Page 22 of Drifting Hearts
“I’m just doing what I need to do. It’s no big deal.” I looked out the window, hoping that would signal to Kieran that the current topic of conversation was making me uncomfortable. It was weird to hear people say positive things about me. Even though I’d deserved every bad thing ever said about me, it came as a shock that people could still see anything good in me.
I was sure my therapist would have a lot to say about my self-deprecating train of thought.
“What’s your brother like?” I asked. “I get it if you don’t want to tell me about him, but I’m curious about the guy who fished me out of the hole I dug for myself.”
Kieran took a long, slow, deep breath. “Shane is a good guy. Up until recently, he was a workaholic, but Archer has had a positive influence on him. He works a bit less now, but he still finds plenty of time to dedicate to his charity work. We didn’t always have a lot growing up, and that stayed true until Shane won the lottery. He’s like Mom. He likes to take care of people. And now he likes to take care of people and watch cringy movies from the ‘80s with Archer.”
“Oh, God. He found a new victim. I swear he hasn’t seen any movies that were made after 1995. He’s obsessed.”
“Shane has an ‘80s movie tattoo now.”
“Oh, no. They’re basically married now.”
Kieran cut his gaze over to me and his smile widened. My heart fluttered and my palms got sweaty. “You’re happy for him.”
Not a question. A statement. My smile faltered, and that’s when I realized I’d been smiling at all. Grinning, in fact. From ear to ear. Because Archer was happy. In spite of the pain I’d caused, Archer had found someone to share his weird old movie obsession with. Someone who was decent and caring and able to take care of him.
“Of course I am. Archer might not be my friend anymore, but I’ll always be his. I did a stupid, shitty, cowardly thing. It was selfish and I’ll never stop paying the price for it. But that doesn’t mean I want Archer to be unhappy.” I cleared my throat and changed the subject before my good mood vanished. I didn’t want to talk about Archer anymore. I’d already guessed that Shane was a good guy, and now I had confirmation that they were stupidly happy together.
“Where is this birdbath anyway? The other side of the country?”
“We’ll be there just after lunch time. We can grab the thing and then get lunch before we head back.”
“I’m sorry your mom felt the need to develop a sudden interest in obtaining inconveniently located items just so she’d have a way to make me go somewhere that’s not my physical therapy appointments.”
Kieran shrugged like it was no big deal. “I don’t mind driving. When I was a kid, I’d always wanted to go on a road trip. Just me and a map. No destination in mind. No plan. Just drive and see where I ended up.”
“Why don’t you do it now? I don’t mean right this second, but now in general.”
“Before, I didn’t go because it wasn’t something I could afford. And now it’s because…” Kieran paused. “I don’t have a good reason for not going, besides the fact that Brodie is still gallivanting all over the planet. And if I went too, it would just be Mom and Shane.”
“And by the time you got back, they’d have adopted every stray cat in the shelter.”
Kieran laughed. “Something like that. Maybe someday I’ll go. Truthfully, I’d forgotten that it was something I wanted to do.”
I unbuckled my seatbelt and twisted around, wrestling the cooler over the seat and into the front. I fastened my seatbelt again and flipped the cooler open. “Snickerdoodle?” I grabbed the container I saw Patricia put them in and cracked it open. I held the container out toward him so he could take one. His fingers brushed against mine and my heart fluttered again.
Kieran had touched me countless times. He’d helped me into the truck and out of the truck and he’d steadied me when my balance failed me. But those touches had happened out of begrudging obligation. This time was an accident. A soft touch that I could pretend was on purpose, even if that would never be true.
Chapter 12
Kieran
The next time Momwanted to send me on a fool’s errand, I was going to ask her to choose something lighter than a solid stone antique birdbath. She could have just asked me to take Clayton somewhere instead of this elaborate ruse to get him out of the house. Mom was a worrier, though, and she’d taken to Clayton as if he were one of her own sons. Clayton was getting around better than he used to, but he was still in no shape to help lift the birdbath, so he was sitting in the truck, staring out at the scenery.
Charles, the man selling the birdbath for his grandfather, finished strapping the base into the box of my truck. He wiped his hands on the sides of his jeans. “There, that ought to do it.”
“Thanks for the help loading that thing. I couldn’t have done it on my own.”
Charles laughed, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “I hope you have help on the other end unloading it.”
“I’ll make my brother come help. Before I go, we wanted to stop for lunch. What’s good around here?”
“You’ll want to stop by The Country Kitchen. If you’re heading back the way you came, it’s right off the main drag, you can’t miss it. If you hit the gas station, you’ve gone too far. Everything there is good, but if you have a sweet tooth, you need to get the chocolate pie.”
“Thanks.” I shook Charles’s hand. “We have a long drive ahead and we still need lunch, so we need to get going.”
“Right. Travel safe.” Charles tucked his hands in his pockets and walked slowly back toward the house.
