Flynn’s footsteps, who rushed to catch up with her, made Erin wince eventually. After leaving the coffee shop, she focused too much on her thoughts while heading toward her car, which she parked not that far from there and wanted to use to get to the supermarket along with Mark. On the way to the car, those thoughts, which spun in her head like the bees, took control over her, making Erin forget the rest of the world for a few moments. The reason? She had felt in the stranger, the one with the beautiful name like Kathleen O’Connell, that she had feelings for her brother and that Alex wasn’t just another man for her.

„Even so, it’s strange,” murmured Erin, eventually.

„What exactly?” Flynn inquired after he finally managed to catch up with her and set the rhythm of his footsteps after hers.

Erin winced again, staring at Flynn, confused, while he was to her right. Then, understanding the meaning of his question, although she heard that question only partly, Erin smiled. „Just thoughts,” she murmured eventually.

„You know, there cannot be only thoughts,” said Flynn, smiling. „Do you know why?”

„Because everything that’s somehow related to Alex isn’t a coincidence for me?”

„You can also say so. Eventually, he’s your brother and you want him to be fine. You won’t deny that, right?”

Erin smiled. „Actually, no, Mister Flynn. I won’t ever deny that.”

„Just as you won’t ever stop calling me Mister Flynn. Something that makes me feel strange.”

„Strange? How?” Erin asked, slowly frowning. She was confused because of Mark’s words.

Her reaction made him smile: childishly and clumsily at the same time. Then, he said, „Like a kid, who was caught doing something else in class and not studying as the teacher had told him to do. Actually, I heard that all the time being a child, „Mister Flynn here, Mister Flynn there.” Even today I still hear Mister Flynn because of my job.”

Erin burst into laughter. „Change it then!”

„What? My job?”

„No! Your name. If you say that’s something insufferable to you to hear Mister Flynn here and there, change your name and you get rid of problems too.”

Mark laughed with all his heart after such words. Then, he looked on the sly at Erin, who kept smiling, making the horizon resound because of her crystalline and sweet laughter. All this pleasantly filled Flynn’s soul. At the same time, he found it strange to see her eyes wildly shining each time she was laughing, even if it wasn’t a violent shining. Her eyes were actually shining because Erin was that kind of free bird that wanted to fly toward the sky, so close to perfection. Something she couldn’t do eventually because of the life and the duties that were always waiting for her at the office after she’d taken the family business and told Alex to be free. All this chained her and blocked her freedom to the sky, tying her wings to her body just to make sure the bird Erin wouldn’t ever touch the sun.

„Even so, she keeps flying toward new horizons in her heart,” Flynn caught this thought crossing his mind. „At the same time, she’s so real… each time she’s happy… with us… her friends. Yet, she’d be happier if she’d be in love and she had allowed me to hold her in my arms and tell her that I love her. However, I can’t buy her love with dreams or passions. I can’t buy it with a simple smile or jokes or just being with her. Maybe only with… the hope that she’d see me one day passing by her and would understand that I also live in this world, next to her, at the distance of a hand stretched to the side just to grab another hand, feel its warmth and aroma, and all this to make her not feel lonely ever.”

„The one who is strange now is you,” Erin suddenly said, making Mark wince.

Looking to his left, he saw Erin looking at the asphalt and at the top of her black shoes that were barely seen from under her large white trousers. She was smiling though. Somehow clumsily and weirdly, but Erin still smiled. Yet, Flynn wasn’t sure if she smiled because of what he said before or because of a thought that might have crossed her mind. That’s why he asked, „What do you mean? I mean… why do you think that I’m strange?”

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„Because you are,” Erin confidently replied. „And, when you are acting like that, you remind me of Alex.”

„Alex?” Mark asked, slowly frowning. „Why exactly do I remind you of him? Don’t tell me: do I remind you of a brother?”

„No,” Erin whispered, eyes on him at this time. „You remind me of an in-love man. Yes, you remind me of a man who has given his heart to a woman.”

Mark smiled. „Maybe you are right. Maybe I’ve given my heart to a woman eventually.”

