Out of The Blue

Chapter 14

Not a chance.

Slowly tiptoeing over to the door that led to the front of the store, I pushed it open with bated breath, peeking my head through to see who was there.

Thankfully, it wasn't him. Instead, the face I saw was that of a familiar boy less than four feet tall, and I couldn't help but grin at the way he waved enthusiastically once he saw me.

"Bowen," I said, my hand on my chest as I blew out a breath of relief, "what are you doing here?" Realizing he was indeed alone though, I quickly followed it up with, "Where is Ryan?"

He ran over to me, throwing his arms around my waist before looking up at me with no cause for concern in his features. "He's just outside, but I'm sorry about this morning."

It felt as though something tightened around my heart hearing his apology. "Oh, no. Don't worry about it," I replied softly. I would've never blamed him for the cancelled plans. Reaching my hand up to ruffle his hair, I said, "We can go fishing any morning, so whenever you want to, just let me know."

He nodded enthusiastically. "How about tomorrow?"

"Sounds good to me," I mused.

And when the door opened once more—the hiss of the rain drifting inside—it was no surprise to see Ryan there, shaking off slightly before he met my gaze with a sheepish expression.

"I promise I'll clean that up."

A laugh escaped me, and I waved it off, telling him not to worry about it. "Where did you park? Your car isn't out front."

"Just around back," he replied. "I hope that's okay. I figured you wouldn't want me parked out front if you're technically closed."

"Totally fine, but next time, don't worry about using the lot. We let other businesses use it for overflow parking in the evenings if needed, so it's no big deal," I explained before quirking a brow. "Though I am curious to know what brought you guys here."

"Well," Ryan started with a drawl, bringing my attention to the pizza box in his hand as he jostled it slightly, "since our plans this morning got cancelled, we figured we'd try to make it up to you."

"By bringing pizza!" Bowen exclaimed, taking a step away from me as he bounced with excitement.

My features softened, touched by their thoughtfulness. It didn't matter that it was such a simple gesture. It meant a lot.

When I didn't immediately respond, however, a flash of worry crossed Ryan's expression as he presumably thought he'd done something wrong. Leaving the pizza on one of the tables and instructing Bowen to take a seat, he strode over to me. "Hey," he whispered, tipping my chin upward so our gaze met, "I'm sorry if I stepped over a line or something."

I shook my head, stopping his train of thought before it spiraled further away from the truth. "No, no, no. It's okay. It's great even. I just—" I paused for a moment to breathe. "—I haven't had the best day. It was horrible actually, and I'll tell you about it later, but this? This is amazing, honestly."

The corners of his mouth lifted. "It's only pizza."

"It's not just the pizza. It's the company, too," I said, unable to completely get into words how sweet I thought this was. "And I know you said this was to make up for this morning, but like I told Bowen, no apology or grand gesture was needed. I get that he's your main priority."

"Yes, Bowen's a priority for me—" He lifted a hand and caressed his thumb along my cheek. "—but so are you."

Those words caused a fluttering in my stomach and made me all too aware of the little space that separated us. Unable to stop myself, I brought my hands up to cup his cheeks—feeling a jolt of electricity flow through my veins at the contact—lifted onto my tiptoes and planted my mouth on his in a slow series of closed-mouth kisses. He hummed against my lips, smiling, and kissed me back, though when I heard the scraping of chair legs against the floors, I pulled back, having forgotten we weren't alone.