Chapter 19Eden
19
Eden
O kay, fine, maybe she was turning into a science denier. Maybe she should join one of those Facebook groups labeled "The Earth is Flat" or something. Eden was doing everything she could to fight the force pulling her toward Ronan, but she was failing miserably.
The week after the visit to Colm’s had been all about trying to write new songs for her album—messing around with melodies on the guitar and piano, and a whole lot of pretending that there wasn’t this invisible, gravitational pull between her and the journalist making a documentary about her. Avoiding the urge to touch him? Yeah, that was nearly impossible. Every time she blinked or got lost in her own head, she’d look up and realize she’d somehow closed the gap between them, inching just a little bit closer without even trying.
At one point, they ended up sitting side by side on the couch, and when their thighs brushed against each other, Eden felt a jolt of electric tension shoot through her. It made her feel like a disobedient schoolgirl caught doing something she shouldn't. That accidental touch sent her mind spinning, and suddenly, she was imagining some seriously "not safe for work" scenarios. She was the rebellious schoolgirl, and Ronan was the stern teacher, with a 12-inch wooden ruler in hand, scolding her for turning in her homework late. She was practically a flat earther at this point.
But in the back of her mind, what Ingrid had said at the airport kept nagging at her. That night after Colm's house visit, Eden couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned, her mind a mess of conflicting thoughts. She wanted to trust Ronan, but she kept reminding herself that his interest in her was strictly professional. Okay, so he danced with her a few times and they had that playful fight in the ocean—but that wasn’t anything. Just normal stuff between colleagues. Right?
She never had a traditional colleague, but she imagined it was totally normal to have rampant sexual fantasies about them. She tried to convince herself that these were all just fleeting moments of connection and nothing more.
Over the course of that week, Eden found herself getting to know Ronan more and more, and the more she learned, the more she couldn’t help but be drawn to him. They had delved deeper and deeper with each fact revealed every day. She found out about the time he blanked during a fifth-grade spelling bee, his childhood reluctance to learn Irish, and how he always made time for daily phone calls with his sister, no matter how busy he was.
She also noticed the little things he never mentioned. Like how he chewed the inside of his mouth when he was concentrating, or that he liked his coffee black and only had one cup a day. She’d caught him sneaking sour candy from the bag he kept in his backpack more than once. The more she discovered, the more her heart seemed to crave more, more, more .
He was also insanely competitive when it came to board games. A round of Scrabble had him on the edge of his seat. His eyes had studied the pieces intently, his fingers nervously tapping the table. Eden had let him win for the sake of his sanity, even though she could have easily decimated him with the word "ventriloquist." And they say chivalry is dead.
"Good game, Murphy. Are you always so competitive? Or just intensely into Scrabble?"
"I've always had a competitive streak. Back in high school, I once dropped a hundred bucks trying to win the ring toss at the Santa Monica Pier."
"Did you manage to do it?" Eden raised an eyebrow.
"Nope, just blew my entire allowance on that rigged game and walked away without the prize." He shook his head ruefully.
"Sounds like a scam. Though, I've never been to a carnival before." Eden shrugged. Her childhood had been pretty far from typical—no sleepovers, no bike rides. Instead, she spent a lot of time alone, listening to music on the radio or watching the buskers in Central Park.
"Seriously? Get your shoes," Ronan said as he stood from the table, quickly cleaning up the Scrabble pieces and neatly placing them in the box. Eden blinked in surprise.
"Really?" Her eyes followed his every move as he sealed the Scrabble box and then grabbed her shoes, laying them out in front of her.
"I don't joke about the ring toss," he asserted with a determined gleam in his eye. "This is my redemption arc."
Thirty minutes later, they found themselves strolling along the Santa Monica Pier boardwalk. The wooden planks beneath their feet gave a slight bounce as the sound of the ocean waves crashed below. The pier was lit up with colorful signs for rides and attractions, lighting up the night. The Ferris wheel's flashing lights cast a bright glow over the dark Pacific Ocean, and a roller coaster cart whizzed by, its passengers' screams filling the air. As they passed the food carts, the sweet smell of cotton candy and funnel cakes wafted toward them.
Ronan brought their walk to a halt, and Eden turned her head to look at him with a curious gaze.
