Part 13 (2/2)
”Back in Ireland.”
”Do you get to see her often?”
”Almost never. Moira and I mostly keep in touch by phone and e-mail.” He was silent for a moment, then, as if he'd weighed his options and decided he could trust her with more of himself, he continued. ”I had a falling out with my father several years ago and haven't been back home since.”
”I see.”
”No, you probably don't,” he muttered. ”I can hear in your voice when you talk about them that you adore your family, even though they drive you 'round the bend.”
”When I don't want to shove them all in a river.”
He chuckled. ”Still, there's genuine affection there.”
”But none in yours?”
He pushed his silky black hair off his face-the wind had tugged it free of its ponytail. Oh, Lord, was her father going to have something to say about that, and the tiny gold earring flas.h.i.+ng from one lobe. ”I love my father,” he admitted, sounding as though it hurt him to say it out loud. ”But affection comes with a price in my family. If you pay it, all's well and good. If you don't...”
”Then you have to keep in touch with your sister only by phone and e-mail.”
”That's about it. Although whenever she has a cla.s.s trip off the island, I try to arrange a business trip to meet up with her.” A wicked laugh escaped his lips. ”I showed her the hot spots in Prague when she was seventeen and the strip in Amsterdam a year later.”
Annie snorted, able to picture it. ”Intentionally trying to corrupt her?”
”Just trying to let her live a little, since our father and her mother have clamped down on her pretty hard because of the choices I've made.”
”That's a shame.”
Although he didn't frown or otherwise appear to regret telling her as much as he had, he immediately returned to the subject at hand. ”Is your relations.h.i.+p with your brothers anything like that?”
”My brothers couldn't find Prague on a map,” she muttered, then sighed at her own tone. ”Sorry. That was b.i.t.c.hy. They're very nice guys. Steve and I were like twins when we were kids. Practically inseparable.”
”But?”
”But,” she explained with a simple shrug of her shoulders, ”they never left home. Never wanted to. Never will. Randy wants to join the service because he's young and patriotic...but if he does it, he'll still come back here afterward to live out the rest of his days.”
”While you couldn't wait to go live out yours almost anywhere else.”
”Exactly. I had posters of foreign cities on the walls of my room growing up, maps, brochures from the Peace Corps, even the military. Anything that would take me someplace far away and different.”
His eyebrows shot up and he turned to cast a quick, surprised glance at her. ”The Peace Corps? Yes. But the military?” Shaking his head at the very possibility, he didn't even have to say what he was thinking.
Not that he was wrong. ”Hey, I was just thinking of all the angles.” Remembering the brouhaha that had accompanied the arrival of an envelope from the Army with her name on it during high school, she rolled her eyes. ”But I didn't seriously pursue it. My father told me he'd lock me in the bas.e.m.e.nt if I even thought about enlisting.”
He chuckled.
”My mother was worse. She told me I'd be putting my brothers' lives at risk because all of them them would have to enlist, too, to keep me safe, including Randy, who was eleven at the time.” would have to enlist, too, to keep me safe, including Randy, who was eleven at the time.”
d.a.m.n, her mother was good at getting her own way. At least, she had had been. Not anymore. Annie had had her taste of freedom and she'd never give it up. ”That's another reason he's delaying telling them he wants to sign up now,” she added. been. Not anymore. Annie had had her taste of freedom and she'd never give it up. ”That's another reason he's delaying telling them he wants to sign up now,” she added.
”Twenty-one's better than eleven,” he said with a laugh. The laughter quickly faded and his tone became serious. ”Chicago's not far enough for you, though, is it? Not in the long run.”
Funny that he'd figured that out so quickly. ”I love Chicago, and I'm not at all unhappy there. I've got a great business and lots of friends, and someday I'm sure I'll be happy to settle down and raise a family there.”
”But?”
”But you can bet I'm h.o.a.rding my pennies so that I can see some of the world before that day comes.” She shook her head and stared at the trees whipping by along the side of the highway. ”To the rest of the Davises, Green Springs you can bet I'm h.o.a.rding my pennies so that I can see some of the world before that day comes.” She shook her head and stared at the trees whipping by along the side of the highway. ”To the rest of the Davises, Green Springs is is the world, and that's exactly the way they like it.” the world, and that's exactly the way they like it.”
”Different dreams,” he mused, his voice so low, she almost didn't hear it over the wind. ”None better. None worse. Just different.”
Different dreams. That's what it all came down to. That's what it all came down to.
She didn't reply, didn't need to. Because with those words, he'd nailed it. Why Annie had left, why her family had been upset about it. Why she hated going back to deal with their disappointment again and again. Even why Sean was sitting beside her in the car, about to help her get through the weekend with a combination of half-truths and excuses.
She had different dreams...which they didn't understand.
Yet somehow, the man sitting beside her, who she'd known for less than a week, did.
SEAN DIDN'T QUITE know what he was expecting when he pulled up the narrow lane to Annie's childhood home. He'd certainly seen plenty of farms back in Ireland, many of them on Murphy land his father had rented out to others. But most of those were small, family-run operations with sheep grazing on lush green fields, a dash of color on their backs distinguis.h.i.+ng one owner's flock from the next. Small cottages would dot the landscape, with ramshackle barns and old-fas.h.i.+oned plows rusting in the fields. know what he was expecting when he pulled up the narrow lane to Annie's childhood home. He'd certainly seen plenty of farms back in Ireland, many of them on Murphy land his father had rented out to others. But most of those were small, family-run operations with sheep grazing on lush green fields, a dash of color on their backs distinguis.h.i.+ng one owner's flock from the next. Small cottages would dot the landscape, with ramshackle barns and old-fas.h.i.+oned plows rusting in the fields.
Nothing like this.
”Good G.o.d, it looks like a factory!” he said as he drove alongside the enormous, entirely modern barn, two stories tall, and a few hundred feet long.
A small fleet of trucks was parked at the end of it, all bearing the same dairy logo of a jolly cow. Impeccably maintained equipment was visible through the wide-open doors of another building, and several workers dressed in khakis and uniform s.h.i.+rts were in sight.
”I was picturing something more like...”
”Green Acres?”
He glanced at Annie, who had noted his surprise and was amused by it. ”What's that?”
”An ancient show on TVLand TVLand about...never mind, it doesn't matter.” She pointed to the top of a hill beyond the barns and a huge, sloping field where horses grazed lazily under the bright June sky. ”There's the house.” about...never mind, it doesn't matter.” She pointed to the top of a hill beyond the barns and a huge, sloping field where horses grazed lazily under the bright June sky. ”There's the house.”
Another surprise.
Annie's parents' home was enormous, a sprawling, three-story farmhouse, painted a bright yellow with contrasting white shutters around every window. Curved flower beds overflowing with daffodils that reminded him of home surrounded the broad front porch. Tall shade trees lined the soft green perimeter of a well-tended lawn, which was separated from the pasture by a long picket fence. And a gazebo complete with two-person swing perched at the very edge of a sloping hill that melded into the expansive countryside.
The Davis home was absolutely nothing like he'd pictured.
Shocked into silence because of his own faulty preconceptions, he drove up the hill. Given how wrong he was about the house, he had to wonder if he'd entirely underestimated the family he was about to meet, too.
A hint of misgiving crawled up his spine. Maybe this wasn't going to be the piece of cake he'd figured it for.
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