He stares at me for a long moment.
Then he sets down his coffee, puts both hands on my face, and kisses me like I'm the only thing in the world that matters.
When he breaks the kiss, his forehead drops to mine.
"I counted," he says quietly. "Every day since you walked into that bar. Twenty-two days. And I've wanted you for twenty-one of them."
"What about the first day?"
"First day I was still pretending I didn't."
I laugh. Soft and real.
"I love you," he says. "I don't know how to do this. I'm not good at... this." He gestures vaguely between us. "But I know I'm not letting you go. So if that's what love is, then yeah. I love you."
It's the least romantic declaration I've ever heard.
It's also the most honest.
"Good," I say. "Because I'm not going anywhere."
We ride into town together at noon.
Main Street is busy for a weekday, people moving between shops, Nell's Diner packed with the lunch crowd, Gene walking Biscuit past the post office with the slow certainty of a man who has nowhere to be.
Ronan parks outside the clinic.
"You're going to work?" he asks.
"I have patients at two." I climb off the bike. Hand him the helmet. "Knox Sullivan among them. He actually showed up for his last appointment."
"He knows better than to skip when you tell him not to."
"Do you?"
His mouth does that thing that's almost a smile. "Depends what you're telling me not to skip."
I lean in and kiss him. Right there on Main Street where anyone can see.
When I pull back Rosa is standing in the clinic doorway with both hands over her mouth and her eyes wide.
"Oh my God," she says.
"Morning, Rosa," I say.
"Morning? Morning??" She looks at Ronan. Then at me. Then back at Ronan. "You two are—"
"Yeah," Ronan says.
"Since when?"
"Since now," I say. "Officially."
She grabs my arm and physically pulls me toward the clinic. "I need details. All of them. Immediately."
Ronan watches this happen with the patient expression of a man who knows he's being discussed and has accepted it.
"Tonight," he says to me. "Tavern. The whole club wants to meet you properly."
