How had things changed so quickly? It seemed like one day Meghan was keeping Quinn at a distance, trying to keep to their rules, not wanting things to be complicated. And then the next everything suddenly seemed gloriously simple.
He stayed the night, and Meghan slept in his arms. She hadn’t realized how wonderful it felt to lie next to someone for a whole eight hours. To tangle legs, to feel the steady thud of a heartbeat against her cheek. To not feel alone.
She feared the morning might be awkward, but it wasn’t. While she slept, Quinn got up and made coffee, and when Meghan finally lurched awake, heart thudding because she’d never slept in so late, she stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing sleep from her eyes and her hair sticking up in six directions, to discover Quinn chatting with Polly over their Cheerios.
Polly grinned and waved, clearly delighted to be the subject of Quinn’s attention, and Meghan felt a lurching mix of hope and fear, joy and worry. It was so good to see Quinn being part of her life that it hurt. And it would hurt even more when he wasn’t any longer.
But in that moment, with the sunshine pooling on the floor and Quinn smiling at her, looking so relaxed and easy, Meghan made a conscious decision not to think that way. Not to worry about when Quinn was leaving, or how she was going to get hurt. She’d spent a lot of her life living that way, because so many people had left. Her mother, her father, her fiancé.
Nope, she was going to try something different this time. She was going to live in the moment, live it to the full, and pay the price only when she had to.
“You’ve got a funny look on your face,” Quinn said, and Meghan stepped further into the kitchen, reached for the coffee pot.
“Just hungry,” she said lightly. And happy. She smiled at Quinn and poured her coffee.
Quinn seemed to have gotten the same memo she had, because Meghan couldn’t help but notice that he was acting differently too. No reminders about rules or flings or any of the rest of it, just a kiss goodbye and a promise to see her later, when she came to the hotel to start work on the plumbing repairs.
And later, when she did come to the hotel, he kissed her again. They worked easily together, Meghan doing an epoxy patch on one of the downstairs bathrooms while Quinn stripped wallpaper from the hallway. It helped that he was shirtless. She could always look at Quinn shirtless. And they talked too, not about anything important or emotional, just easy chat. But even that was nice and weirdly new, to talk with a man who’d seen her naked and liked what he saw.
At four o’clock Quinn pulled her away from beneath a sink, kissed her thoroughly, and then murmured against her lips, “You should go in a minute, if you want to be back for Polly.”
Meghan stared at him, speechless for a few seconds. Quinn smiled. “What? You’re amazed by my sensitivity?”
“Yes,” she admitted with a little laugh. “I am.”
“Don’t be so shocked,” he grumbled good-naturedly, and then kissed her again. “Although actually,” he admitted, “so am I.”
She laughed again, wrapping her arms around him as she returned his kiss—and that was how Hannah found them a few minutes later.
She gave an over-loud clearing of her throat as Meghan and Quinn broke apart, Quinn smiling easily and Meghan feeling her face start to heat. Hannah was grinning.
“So.” She planted her hands on her hips and gave them both an inquiring look. Meghan rolled her eyes and Quinn just kept smiling. “I came over to ask Quinn if he wanted to come to the Bingo Night on Tuesday, but maybe you’ve already extended an invitation?” She arched an eyebrow at Meghan.
“No, I haven’t had the chance.”
“A Bingo Night? How could I say no?”
“Easily,” Meghan muttered.
“Spoilsport. She loves it really,” Hannah assured Quinn. “Underneath. And so does Polly.”
“So of course she’ll go.” Quinn turned his smiling gaze on Meghan and she felt a rush of emotion that was too sweet and strong to bear. Quinn understood her so well. How had that happened? Some of the emotion must have been visible on her face because he frowned slightly, a question in his eyes.
“I will go,” Meghan said, her voice a little thick. “Polly loves bingo. She’s great at remembering numbers.”
“Better than faces?” Quinn said with a smile, and Meghan knew he was referencing their first unfortunate meeting that Polly hadn’t connected to Quinn.
“Yes,” she agreed. “Better than faces.”
She ended up walking out with Hannah, which was unavoidable but also awkward, because her friend didn’t even wait until Quinn had closed the door before she was grabbing Meghan’s arm and squealing.
“You have so much to tell me, Meghan O’Reilly!”
“If you think I’m going to spill all the details, you’ve got another thing coming.”
“But you—and Quinn—”
“That one surely isn’t too hard to figure out?” Meghan returned dryly. Hannah squealed again.
“I knew something was going on between you two! I could feel the chemistry up at the sugar shack.”
And so had she. Meghan didn’t reply, but nothing would deter Hannah now. “So? You’re having a fling?”
“Looks like it.” She kept her voice light, determined not to think through the consequences, the broken heart she’d be piecing together when Quinn left—when? In a week? Two weeks? Maybe three?
