block from here, we’ll be busy. I told her that you were going to be running in the marathon.”
His grandmother smiled, her eyes twinkling. “Don’t you worry about a thing. Your grandfather and I are going to come in and work, plus you’ll have your whole staff on duty that day.”
“With thirty thousand runners and a million spectators lining the streets, we won’t have a problem filling the pub. I should be done with my race by noon, and once I’ve had a chance to recuperate, I’ll come in.”
His grandmother shook her head. “How in the world a person can run for twenty-six miles and think they can recuperate immediately, I’ll never know.”
“Had to do more than that in the Army, Grandma.”
She smiled, then rounded to the back of the bar, patting his cheek before moving to where Fergus stood. “Are you ready to take me home?”
Fergus grabbed her hand and gave her a twirl, wrapping his arm around her waist. “I’m always ready to take my best girl home.”
Torin and Maeve shared a smile as his grandfather landed a smacking kiss on his grandmother’s lips before they tossed a wave and headed out the back.
“You know, I envy them,” Maeve said, a wistful tone to her voice. Taking after their mom, she was much shorter than Torin but had the same dark hair and blue eyes.
“You’ll have that.”
“I don’t know how. Like you, I spend all my waking hours here in this bar. And even when it’s full of good-looking men, I find myself just spending all my time checking on things.”
He threw his arm around his sister and gave her a sideways hug, bending to kiss the top of her head. “You’re beautiful, funny, smart. There’s someone out there for you. Hell, you just turned thirty. It’s not like you’re an old maid.”
“You’re one to talk! You’re probably going to be the old maid!”
He laughed and swatted her with the towel as she walked back to the stockroom. He turned and began wiping down the bar again, moving toward the end where Erin filled his mind. He hoped he would see her again soon. Maybe, tomorrow morning, I’ll go running again.
4
Erin didn’t run every day, but after having met up with Torin, she lost the battle to pretend that she didn’t care about seeing him again. So, each morning as she ran, she made her way to the track, only to find that, just like always, she ran by herself.
She told herself it didn’t matter. She was running to exercise her body and exorcise her demons. She ran to get into the right headspace to do her job for the day. She ran to clear her mind and focus on the lectures and assignments she had to finish to complete her nursing degree. She ran for the enjoyment of sunshine and fresh air.
While all those reasons were true, as she made another lap around the track, she knew she was lying to herself. The last several days, she’d chosen the track to run in hopes of catching a glimpse of Torin again. She’d only completed two laps when she decided enough was enough. Why bother getting my hopes up? It’s not like we ever talked anyway. Snorting, it wasn’t hard to imagine that he’d been avoiding her. He probably felt like he had to talk to me the last time we were here together.
Glancing to the side so she could jog off the track without running into any of the walkers, her feet stumbled when she saw Torin approaching quickly. Jerking her head around, she felt her cheeks heat with more than the exertion of the run.
“Erin!”
Ordering her feet not to slow, she tried to keep a steady pace. Unfortunately, her feet didn’t listen, and she slowed enough that he easily caught up with her. Pasting on what she hoped was a blank expression, she barely glanced to the side. “Torin,” she said, deciding to keep her greeting short and simple.
“I’m glad you’re here today.”
She kept running but offered a slight nod in acknowledgment.
“I hated that I haven’t been here lately. I feel like an ass telling you that I would be and then not showing up.”
Her arms continued to pump in time with her pounding feet. “It’s fine. I generally run on the streets anyway, so it’s not like I’ve been here at the track.” The lie slid from her lips, and she wondered at how easy it had become to lie to people. I’m fine. Everything