FINN
I went after Ellie.
Hammered on her door. Pounded on it until my fists hurt. Desperate to hold her, comfort her, love her.
Because if the pain ripping through my chest was any indication, I must love her. There was no other explanation.
Her pain was my pain and Ellie was hurting. Big time. The devastation contorting her beautiful face when she blurted the truth...I'd never seen anything like it. And it made me feel dumber than ever.
How many times over the last week had I rambled on about my family? Telling tales of Maeve and Ciara exploiting their identical twin status by playing pranks. Waxing lyrical about Connor, Liam, Aiden, and Sean, a dufus for idolizing my brothers but proud at the same time. Raving on about our close-knit loyalty, our celebrations, our togetherness. How much I wanted the same when I eventually settled down.
All the while, Ellie had nodded and appeared interested, when she must've been dying a little inside. By her impassioned, devastating outburst, I'd rubbed her face in the one thing she wanted most but couldn't have: kids.
I tried one last time, bashing at the door with my forearm. "Ellie, please. Let me in. I want-"
"Fuck off," she yelled, followed by the sound of something crashing against the door and shattering.
Wincing, I backed away from the door. She needed space, I'd give it to her. So I trudged back to my room, sank onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. For an hour. Ellie's revelations and consequent freak-out reverberating through my head.
The thing was, as much as I loved my family and being surrounded by siblings, kids weren't a deal-breaker for me. Especially with the right woman. And I now knew that woman was Ellie.
I wanted to hang around, have a relationship, see if we really did fit before even contemplating anything serious yet she'd jumped straight to kids when I'd told her my plans.
Interesting.
It meant Ellie had been thinking ahead, way ahead, envisaging the two of us together, being totally committed. That told me more than her defensive behavior ever could.
She was invested in us already.
She could push me away all she liked but I wouldn't give up.
Not without a fight.
YOU ARE READING
WALKING THE LINE
RomanceFinn Ahearn’s Irish luck runs out when he travels half way around the world to Sydney. The seedier side of the city’s Kings Cross soon catches up with him and he finds the only way he can get back on stable footing is to accept a bartending job, wo...