“I’m happy for you, Meghan,” Hannah said quietly, dropping the squealy excitement for a moment. She laid a hand on Meghan’s arm, staying her. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“Now you’re giving me that advice?” Meghan said with a laugh. “It’s a little late.”
“Is it?” Hannah’s eyes were dark, her expression serious. “Are you falling in love with him?”
“I didn’t mean...” Exasperated, Meghan blew out a breath and shook off Hannah’s hand. “I’m just going to enjoy what this is for however long it lasts. And I’m not looking to paint rainbows, and I don’t want anyone else in this town doing it, either.”
“That’s a tall order. Everyone in this town is painting rainbows since a Freeman came back.” Hannah nodded toward the hotel. “They want to see it open again.”
“You know Quinn isn’t here to do that,” Meghan said, even as she felt an uncomfortable clenching in her belly.
“We all know it. Doesn’t keep us from hoping, though. People want to help.”
“I know, and Quinn appreciates it.” Meghan climbed into her truck. “But he’ll be leaving in a few weeks, and there will be a big ‘for sale’ sign up there. And I’m okay with that.” She lifted her chin defiantly, but Hannah wasn’t fooled. She just nodded sadly and Meghan started the truck.
Quinn had never played bingo before. A gap in his social education, he realized as he entered the church hall where the talent show had taken place a month ago. This time long tables had been set up in the hall, with a table at the front that held the bingo ball popper. Quinn eyed the whole setup in curious bemusement before Brenda Wickley grabbed his arm and led him toward a table where the bingo cards were for sale.
“Now a big boy like you, you can handle eight cards,” she said, and before Quinn knew what was happening his arms were filled with different colored bingo cards, four in a set.
“Eight? I’m not sure—”
“Now, now, you’re not going to be wimpy and just go with four?” Brenda demanded.
“Since it appears to do so would be an insult to my manhood, I guess I’m not,” Quinn said. He saw Meghan come in the hall and felt his heart lift. He hadn’t seen her in two days, and it felt like forever.
Her gaze searched him out and a small, secretive smile flirted with her lips. Quinn knew she was remembering the last time they’d seen each other, when she’d come to the hotel and they’d christened one of the bedrooms. There were twelve bedrooms in that place, and he liked the thought of christening them all.
He waited for her and Polly to get their cards before joining her, knowing that in doing so he was staking a claim in front of the whole town. And so what if he was? He felt like staking a claim, and he didn’t think Meghan had a problem with that anymore. Bedroom trysts aside, they hadn’t been nearly as clandestine as they had at the beginning.
“Eight cards?” She arched an eyebrow. “Feeling lucky, big shot?”
“Very lucky,” he murmured, his gaze resting meaningfully on hers. Meghan smiled again, a quick, sweet thing, and then she scooped up a couple of dabber pens and headed toward one of the long tables.
“If you’re having trouble keeping up, Polly can help you. She’s a whiz at this.”
A few minutes later the tables were filled and Billy Kargas took his place at the ball popping machine.
“He doesn’t sing tonight,” Meghan murmured and Quinn flashed her a grin.
“Thank goodness for small mercies.”
“Or big ones.” She uncapped her pen and Quinn did the same. Felt a bolt of pleasure lance through him as Meghan rested her hand on his thigh under the table. It wasn’t a sexual gesture, just a comfortable one, and he liked it like that. “Get your pen out, Freeman,” she said, and he realized he’d just been staring at her, feeling happy. “Billy’s about to begin.”
“Polly doesn’t have her pen out.”
Meghan flashed him a smile. “Polly doesn’t need a pen.”
“What...?”
“Watch and learn.”
Half an hour later his head was starting to hurt as he tried to keep up with Billy’s brisk pace of announcing the numbers and marking them on his eight cards. Polly, to his amazement, didn’t use a pen, but kept track of all the numbers in her head.
“Don’t mention Rain Man,” Meghan warned him under her breath, and he nodded in understanding.
“I would never dare to pigeonhole Polly.”
“You’d be the first then,” Meghan answered, and then shook her head. “Actually, that’s not fair. Everyone has been good to her in this town. To us. But it’s hard when you’re not familiar with Polly’s condition not to make stupid assumptions.”
“You’ll have to tell me when I do, then.”
“You haven’t yet,” Meghan answered. “You’re a natural with her.”
“Bar our first meeting,” Quinn answered wryly, and Meghan laughed.
All in all it was a good evening, the bingo-playing more fun than he expected, along with everyone’s banter as Billy called the numbers, the good-natured ribbing and joking that made Quinn smile. Made him feel a part of things, maybe for the first time in his life. Sitting next to Meghan with her hand on his leg had definitely been a highlight of the evening, as well.
When the evening ended, Polly having scooped up twenty bucks in prize money while Quinn and Meghan didn’t have any, they all ambled toward the parking lot, comfortable in the knowledge that they were leaving together. Meghan didn’t even seem to mind the speculative looks that came their way.