"Games or rides?" Ronan asked simply, his green eyes glittering under the colorful lights.
"Rides first," Eden replied, bumping her shoulder against his. "Gotta make sure I don’t puke up the funnel cake you’re buying me."
"Good plan. Though you might still vomit after this ride," Ronan replied with a laugh.
He pointed to a huge ship with a dragon's head and glowing green LED eyes. The giant ship swung back and forth in a huge 180-degree arc, and Eden could hear the excited screams of the riders floating through the air toward her. The sign was lit up in neon: "The Sea Dragon."
Eden swallowed hard, her stomach doing a flip. The thought of being on that thing in a few minutes made her want to wretch.
"Scared?" Ronan asked with a grin, his eyebrows raised.
"Of course not," she replied, her voice steady.
But deep down, she was terrified. She’d never let herself show it.
She had made a decision: vulnerability outside of the interview would only lead to disaster, so she vowed to only show her soft underbelly on camera, where it felt safer to open up. She’d been hurt too many times to count, and the memory of it was etched in her mind.
When the ship finally slowed to a stop, people started getting off. Some were grinning, looking exhilarated and laughing, while others looked queasy, their faces drained of color.
"Are you sure we want to do this?" Eden asked as she watched a girl puking in a nearby trash can. Ronan nodded his head while watching the same girl with concern.
"You have to try it at least once. It's awful and exhilarating and freeing all rolled into one."
"They say the same thing about Meth," Eden muttered under her breath. "Is ‘The Sea Dragon’ a gateway drug?"
"Where do you think they got "Puff the Magic Dragon" from?" Ronan said and pointed to the green dragon ride as he waggled his eyebrows.
As they reached the front of the line, the operator signaled for them to take their seats. They found a bench near the back of the ship and fastened their lap bars. The operator gave them a reassuring smile and a thumbs-up before securing the last lap bar. Eden's fingers trembled slightly as she clutched the bar over her lap.
"Well, I’m petrified. Might need you to hold my hand," Ronan said with a casual shrug, his reassuring smile softening the words.
"Is that why you brought me here? So you could hold my hand? You know, you can just ask next time," Eden teased, her playful tone doing its best to mask her own nerves.
"Hmmm. Good to know, Percy," Ronan replied, a small smile tugging at his lips.
Eden smirked at him, but her joy quickly vanished as the Sea Dragon slowly creaked to life, and a sense of unease settled in her stomach. She clenched her fists, her knuckles turning white around the bar, holding her legs in place. The ship began its gentle swaying motion, back and forth, and Eden felt her heart rate quicken. Ronan stole a glance at her, his eyes looking at her hands. He placed his hand over hers. She was scared enough that she flipped her hand up and squeezed his hand with force.
"It's going to be okay," he whispered lowly in her ear as the wind whipped her hair. His voice calmed her, and she eased back against the bench.
As the swings became more pronounced, rising higher with each pass, her nervousness gave way to a rush of adrenaline. Eden's hesitant smile turned into laughter. Her fear transformed into pure exhilaration as they soared toward the sky and then plummeted back toward the sea.
The laughter and shouts of the other riders blended into the background, but all Eden could focus on was Ronan sitting next to her. With every swing of the ship, their shoulders bumped, their thighs grazed, and each little touch sent a spark up her spine. His hand in hers was something else entirely—more thrilling than the swooping motion of the ride or the wind rushing past her ears.
"I told you it was fun!" Ronan yelled out with a beaming smile. Eden let out an exhilarated laugh that transformed into a scream as they pummeled downwards again. The ride eventually slowed until it stopped, but Eden's heart was still racing. She was trying to catch her breath when she looked up at Ronan's eyes under the shimmering lights. Her breath almost caught in her throat. He looked so beautiful, his sculpted nose and the softness of his lips now bathed in flashing LED lights. She found herself entranced by the shadows created by the soft glow on his face.
His eyes studied her face for a few seconds. They touched her eyes and nose, and then his eyes seemed to caress the curve of her lips. His chest was lightly heaving from the ride's excitement, and his hand still held hers firmly.
