Chapter Tuesday, December 20th #2
One of my favorite things is when he randomly calls me at three o’clock in the afternoon to check if I’ve eaten recently.
I tend to forget to eat, then have dizzy spells from low blood sugar.
And I love blinking my eyes open in the morning to a text message from him, usually containing only two words: “Morning Baby.” To know I’m his first thought upon waking is peak melt-my-panties-right-off-my-body.
And that’s exactly what I wake up to this morning.
My eyes briefly take note of the time—it’s just before ten—then drop to the text message Ronan sent…
over two hours ago? Good god, this guy doesn’t sleep even when we’re on Christmas break.
Always on the go, always with a mind that won’t let him rest.
I open the message and smile at the intimate familiarity of it.
Ronan:
Morning, baby. Call me when you’re awake.
My smile slips at his request for a call. For some reason his message feels ominous.
I dial his number as I get out of bed and walk to the small bathroom.
“Hi baby,” Ronan answers, his voice silky. I swear I can feel his hands accompanying his verbal caress. I know we’re young—some might even say too young for feelings this big—but oh my god, I love this boy.
“Hi sweet boy.” I get out of my pajama bottoms, then turn on the shower to allow the water to warm up.
“Were you able to get a good night’s sleep?” Ronan asks.
“Yes. I actually just woke up.”
“Nice. Are you feeling more rested?”
Finals were taxing these past couple of weeks, and I’ve needed more than one night of solid sleep to recover.
“Yeah, much better. Are you driving?” The background noise and the slight distance in his voice are clear indications that he’s in his Mustang.
“Yeah. Actually, I need to talk to you,” he says, hesitantly.
Ominous.
“Okay? Is everything alright?”
“I got a call from Randi this morning.”
I stare blankly at the tiled bathroom wall before I realize he’s talking about his ex-girlfriend.
“Oh… uhh… that’s… random.” Wouldn’t I know it, that little fuzzy monster that had lain dormant in my chest stirs. As far as I know, Ronan and Miranda haven’t spoken in over nine months, ever since she confessed her love for him and then left Montana when Ronan rejected her.
“Yeah, I know. But baby, she’s in trouble. I don’t have any details, but it sounds like some dude she was with took all her stuff. Her money, her phone, her truck. Everything, from what Randi said. Baby, she doesn’t have anyone to call. She really only has her dad, and… well…”
I nod. I know from Ronan that Miranda doesn’t have a good relationship with her father. It’s one of the reasons Ronan feels so bonded with Miranda—their shared experiences of growing up with parents who made them feel unloved.
“That’s awful,” I say as I hold my hand under the spray of the shower.
Ronan’s voice tightens. “The problem is, she’s in Tennessee with nowhere to go and no means to leave.”
My heart drops into my stomach. “You’re driving to Tennessee right now?” I ask, even though I already know. He didn’t ask for my input. He’s already gone. Already hours away. On his way to her. The monster blinks its eyes open and twists its neck in a serpentine manner. “Ran, that is so far!”
“I know, but I don’t know what else to do. I can’t leave her stranded. She didn’t even have money to pay for another night at whatever motel she’s staying at. I don’t know how she’d get out of there or where she would go,” he says, his baritone voice laced with deep worry.
I shake my head to clear it of the toxic, extremely unproductive, and completely unwarranted jealousy. Ronan and Miranda are childhood friends, and even though I can’t be certain of her intentions, I am confident in his. He loves me.
I exhale. There’s no point in arguing. Ronan has probably been on the road for hours by now, and for all I know he’s already in Maryland. “So, what’s your plan?”
“I honestly have no clue. I don’t even really know what happened, but I guess I’ll figure it out somehow. I have no idea, baby,” he says.
“How long do you think you’ll be gone?” Christmas is in only a few days, all our friends are in town, and I was really hoping to spend some quality time with Ronan over break.
“No idea, but I’m thinking at least a couple of nights. I should get to Tennessee sometime tonight. Depending on how quickly I can come up with a plan, I’ll head home to you as soon as I can.”
Home to me. I cling to those words like a lifeline.
“Cat, I’m so sorry for springing this on you.” He knows what this might stir in me. But can he blame me? Miranda is his ex-girlfriend who, only months ago, tried to convince him to have sex with her even while knowing he was with me.
“It’s okay.” I mean it. Mostly.
I still don’t quite understand Ronan’s relationship with Miranda, that deep bond he has with her even with time and miles separating them.
