Ryleigh
Keenan padded his full stomach next to her at his parents’ dinner table. Ryleigh glanced around, taking his family in as they talked and joked around. Like her own family of five siblings, the Mills family all liked to get a word in.
“I heard you’re going to teach some classes for Duncan, Ry. It would be good having you around at the dojo,” Aiden said from her other side.
“Thanks, Aide. Maybe I can show you a few moves,” she said and grinned when he laughed.
Keenan placed his arm on the back of her chair and said jokingly, “Yeah, a few bumps and bruises would do my brother’s face some good.”
“Jealous much?” Aiden laughed.
“I see you fit right in, Ryleigh,” Keenan’s mother had a warm voice and smiled at their bantering.
Keenan’s grandfather piped in, “Aye, that’s what I say.”
Ryleigh blushed. She felt the warmth creeping over her cheeks. “Thanks, Pops.”
When Keenan slid his hand down her chair and rested it on her thigh, she released her breath. Why was it that with meeting new people she always needed some time to warm up?
Keenan must have felt she needed his touch to put her more at ease. It was stupid, really. She already met his family weeks ago. She hated how she must come across.
“As you might have noticed, we’ve all been eager to have you here at our Friday dinners,” Keenan’s father, Niall said with a good-natured chuckle.
Keenan’s brother Liam said, “Okay, people. Leave the girl alone.”
Ryleigh remembered what Liam did for work and whispered, “Firefighter.”
“Yeah, how did you know?” Liam said. He and the youngest Mills brother, Roarke, could pass off as twins with their auburn hair. Only Roarke seemed like a total hipster with his man bun, torn jeans and sneakers, where Liam appeared buff with muscles for days, his firm jaw and close-shaved hair.
“Oh, I said it out loud, didn’t I? Keenan told me what you do for work and I remembered because my cousin’s a firefighter.”
Liam swallowed down the last bit of pot roast and said, “Really? What division?”
“Eh…”
Liam laughed and said, “Okay, what does he do? Inspections? Wildfires? Or does he work in the suburbs?”
She looked over the table at Deirdre, who gave her a reassuring smile. A bit of tension left Ryleigh’s shoulders. She hated when a room full of people stared at her.
She returned her focus to Liam and said, “He fights fire downtown. I don’t know what station…”
“What’s his name?”
“Kieran. Kieran—”
Liam clanked his fork on the table. “Get out of here! Kieran Walker? Kieran is your cousin?”
“Relax, bro. Tone it down a bit, will ye?” Keenan said while he squeezed her thigh.
“I-It’s okay. I know Kieran can be wild.” She turned to Keenan and added, “He’s Devlin’s brother,” like that would make perfect sense to Keenan in that making Kieran wild.
Liam laughed and eyed her with renewed appreciation. “I know. He’s one of my best friends.”
“He is?” Her voice raised a few octaves.
“Yeah. We’ve worked side by side for years now and we’ve been through a lot together.”
“I’m sorry.”