Chapter Three
A WET NOSE pressed to Kieran’s arm as he hopped out of his truck.
“Chewie boy,” Kieran said, kneeling down to scratch behind the ears of the family mutt. A scruffy brown tail banged against the truck fender.
“Your mom just called me, said dinner’s ready.
Good timing, kid.” His father came around the vehicle, a slight limp to his heavy steps.
Grant McCullough was a tall man, even though age and joint troubles had bowed his spine and weighed down his shoulders.
Kieran stepped into the hug his father offered, tugging him in close.
“Why are you out here so late?’ Kieran pulled out of the hug, raising a brow at Grant. His father rolled his eyes, running a hand through a mop of curls that were still more blonde than gray.
“No heavy lifting, I promise. Left my drill in the shed, your mom needs a painting hung.” He waved the small drill in the air.
“I’ll hang it for her after we eat.” They made their way toward the house, twilight dimming the horizon, the dark sky clear in every direction. Grant chuckled at Kieran’s words.
“I can handle hanging a picture up, Kier.” He gripped Kieran’s arm, pulling him to a stop on the front porch. “You’re not just here to help out. We want you here because we want to see you.” A firm slap to his back that nearly sent Kieran stumbling forward. “Come on, let’s go eat.”
Meredith McCullough provided a stark contrast to her husband. Short where he was tall, with deep auburn hair that hung straight down her back. Boisterous and chatty. She shared her green eyes with Kieran, and they sparkled the moment he walked into her dining room.
“Give him a chance to set his stuff down, Mer,” Grant said rather ineffectively, chuckling as Meredith ignored him, wrapping Kieran in a hug that pinned his arms to his side.
“Go put your bag in your room, wash your hands, and I’ll get you a plate ready.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Kieran saluted as she let him go to do as he was told, returning to the dining room in record time at the insistence of his growling stomach. The two protein bars he’d inhaled on the drive paled in comparison to pork chops and homemade mashed potatoes waiting for him at the table.
“How’re the Mills kids doing?” Grant asked around a mouth of food, earning a glare from Meredith.
“Good,” Kieran said, swallowing his own mouthful before continuing. “Atticus is playing better than ever.”
“He’s got a boyfriend now, doesn’t he? Saw some pictures of them together, they looked happy as could be!” Kieran’s gut told him to steer clear of any conversation that involved partners, considering the gleam he saw in his mother’s eye as she slyly watched her words sink in.
“He does,” Kieran said carefully, focusing harder on the pork chop he was sawing through. “They’ve been together for a few months. Kai makes him really happy.”
His mother clapped, actually clapped. “Oh, good! Greta would be so happy to see him settling down.” Kieran wasn’t so sure about that. Greta had loved her grandchildren fiercely, but it had been no secret that her Christian values kept her from accepting that Atticus was bisexual.
It was as if his thoughts had managed to steer his mother’s line of questions. “What about Sammie?”
And there it was. Grant snorted, eyes glued to his fork, and Kieran leveled a bored stare at him before answering his mother’s question.
“Sammie’s good. Saw her today when I dropped off the grain.” The image of her blushing with a sex toy in hand was seared into his mind.
That wasn’t the answer his mother was looking for, and Kieran knew it. “Is she still single? I would have thought some boy would have snatched her up by now!”
“Or girl,” Grant provided, gesturing with his fork before spearing a piece of meat.
“Yes, yes, or girl,” Meredith continued, waving him off. Kieran fought the urge to sigh.
“Sammie has a career,” he said. “She’s busy.”
“I’m sure she is.” His mother frowned. “Still, I never would have thought Atticus would be the first one to settle down. Before you even!”
Grant laughed. He actually laughed. Hunched over his plate, shoulders heaving with his deep chuckle.
Kieran slumped back in his seat, groaning as he wiped a hand down his face, calloused fingers rasping against his beard.
His lack of a love life was a sore point between them.
Kieran knew that no amount of deflection would faze his mother.
“Remember how much of a crush little Sammie had on you?” Her frown was gone, a manic sort of glee taking over her expression.
“That was a decade ago.”
Meredith clicked her tongue. “Doesn’t mean her feelings faded away to nothing. Maybe you should ask her out!”
