Page 104 of Rags to Royals

“Well, yeah, we live about four blocks away.”

Right. Of course they have a place to stay. Theylivehere when they’re not in Ohio with me.

“Okay, so ask me your questions about Cian, his family, this town.” Henry picks up his bottle of beer and takes a sip.

“Alright, who are all of these people?”

“Besides Fiona and Saoirse, Fiona’s husband is the big guy with the longer hair at the end with the little girl on his lap. That’s their youngest.”

I couldn’t miss him. He’s the one with his hand on the back of Fiona’s neck.

“The guy in the firefighter uniform is Michael, the fire chief. Cian does volunteer work with him.”

I frown. “What? Cian is afirefighter?”

“Yeah. You didn’t know?”

“No. That’s what he does for work?”

“Volunteer.”

Oh, sure, that makes it different.

“The other guys sitting around are mostly Landrys. Ellie’s grandsons.” He nods in the direction of the bartender. “Some of them own the swamp boat tour company, some of them work at the animal park. One’s a cop. One does construction. They basically just take care of the town. Cian kind of works with all of them.”

“Cian also works with thecop?”

“Okay, not the cop. But he does tours for the swamp boat tour company. He does some construction with Zeke. He’s evenworked for Knox, Fiona’s husband. Knox is the city manager and he’ll put Cian to work doing landscaping, painting, and whatever else he can come up with.”

I turn even more fully on my stool and pin Henry with a serious look. “So Cian is a handyman? Does odd jobs all over town? Jack of all trades?”

Henry shrugs. “Yeah. I guess. He just likes to hang out with everyone and is happy to help out.”

I shake my head. “And he’s been building these communities and homes for single moms all over on the side.”

Henry just nods.

“He said he hasn’t told anyone else about the projects.”

“Cian hasn’t told anyone but me and he only told me because he had to travel to check them out and hire people to manage them and I had to go with him.”

“Why do you think he doesn’t want anyone to know?”

“I don’t think that he’s keeping it a secret necessarily. It just isn’t something he feels the need to talk about.”

“Why not?”

Henry puts his beer bottle down and rests his elbow on the bar, pinning me with a look. “Cian is extremely intelligent and is the youngest child of a family of very high achievers. He has a lot to live up to, but he’s naturally curious and creative and sociable. He’s used to being the supporter. The one who helps everyone else out. That’s what he loves. Seeing where there’s a need and pitching in however he can. Driving an airboat up and down the bayou, fighting fires, feeding tigers, braiding a little girl’s hair, it doesn’t matter. It’s kind of all the same to him. He just wants to help.”

I look at Cian again. He’s watching me. When our eyes meet, I feel warmth swirl through me. He’s such a good guy.Everyoneshould know that.

“So it’s more that he just didn’t think to tell anyone about the community project. He doesn’t think it’s a big deal? He’s just helping those moms.”

“More or less,” Henry agrees. “He was excited to showyoubecause he wanted you to knowyouridea was amazing.”

“I was excited to see it, but it happened becausehemade it happen.”

Henry nods. “It’s also the first thing he’s really built on his own, from the ground up. Everything else he does is filling in gaps on things other people already have going on. But because of you, he has something that’s truly his. He’s not used to that.”

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