Saving a Legend(6)

“Good to see you, Jimmy.” Kieran hugged him back, genuinely happy to see his baby brother.

“Word of advice, try a box of chocolates or something next Sunday,” Jimmy teased as they pulled apart.

“I might do that, but I kind of want an excuse to see that hot florist again,” Kieran said, only half joking.

“Which florist did you go to?”

“Fiona’s Flowers, a couple blocks over.”

“Not a good idea, bro.” Jimmy shook his head.

“Why not? I’ve been in prison for two years, I’m not exactly picky.”

“Fine, but not that girl—leave her alone. She’s got baggage you don’t need to be picking up and carrying right now.”

Kieran frowned and was about to ask what he meant when Casey walked into the dining room.

“Kieran!” Casey squealed in delight, rushing over to him and throwing her arms around his neck. Her long, bright red hair fell over his face as she squeezed him tightly.

“Hey, Case Face.” Kieran wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back before she pulled away to look at him. Her piercing blue eyes matched his, but she also had cute freckles over her nose and was as petite as he remembered.



“Have you gotten bigger? I didn’t think that was possible. God, you’re like Rory now, maybe larger.” Casey looked him over with sisterly pride. She may technically be his first cousin, but they’d grown up together in the same house, and so to him, she’d always be his little sister.

“Bullshit, I could snap him like a twig.” Rory’s deep voice boomed as he walked into the dining room, eyeing Kieran with caution and yet purposefully provoking him at the same time.

“The hell you could.” Kieran snorted.

Rory nodded down at the hulking black-and-white dog by his side. “You remember Ace?”

Ace looked much livelier than Kieran remembered. When he’d first met Rory’s dog, he had been underweight and mangled. Now he was healthy, and most of his fur had grown back. There was a thick scar down his side that looked new, but all the previous nicks he’d first seen on the dog were faded or covered with new, thicker fur.

Kieran placed his hand in front of the dog to sniff before scratching his head. “Hey, Ace.”

“I’m gonna go help Ma, but I’m so glad you’re back, K,” Casey said, using his nickname as she left to let the brothers talk.

“Same here.” Jimmy followed her.

“So, Kieran,” Rory said with an awkward pause, extending a hand as soon as they were alone. Kieran gripped it, shaking firmly with polite disinterest.

“Rory.”



“How was prison?” Rory asked, an uncomfortable heaviness in his voice.

“Fine, no thanks to you. How’s the bottom of a bottle?” He squeezed Rory’s hand tighter.

Regret washed over him as he wished he hadn’t stooped so low and mentioned Rory’s alcoholism. Kieran had left prison resolving to become a new person, a better person. A person who was once again close to his entire family, including the one brother who had betrayed him.

“Five months sober, asshole.” Rory dropped his hand just as a pretty young girl with blond ringlets falling down her shoulders walked up to them, wrapping an arm around Rory’s waist. Ace’s ears perked up as he, too, leaned into the woman, definitely happy to see her.

“Hey, Kane, how are you?” she asked him, her smile kind and inviting.

“Babe, that’s not Kane.” Rory laughed, the tension seeming to melt off him from her touch. He kissed the top of her head.

“Oh! I’m sorry! Kieran, right? Wow, you and Kane sure do look alike, although I can definitely see the differences.” She blushed deeply, her pale skin turning crimson.

“That tends to happen when you share a womb for nine months.” Kieran grinned back at her. “You must be Clare?”

When his mother visited him over the last two years, they never talked about Rory much, especially after everything that had happened between them. However, she had mentioned that he had moved in with his girlfriend, Clare.

“Yep! It’s so great to meet you. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about you.” Her words seemed to bounce in the air between them, and when he offered his hand to her, she swept right past it and hugged him instead.



He decided then and there that he liked Clare, and that maybe she was his best chance of rebuilding a relationship with Rory. He also decided that Rory probably wasn’t the one who had been saying nice things about him.

“I don’t know who told you wonderful things, but we Kavanaghs tend to have a tenuous grasp on the truth.” Kieran laughed as he hugged her.