him.”
“Thank God you didn’t say your first kiss or I would have had to take you to have your head examined since you told me one time you two didn’t start dating until you were like seventeen. A girl has to have her first kiss before then.”
Obviously, Jessie isn’t a romantic.
After taking a sip of water, I explain who my first kiss was from. “No, it wasn’t Ronan. It was Danny Canton. He gave me my first kiss. I was fifteen, which I’m sure you’re going to say was way too late in life to be getting a first anything. Whatever. He was my first kiss, and unfortunately, he wasn’t very good.”
“Too dry or too wet? Or no, the worst is too much tongue and they try to force it down your throat like they’re one of those jackbooted thugs who would force feed the suffragettes. Bastards!”
Knowing I need to stop her before she goes off on a tangent about what seems to be her new, favorite topic, I quickly shake my head. “No, no. It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t too dry or too wet, and I don’t think Danny even tried to stick his tongue in my mouth. It wasn’t much of anything. Just sort of meh. I think he may have had bad breath.”
Jessie levels her gaze on me like she hates this story more than she hates liver. “Please tell me your second kiss was better than that. Jesus, that’s an awful story.”
Although the memory of my first kiss has always stayed with me, the same can’t be said for my second kiss or any of the others before I met Ronan. “I don’t remember. All I remember about kissing boys in high school was poor Danny that night after the homecoming football game behind the food stand since he’d worked it that night and then Ronan. Everyone in between is just a blur.”
“A horrible blur, I’m sure. See, that’s the problem with those private school guys. They act like they’re all sexy and badass, but they aren’t. All they have is money going for them.”
The server comes over to our table and sets down our drinks before taking our order. At least that gives me a reprieve from my friend’s attacks on my nonexistent love life for the majority of high school. I don’t remember her ever telling me about her first kiss, but I’m guessing it’s a much better story than mine.
Considering how comfortable she is with men, I’m willing to bet all of her kissing stories are better than mine. Well, none of them involve Ronan. He wasn’t like the other guys in high school.
“So, where are we going after dinner tonight?” she asks. “I was thinking that place that just opened up near my apartment.”
I nod, lost in thought about how terrible Ronan looked today. If only there was something I could do, but he doesn’t even want to see me.
“Hello? Earth to Kate. Come in, Kate.”
Jessie’s in rare form today. I force a smile and turn to see her expression one of complete judgment. “What? I’m sorry. I was lost in thought there. What did you say?”
She folds her arms across her chest and lets out a sigh that sounds like a huff or a harrumph. “Okay, what is this about? Are we still on Mr. Dreamy from high school?”
“We dated after high school, you know,” I say, but my attempt to correct her falls flat.
“Fine, you dated after high school. How is it you haven’t talked about this guy but a handful of times in the past six months when I was with you twenty-four seven, and now you can’t even have a normal conversation without getting lost in thought about Ronan?”
She’s right. I hadn’t thought about Ronan King in forever, it seems. I think I only mentioned him once or twice when we were in Italy, and we just spent six months together, day in and day out.
“I don’t know,” I answer, staring off in the distance. “He’s hurting, and I don’t like that.”
That gets me another harrumph. “Sounds like the problem is you do like him. So what are you going to do about it?”
Jessie is very much one of those people who always feels there’s something to do about any situation. Whatever the issue is, some kind of activity or movement is always called for, according to her.
I’m just not sure that’s the case in this situation.
“What is there to do about it? He wouldn’t even talk to me. I ran out of the room crying.”
“That cad!” she says far too loudly, making the four people at the table next to us turn and give us dirty looks.
Leaning over toward her, I grab her arm. “Shhhh! And who says cad anymore? It’s the twenty-first century, Jessie.”
But nothing I say stops her, and she raises her voice again to say, “First of all, cad is a great word and should have never gone out of style. Second of all, we’re on a busy street in Brooklyn, for God’s sake! Why do I need to keep my voice down?”
Humiliation covers me, and I turn my head so none of the other diners can see my face. “If I promise to go where you want, will you please keep quiet? They’re going to throw us out of here if you don’t.”
She rolls her eyes but agrees to do as I ask. “Fine, but exactly where are they going to throw us out of? They already have us on the sidewalk, Kate, and paying the same price as if we were sitting inside, I might add.”
I can practically feel the angry glares coming from the people around us. I love Jessie and how strong she is, but when she decides she has something to say, God help anyone who isn’t interested in hearing it.