Do I have reason to feel threatened? Probably not.
Ronan has never given me reason to doubt his commitment to me.
He’s always been honest with me, even while he was in Montana, on the nights when Miranda snuck into bed with him.
He’d tell me about it without flinching.
I trust Ronan—and the fact that he is so willing to jump into action for a friend who kind of left him hanging while he was at his most vulnerable is one of the things I love most about him.
He’s been through so much pain, and still he goes above and beyond for the people he cares about.
“Just, will you please check in with me? Let me know you got there okay?”
“Of course, baby.”
“Okay. I guess I’ll get under the shower and let you go.”
A quiet chuckle travels through the phone. “Want to switch to video and let me watch?”
My lips quirk. “I don’t think that’s a great idea. I need you to be safe while you’re driving.”
“Good call. Your body is distracting as all hell. I’d wreck in a matter of seconds.”
“Yeah, I definitely don’t want that. Plus, I have to give you an incentive to come home to me.”
He huffs into the phone as if my last sentence offended him. “I don’t need sex as an incentive. I’m not with you for just your body. I love you, baby. I know this is really unexpected and definitely not ideal, but—”
“I know, Ran.” I sigh again. “Just… think quickly, sweet boy, okay? Come up with a plan and then come home. And please drive safely. I need you.”
“Not as much as I need you.”
My lips tug into a smile. If only he knew how much I love him.
“Let me know when you get there. I don’t care what time that is, just please call me?”
“I will, baby. I love you so much. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Same. I love you.”
***
Less than an hour later, I walk through the doors at Murphy’s and grin when I spot Vada, Tori, and Summer sitting in our favorite booth.
It’s the one closest to the bar and the small office frequented by Shane and Ronan—or the “man-ogle booth,” as we girls dubbed it last summer.
It gives Tori and me the perfect vantage point to get a visual fix on our guys.
Most days, just watching Ronan work is enough to make my blood simmer.
He’s such an exquisite male creature, with that perfectly fitted Murphy’s shirt and his gloriously sculpted body that strains against the fabric.
I’m never the only girl drooling over him, but I do take pride in the fact that I’m the one who goes home with him.
“Have you talked to Ran yet this morning?” Tori asks me with a telling look the second I slide into the booth. She obviously knows about Ronan’s little getaway.
I press my lips together. “Yep.”
Vada looks up from her menu. “What’s up with Ran?”
“He’s on his way to Tennessee,” I say.
Vada’s face scrunches in confusion. “What? Why?”
“His ex called him this morning. Something happened to her, and Ran’s trying to figure out how to help her.”
Vada’s eyebrows nearly hit her hairline. “Wait, his ex from Montana?”
I nod.
“What the hell happened to her?”
I shrug. “I don’t really know. I don’t think Ran knows very many details, either. He just said all her stuff was taken, including her money and car, and that she’s stuck in Tennessee and doesn’t have anyone else she can turn to.”
“So he just up and left to drive to Tennessee? Today?”
I nod again.
“And you’re okay with this?” Vada asks, her eyebrows—and the pitch of her voice—rising with every question.
“Ran didn’t exactly ask for my input, but yeah, I guess.”
Vada cocks her head to the side. “Kitty Cat, I love you. And you know I love Ran. And we all know he’s been through it, but…”
“But what?”
“But you do know you don’t have to be okay with everything he does, right? Don’t you think it’s weird to help an ex out like that?”
“What are you saying?” I don’t need Vada to echo my own insecurities; I need my three closest girlfriends to talk me out of my jealousy, not confirm that I have reason to worry.
“I don’t want to start shit, but isn’t this the same ex-girlfriend who hung out with Ran in Montana in the middle of the night? You don’t worry about this at all? It just seems weird to me.”
“I trust Ran.” And I do. It’s Miranda I don’t know how to feel about.
For half a second, I imagine Miranda getting into Ronan’s car, her face puffy from crying, her hand brushing his. I blink it away before it can take root. I trust him. I trust him. I have to.
Tori comes to my aid. “You’d help Steve out like that if he called you and asked for your help.”
“Yes, but that’s a little different, don’t you think?” Vada asks.
Tori cocks her head to the side. “How so?”
Vada’s jaw works for a second, like she’s chewing something back. “I don’t know, it just feels different.” For the first time, she won’t meet my eyes.
Summer shifts uncomfortably in her seat but stays quiet. I can’t tell if that means she agrees with Vada or just doesn’t want to get involved.