Fiona watched intently with unmatched excitement.
“I’m done,” Shea announced, and Fiona grabbed her, hugging her tightly. Shea froze stiff as a board but didn’t pull away. Fiona kissed her on the forehead before finally releasing her.
Shea picked up the e-reader Fiona had bought her during a Black Friday sale, with money she’d saved throughout the year. “Can I read tonight?”
“Sure, baby girl—not too late, though. I’ll come read with you once I clean up the kitchen,” Fiona told her, but Shea had already put her earmuffs back on and walked off the moment she heard Fiona’s agreement.
Fiona set about clearing the table and washing the dishes. She then made herself a small grilled sandwich and some steamed broccoli before taking a seat alone at the tiny table in their kitchen. She had eaten alone for years now. Her sister wouldn’t eat with her, so it was easier to keep their dinners separate. Their table barely accommodated one place setting anyway, so it didn’t bother her too much.
Fiona ate quickly and out of necessity, not really tasting anything as she watched Shea out of the corner of her eye. Her little sister had settled onto the small window bench that was covered in cushions. She was intently staring at the tablet’s screen, clicking every thirty seconds or so to advance to the next page.
Fiona watched her, debating whether she should try to convince Shea to do something besides read all the time. A child reading is a glorious thing, but Shea rarely wanted to do anything else. She didn’t play outside like most children, and she didn’t have the social or communication skills to hold meaningful conversations with others. She didn’t understand emotions and human interaction.
Before their mother had died, she’d perfected how best to care for Shea. She made rules and schedules, doing everything in a routine Shea could understand. Shea was allowed to read one hundred pages during the day, but if the weather was nice, she might make her read outside so at least she got some sun. After dinner was another story; it was only fifty pages more before it was time for PJs.
Their mother had made more mistakes than one person should, but Shea wasn’t one of them. Their mother had loved both of her daughters more than life itself—Fiona had never doubted that. The problem was her rabid search to find the perfect man and fall head over heels in love. It had cost them everything. It had cost lives.
Finishing the last few bites of her sandwich, Fiona wiped her mouth with a napkin and took her dish to the sink, bringing her thoughts back to the present as she did. As she scrubbed everything clean—a task she had to perform, thanks to their lack of a dishwasher—she decided she would take a cue from Shea and spend the night reading. She needed the distraction from the guilt swarming through her.
Since Shea had the only e-reader they owned, Fiona walked over to the tote bag they kept by the door. The bag was loaded with books from the library, and she picked out a paperback she’d checked out for herself. Once a week, they went to the library and stocked up on the type of books they both enjoyed reading. For Fiona, tonight’s read was a romance, one of her favorite genres, about a young journalist at a Cosmo-type magazine who was learning about love for the first time, after having written about it for years.
Their only couch was a small loveseat that sat awkwardly in the center of the room and faced the only window. She’d hoped to have a television by now, but she hadn’t yet been able to afford cable. Fiona didn’t mind, since she always preferred to read instead, easily curling into the cushions as she flipped through the pages of her romance novel. Within minutes, she found her mind wandering back to the man she’d spoken to earlier.
His dark blue eyes and chiseled jaw were etched in her memory.
The way her skin tingled the moment Kieran touched her, the strength behind his embrace—she could feel all of it just by closing her eyes. She’d dated here and there before adopting her little sister, but there was something different about this man, and it was consuming her.
Realizing she’d read the same sentence at least a dozen times, Fiona took a deep breath and pulled her feet up beneath her on the couch. She didn’t need to be thinking about Kieran. She had responsibilities. She had Shea and everything that came with caring for an autistic child.
Dating was not an option for her. So she was going to have to be happy with reading about it instead.
Chapter 4
“I’m gonna have you on the roof today. Think you can handle it?” Rory stared at Kieran skeptically. It was still dark at this hour of the morning, but the floodlights on the construction site illuminated his brother’s weary expression. Even four-legged Ace seemed unbelieving from where he stood next to Rory.