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“More drama,” he replied shaking his head. Then Teg took a swig off his iced tea.
I turned my head and saw my brother Liam’s car coming down the lane followed by Jamie, Seth and Sophia. They were all coming at once. Ciaran and Ryan. Liam brought the nurse Harley from ICU. Talk about awkward. Was he seeing her? She had seen all of me and I do mean all of me. She put my catheter in while I was in ICU. He brought her to the picnic table and introduced her to everyone.
“Harley Gable, this is my father, I think you might remember him from the first night my idiot brother was in ICU. Declan Moore,” Liam said.
My dad rose to his feet. “Nice to officially meet you,” he said extending his hand to her.
“Nice to meet you Mr. Moore.”
“Call me Declan.” Dad sat back down and introduced everyone else. “This our friend Tegan O’Halloran. He’s the father of two of my daughters-in-law Aine and Ryan,” our father explained.
“I’m Ryan,” she said from behind me. Both Liam and Harley turned. “Mother to the two heathen daughters of Ciaran.” She rolled her eyes as the girls walked with Ciaran looking nothing like heathens. I wondered what they had done now. “We are never having any more children, Declan Moore. Those two girls are awful. Did Stevie tell you what they did with my new bras from Victoria’s Secret? They were expensive.”
“She told me,” Declan laughed. “Maybe they are going to be fashion designers like the Olsen twins.” Ryan glared at him.
Ryan stepped closer to me and slapped me in the back of the head. I frowned at her. She glared at me. “What was that for?” I asked.
“Because you are an idiot.”
I hadn’t seen her since I first got out the hospital. Then everyone was so relieved that I was alive they were all emotional and teary. I guess that has worn off. The twins ran to me and I picked them up. They were beautiful girls. Identical in every way. I didn’t know which one was which. Ryan didn’t dress them alike so we could tell them apart. We just had to know which one was which first. “Who is who?” I asked. The girls frowned at me.
“Pink is James. Purple is Annie,” Ciaran responded. “How are you Ronan?”
“Working with Fionn now so I’m doing great.”
“Did you begin counseling?” Ryan asked.
I frowned at her. “I did not.”
“You might want to.” I frowned at her again not really understanding her statement.
The Murdochs arrived in droves. Then the rest of the Martins. The Gatlins. Jessie my old high school football coach and my great-aunt’s husband walked over to the picnic table and sat next to me.
“I want to talk about something with you,” he said.
“Sure, what is it?” I let my nieces go so they could play on the swing set.
“Seems like you aren’t going to take the bar exam right away.”
I shook my head no. “We could use substitute teachers especially at the high school level. You would be good at that Ronan.”
“Me? Why?” I was surprised by his suggestion.
He gazed at me for a moment. Then he responded. “You helped me last summer with football camp. You helped the younger teams’ coaches with their summer camps. You would be good at it. Dale Mitchelson had a heart attack, I could use you as an assistant coach. He’s not coming back for a while. You could teach his history class too.”
I rubbed my jaw thinking about the possibilities. “What about the fact that I just OD on some major drugs.”
“I think the kids could give you
some perspective as well. It’s funny when you’re looking to find your way in life Ronan a kid who needs you more than you need them can help you realize what your purpose is.”
He gave me the specifics for getting on the substitution list. I could still help Fionn and Gramps on the farm, a lot. Work with the kids. Figure out what I wanted to do with my life that I tried to royally screw up.
The Blacks arrived. They were the last ones that needed except for Charlie and Skylar. Aine stuck her head out the door and shouted, “Is Skylar here yet?”
“No,” Teg responded. “She and Charlie are both running late.”
Mom and Rhett came out of the house and sat beside their husbands. Rhett looked across the table at me. She visited me in ICU too. She saw me at my finest. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. “Are you all right?” I asked.