His father’s cackling rang out from the other side of the table as a pained noise escaped Kieran. He needed to change the subject fast, before his mother’s idea had a chance to fully sink its claws in.
Because there was no chance that Sammie still had feelings for him. Those had disappeared the moment he broke her sixteen year old heart, of that he was sure.
And what did it matter? Kieran wasn’t looking for a relationship.
He’d tried it in the past, and the failure had hurt more than he liked to remember.
Those feelings that he read about in books, saw in movies, that he heard his friends and teammates go on about, they weren’t something he’d ever felt for himself.
He liked sex, he liked having someone around to talk to about life, but it had never gone farther than that for him.
Even when he had tried to force it.
Kieran pushed those thoughts away. He liked his life, liked himself. He didn’t need one of the sweeping romances everyone around him seemed set on finding.
Kieran leaned forward over his plate, determined to change the subject. “Kenna called the other day.” That did the trick. Meredith’s eyes widened, and Grant’s laughter died out. Mention of Kieran’s cousin, oldest daughter of his estranged uncle, always tended to bring the mood down a bit.
“She said she might be in town soon,” Kieran continued.
“Said she’d love to see both of you.” Kenna wanted to visit before the women’s pro volleyball tournament.
The drive up from Louisville wasn’t bad, but between the season being in full swing and the coaching gig she’d taken up, Kenna hadn’t been able to visit her parents in months.
“We should have her over for dinner.” Meredith’s tone brooked no argument, not that Kieran thought Grant would put up a fight over seeing Kenna. He loved his niece. It was her father that was the problem.
“Have you heard from Garrett?” It was a mistake, one hundred percent. Kieran knew that. But still, the ongoing feud between the two brothers was something Kieran had never understood. Something he was definitely not on board with.
“Nope.” Grant had transformed from the jolly, sweet man Kieran loved best to the stiff, stubborn old ass that Kieran sort of couldn’t stand.
“Kenna said he’s good.” If his parents got to make him uncomfortable for their own amusement, then Kieran thought he had every right to poke this particular bruise a little harder.
“His arm healed up nice. From when he fell off that ladder last fall, I told you about that, didn’t I?
He’s had the cast off for about a while now, finally able to operate the farm equipment again. ”
Kieran rambled off a few other inane details about his uncle’s life that he’d gleaned from his brief conversation with Kenna. Meredith grew quiet, quieter than she’d been throughout the entirety of their meal. It wasn’t a secret that she, too, had grown weary of the family feud.
“Have you re-upped your contract with Chicago?” Grant’s question had Kieran’s lips twitching into a frown.
“Not yet,” he said, the words falling slowly. He’d been with the Cats for two seasons, the length of his original contract. He had a new one at home, sitting on his kitchen counter, waiting for a signature.
“So it’s not a sure thing,” Meredith began, “that you’ll be playing for them next year?”
His dad had known exactly how to change the subject so that Kieran would be the one back in the spotlight.
“I just have to sign the new contract.” Kieran kept his tone neutral.
“But sweetheart,” his mother continued. “Volleyball isn’t going to be there forever. Have you given thought to what we asked you?”
“Yes,” Kieran finally snapped, earning a flinch from Meredith that he immediately regretted and a stern, raised brow from Grant. “I’m still thinking about it, that’s why I haven’t signed the papers yet.”
It being the farm. The family business. The thing his parents, namely his mother, wanted him to take over.
They’d asked him before the start of the season, Meredith casually slipping it into conversation over dinner.
Grant had grown quiet, just like he always did when his failing health came up.
The farm was too much for him, even after hiring on more help.
But they wanted to keep it in the family, and they were just so worried that Kieran would need something long term to support himself.
Something that wasn’t volleyball, a sport that he most likely only had another ten years or so of left in him. Never mind the fact that Kieran had already found a source of supplementary income, because his parents didn’t know about what he did in the small amount of spare time he had.
They didn’t know about the content he made and posted online, his identity hidden behind a carefully placed ball cap.
This wasn’t the first time his mother had pushed him about the subject since that initial conversation. No, there had been countless phone calls, with just as many small nudges over dinners just like this one. Grant never brought it up, but Meredith made up for it by poking again and again.
We need you here, Kieran.
Selling the farm will break your father’s heart.
We just want to make sure your future is secure.