Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 48730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
“He was Irish,” Aisling said happily. “And he said our names right. No one ever says our names right.”
“That’s pretty cool,” Richie said, looking down at her.
“The little man said that Cian should come and work for them,” Aisling chattered on. “But he’s not old enough, so he said when he’s an adult, he’s gonna go and get a job.”
“No he’s not,” I muttered darkly.
“The little man?” Richie asked.
“One of them was considerably bigger than the other one,” I explained.
“That’s what he said,” Aisling argued stubbornly, still stuck on Cian wanting to work with the bikers at their garage.
“I’m sure he did,” I replied.
“Problem for a different day,” Richie said, shooting me a calming look. “We’ve got years before he’s done with school. He probably won’t even remember by then.”
“Thank the good Lord,” I said, looking back out my window.
Richie laughed.
The drive home felt considerably faster than the drive to Aunt Ashley’s, probably because I wasn’t terrified out of my mind, I didn’t have to drive through the night with weak ass headlights, and since Richie was driving I fell asleep with Aisling for a couple of hours. It was late evening when Richie carefully parked at the curb in front of our house.
“It looks exactly the same,” I murmured to myself.
“What did you think would happen in a week and a half?” Richie asked teasingly as he hopped out of the truck. He waited while Aisling scooted across the seat so he could help her down.
“Hurry up,” Saoirse said, knocking on my window. “Aunt Ashley wouldn’t let us pee in the RV while we were driving, and I have to go.”
I led the way back into the house, and I turned lights on as I moved through the rooms. Everything was different now, but it looked exactly the same. It was a massive mind-fuck.
“My bed!” Ronan bellowed in glee from upstairs. I guess he’d been sick of sleeping on the floor.
“It looks exactly how I remembered it,” Aunt Ashley said, meeting me in the kitchen.
“We didn’t have the money for any updates,” I replied dryly. I scowled. “At least that I knew of.”
“We’ll get that taken care of now that we’re here,” she said sympathetically.
“I’m gonna run home and let my parents know we’re back in town,” Richie said, striding into the kitchen. I grimaced. He’d mentioned how angry they’d been when he left. “I had Cian help me get your car off the trailer so I can take that, and I’ll leave my truck in case you guys need anything out of the back.”
“You did what?” I snapped.
“What?”
“You had Cian help you get the car off the trailer?”
“Yeah?” He was staring at me in confusion.
“My thirteen-year-old brother?”
“He’s fourteen.”
“Irrelevant!”
“He backed it off the trailer,” he said drolly. “I didn’t let him go joyriding.”
I glared.
Richie held my gaze. “He’s gotta learn at some point.”
“That point is not now.”
“Love you,” he said, choosing to disengage. He leaned down for a quick kiss that I barely reciprocated. “Be back in a little bit.”
He strolled out of the house like he didn’t have a care in the world, leaving me fuming.
I turned to find Aunt Ashley silently laughing.
“It’s not funny.”
“It’s a little funny,” she said, trying to straighten her expression. “The two of you are a good match.”
“He’s a pain in the ass.”
“One that’ll drive to a different state to chase you down,” she said with a smile. “Good pain to have.”
“I know,” I grumbled good-naturedly.
“Mam,” Cian called excitedly, running into the room. “Richie let me—”
His words broke off, and I glanced over to see Aunt Ashley making a dramatic throat-cutting gesture beside me.
I burst out laughing.
“I’m gonna go get Ro and Sersh so we can start unpacking the truck,” Cian said, backing slowly out of the kitchen.
“I better go help them,” I said with a sigh. I was so tired I just wanted to drop onto the couch and not move until bedtime, but I knew that it would drive me crazy to leave our stuff in the back of Richie’s truck all night.
“I’ll help,” Aunt Ashley said, following behind me.
We made it outside before the kids, and I got to work unstrapping our various bags.
“I know he likes to make sure nothin’ falls out,” Cian said, grunting as he loosened a strap. “But this is overkill. He used like ten of these.”
“And nothing fell out,” I pointed out logically.
“Ro,” Cian called, ignoring me to pass a bag over the side.
“Wait, that one’s Richie’s,” I said. “Give him this one.”
I passed Saoirse’s bag to Cian.
“Saoirse,” Cian called, tossing her the bag. “Here, take this, too.” He handed her a fishing pole. When the hell had Richie planned on going fishing?
“Cian, that’s Richie’s too,” I said in frustration.
“Yeah?”
“So, why are you taking his stuff out?”
Cian looked at me like I was an idiot. “Because Richie told me if we unloaded the truck not to bother bringin’ his stuff in, that he’d bring it in later,” he said slowly. “And I figured since he drove all the way out to get us, the least we could do was unpack his shit?”