Wounded Hearts

Chapter Seven

That Wednesday Ronan did not know why he was sitting on Laura's step waiting for her to get home. He was done with all the work on the house and he needed to just write her a note letting her know and leave but he couldn't bring himself to. He wanted to see her and tell her goodbye in person.

Laura pulled in the driveway to find Ronan sitting on the step in front of the door. She got out of the car, adjusted her heavy bag full of homework and tests to grade on her shoulder, and walked up to him.

"How was work?" Ronan asked as he stood up. Laura felt the familiar increase in her pulse that always came from being around him. He was tall and broad and he moved with a masculine grace that had Laura imagining how he'd move at night. In a bed. With her….

"Today was rough." Laura replied as she shook her head to try to clear the images that were filling it.

"That looks heavy. Let me take it." Ronan said as he grabbed the strap of her bag and slid it over his own shoulder before Laura could refuse. She walked into the house and he followed behind her.

"So how did things go here?" Laura asked as she took two sodas from the refrigerator and handed one to Ronan.

"Thanks." Ronan said setting her bag on the bar. "Things went pretty good. I'm done actually." he replied.

"Done?" Laura asked. Ronan nodded.

"Yeah. I'm out of jobs to do." he replied. Truthfully he had thought about breaking something today just so he would have an excuse to come back tomorrow. Laura made him feel better. There was something about being around her that made him want to laugh and be happy. He worried that without her he would stop doing those things again.

"Oh." Laura turned from him quickly to hide the disappointment on her face. Maybe there was something she could break and give herself an excuse to call him to fix it.

"If anything else tears up just call me and I'll take care of it." Ronan said trying to think of things to say to delay him walking out of her door. Laura just nodded and still would not look at him. He wanted to grab her arm, spin her around and kiss her senseless and he was about two seconds away from doing just that when the phone rang.

Laura was grateful for the distraction and she walked into the living room.

"I'll be going." Ronan said. The phone had just kept him from making a huge mistake. Laura held up her hand.

"Please wait. I want to walk you out." she said. Ronan nodded, crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. Laura picked the phone up and clicked talk.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hi, my darling." her mothers voice came in her ear. Laura bit back a groan and made a mental note to get caller ID.

"Hi, mom." she said as she turned away from Ronan and sat down on the back of the couch.

"Are you still coming to visit your mother this weekend?" Helen asked her daughter.

"Yes mom, I'm still coming this weekend." Laura replied. Truthfully the last thing she wanted to do was make the two hour drive to Savannah but she had been putting it off since her break up with Mason and she had run out of excuses to tell her mother.

"Good because I have a few of Savannah's most eligible bachelors lined up to come over for lunch." Laura sighed and shook her head.

"No mom. I'm not interested in Savannah's most eligible bachelors." she said.

"Honey, your biological clock is ticking."

"Yes, mom, I'm aware that my biological clock is ticking but that doesn't mean I want to date any of those men."