“Please. Everyone is looking at us,” I say, nearly begging her to keep cool.
She waves off that silly idea and shakes her head. “Nobody cares, honey. This is New York. I could run down the street screaming at the top of my lungs, and I bet not a single person would stop me.”
I cautiously turn my head to see if she’s right that nobody’s looking at us, and thankfully, I see everyone sitting outside of the restaurant has returned to their meals and their own conversations. I breathe a sigh of relief and slowly sit up in my chair.
“Okay, I need you to promise me that you won’t get loud like that again. I’ll do whatever you want. Just keep it down, okay?”
“I think you should go see him again.”
Clearly, we’ve moved on from the public embarrassment portion of our time here and now we’re talking about Ronan again. Odd since I didn’t think she wanted to discuss that topic anymore.
“Jessie, he told me to go away. He wasn’t trying to be subtle. He doesn’t want to see me.”
She twists her face into a strange expression and doesn’t say anything for a long moment. Then she asks, “Do you think this is because you broke up with him? Men do have a hard time with rejection.”
It doesn’t take me long to decide that isn’t the problem. “No. He’s not like that. He understood why I broke up with him. I saw him a few times before the accident, and he was always the same sweet guy I always knew. He got that he hurt me when he slept with that girl.”
“Okay, it’s not a rejection thing. So what is it?”
I hold up my right hand in front of her. “He lost his hand, Jess. The guy wanted to be a baseball player. He was a great shortstop. All he ever wanted to do was play professional baseball, and he lost his hand in that accident. His dream job isn’t a possibility anymore. That’s why he’s unhappy.”
She doesn’t seem impressed with my explanation. “Okay, I get that he can’t do what he always wanted to do, but the guy’s a billionaire, isn’t he? Or am I getting him confused with someone else?”
“He is. Ronan’s family is wealthy, and he is too. I don’t think that matters when all you ever wanted to do was play ball, and now you can’t. Money doesn’t buy happiness.”
That gets me a look that tells me she thinks that’s ridiculous. “Only people with money think that. The rest of us know the real truth. If you’ve got money, you’ve got it all. So Mr. Moneybags isn’t happy. I think the answer is you have to change that.”
Already tired of this conversation, I look around for the server and pray to God he’s bringing our food soon. Jessie isn’t done with her comments, though, unfortunately.
“Here’s the thing. You have to show Mr. Moneybags that the hand thing isn’t the end of the world. Make him realize there are a million other things he can do, including you.”
Since there’s no sign of our server or our food, I reluctantly rejoin the conversation. “Please don’t call him Mr. Moneybags. His name is Ronan, and money never meant anything to him.”
“Again, because he’s always had it.”
She’s wearing me down, but I won’t give in on this one point. “Yes, he has, but Ronan isn’t like other guys with money. He’s down-to-earth and sweet.”
Well, he used to be when I knew him. Now I don’t know what to say he is, other than angry and devastated, which I completely understand.
“Fine. He’s a wonderful guy, except for the fact that he told you to go away and made you cry. I still say you just have to show him that there are wonderful things to be had in life without a hand.”
As much as I don’t want to extend this conversation, I can’t help but ask the obvious. “How am I supposed to do that when he doesn’t want to see me?”
That finally makes her stop, and for a few precious moments, she isn’t acting like getting Ronan to see he still has so much to be grateful for is going to be a walk in the park. It also gives me a chance to remember that Ava told me I could come over to see her anytime I wanted.
“His sister-in-law who owns the house where he’s staying did say she’d be happy to have me come visit whenever I wanted to.”
That one, simple statement makes Jessie excited, and she points at me wearing a huge grin. “That’s it! Just make a habit of going to the house to see her, and hopefully, you’ll get to spend time with him. That’s all it’s going to take, I bet. The guy was crazy about you, and you’re still wonderful, so it won’t take long before he’s forgetting the go away nonsense and asking you to hang out. From there, it’s easy peasy.”
I’ve always admired how positive Jessie can be when she decides on a course of action. If only I could be that way, but all I can think of is how miserable Ronan was when I saw him.
“Thank God, here comes the food,” she announces, and a second later, I see the server coming toward us with my chicken salad sandwich and her vegetarian plate.
As much as I sometimes have a hard time with how strong her opinions can be, I think Jessie’s got the right idea. I’m going to make arrangements to go back to the King estate this week, and hopefully, I’ll get a chance to see Ronan again.
Now I just have to figure out what to say to him if he decides to talk to me.