Chapter 9 #3
“Sweet, too,” she said, watching Richie with the kids. “He always like this?”
“Always,” I confirmed as Richie dropped onto the couch next to Saoirse and threw an arm around her shoulders.
She was trying hard to play it cool, reading her book like she didn’t care that Richie had shown up, but as he asked her a question, jostled her a little, and kissed the top of her head, she couldn’t hide her relieved smile.
“Good to see you, Dick ,” Cian said nonchalantly, like the little traitor hadn’t been texting him all week.
Aunt Ashley let out a strangled laugh beside me.
“Yeah, you too,” Richie said with mock dismissiveness. “Hey, go check the front seat of my truck.”
“Why?” Cian asked suspiciously.
“Birthday present,” Richie said, getting up from the couch.
“Seriously?” Cian said in surprise, his voice a little higher than normal.
“Go,” Richie ordered, tossing Cian his keys. He walked over to me and wrapped an arm around my waist.
Cian left the house and less than a minute later, we could hear his yell of excitement from outside.
“What?” I asked curiously, looking up at Richie. He just nodded toward the front door as Cian came back inside.
“Thank you,” Cian said, practically babbling. “Holy shit. You didn’t have to do this.”
“I didn’t,” Richie said easily. “Aoife did.”
He’d picked up the skateboard I’d ordered for Cian before we left and brought it with him.
“Thank you,” I whispered. I’d completely forgotten about it.
“This is too expensive,” Cian protested, his knuckles practically white as he clutched the skateboard. “You shouldn’t have—”
“It’s yours, and it’s custom, so I couldn’t bring it back even if I wanted to—which I don’t,” I cut him off. “Happy Birthday.”
Cian ran his hand reverently down the board then set it gently against the back of the couch and strode toward me. I jerked in surprise as he yanked me into a hug.
“Thanks, Mam,” he whispered in my ear. “You’re the best.”
“Glad you like it,” I whispered back. “Thank you for always going out of your way to have my back. I couldn’t do life without you.”
Cian nodded against my shoulder, still gripping me tight.
“This is so cool,” Ronan said excitedly.
Cian jerked away and spun toward our brother. “Don’t touch it,” he ordered, striding back toward his present. “Hands off.”
“Can I try it?” Ronan asked, completely unperturbed.
“Let’s give Cian a chance to break it in first,” Aunt Ashley said with a laugh. “You should turn on the porch light and take it out back on the patio.”
“Awesome,” Cian said, immediately heading for the back door.
As soon as he was gone, Richie leaned down close to my ear. “He calls you mam now?”
“It’s a new development,” I replied, still looking toward the door Cian had gone through.
“Huh,” he mused, leaning away again.
It took a long time for the kids to settle again after the excitement, and we all went to bed really late that night, the kids in the room we’d been sharing while Richie and I went out to sleep in the bed of his truck.
I was pretty sure Aunt Ashley thought we were crazy, but she just watched us with an amused smile as I grabbed my pillow and followed him outside.
There wasn’t really any good place for Richie to sleep inside except the couch, and since both of us would never fit there, and I refused to sleep without him again, the truck was our best option.
I stood by the tailgate while he spread out the sleeping bag we normally used and zipped another one to it.
“We’ll be like a burrito,” I said as he boosted me into the back of the truck.
“Believe me, you’ll be happy they zip together when it gets cold tonight,” he said following me up.
“Want to share my pillow?” I asked, grinning as I climbed inside. It was nice and cozy, the flannel inside soft against my bare legs.
“I knew I forgot something,” he joked, smacking a duffel bag that he’d shoved to the side to make space for our bed.
“Did you bring everything you own?” I asked, looking at the full truck bed.
“Didn’t know when we’d be back to get stuff,” he replied, crawling in beside me. “So, I brought everything I thought I might need.”
“Including tools,” I mused, staring at the toolbox by my head.
“Have to work, baby,” he reminded me. “Wherever we’re living.”
“You were really prepared to move out here,” I said softly, almost to myself.
“Told you that.”
“I know, I just—”
“Didn’t believe me?”
“Nothing has ever gone right,” I said, laying my head on his shoulder. “I believed you, I just have a hard time trusting it.”
“We’ll work on that,” he said groggily.
I smiled as I stared at the night sky. I wondered if we’d fool around, but as his breathing slowed into the familiar snuffling sounds, I cuddled in closer and closed my eyes. I wanted his hands on me, but we had plenty of time.
It was the first night since we’d left home that I didn’t wake up once.
We spent the next day getting ready for the trip back.
Oddly, when we’d left we’d been able to pack and head out in less than an hour but it took all day to round up everything we’d brought with us.
Cian and Richie went into town to get my tire fixed and rent a trailer so we could pull my car behind Richie’s truck.
I wanted to argue with him about the expense, but neither of us wanted to spend all day apart so soon…
and I had to admit that I wasn’t sure my car would even make the trip back.
Ronan, Saoirse, and Cian agreed to ride with Aunt Ashley in the motorhome, excited about the novelty of being able to walk around while she was driving—even though she assured me she wouldn’t let them—but Aisling insisted on riding with me and Richie.
I hadn’t really noticed how clingy she’d become because we were always together, but once Richie was there, and we never had a moment alone it was glaringly obvious.
I figured it probably wasn’t abnormal after all the upheaval, so I pretended not to notice.
Monday morning, we headed east again. As we passed the spot where I’d run over the tree branch, I told Richie the story about the bikers who stopped to help us while Aisling peppered in extra details she remembered.
He laughed a little at my description of Cian kicking my flat tire, then grew serious as I described watching him disappear down the hill.
His hands were tight on the steering wheel until I was finished, and the look he shot me warned me of all kinds of trouble if I ever pulled such a stupid stunt again.
“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—”