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Ryan’s heart skipped a beat. “From the moment I could walk and talk, you’ve always said that I was to take over one day. I’m thirty-two now and I’m willing to take over this farmhouse, the stables, the fields, Emmy’s vegetable gardens and even this debt that’s been hanging over your heads, but you’ll just not let me.”
“It’s just because we know what such an enormous responsibility does to a person,” his mother said.
“Don’t you think I’m not lying wide awake at night? I’m just as invested as you are,” Ryan said.
His mother rested her warm hand on top of his on the kitchen table.
“We know, darlin’.”
“You’ve molded me into your successor. Don’t you think it’s time for the next step?” Ryan said as he eyed his dad.
“I know I’ve always said that you should take over at your thirtieth birthday, but things have been messy around here, son.”
“Let me handle all that shit. You know I can do it,” Ryan said and held his father’s eyes.
Roger’s eyes watered. “I’m sorry for not keeping my earlier promise about signing the papers two years ago.”
Ryan stood from his seat and clasped his hand over his father’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Dad. Do whatever you think is right. I don’t want to push you. Because when I do take over, we both know that I’ll need to be the one in charge. We can’t have two captains on one ship. Things would get messy and we all know it.”
Roger stood from his seat, extending his large, calloused hand. “Give me a few days. After the dust is settled, we’ll talk again. Okay?”
Ryan accepted his father’s hand. “Okay.”
“What in the world am I walkin’ into?” Ryan’s grandfather, Pops, boomed after entering the kitchen with their family dog, Rudy, hot on his tail.
“Rudy, out!” Roger shouted.
The mixed breed instantly turned and pushed the screen door open before running back out onto the wraparound porch.
“Hi, Dad,” Shauni said as she kissed her father on his rosy cheek.
“Yer talkin’ mighty serious. What’s wrong?” Pops said in his Irish drawl before plunking down at the kitchen table. His belly almost didn’t fit in between the table and chair, but the old man was too damn proud to move his chair.
“We were discussing the farm,” Roger said in a tone that would leave no room for anyone to think he wanted to discuss the farm with his father-in-law.
“What about the farm?” Pops said before accepting a glass of whiskey from his daughter.
“We’re discussing the timeframe for Ryan to take over,” Shauni said.
“I’m at the stables if you need me,” Roger said before sticking his feet back into his dirty boots that stood next to the screen door.
“Okay, sweetheart,” Shauni said.
“I’m sorry, Pops. I just need a moment,” Roger said.
Pops gave his son-in-law a smile. “No problem, son. I’ll be here, drinkin’ yer whiskey.”
Ryan laughed. “You’re staying upstairs again?”
“Yes. It’s no fun living alone.”
Ryan gave his grandfather a warm smile, since he understood how Pops missed his former roommates. Pops first shared his apartment above his grandson’s Brennan’s Irish pub with Ryan’s youngest sister Teagan and later with Ryan’s sister Emmy, who just a few months ago moved into a house they built on his family’s land.
“You’re missing the girls, Pops?” Shauni asked.
Pops nodded in silence.
“Maybe one of our other girls will want to move in? I think Tara—”
