Page 24 of Steadfast

“You can tell when a guy’s had sex.”

“Bullshit.”

“Not kidding,” he said seriously. “I’m sure Cian’s fooled around with girls—”

“Fucking gross,” I groaned.

“But he definitely hasn’t had sex with anyone but himself.”

“Richard Anthony Lewis, shut up right now!” I shuddered in disgust.

His chest shook with mirth. “You want me to give him the condom talk?”

“I want you to give him theabstinencetalk.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’ll work.”

“I’ll talk to him,” I muttered.

“Can I be there?” he asked jokingly. “That’s something I’d like to see.”

“I just don’t want him to be a manwhore,” I sighed. “We both knew those guys in high school, racking up the notches on their bedposts and leaving a line of heartbroken girls in their wake. They were all assholes. Every one of them.”

“I can’t see Cian acting like that.”

“I don’t know,” I argued. “That kid has more charm than he knows what to do with and very little self-preservation.”

“He’s also got three sisters that he’d die for,” Richie said quietly. “I think that will inform his decisions, don’t you?”

“Maybe.”

We lay there in the bed of his truck for a long time, talking about anything and everything. It was one of the parts of our relationship that I loved so much. I saw Richie almost every day, but we never ran out of things to discuss. It was so easy being with him, and listening to him rattle off about something he’d seen online or some old high school friend he’d run into at the gym was like a balm. He quieted the constant stream of worries and lists in my head.

As the sun was finally setting, we packed up and climbed back into the cab to head home.

“You think Mandy will be there when we get back?” he asked, reaching out to lace his fingers with mine.

“Who knows,” I replied. “She started drinking pretty early so she might have already passed out.”

“One could hope,” he murmured.

“I’m going to start working longer hours at the store starting on Wednesday,” I reminded him. “Do you think you could check in on the kids once in a while? I know you’ll be working too, but you could just text Cian or something.”

“Cian got a phone?”

“I told him he could get one for high school.” I nodded. “I brought home one of those prepaid ones from the store. He practically shit himself, he was so excited.”

“I bet.”

“I told him I’m only putting more minutes and data and shit on it once a month, so hopefully he’ll ration it until then, but I’m not holding my breath. But with me working so much more and all of the kids out of school, I wanted them to have a way to reach me if they needed to.”

“Good thinking.”

“He deserves it.” I yawned. The vibration of the truck was so relaxing. I’d spent the week barely sleeping, and I was beat. “He tries to act like he’s a little delinquent, but he keeps a close eye on things when I’m not there. Saoirse does too, but her nose is usually pressed so tightly into a book, a bomb could go off, and she wouldn’t even notice.”

At some point I must’ve fallen asleep because I woke with a start when Richie turned off the engine.

“Home, baby,” he murmured, running his fingers through my hair. I was laid out across the seat, my head resting on his thigh.

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