Mighty Quinns 22 - Ronan by Kate Hoffmann

Author:Kate Hoffmann
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 0373797230
Published: 2012-11-29T16:00:00+00:00

5

RONAN JUMPED OUT of the skiff as Charlie maneuvered it alongside the dock. She grabbed the stern line and quickly knotted it around the cleat, then hurried to the stern to pull that line tight.

They’d been working together for a week and a half and now operated as a finely tuned team. They’d moved from seeding the oyster beds to harvesting, along with three other teams. Their mornings were spent pulling the lantern baskets full of harvested oysters from a spot in the bay.

Those oysters had been sorted and put in the baskets a few days before, then left in free flowing water in order to purge them of grit. After the lantern baskets were delivered to the boathouse for cleaning, packaging and shipping, Charlie and Ronan headed back out to harvest oysters from the bottom, pulling up dredge baskets full of the lumpy shells and sorting them into the lantern baskets.

He hadn’t grown tired of the work. In fact, Charlie had been teaching him all about the farm and he was beginning to fall into the easy rhythms and routines. He glanced down at his work partner and smiled.

She was dressed in the typical uniform, rubber boots, chest-high waders, a long-sleeved T-shirt and heavy gloves. Today, she wore a battered Red Sox cap on her head that shaded her eyes from the sun, and her hair, tangled by the salty wind, peeked out from beneath the cap.

She’d never looked more beautiful, he thought to himself. In the past, Ronan had always entered a relationship with a woman knowing full well that it would come to an end within a month. Women had become a commodity and his romantic life had been short on romance and high on turnover.

Was it any wonder that he’d missed out on something like this? Had there been a woman in his past like Charlotte Sibley had? She was bright light, sunshine pouring into the dark corners of his soul.

Ronan jumped back down into the boat and grabbed Charlie, pulling her into a long kiss. “What do you say we get ourselves all dressed up and go out this evening? It’s Friday night.”

Charlie’s eyebrow shot up. “You want to take me on a date?”

“Yeah. There must be somewhere we could go. The movies? Maybe a nice restaurant. I got paid yesterday. And the money is burning a hole in my waders.”

“So first, we jump into bed and then we start dating.” She grinned. “It didn’t work for me the other way around so I guess we could give it a shot.”

“All right. I’ll make the plans.” But before he could go on, Ronan heard a scream from the wharf above them.

“Charlotte Sibley! Charlotte Sibley, I need youuuuuuu!”

Charlie peeked over Ronan’s shoulder and groaned. “Oh, no. Lettie Trowbridge. If you get the lines, I think we should be able to make our escape before she gets down here.”

“What does she want?” Ronan asked. He turned around when he heard the clomp of footsteps on the wooden stairs.

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