#9 The Quay

Molly treated her relationship with Kevin as a friendship. They got along so well she never really thought of him any other way. It was possible that she did this on purpose. No commitment meant she could not be hurt, as she had seen happen to so many of her friends. But as the weeks progressed she realized that there was a very special bond growing between them. Kevin was not pushing the situation. He seemed to sense the limitations that Molly had put on their relationship, but also seemed a bit shy when it came to women and having Molly as a friend. The fact that he was only in Kilmore Quay on the weekends helped him deal with this.

As the summer and autumn passed and the weather turned cooler, there would be no more sailing lessons during the winter weather. Molly figured that Kevin would end his weekend trips to the quay and she would not see him again, or at least until spring weather allowed them to go out sailing again.

On their last weekend together Molly found out she was in for a surprise. As they sat at the bar with their drinks Kevin began the conversation.

“I guess this is the end of my sailing lessons for this year?” Kevin shrugged as he spoke.

“The weather is so unpredictable, Kevin, and even the area between here and the Saltees could get so rough that it's not safe to go out. There might be days that would work, but we can't plan on it being good an any specific weekend. I'd hate for you to travel down here and be stuck on land all weekend,” Molly was just being her pragmatic self. “Besides, as it gets closer to December the weather for sailing gets very cold.”

“I do understand all that, Molly. What I'm thinking is that I've really come to enjoy these weekends down here in Kilmore, and was thinking I might still be interested in coming to visit,” Kevin took a deep breath as he stumbled through his comments. He met Molly's eyes with a questioned look on his face.

Molly was totally stunned and didn't know how to respond. Was Kevin asking about coming to visit her? What did he want? She needed to say something and not leave Kevin with that strange questioning look on his face.

“Um..Umm, Kevin, I have to say I'm quite surprised,” Molly stuttered as she tried to find something to say. Of course it's fine for you to come back to Kilmore when you are not taking sailing lessons. It's a free world.” Maybe she should have left that last part out as she thought to herself.

Kevin took a big breath and figured it was now or never, “Molly, I'm not just coming down here because I like Kilmore, which I do. I'd be coming to see you.” As Kevin finished he realized he was now looking at the floor too embarrassed to see the look on Molly's face.

“Kevin, I never realized that you felt that way. I know we've become very good friends over the last couple of months and have a great time together on weekends. I've also realized how much I'm going to miss those times this winter. It would be great to spend time on land with you. In fact, you really haven't seen much of the area around here. I'd love to take some of what would be sailing time and take you around.” Molly was in her tour guide mode for lack of knowing what more to do.

Kevin's look brightened up when he heard Molly's response, but was still very unsure about how Molly felt. Was she just being nice to him? They toasted the new weekend plan and ordered more drinks. Neither of them was a big drinker, so it didn't take much for them to start to feel the effects of the alcohol. Molly's friends at the pub had accepted Kevin as one of them so they stopped being so protective of Molly as they used to.

As they both became more relaxed Kevin moved closer to Molly and brushed her hair back off of her shoulder gently touching her cheek. Molly was not sure how this all happened so quickly, but gave in to the tingly feeling she was having and leaned forward to Kevin with his hand slipping ever so slightly behind her neck and nudging her closer to him. All this ending in a simple and gentle kiss.

Molly pulled away as her face flushed. Kevin was sure he had stepped over the line until Molly took his hand and led him just outside the pub door, out of sight of the regulars.

“Not inside,” she whispered as they were quickly outside the door. Just as they were clear of eyesight of the pub, she turned so quickly to Kevin that he practically ran into her as she put her arms around his neck for a passionate kiss which he returned eagerly wrapping his arms around her waist.

It was then that Molly and Kevin realized what had been happening between them over the last couple of months, and that this something was just the beginning.