The Mighty Quinns: Ronan Read Online Free Page A

time,” he said. “If you apply it properly and maintain it, you shouldn’t have to repaint as often.” He stopped himself. Now he was sounding like the boss.
    “You know something about boats?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
    “Yeah,” Ronan said. “Just a little.”
    “You said you were from Seattle. What are you doing in Maine?”
    “Just traveling,” Ronan said. “Seeing America.”
    “Well, if you’re willing to work hard, I’ll pay you a fair wage,” she said. “We have the office and shop here in town. And our nursery and hatchery is out at Kepley Pond. Then we grow out the oysters at Mistry Bay.”
    Kepley Pond. Mistry Bay. That sounded like a lot of water. Since he’d been eight years old, Ronan made a point to stay off the water, at least the ocean. But he wanted this job and he’d need to put his fears aside. Maybe it was time to face the past. Besides, no one ever got lost at pond or at bay like they got lost at sea.
    “You’ve done good work on the boat,” she said. “The job is yours, if you’d like it.”
    “There is one thing,” he said. “I need to find somewhere to stay. I was hoping you might be able to help me.”
    “We’ve got a small apartment upstairs next to the office. I could rent that to you,” she said. “As long as you’re quiet and tidy, I don’t see any problems.”
    “Great,” he said. Ronan knew he ought to tell her his real name. She didn’t seem like the type to discriminate, although he still hadn’t figured out what the problem was with the rest of the town. “I tried to find a place in town, but no one wanted to rent to me.”
    “Why not?”
    He shrugged. “I don’t know. As soon as I told them my name, they suddenly didn’t have a room to rent.”
    “Ronan?” she asked. “Or Smith?”
    “Quinn,” he said. “My name is Ronan Quinn, not Smith.” He paused and watched as surprise came over her pretty features. “See. That’s the look right there. So it is the name.”
    She laughed softly and then a sudden hiccup stopped her. Pressing her fingers to her lips, she sent him an apologetic smile. “Yeah. People around here have a pretty big grudge against anyone named Quinn.”
    “How could they have a grudge against me? They don’t even know me.”
    Charlotte shrugged. “Well, I don’t really believe in all the silliness. Spells and curses and witches. I’m willing to give you a job, Ronan Quinn. And a place to stay, if you want.”
    “What did this Quinn do to make everyone mad?”
    “It’s a complicated story,” Charlie said, waving him off.
    “Don’t you think I ought to hear it, so I know what I’m up against?”
    She shook her head. “If I tell you the story, you’ll think we’re all so crazy that you’ll want to leave town. And I need an oysterman.” She pointed to his duffel. “Grab your bag and I’ll show you the apartment.”
    Ronan breathed a silent sigh of relief. “I didn’t mean to lie about my name. I was just trying to figure things out.”
    “No matter,” she said, walking him back upstairs.
    When they got to the second floor, a doorway opened into a lobby for a spacious office opposite the tasting room. “Things usually get busy in here in the afternoon when we’re preparing packing lists and labels for our shipments but all that starts next week.”
    She showed him a comfortable one-bedroom apartment with a galley kitchen and a comfortable bed. A bay window overlooked the water and he could hear the metallic clank of the boat riggings through the glass. “This is nice,” he said.
    “If you need an advance to buy groceries, I can help you out there.”
    “I could use that,” he said. “And I can finish the skiff today. I’ll work on it all night if I have to.”
    “Great,” she murmured. Charlie stood in front of him, her gaze flitting nervously around the room. Though Ronan had tried to hide his attraction to his new boss, he hadn’t really considered that she might be attracted to him. As