EPILOGUE

Flynn

I have ideas about love.

Some from personal experience, but mostly from watching others.

First...there are my parents. They've been married for almost twenty-eight years and they still hold hands under the table. They don't think anyone notices, but I do. The touch is natural... one that exists after many years of sitting side-by-side with your best friend.

There's my Uncle Hank. With him, love came only once and has no physical existence, except for what remains in his heart.

My two knucklehead cousins, Nix and Linc. I love them beyond measure, but I never thought those two guys would be smart enough to figure it out. But they both fell hard and fast. In just a matter of a few months, Nix and Emily will tie the knot. They'll start making a new generation of Caldwells, which will make Uncle Hank happy and give him a new kind of love.

Linc will be there soon. He's grown a vagina as big as Cillian's, freaking out over how he'll propose to Ever. He wants to make it perfect for her and all I keep telling him is, "Dude, keep your head on straight... you have hockey games to win."

But I snicker to myself. It's kind of cool to see someone so madly in love that they only want to please their partner. That's Linc... he exists only for Ever.

And finally... my baby sister. I watch Renner now, sitting beside Cillian at my parents' dinner table. It's her farewell dinner because she's moving back to Dublin with him.

She’s so obviously in love with the man beside her that it infuses me with warmth. Renner is my best friend and I would sell my soul to the Devil for her to have happiness. She deserves it and I think she's finally found it.

I notice that they're holding hands below the table. At least, I hope that's what their hands are doing below the tablecloth and then I immediately banish the thought. I so don't want to think about my sister in that capacity. Plus, I might lunge across the table and plant my fist in his face.

Cillian is an interesting man. He's tough looking with his piercings and tattoos. I can still see the skeptical look in Dad's eyes over Renner's choice, but he's never been one to hold us back from our dreams. He and Mom support her choice fully, and I can even tell that Mom really likes Cillian. It must be an Irish thing.

Oh, well, there's no accounting for personal taste, I guess.

But Cillian does have something that makes me like him. He loves my sister. Oh, I gave him shit when he showed up but I knew from the minute I first laid eyes on him that he was the one for Renner. There was the mere fact he flew all this way, not even knowing if she'd see him... especially when a mere call would have sufficed. That told me a lot.

Then there was the night we spent getting drunk together. That also told me a lot. It only took a few beers to get him loose enough and then he told me and Nix everything... the story of his parents, how he met Renner, how he foolishly let his hero complex to rescue Maeve get in the way of loving Renner. He laid it all out on the table, and trust me... Nix and I made fun of him all night for it. It was his penance for letting my sis get away.

When it was all said and done, I had no hesitation in handing him the key to Renner's home.

Because at the end of the long day, Cillian was only seeking another chance at love and if there's one thing I know... that's the one thing that is deserving of a second bite at the apple.

I'm patiently waiting for my second bite... because, I too, have loved and lost.

I hope it will come soon.

I'm ready.