"Wow," she whispered, the word seeming to weasel its way out of her mouth. She wasn't talking about the ride. He was nothing short of a masterpiece. It would be easy to just lean over and test the feeling of his lips, see if they were as soft as they looked. She poked her tongue out of her mouth as she wet her bottom lip. Ronan's eyes followed the movement with rapt attention.
"Yeah," Ronan replied breathlessly, his hand flexing against hers and his eyes scanning her face. He looked almost as tempted as her, and his eyes seemed unable to look away. Had his face somehow gotten closer to hers?
"Bar!" Her foggy brain took a second to realize a voice was coming from her right side. She turned her head towards the voice and found a man with a red vest standing in front of their bench. Bar ?
"Come on, sweethearts! I got a line of antsy kids waiting for a turn!" Right, they needed to move off the ride. Her brain finally took the hint and dropped Ronan's hand like a hot potato. Had they almost just kissed? Maybe she had gotten caught up in the moment after all that adrenaline pumping through her veins.
Ronan didn't strike her as the type to be so impulsive, especially not with someone he was working with. He was a respected journalist, the kind who’d racked up awards and tackled serious, life-changing stories. He’d gone undercover with foreign paramilitaries. He had changed the lives of countless refugees, offering them a platform to share their experiences. She was flattering herself if she thought she was that intriguing to him.
He probably saw her as a spoiled musician with a messy past. Compared to the gravity of his work, her life must seem shallow. Filled with wealth, status, and a bit of fame. Some would trade their souls for far less.
The ride operator lifted the bar, and Eden stood on wobbly legs to exit the ride. She couldn't tell if the sea legs were from the ride or the moment that had just passed between her and Ronan. Man, she was in deep . Like the Mariana Trench deep.
As they continued to walk the pier, they shared a bag of warm, sugary funnel cake, sticky fingers and all. She timed her grab of the dough with expert-level planning to avoid their hands accidentally touching.
Eden deliberately slid as far from Ronan as the small Ferris wheel pod would let her when he insisted she ride with him. Not that it mattered—his long legs were bent at the knees, his feet somehow still reaching under her seat. Despite the warmth radiating from his legs, she focused on the view of the inky ocean and the stars above.
Their conversation meandered from his favorite music to her favorite movies, and though she noticed the intrigued glint in his eyes, she dismissed it as mere professionalism on his part. Eden had to admit he was excellent at his job. Although he hadn't brought his camera with him tonight. It seemed the more time they spent together, the less the camera came out.
After the Ferris wheel, they stopped at the boardwalk railing, looking out at the endless stretch of the Pacific. Eden felt like she was on the edge of something, like meeting Ronan might shift her life in ways she hadn’t expected. Their time together might’ve started as work, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t take something meaningful from it.
She knew this had a deadline. By the end of October, they’d both return to their own lives. Even so, meeting Ronan had already left a mark. He challenged her in ways she didn’t see coming, waking up a part of her she thought she’d outgrown.
With him, she felt young again. He made her want to run in the ocean like a kid. He had brought her to a carnival because she had never experienced one before. Ronan didn’t realize how much those moments meant to her, how deeply they resonated with a piece of herself she’d almost forgotten was there.
"Secret?" Eden said, her tone suggesting that she wasn't seeking an unknown fact from him this time but was ready to share one herself. Her voice was barely above a whisper, her eyes finding the stars in the shimmering sky.
"Thanks for bringing me here," she hesitated for a moment, then shifted her eyes toward him. "Growing up so fast, so young... I missed out on stuff like this. Doing things like this," she admitted. "It is like getting back some part of myself I thought was gone forever. A part of myself that I had never been given the space to let free."
"I'm glad we got to do it together," he confessed, his words a soft murmur carried on the night breeze. "I don't think I've allowed myself to have fun like this in a long time. I've felt.." he swallowed quickly. "I don't know, maybe guilty in some ways. Like I don't deserve to let myself enjoy things like this." His gaze, previously fixed on the vast ocean before them, shifted to meet hers, their eyes locking.
"I think we met each other at the perfect time," she admitted; as her words came out of her mouth, it felt like they carried a profound weight. Ronan nodded, the understanding in his gaze mirrored by the glint of starlight. "We both needed this in some way. I know I said it jokingly, but... thank you for coming along. Really. I didn't realize how much I needed... you." As his gaze bore into her, Eden felt a swell of emotion in her chest, a warmth that spread through her body.
