Maggie
“What do you think about a lighthouse wedding?" Ryan sounded both excited and apprehensive as she added, “Maybe out at New Dungeness? It’s so beautiful out there, and I love the whole symbolism thing for lighthouses... The beacon of light through the storm.”
“That sounds amazing.”
“You really think so?” Without waiting for a response, she added, “We could do it in the spring just as the weather breaks, and we could put tables out on the lawn and maybe a tent. We could even get someone to come play music during the reception.”
“It sounds like you have it all planned out.”
“No. Far from it.” She sat back in her salon chair with a groan. “Every time I think I’ve come up with the perfect idea, I end up talking myself out of it.”
“Well, you have plenty of time to figure it out.”
“Not if we want to get married in the spring,” Ryan argued. “I need to book a venue, get a caterer, a dress, a preacher. The list goes on and on. It’s a nightmare.”
“Maybe you should consider getting a wedding planner.”
“Yeah, but they’re so expensive.”
“This is your wedding, Ryan. It’s supposed to be your special day, not a nightmare.”
“I know, I know, but I really want to try to do it on my own.” A thought crossed her mind, and she pursed her lips before saying, “You know, it would be awesome if I had someone to give me a hand with all this. Someone who is a dear, dear friend who knows all my likes and dislikes.”
“Oh, sure!” I smiled as I teased, “I think Keeley would be perfect for that.”
“Umm, I was actually thinking about you.” Ryan shrugged. “I think Keeley would be great to help here and there, but she’s not really in the best headspace these days, especially when it comes to me getting hitched.”
“You know she’s happy for you.”
“Yeah, well, she has a crappy way of showing it.” Ryan rolled her eyes. “She won’t even go with me to look at dresses.”
“Just because I couldn’t go last weekend doesn’t mean I don’t want to go with you,” Keeley sassed as she walked through the front door. “I do, but I had some things to take care of last weekend and couldn’t make it.”
“Are you sure?” Ryan pushed. “Because it seemed like you were put off by the idea of shopping with me.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m not looking forward to it at all.
” Keeley turned to Ryan and smiled as she teased, “You are the most indecisive person on the planet. It took you hours just to pick out a pair of boots last week. I can only imagine what you’ll be like when it comes to picking out your wedding dress. ”
“She’s got a point there,” I giggled.
“I’m not that bad.”
“Weren’t you just telling me what a hard time you were having finding a venue you liked?”
“Yes, but I’ve made up my mind,” she lied. “I’m doing the lighthouse.”
“Really?” Keeley gasped. “That will be so beautiful.”
“You think so?”
After several days of awkward silence, it was nice to see them back in each other’s good graces.
I left them to carry on with their conversation and started getting ready for my next client.
I was just about to start sweeping when my cell phone chimed with a message.
I picked it up from the counter, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw it was from Ronin.
Ronin:
Hey, beautiful.
How’s it going?
Me:
Hey!
Things are good here. How about with you?
Ronin:
Can’t complain.
Just wanted to let you know I’m going to be out of pocket for the rest of the day.
Me:
Is everything okay?
Ronin:
Yeah, all is good.
I just have to take care of something.
Me:
Gotcha.
Well, I hope it all goes okay.
I waited for a response, but there was nothing more.
I thought it was sweet that he took the time to tell me that he was going to be gone for the day.
It was a far cry from what I dealt with in the past. There were times I couldn’t get in touch with Chad for hours, especially when he was at work, and it was beyond frustrating.
I could only assume that those were the times when he was off somewhere with Crissy, but I’ll never know for sure.
Not that it mattered now.
My time with Chad had come and gone.
I’d moved on to greener pastures, and it was time for me to put all thoughts of him behind me. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. It seemed like every time I turned around, I would hear his voice in the back of my mind:
‘Maybe if you put me before the kids once in a while...’
‘Maybe if you took better care of yourself...’
“Maybe if you put some effort into making me happy...then I wouldn’t have felt the need to go looking for someone else to fill my needs.’
