What Happens Over the Summer

R.J. stared at me. "The people you love Jo?" he asked quietly.
"The people I care about," I corrected quickly.
A smile was slowly spreading across his face.
"Wipe that damned grin off your face!" I snapped.
"I tend to smile at the people I love."
I felt myself deflate. "The people you what?"
"Or-care about," he said, still smiling.
"Don't play with me!"
"Well aren't you doing the same thing? Playing with me? My emotions?"
"I don't know what you want to hear. I don't know why you came back in the first place."
He took a step towards me, standing close now. I tried to avoid looking into his eyes, but he gently grasped my chin and tilted my head up. "Because I promised I would. Because as much as I love Max, he couldn't feel this...I don't know...emptiness inside me."
"Look who's getting all poetic," I mumbled.
"Don't try to distract me with that dry humor of yours," he scolded gently. "Here I am opening up my heart and you're laughing at me."
"I'm not," I said seriously.
"So now are you listening?"
And for once, when I nodded, I meant it.
"I knew about Max that summer we spent together. I knew I couldn't make a life for myself somewhere else when I didn't know what was happening to my own son. I planned to just go back and meet him and set it up to where I could send his mom child support. But the minuet I saw him...I'd only experienced that feeling one other time in my life. That feeling of...it was just right. So I stayed to get to know him, fooled around with the thought of shared custody, then one day his mom just split, I haven't heard from her since. I had to find a better job to support us and I just got enough financial security to leave for a while and come back to get you."
"Why didn't you tell me about Max five years ago?"
"Because I was afraid of what you would say. That you would react just like you did when you first found out about him."
"And that other time you felt like it was just right?"
His grin bloomed again. "The first time I saw you. That love at first sight thing. I've realized it's kind of a pain in the ass because once you fall in love with someone, it's almost painful for you to be away from them."
"I know the feeling."
"Do you now?"
I snorted. "Do you think I didn't miss you for five years?"
"Well the first time I saw you again you threatened to shoot me."
I wrapped my arms around his neck. "I wouldn't have shot to kill. Just shot you in the foot or something."
"How reassuring."
"Now what?" I asked.
"Well now you decide if you want to stay on and run security here or come back inland with me and help me run my motorcycle shop."
"You have a motorcycle shop?"
"Yeah. Come to think of it, it might get much better business on the shore."
"What are you saying?"
"I believe the phrase is 'And they lived Happily Ever After'."