"Yes," he affirmed, laden with unspoken emotions, his unwavering gaze never leaving hers. Then, another "Yes" escaped his lips, almost as if he were speaking to himself, lost in a moment of emotion.
A frustrated screech broke through the moment, making Eden snap her attention away from Ronan. She turned to see a little girl standing in front of the ring toss, her fists clenched in frustration, probably because she couldn’t land the ring on the bottle.
"Time for redemption!" Eden said eagerly as she pulled his arm towards the game. The ring toss game suddenly seemed critical to her for reasons even she couldn't quite put into words. In some weird way, winning this game was a way to express her gratitude to him.
She stood in front of the ring toss booth, watching Ronan try his best, tossing rings toward the glass bottles with a look of concentration while he chewed the inside of his mouth, but none landed on the narrow necks. With each unsuccessful attempt, she couldn't help but feel a bit of pressure building.
She gripped her rings tightly, took a deep breath, and focused on her target. She let the first ring go, and it sailed through the air.Her heart raced with hope as it closed in, but it bounced off the neck of a bottle and fell to the ground with a soft clink. She sighed and glanced at Ronan, who gave her an encouraging smile and a thumbs-up. Determined not to disappoint him, she lined up another shot. This time, the ring sailed perfectly, slipping over the top of a bottle and resting snugly on the glass.
A wave of elation washed over her, and she couldn't help but cheer. The carnival attendant, a man with few visible front teeth, congratulated her and handed over a large, fluffy seal. Holding it proudly, she turned to Ronan, who was smiling widely.
"My hero," he said with a hearty laugh as Eden handed the plush to Ronan. He accepted it with a grin.
"It's fitting," Eden remarked with a contented smile as she stared at the seal plush gripped in his left hand, their steps echoing on the boardwalk as they returned to her car.
"Why's that?" Ronan inquired, genuinely curious.
"Because your name means "little seal."
"Did you look up the origin of my name?" Ronan's lips curved into a slight grin at her admission.
"No." Which is obviously translated as a blaring "yes." That little factoid isn't common knowledge. She felt a wave of mortification, like a little girl outed as obsessed with her crush. Like he would find her notebook littered with hearts and "E&R 4EVER."
"What does Eden mean?" He asked knowingly, thankfully sparing her the embarrassment of being caught googling his name's origin.
"Place of pleasure, delight."
"I don't doubt that for a second." His eyes trailed down her body, and it felt like a physical caress. The way he looked at her, so fervent and heated, made her think this attraction was mutual. There was an undeniable confidence that he could ruin her, and she would thoroughly enjoy it. That heated look left the implication heavy in the air.
"I am a fucking delight, aren't I?" Eden said, trying to ignore the undertone. Nice parry, Percy.
"I could imagine." His voice was low, sending her toes curling in her shoes. Her legs suddenly felt weak, and her mind was a little cloudy. The innuendo was not lost on her. It was almost enough to make her throw herself over the railing of the boardwalk into the ocean to cool down. All this flirting was risky, borderline causing her bodily harm. Two could play this game.
"Is that what you do under your blankets at night? Imagine?" Eden said as she looked over at him with a cocked eyebrow, her eyes trailing suggestively over his body. Taste your own medicine, Murphy .
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ronan replied, his eyes narrowing slightly in the dim light.
"Maybe I would," Eden said casually, her shoulders rising nonchalantly. But inside, she was hanging on to every word, watching his face closely, hoping to catch a glimpse of what he was really thinking.
"Don't worry," Ronan said abruptly, stopping dead in his tracks. Eden blinked, surprised, and turned to face him.
"I would never try anything, I know ab—" Ronan cut himself off, running a hand through his hair in frustration, the other clutching the fluffy seal by its flipper.
"Listen. You don't want to know the answer. I'm trying my best to hold myself back, but I have my limits." His words hung in the air, leaving Eden with a furrowed brow and a barrage of questions bouncing around in her head. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? Was he holding back for the sake of the project, or was there more to it?
Before she could process it all, he quickly added, "Let's get you home." His tone was final, and he turned toward her car, effectively ending the conversation. Eden stood there for a second, watching him walk away, leaving her with more questions than answers.