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“We don’t build in cities of less than a million people.”
“Bummer. So close. Gerryville misses that mark by only about nine hundred and ninety thousand.”
“You’re the proverbial small-town girl, huh?”
“Yep. With five brothers. Why else do you think I now live in the city?”
He toyed with her hair, twining a long strand around his fingers. “Where do you fall in that hierarchy, anyway?”
“I’m number five out of six.”
He grimaced. “Four big brothers?”
“Yep. Big being the operative word.”
“No hockey players among them?”
She made a face. “No, thankfully, though all of them played football in high school.”
“Do they all still live in your hometown?”
“Yep. Joe, the oldest—he’s divorced with two boys—works with my dad in his plumbing business. Neil’s second. He went into the military and then went back to Gerryville to open a gun shop. Third, Evan, is a firefighter. Andy—he’s eleven months older than me—just got married and is taking over his wife’s family’s dairy farm. And Aidan, who is pretty smart, his party suggestions notwithstanding, is at Penn State, studying sports medicine.”
“No wonder you had to sneak into the computer lab to lose your virginity to Ollie the nerd.”
Blinking in surprise, she said, “You have a good memory.”
“Only when it comes to the important stuff.”
“Like when and where I lost my virginity?”
“Your sex life is of critical importance to me,” he said with a wolfish growl. “So your family is close?”
“Very. My brothers can be idiots, but there’s nothing any of us wouldn’t do for each other.” Her voice softened, as did her heart, as she continued. “And my parents are the best. Still crazy in love with each other, even though my mom gripes about Dad’s snoring and he groans about the credit card bills.”
Although he smiled, a shadow seemed to cross his face, and he glanced away. Damien didn’t talk much about his own family. She remembered his father was dead, and that he had two sisters—both younger. She also knew he didn’t get along with his mother. Other than that, though, he was pretty quiet about his background. Which made her feel more gabby than ever for having mentioned all the branches on the Callahan family tree.
When he didn’t reciprocate with any kind of stories about his own home life, she bit the bullet and asked outright.
“What about you? You said you have sisters. No brothers?”
“No, there’s just me, Johanna and Holly. Oh, but I do have a nephew—Holly’s little boy.”
She remembered. “The one who enjoys being read to.”
“Right.”
Licking her lips, emboldened by his willingness to talk about it, she said, “And your father died many years ago?”
His body stiffened a bit. But he drew in a slow breath and replied, “Yeah, when he was forty-one.”
“So young!”
“It was the day before I graduated from high school.”
“Oh, no,” she said, her heart aching for him. What an awful time to lose a parent. She wished she hadn’t asked, not sure she wanted him to relive it.
But Damien was lost in the memory, already telling it. “He was in New Orleans overseeing a new hotel construction, but a storm system came in, shutting down commercial flights. He had his pilot’s license and wasn’t about to miss my graduation.” His whole body was taut, as tight as a wire. “He went down in the Gulf of Mexico. Some wreckage washed up in the panhandle a few weeks later.”
“Oh, God, Damien, I’m so sorry.” Tears welled in her eyes. She couldn’t imagine losing one of her parents. And to lose them in such a way, without even having a body to bury. Agonizing.
“It was...not a good period in my life.”
“I can imagine. What did you do?”
“What he’d have wanted me to—I graduated, went ahead with my plans.” He traced his hand down her arm, absently drawing circles on her skin. “His father came out of retirement to manage the business while I got through college. Then my grandfather had a massive heart attack and died right before I got my MBA.”
“Oh, no.”
“Yeah.” He managed a hard laugh. “I decided then and there I’d never go for a doctorate. Who knows who’d fall over dead?”
She heard through the humor to the heartache underneath. Damien was a strong man, but this part of his past was incredibly painful for him to remember, and to talk about.
Viv was gratified that he trusted her enough to share the memories with her. And that her own younger years, while the epitome of the hard-working, blue-collar lifestyle, at least hadn’t included such tragedies.
