Page 52 of Bumping into You

“You didn’t like the guy?”

“No, I hated him. Holly was too good for him.” I take a bite of my frilled pineapple. “She’s too good for my brother too, but sometimes love works in mysterious ways.”

“I’d always thought it peculiar that Greg never found someone, with how many lassies were interested in him over the years. It was nice to finally find out the reason why,” Niall says, biting into his sandwich.

“He kept that secret for so long,” I say. “Even from me. I was floored at first, but seeing them together . . . it all made sense.”

Niall nods, then sips his orange juice.

“I bet you were the same way growing up,” I say, taking a sip ofmy coffee. “Lots of girls showing interest in you.”

“Oh you do, do you?” he asks, eyebrows raised at my statement.

I nod, keeping my face blank.

“Well, you’d lose that bet. You’re looking at a kid who was gangly and dorky growing up,” he says.

“I have a hard time believing that.”

“It’s true. Mix that with being an only child, and that spelled a recipe for disaster.You know, I used to envy those kids with big families, as it was just my mam and me, but thankfully, my mam was like a second mam to all the kids in the neighborhood, so we always had someone over at the house.”

“Do you like living in Boston?”

“Love it. I mean, my mam was there, and I still have a handful of friends that live around there. But we’re not too close like you guys are. You know, it wasn’t until I met Greg and Trent that I felt like I’d found true friends. We were inseparable in college, like brothers,” he says. “But after my mam’s passing,” his eyes glaze over with a sadness,“I mainly spend time with my brothers and sisters from the firehouse.”

The grief on Niall’s face doesn’t sit right with me. I want to reach over and pull him into a hug.

“Mind if we join you?” asks a familiar voice.

Chapter 22

Niall

“Of course we don’t, do we,mo ghrá?” I say, shifting so Gwen and I are closer to each other, allowing Tammy and Bradley to sit on the other side of the table from us.

“No, don’t mind at all,” agrees Gwen.

“Great,” says Tammy, “that is so kind of ya’ll. We’ve been walking all over and haven’t been able to find a place to sit, then we spotted you and thought, ‘How perfect!’”

“Right,” agrees Bradley.

“Wasn’t yoga so much fun this morning?” asks Tammy, clearly not at all feeling the absurdity of this whole thing.

“Yes, actually,” says Gwen, placing her hand on my arm. “It was the first time Niall and I have tried a couples yoga class.”

“You did always like your yoga classes,” adds Bradley.

Tammy turns to me before asking, “What about you, Niall, do you like yoga? You seemed to be pretty good at it from what I could tell.”

“I do actually,” I say. “We do a bit of yoga at the firehouse to help keep us nimble.”

“You’re a fireman?” asks Bradley, his eyebrow raised.

“I am. I’ve been with a firehouse in Boston for the past six years.”

Gwen smiles up at me as Bradley says, “That’s impressive.”

“Oh, you live in Boston,” says Tammy. “That must be dreadfully hard to have a long-distance relationship and all.”

---