Page 36 of Patio Lanterns

Dove and Robin went back inside with Mutt, and before Aidan walked to his truck with Lark, he asked Rick if he wanted a ride. Rick declined, needing the fresh air to help clear his cotton-filled head. He was in a daze over how so much had happened in so little time.

Rick turned in the opposite direction and set off for home when Robin popped out from around the corner of her cottage, scaring the shit out of him.

“Jesus!” he gasped, restarting his ticker. “I thought you went inside.”

“What the hell was that? Me and Aidan? Really?”

“Trust me, I’m doing you a favour,” he said. “You really ought to be with someone closer to your own age. Someone like Aidan.”

“You know, I’m really sick and tired of people telling me what I should do with my life.”

“I’m not trying to tell you what to do, Robin. But you and Aidan obviously go way back and have more in common. It makes sense.”

“Not to me.” She stepped out of the shadows. “Rick, I told you that our age difference doesn’t matter.”

“Oh, but it does,” he said. “You’re far too young for me, and I’m certainly old enough to know better than to get involved with you.”

Her bottom lip protruded into a pout. “I don’t believe it. And I saw it in your eyes tonight that you don’t believe it either.”

“Look, I think you’re an incredibly exciting and very desirable woman. I’ve felt more alive with you in the past twenty-four hours than I have in years. But it would be reckless to think that what we had was anything more than a wildly impulsive one-night stand.”

“Wildly impulsive, yes,” she agreed. “But you and I both have had our share of hook-ups, and you know as well as I do that this wasn’t like the rest. We connected on a different level, didn’t we? We fit together so perfectly. We couldn’t get enough of each other.”

“I can’t deny any of that,” he huffed, trying not to think about it. “What happened between us was incredible, but it can’t happen again. Things are different now.”

“Because I know Aidan? Because he’s your son?”

He nodded. “And that’s never going to change.”

“But can’t you see that Aidan wants you to be happy? He said so himself that he wants you to get out and make friends and date people.”

“Pretty sure me dating a twenty-eight-year-old friend of his was not what he had in mind.”

“That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t eventually come around to the idea,” she said.

“Can’t you see what a mess this would make of both our lives? It could damage your relationship with your sisters, and would certainly sever whatever trust Aidan and I have managed to build.” He took a deep breath to steady the shakiness in his voice. “That’s why I think it’s best if we try to stay away from each other the rest of the time you’re here.”

Fearing she might try to sway his stance, he tore himself away from her and started walking.

“No,” she said. “Not until you give me five good reasons.”

Dammit. He stopped in his tracks and turned back. “How about because I don’t want to see you get hurt?”

“That won’t happen,” she said flippantly. “Next.”

“Okay then, how about because I don’t want to get hurt?”

She tilted her head. “You really think I’d ever want to hurt you, Rick?”

“Maybe not, but I think you could,” he admitted. “I think I could very easily fall hard for you. Then one day, you might wake up, regret getting involved with a man twice your age, and tell me you don’t want me anymore. I’m not so sure I’d recover from that.”

She shook her head, laughing. “It’s been one day. I’m not asking you for a ring.”

It irritated him that she found this so amusing. Did she think he was a fool for being a realist? “Please don’t laugh at me.”

“I swear I’m not, but I think you might be getting ahead of yourself,” she said. “All I want is half a chance to see if this connection we have could be something.”

“I really wish we had that chance too, Robin. But I’m afraid we don’t have that luxury with so much at stake.”

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