Erin nervously moved this time. She did that discreetly, without Mark noticing something. She reacted like that because of her job and of many relationships she had left behind her: both personal and professional. All this taught her to wear a mask and show people only what they wanted to see. Thus, she also felt better because she could hide her feelings, especially her fears like losing the love of someone. Yes, Erin Doyle started to fear losing the love of someone whom she was interested in lately.

„Erin?” Mark called her name, making her wince. „Something happened?”

„Just… thoughts,” replied Erin, suddenly looking elsewhere. Realizing that her reaction might have made Flynn take thoughts, Erin forced a smile. And, looking into Mark’s eyes again, who wasn’t losing sight of her while waiting for her answer, Erin asked with a certain fake joy in her voice this time, „May I know who’s the lucky one or the fairy who has stolen your heart?”

„Is this that important?” Flynn asked, smiling.

„Absolutely,” Erin rushed to answer. „You are my friend. And, once I want all those I care about to be happy, I’m also interested in finding out what they feel, whom they meet, or, as it happens in your case, who has stolen your heart. Or… is this a secret?”

„Honestly yes,” murmured Mark, somehow confused. „I want to keep her name secret. For the moment.”

„The reason? Don’t tell me: is she married?”

„No, she isn’t,” said Mark, smiling and looking at the asphalt. „She isn’t married, but her heart belongs to someone else.”

Erin squinted at him. „Don’t tell me that’s the same lady that reads sometimes „A pair of blue eyes” in Alex’s coffee shop.”

„Again no. It’s not her but another woman,” replied Flynn, even more confused than before. „If I had been in love with her, I would have forgotten that love already.”

„Why exactly? She’s a beautiful woman eventually. And, as I told Alex, as long as she doesn’t have that man’s surname in her passport and his ring on her finger, she’s a free woman.”

„She’s still someone else’s woman, Erin. Even if we don’t want that, someone else lives in her heart. That’s why I think Alex has no chance with her.”

„I think differently though.”

„Why?”

„Because… it’s what I feel, Flynn. I feel she’s not happy in that relationship. She looks lonely. She seems unhappy and eager to feel fulfilled. Trust me: a woman feels such things even better than a man.”

„Do you mean her?” Erin looked at him, confused. „I mean… do you really think she feels all this?”

„Undoubtedly. Yet, I wasn’t talking about her when I said that „a woman feels such things better than a man. I was talking about me.” Mark looked at her, even more confused than before. Erin sighed. „I was talking about the fact that a woman feels very well when another woman isn’t happy with the man whom she had given her heart to. And, trust me: I haven’t passed through something similar only once.”

Mark winced again, staring at the woman who suddenly kept silent. He looked at her for a very long time, thoughtful, deeply feeling the same sadness as her, a feeling that made him want to hug her suddenly and whisper to her with love, „You aren’t lonely, Erin. I’m here, with you, as long as you want this.”

„Just…,” Erin murmured eventually, making him wince. „If you hesitate too much, you can also lose.”

„What exactly?”

„Love. Just as you can lose that woman, to whom you seem to fear telling her what you feel for her. That’s why, Flynn… if you accept a piece of advice from a woman for another one who will be happy if she accepts your love: don’t waste your time and tell her. Better: kiss her when you see her and feel that it’s the time. Thus, you won’t give her the chance to step back or misunderstand your intention. It’s the only way you can make a woman happy and have her heart… forever.”

After such words, Erin quickened her pace toward the car that was only a few meters from them. She seemed sad when she left him behind, and this made Flynn think. „Did she understand?” He suddenly wondered, looking behind. „Did she understand whom I don’t dare to tell about my feelings? Did she understand that I was talking about her?”

„Are you coming?” Erin rushed him, being already next to her car. This made Flynn quicken his pace to get next to her. Then, when Mark was only one step from her, Erin threw him her keys, telling him in a demanding tone, „You drive! I don’t want to bother myself with driving today!” Then, quickening her pace, she entered the car on the passenger’s side.

Flynn smiled. „It’s true. There’s still hope for us, it seems to me,” he thought. And he was right in thinking this because Erin didn’t allow anybody to drive her car, but she allowed him. She had done that only once in her life: when she had been really in love… but with another man…