“Come back?” she asked, shooting him a questioning glance, and Quinn nodded. Hell yes, he was coming back.
“Hey Quinn, Meghan,” Hannah called. “I wanted to catch you before you both left.”
He exchanged a wry look with Meghan as they both waited for Hannah to bustle over.
“Sam’s taking the boat out on Saturday and we wondered if you wanted to come.” She smiled at Meghan. “I know Polly loves being out on the water.”
“She does,” Meghan confirmed. “That would be great, Hannah, if...” She glanced at Quinn who managed a stiff smile.
“Yeah. Sounds great.” He could feel his stomach clenching at the thought of being out on that river. But he’d been on the water plenty of times before; hell, he’d kayaked down the Amazon and scuba dived on the Great Barrier Reef. He didn’t need to be afraid of a little motorboat on the St. Lawrence. Not at all. “Looking forward to it,” he added for good measure and Hannah waved goodbye.
He thought he’d been pretty convincing until Meghan asked him about it later, after Polly had gone to bed. She stood in the doorway of the living room, her arms folded, her expression pensive.
“Are you sure about going out on the river?”
“What?” Quinn glanced up from the TV where he’d been watching the highlights of the Yankees’ spring training. “Yeah, sure. Why wouldn’t I be?” Stupid question. He didn’t actually want Meghan answering it.
“Because of the accident. With your father.” She came into the room and sat on the edge of the sofa. “We’ve never really talked about it.”
“Because I don’t remember.” He heard the edge of defensiveness in his voice and wished he could keep himself from it. He didn’t want to argue with Meghan, but he didn’t want to talk about this either.
Her gaze searched his face. “You really don’t remember anything about it?”
“I told you I didn’t.” Except for that choking sense of panic he’d had when he’d first looked at the damned river. “What is this about, Meghan?”
“You know so much about my life, Quinn. You’ve helped me with Polly—”
“I like Polly.”
Gratitude and some deeper emotion flashed in her eyes. “I guess I just want to reciprocate a little.”
“It doesn’t have to work that way. This isn’t tit for tat.”
“But it should be, shouldn’t it? Any relationship...” She bit her lip, color seeping into her cheeks. “Sorry, I know we’re not...”
“Having a relationship?” What did she think this was? “I’m not scared of the R-word.” He just didn’t have much experience with it.
“Okay, good to know. But I want to help you, Quinn. Like you’ve helped me.”
He felt himself tensing. “Help me how?”
“I don’t know unless you tell me. But everyone has baggage, you know? You know mine and—”
“I don’t know all of yours.”
Her eyes widened. “What do you want to know?”
“You told me you were engaged once. What happened there?” Anything to keep her from asking him questions. Wanting to know more about his life and all the mistakes he’d made.
Meghan sat back against the sofa, clearly surprised. “He broke it off.”
“You said it was a good thing.”
“Yes.”
He studied her, wondering what she was reluctant to share. He shouldn’t push her, not if he wanted to keep his own secret, and yet he realized he wanted to know. Even if the thought of Meghan with another guy had him clenching his fists. “So why did he break it off?”
She sighed. “Because he realized Polly was going to be part of our lives... forever.”
“Polly was the reason he broke it off?” Quinn sat upright, indignation coursing through him. “The guy sounds like a douche.”
“To be fair, it was a lot to sign up for. We were only eighteen years old.”
“You wanted to get married at eighteen?” It didn’t sound like the Meghan he knew, the feisty, fiery independent spirit he’d come to respect and admire.
“I think I wanted someone to take care of me, at least for a little while,” she answered slowly. “I suppose I didn’t really think it through. Neither of us did. Ben thought Polly would go live with my dad, and I had to disabuse him of that notion.”
She smiled faintly and Quinn asked, “Were you tempted? To let Polly live with him? Because no matter what, it can be hard work.”
“I know.” She lifted her chin, its slight wobble betraying her. “But I don’t regret it. And I don’t regret things finishing with Ben. I wouldn’t have been happy with a man who didn’t want Polly along with me.” She took a deep breath. “But I realize that’s a lot to ask of someone, which is why I’m happy with something more... temporary.” She let her gaze rest on his, the meaning clear. What they had wasn’t meant to last. It might be more than a fling or a one-night stand, but it wasn’t the real deal.
Except Quinn kind of felt like it was.
“So,” she said lightly. “You know all about my sorry engagement.” She paused, her head cocked, her eyes gentle. “You’re sure you’re okay about the river?”
“Sure.” Quinn waved a hand dismissively. “I’m fine.”
“You can tell me, Quinn—” she began, but he shook his head. He didn’t want to tell Meghan anything. Because while he might be ready to sign up for the real deal, he was pretty sure Meghan wouldn’t be, if he let all those secrets slip.