“What’s wrong?”

He walked up behind her. She wore her hair up in a clip. A few soft ringlets of hair fell around her neck but for the most part it was exposed. It took everything in him to not slide his arms around her waist and kiss her neck. Instead, he forced himself to take a the few steps away and lean against the counter to face her.

She stared into the small saucepan as she slowly stirred. Noah leaned in to peek at what looked and smelled like clam chowder. Then he brought his attention back to her again. “What’s the matter?”

Their eyes met for a moment, she appeared troubled. “I uh…”

He searched her eyes waiting. He’d never seen her like this and he didn’t like it.

“I was just bummed that I didn’t get to go shopping.” The side of her lips lifted in a weak attempt to smile. “There’s only a few more days until I go back to work and I don’t know when I’ll get my car back.”

Noah hadn’t even realized he’d tensed up until he felt his muscles ease. He smiled feeling strangely relieved. “Is that what you’re worried about? They probably haven’t done anything to it yet.”

“No, they wouldn’t unless I okay it and no one called me today.”

“Perfect,” he said grabbing one of the rolls of bread on the counter. “I’ll call first thing in the morning. Me and Abel will go pick it up and work on it ourselves. I’ll have it running for you in no time.”

Just like that, her troubles seemed to fade—women and their shopping. She grabbed a pair of oven mitts and opened the oven pulling out two round bread rolls way too big to be dinner rolls. She glanced at him and laughed. His expression must’ve been as blank as it felt. Noah was trying to figure out what they were for.

“I’m gonna hollow them out and pour the soup in them.”

“Ah,” he said feeling a little stupid.

He helped out by pouring the drinks. Everything they did together now felt so perfect. Noah couldn’t even imagine ever leaving.

She must’ve been as hungry as he was because they both sat devouring the soup silently for a few minutes. Then he remembered. “So you have any plans for New Year’s?”

She shook her head taking another spoonful of soup and raised an eyebrow when she saw him smirk.

“So here’s the thing, you don’t have to say yes if you don’t want to okay?” She nodded. “How would you feel about a small gathering here at your place New Year’s Eve?” She eyed him as she sipped her soup again. “Just the guys and a few other friends from the neighborhood, probably Gio’s sisters.” She froze at the mention of Gio’s sisters and Noah had a feeling why. “Rita’s gone so she wouldn’t make it, but there may be a few other girls you know, friends of the guys.”

The guys. He wanted that perfectly clear. If there were any girls there they would be friends of the guys not his. There was only one girl he was interested in spending time with and he’d get her to understand that loud and clear one way or another.

“So what happens at one of these gatherings?”

The playfulness in that husky voice of hers relieved him, but it also drove him insane.

“We hang out, listen to music. You won’t have to cook or anything. We’ll order pizzas. And of course there will be drinking but I’ll make sure things stay under control.” He turned and glanced at the back door. “We don’t even have to have everyone in here. We can keep everyone outside. If it rains we can hang out in the garage.” He saw her thinking about it then added. “We usually have a good sized crowd when we have it over at Gio’s but I’ll make sure to tell them this year is different. Don’t worry we’ll tone it down.”

Roni smiled then giggled. “God, Noah you don’t have to make it a grandma party on account of me.”

Noah sat up straight, her comment hitting him like a shot out of nowhere. “No I didn’t mean—”

She laughed now. “I’m kidding. I just meant I don’t mind a little music. Sure why not? A party…uh gathering sounds like fun actually.”

Noah smiled, pushing her grandma comment aside. “Good, I’ll let the guys know.” He remembered something else. For some reason when Jack laid the news on all of them today, the first thing he thought of was he couldn’t wait to tell Roni. “Oh and guess what? In January, 5th Street is gonna start hosting Friday Night Fights. It’s a pretty big thing. The local radio station plugs it all week; then they broadcast from the gym all day that Friday. Abel’s up first next week. And then I’m up the following week.”

“Oh! I’ve heard those plugs before.” Roni said sounding just as excited as Noah knew she would be. “Don’t you also get to go on the radio? I’ve heard them interview the fighters before on the morning radio show.”

Noah got up to pour more soup in his bread bowl. “That’s usually if it’s a big fight, which mine might be considered since it’s a rematch. I fought this guy last year and it was a draw. Bullshit if you ask me or anyone that saw it. How are you gonna call it a draw when I knocked him on his ass in the second round?” He shook his head in disgust.

“Wouldn’t that be a knock out?” Roni turned to face him as he walked back to the table.

“No ‘cause he got up and hung in there until the end. Only reason I couldn’t end it was because that’s the fight I injured my shoulder.” He smiled, loving the way Roni hung on his every word. “He fell into me one of the times I was getting ready to swing and it jammed my shoulder. I fought the rest of the fight in excruciating pain. Jack and Abel wanted to stop it but I refused and they called it a draw.”