It was those words that haunted me in the thick of the night, making me wonder if I was the reason my marriage fell apart. I could feel myself starting to spiral when Ryan called out to me, “Hey, Mags! Your ten o’clock is here!”
“Okay. Coming!”
I quickly shook the negative thoughts from my mind and rushed over to greet my client. I was thankful that it was a busy day, and I didn’t have time to get lost in my head. Once the last customer had gone, the girls and I worked together to close for the night.
By the time I made it home, I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed.
Sadly, that wasn’t going to happen. Samantha had volleyball practice and math homework, and Nathan had a science project that was already a day late.
I decided to make life easier on myself and grabbed some Chinese takeout when I went to pick up Samantha, and we all sat at the kitchen table and ate while we worked on homework.
It was a long day that turned into a long week.
The only thing that kept me going was the late-night phone calls from Ronin.
He would tell me about his day, and I would do the same.
The conversations were brief, but just being able to talk to him lifted my spirits.
I felt even better when we finalized our plans to get together on Saturday night.
While I was nervous about taking such a big step with the kids, he assured me there would be nothing to it and that the kids would have a good time.
I did my best to feel out the kids, and they seemed to be okay with going to meet him—until we made it to the pizza place, and they actually saw him. They were right by my side as we walked through the front doors, and they hovered close as I quickly scanned the room, searching for Ronin.
When I spotted him in the back, I nodded my head in his direction and whispered, “Oh, there he is.”
“Wait.” Nathan took a step back. “That’s him?”
“Um-hmm.”
“Holy shit, Mom.”
“What?”
“He’s massive,” Nathan fussed. “Look at him.”
“Yeah,” Samantha’s eyes were wide as she muttered, “He could totally kick Dad’s ass.”
“Samantha,” I scolded.
“Well, he could. Bet he was a linebacker.” Worry marked Nathan’s eyes as he asked, “Are you sure about this guy?”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. He just looks kind of scary.”
“Remember that saying about don’t judge a book by its cover?”
“Yeah, but...”
“Just give him a chance, Nathan. For me?”
He nodded, and I gave him a reassuring smile before starting through the crowd. Their faces were marked with a mix of curiosity and worry as they followed me over to Ronin’s table. When we got closer, Ronin stood and smiled, “Hey there.”
“Hey.”
“Glad you guys could make it.”
“We wouldn’t miss it.” I motioned over to the kids. “This is Samantha and her brother, Nathan.”
“Nice to meet you guys. Your mom has told me a lot about ya.”
They both feigned a smile and sat down next to me. Once we were settled, I leaned over to Ronin and asked, “How did things go today?”
“Not bad. The kid is finally starting to catch on to things.”
“That’s great. I was hoping he would.”
Ronin looked so handsome in his black pullover.
It brought out the dark flecks in his eyes and the pink of his lips, and it conveniently covered most of his tattoos.
I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d worn it in hopes of making a good impression on the kids.
His eyes nervously skirted over to Samantha and Nathan as he asked, “What about you guys? Did you get everything done that you wanted to get done?”
“No, but we made progress.” I gave Samantha a little nudge as I said, “Someone still has some laundry to put away, but we’ll get it done tomorrow.”
“I would’ve finished if avocado-head would’ve just opened his stupid bedroom door. But nooo. He had to finish getting ready.”
“Maybe I’d open the door if you weren’t such a...”
“That’s enough, you two.” I grabbed a couple of menus and offered them to the kids as I said, “Figure out what you want to eat before you scare Ronin off.”
“Don’t gotta worry about that,” Ronin scoffed. “I had a sister. I know how it can be.”
Nathan glanced over at Ronin with a cautious appraisal, like he was trying to decipher if he was a mass murderer or actually a decent guy. He seemed to be going with the latter when he asked, “Was your sister always barging into your room uninvited?”
“As often as she could.”
“Sounds like Sam.”
“You come in my room, too,” Samantha argued.
