“What are you talking about? Who’s Maryann?”
“My neighbor. She’s the one who stopped it. She recorded the whole thing on her phone. And Mitch knows it.”
“Okay so…?”
“I need to get back. Make sure she’s okay. Have Bibi call her friend. Tell him to help Maryann.”
“Ronan, you’re panicking. Just take a breath—”
He stopped and the look on his face chilled my blood. “I couldn’t save her, Shiloh. Do you get it? I couldn’t save her. I was too late.”
I nodded, my heart breaking when I was sure it’d already been shattered to pieces.
“I get it,” I whispered. “I’ll drive you. Don’t argue. It’ll be faster and you can hardly walk.”
He nodded with gratitude and gingerly pulled on his jacket.
“I’m taking him home,” I told Bibi when we came out. “I’ll be right back.”
She heard in my tone that this wasn’t over and nodded.
I drove Ronan to his apartment complex. All looked quiet. He leaned over to me and kissed me quickly.
“I’ll wait here,” I said. “Until I know everything’s fine.”
“No, Shiloh,” he said, his voice hard. “Go. I’ll call you.”
“Absolutely not. I’m not leaving you alone.”
“But I need you to.”
His tone was grave. Simple. I remembered the stricken look on his face in my bedroom. What Ronan had been through was almost too much for me to comprehend. All I could do was support him, however he needed me to.
I bit my lip. “I don’t like this. At all. But…call me later. Call me as soon as you know anything.”
“Thank you, Shiloh. For…everything. What you did for me…” He shook his head.
I wanted to do it every night. Stand guard over his dreams so nothing could hurt him.
He kissed me again and I drove away, hating to see his image grow small in my mirror.
I got a text as I pulled back into my driveway.
All good. Maryann’s at work. Found her number in my uncle’s files. Going to rest and wait until she gets back.
There was a pause, and then the rolling dots that said he was typing returned. I stared at the phone, breath held.
I ran out quick. Tell Bibi thank you.
I exhaled.
What did you think he was going to say?
I didn’t answer that. I texted him that I would, then went inside. I slumped on the couch beside Bibi, drained and exhausted, and rested against her shoulder.
“How are you doing, honey?”
“Tired. Last night felt like a million years long.”
“Being scared for someone you love is draining, isn’t it?”
I stiffened. “I don’t… I mean…”
Bibi’s shoulder shook a little as she chuckled.
“What’s so funny?”
“Not funny so much as joyful, honey. I was remembering something you said in the fall about Miller and Violet. That it was so obvious they belonged together that not being together didn’t make sense. And I said I was going to remember that and hold it against you.”
I peered up at her as she peered down at me.
“So, this is me, very gently holding that against you. I’m so happy for you.”
“Happy for me? Last night was awful.”
“Things got pretty scary, but you didn’t back down. I’m proud of you, Shiloh. Your heart is open for that boy and it’s beautiful to see. Just beautiful.”
I started to protest but sleep was coming for me. And she was right. I’d crossed over a line and could not go back. Could no longer imagine a life without Ronan Wentz in it.
That, I thought as I drifted to sleep, is my nightmare.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Maryann had said she’d be home by six. I lay on the ratty couch watching ESPN and icing my eye with the same bag of peas she’d given me the first time Mitch Dowd had shown up. My body felt like it’d been hit by a truck, but I was more awake than I’d been in a long time.
Shiloh did that.
She stayed up all damn night, keeping the nightmares from taking hold. The kid in the kitchen watched his mom being murdered, but Shiloh took him by the hand and led him away.
And I told her I loved her.
It was too much to put on her after all that shit with Dowd, but I’d been half-drunk with pain, and the blood and violence of the night left me wondering if I’d see tomorrow.
I didn’t want it to be too late.
At six-fifteen, a knock came. I hauled my aching body off the couch, wincing at the pain in my ribs, and opened the door to Maryann. She whispered a curse under her breath at the sight of me and stepped inside.
“Where are the twins? Not alone…?”
“At a friend’s until seven. They’re safe, Ronan.”
I nodded and we sat at my kitchen table under the lone bulb.
“I sent the video to the police,” she said. “Anonymously. But it clearly shows his face. Especially that last kick,” she added, tears shining in her eyes. “But it’s too dark to see you.”
“Good. I’ll stay home the next few days. Make sure he doesn’t come back.”
“He’s not going to come back, Ronan. That was assault and battery. He’s going to jail.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
She sighed. “Let me see your eye.”
I moved the peas and she winced. “Dammit, this is bullshit. Do you feel well enough to go back to school? You need to graduate, young man.”
Despite everything, I was going to graduate. My grades weren’t great, but they were enough.
I did it, Mom. Barely.
“I’ll go back in a few days.”
“What will you do after? College?”
“Manage this building, I guess.”
“You can do more than that, but you don’t want to leave us high and dry, do you?”
“Maybe. I like it.”
That was the truth too. I liked taking care of the building and the tenants. I liked the idea that I was helping—in a small way—to provide a decent home when I’d had none.
“You’ve been good to us,” Maryann said and rummaged in her purse. She slid an envelope across the table. “It took me too long to save it up, but this is yours.”
I set the peas down and peered in the envelope. Two one hundred-dollar bills lay inside. I immediately closed it and shoved it back across the table.
“No.”
She laughed a little. “Just…no? This is the partial rent you covered for me. And don’t bother denying it. Your uncle has never been in a good enough mood to let two hundred dollars slide.”
“I’m not taking this, Maryann.”
“You are, Ronan. For me. Because you can’t leave me feeling like shit. I worked hard to earn this so you’re going to take it.” She slid the envelope back and crossed her arms, a single eyebrow arched.
I nodded once.
“Lord, you’re a stubborn man. But a good one.” She rested her chin in her hand. “If only you were twenty years older. Don’t take that the wrong way. I’m not a…what do they call it? A cougar? But you’d make an amazing dad for my girls. They love you.”