Page 346 of Lodestar

20

STAR

After jumpingout of the Mini Cooper, I stretched with no small amount of relief even as I stared at the O’Donnelly ‘homestead.’

Sunday dinner—a sacrosanct affair amid the O’Donnellys.

So sacrosanct, in fact, that Aoife’s first declaration of rebellion against the patriarchs of the family was to skip this meal permanently.

Funny how a family’s traditions could be so different.

The Sullivans didn’t have a similar tradition. Was that a weakness I’d never spotted before? Were a family’s traditions what set them apart and what bound them together?

“Why so pensive?”

I blinked at Conor over the roof of his Mini Cooper. “No reason.”

He snorted. “Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”

Shoving my hands in my pockets, I studied him with a measured glance. “No one calls me out like you. Do you know that?”

“Nope, but I figure it’s one of the reasons you keep me around.”

Smiling at that, I mused, “One of many.”

“Good to know.” He rounded the car even though he was nearer to the door than I was and slipped his hand inside my pocket so he could knot our fingers together. Which, of course, was when I felt the prickle of plastic—more candy. Could he rock any harder?

Pulling out the Payday he'd burrowed in there, I groaned. “I love these.”

His smile was smug. “I know.”

“You nervous?” he asked as I did a quick shuffle, passed the candy bar to my other hand, grabbed his again, then tore into the packet with my teeth before I started chowing down.

“Not really. Just thinking how we never did anything like this.”

“When you were kids?”

“At no point. Savannah doesn’t do this with her folks.”

“Probably because they’re not always in the same state.”

“Even if they were, I don’t think they’d do it.”

“Don’t blame them. Having to drive upstate every fucking weekend is a pain in the ass.”

“Not for long. She’ll be moving to the city as soon as you set her up somewhere, won’t she?”

“We’ll see. There’s time for her to change her mind.”

“Is she changeable?”

“Not particularly. But who knows right now? After… everything, she’s acting oddly.”

I thought about how manyeverythingsthe O’Donnellys had gone through lately. “All the ‘Our Ladies?’”

He grunted then scanned the cars in the yard. It was like an ad for SUVs/tanks, apart from an Aston Martin which stuck out like a sore thumb. “All my brothers are here.”

“And their wives.”

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