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Damon was in jeans with a T-shirt and an open flannel over it. He glanced up at them and Kay stepped back with a small gasp. “Maybe I should change back.”
“Don’t you dare,” Bri said as she waved at Damon. “You look fabulous and he’ll appreciate the effort.”
“I—
“Don’t have time to change. C’mon!” Bri grabbed her hand and tugged her out of the room, making Kay laugh as she followed her sister down the stairs. When she saw Damon standing in the kitchen talking to her mother, she noticed that he appeared just as handsome in casual wear as he did in a suit.
When he turned his attention to Kay he smiled. “I dressed down so I wouldn’t attract attention, but I guess I didn’t need to because all eyes will be on you. You look beautiful, Kay.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks. “Thank you.”
“Where are you taking my sister, Damon?” Bri asked with a teasing lilt in her voice.
“My brother Eric’s brewery.”
“Oh! I heard about that place. But a brewery for a business meeting?” She grinned.
“Bri,” Eileen said in a warning tone. “Come help me feed the chickens.” She grabbed her daughter by the elbow and led her to the back door. “Enjoy your evening, you two,” she said.
“Yes,” Bri said as she was pulled through the door. “Have fun!”
Damon’s eyes twinkled with amusement as he held out his arm to Kay. “Come. We havebusinessto attend to.”
“Yeah, about that—”
“Busybody sister. Got it. I have one the same age who gave me a hard time about tonight, too. I didn’t think of saying it was a business meeting though. Clever.”
Kay laughed as he held the door open for her to get in his car. But she wondered how the conversation at the Brannigan house really had gone. When they were on the road, she asked, “What does your family think about you hanging out with me? Your father can’t be too pleased.”
“Ah, well, we haven’t discussed it. But I stopped looking to my father for approval years ago.”
Kay thought about how close the Brannigan family was. She knew the Brannigan children stayed in their family home even though they were all financially capable of living on their own. The same way her family did. “Maybe so, but it still matters.”
Damon glanced over at her. “Yes. But honestly, whatever grudge my father has against you Knights, it’s time he got over it.”
Kay thought about how silly it seemed that Paul still held onto something had happened so long ago. But then she remembered how Corinne had done the same when it came to Noah. Some people need to hold onto their version of things as a truth because it is easier than admitting they are wrong. “Pride is a powerful motivator. I suspect your father didn’t want to appear weak by letting you boys apologize, and now he’s held onto it for so long he’s probably convinced himself he was right.”
“Yes. That’s likely true, but there’s more to it than the graveyard incident. What do you remember about my mother?”
Kay smiled as she recalled the bubbly brunette who loved to laugh. “She was fun.” And then she remembered how devastated her mother was when Sally left. “She was Eileen’s best friend. When she ran—disappeared—so soon after my father did, it was a painful blow to my mom.”
“My mother did run off, Kay. Even though I was a kid, I knew she was unhappy with my father. Whatever the reason, my father blames Eileen. And that’s probably what’s fueling his animosity toward your family.”
“What? Your mother practically lived at our house right after my dad left.” Kay chuckled. “I still remember the grilled cheese sandwiches she’d make for us, with the ketchup inside.”
Damon chuckled, too. “I still eat mine that way.”
“I can’t image Eileen would push her to run off.” Kay thought about how nurturing her mother was. She would do anything for Kay and her sisters. “There’s no way my mom would tell yours to leave her children. That doesn’t make any sense.”
Damon shrugged. “It doesn’t make sense to me either. I think a whole lot more happened that we may never know, because… Well, maybe I’m naive, but I believe my mother loved her kids fiercely. Something big must have made her leave.”
Kay thought her father had loved being a dad, too, and she recalled what she could about her father and the arguments he used to have with her mother. She remembered he would throw out insults about witchcraft, but as an adult she knew it was probably his way of hurting her mother, and it may not have been the root of her parents’ relationship problems. “It does seem suspicious that both our parents, who seemed perfectly happy having a family, left us. Do you think…” She didn’t want to think about the evils that could have befallen their parents.
Damon reached over and took her hand. “I have my suspicions that there were outside factors involved. But I’ve never been ready to explore them.”
Now Kay had suspicions too, and it made her wonder why she’d never thought about it before. Perhaps it was because she wasn’t capable of going there. Having a parent leave you when you’re a child does a number on your ability to trust, and that is a big enough hurdle to get over. She’d already seen how tough it was for Corinne and Amelia to learn to trust the men in their lives, and she knew she often struggled with the same thing.
The familiar pain of missing her father filled her, and it wasn’t a place she wanted to go. She pulled her hand away from Damon, and they turned onto a winding dirt road. She saw a sign for Beerwitched Brewery. “Tell me about Eric’s business. How did he get into brewing?”