“Not unless I have to.” Nathan rolled his eyes. “Cause there’s no way I’d ever want to go in there.”
“Can you two at least pretend that you like each other? Just for a little while?”
I gave them both a warning look and prayed that would be enough to stop the nonsense. Nathan nodded, then turned his focus to his menu. After studying it momentarily, he announced, “I’ll have a meat lovers.”
“Meat lovers sounds good. What about you, Samantha?”
“I just want some cheese sticks.”
“You got it.” I glanced over at Ronin as I asked, “What are you thinking?”
“I’m good with whatever. We could split a supreme or a meat-lovers?”
“Either would be great.”
“Perfect.”
Ronin motioned for the waitress and gave her our order, and we continued with our small talk while we waited for our drinks.
Ronin asked Samantha about volleyball, and she told him all about the party she hadn’t been invited to and why her friend hadn’t invited her.
Ronin sounded truly sincere as he told her, “Sounds like this girl is a bit of a twit.”
“Oh, yeah. She’s a big ole twit, and Lexie told me the party was lame. Her mom wouldn’t let them watch anything but the Disney channel all night.”
“That does sound pretty lame.”
“I don’t know.” I took a sip of my drink. “I happen to like their movies.”
“I like them, too, but not at a party. That’s lame.”
“Whatever you say, boss.”
The conversation died down when the waitress brought over our pizza and placed the boxes on the table.
As the lids were lifted, there was a chorus of “oohs” and “ahhs,” and eyes were wide as we each grabbed a slice and placed it on our plates.
Cheese strings stretched and toppings tumbled, but none of us cared.
We were too eager to take our first bite, and it didn’t matter that the pizza had just come out of the oven.
The table was silent for several minutes as each of us began devouring our dinner, but it wasn’t long before the eating began to slow. That’s when Nathan looked over to Ronin and asked, “So, what do you do? Like for a job and stuff?”
“Yeah, I work in construction. I mainly do electrical work and stuff like that.” Ronin kept a light-hearted tone as he told him, “We’re actually doing the big renovation down on the square.”
“The bank and ice cream shop?”
“Yeah, that’s us.”
“Wow. That’s pretty cool.” Nathan sounded so grown up as he said, “It’s looking a lot better down there.”
“We’re doing what we can.”
Samantha’s eyes danced with excitement as she leaned forward and announced, “Mom said you had a motorcycle.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Do you ride it a lot?”
“When I can.” Ronin glanced over at me as he explained, “It’s tough to ride when there’s snow and ice on the road.”
“You ever been in a bike crash?”
“Yeah, a few minor burns, but nothing too serious.” Ronin glanced over at me as he added, “I always try my best to be careful.”
“Will you take us for a ride sometime?”
“That’ll be up to your mother.”
Samantha and Nathan both turned to me with hopeful expressions. I held my hands up as I told them, “I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it.”
“Oh, come on, Mom,” Samantha fussed.
“I said I would think about it. Now, finish up your pizza.”
To my surprise, they both complied, and it wasn’t long before our plates were empty and our bellies were full. Ronin paid our bill, then said, “I need to move around a bit. Are you guys up for some bowling or maybe the arcade?”
“Yeah, that’d be awesome,” they both answered in unison.
“Alright then.” Ronin stood as he told them, “But I gotta warn ya, I play to win, or I don’t play at all.”
A smirk crossed Nathan’s face as he snickered, “That sounds like something a loser would say.”
“Oh, you’re going down, kid.”
Ronin tossed the tip on the table, and we were on our way.
Going bowling was a wonderful idea. The kids laughed and opened up to Ronin in ways I didn’t expect. I won’t say that he’d won them over—at least, not completely. That would take some time, but he’d made some definite progress—with them and with me.
I was really starting to like him, a lot, and it scared the hell out of me.
I’d come a long way over the past year. I’d worked really hard, and I liked the life I’d created for me and the kids. The last thing I wanted to do was screw it all up, but there was something about this man that made me wonder if my fresh start had really just begun.