Killian releases a long sigh. “I know you just want me to leave you alone, Liam, but I wouldn’t be a very good brother if I did that, would I?”
“Right now? Yeah, you would.”
He shoves a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated with my unwillingness to discuss anything with him. It’s been an endless battle the past several months—him trying to push me to open up and me trying to push him away.
Please don’t do it, Kill…
I squeeze my eyes closed, willing him to drop it.
A resigned sigh fills the barn, then he clears his throat. “So, what are you going to do with this when you’re done?”
Relief courses through me, and I open my eyes and stare at the chair.
I hadn’t really thought about it yet.
Selling it somehow doesn’t seem right. Not with how it’s tied to the mountain. To Willow and her rescue. To the family. There’s too much history built into it. But it doesn’t belong here either, on our land or in one of our homes. I don’t know that I could live with that memory forever staring me in the face.
“I’ll find somewhere for it.”
“I’m sure you will. Willow is going to be working at the store today getting things ready. I’ll bring down the shelves.” He motions to the stack of black walnut shelves I built over the last several days for her shop. “Will you be able to swing by to hang them? I would do it, but I have that meeting with the city council today and she wants to keep moving forward on getting set up.”
I nod. “Yeah, I can do it today. I might be tied up later this week up at the site.”
Killian pauses for a second. “I can take care of that, if you’re not up for it.”
Hell…
Apparently I haven’t done a very good job at hiding my unease about having to go beyond the gorge, but I won’t open that can of worms. Nor am I going to concede defeat by refusing to face the remnants of the past.
“No. It’s all right.” I glance up at him and hope I’m offering a convincing smile. “Let me do my job. And I’m more than happy to help Willow.”
It’s the least I can do for her, and maybe, just maybe, it’s a start to making amends for the sins of my father.
LUCKY
Careful.
Slow and steady.
I nudge open the door to the kitchen with the tray in my hands and make my way over to the table in the corner, trying my damnedest not to trip or spill as I have twice today.
At least nothing broke, but my shirt and pants are already stained with more food than I’ve managed to eat in the last twenty-four hours. My stomach rumbles, reminding me that I need to as soon as I take my break in a bit. Today has been busy as hell, and now that things have started to die down a bit, I can’t wait to get off my feet for a few minutes.
I somehow manage to get their plates on the table and their drinks in front of them without another catastrophe.
I’m just returning to the kitchen with the empty tray when the bells jingle above the door and a beautiful blonde enters, followed by a stunning dark-haired woman with a baby strapped into a carrier on her front and a stack of papers in her hand.
They wave to Elaine and beeline straight for the booth Liam normally occupies whenever he’s here, chatting excitedly about something. They each slide into one side of the booth, and the dark-haired woman sets the papers down, spreading them across the table.
I make my way over to them. “Hi.”
The one with the baby strapped to her looks up with wide gray eyes and smiles broadly at me. “Oh, you must be Lucky.”
My back immediately stiffens. “Um, yeah…and you are?”
The blonde snorts. “Sorry, she’s a little direct. I’m Raven, this is Willow.”
Willow smiles and points down to the sleeping baby. “This is Niall. I’m Killian’s wife.”
