Page 70 of Hot Irish Halloween

“I’m coming to your fight. I want to drive,” Bran said.

Startled, Jack’s eyes moved to his face. Bran was serious. But then he’d always come to Jack’s fights, even if Dierdre could never stomach watching them.

“Alright,” Jack said. “Charlie and the other fellas are coming, too.”

Bran nodded, looking down at his crispy, golden chips fried to perfection. He dipped one in curry sauce and munched contemplatively. Penny had never gotten used to that, preferring ketchup, which Jack had teased her about.

Stop thinking about her.

When Bran got down to his last chip, he wiped his mouth and sighed with satisfaction.

“This place is the best, as usual. Have you contacted Penny? We’d like to know how she and the baby are doing.”

Damn, he went right for it. Bran never wasted time easing into the hard conversations.

At the thought of Penny getting rounder with his baby and everything he was missing out on, Jack’s eyes burned. Quickly, he shut that shite down. No tears. Not now. He couldn’t afford them. It had been Penny’s decision to deprive him of all that. He would not accept the blame for this.

“I haven’t spoken to her.”

“Why not?”

Jack searched for words that would make sense. Why hadn’t he reached out? When all he craved every minute of the day was to hear her voice?

“She wouldn’t want to hear from me. She said I was selfish and didn’t care about her, so I’m gonna let her be right and have the last word.”

Bran’s answering grin was more of a smirk. “Huh. Never thought…”

“Never thought what?” Jack tensed, ready for the coming argument.

“Never thought you’d be more like your birth father than me.”

Stunned, Jack absorbed Bran’s straight punch to the jaw. Reeling, he slumped back in his chair.

“How…could you say something like that to me? I’m nothing like him,” Jack gritted out through his teeth.

“I suppose the man loves you in his own way. But he let your mother leave. He didn’t fight for her, didn’t change his ways for her. Then he came here to Ireland, but he couldn’t leave the life behind and ended up disappointing her here too.”

“I already know all this. Is there a point?” Jack asked brusquely, his face fucking burning.

Fixing him with a sudden hard stare, Bran paused. “I always have a point, if you’d listen. Now, before I met your mother, I was busy working my way up the ladder. A family was the last thing on my mind. All I cared about was meeting the right people, getting the promotions at the bank, wearing the best clothes, and driving the newest car. Then I meet this tough waitress at a restaurant…a lot like this one. Her and her boy, who was even tougher and wanted nothing to do with me.” Bran chuckled at the memory with a head shake. “You changed everything for me. Becoming the man in your life made mine better than I could have imagined. I tried my best to show youhow a real man treats the woman he loves and takes care of his responsibilities to his family, but after this, now I’m wondering…maybe I showed up too late to teach you anything.”

The wound that was sliced open by Bran’s soft-spoken words cut too deep. With a trembling hand, Jack wiped his mouth and threw his napkin down. He fished out bills from his pocket and threw those down, too, right in the center of the table. His head was whistling rage like a teakettle. Before he disrespected Bran by cursing him the fuck out, he stood up and pushed back his chair.

Bran only looked up at him calmly as Jack towered over him.

“I’ll get back to the gym on me own.”

It was a miracle the glass door didn’t shatter when he shoved it open and left.

25

MISSIN' YOU LIKE THIS

PENNY

The first few weeks in Owenville were a slice of heaven with a side of hell.

Heaven was being wrapped in her old quilt in bed when the weather suddenly grew fierce and wintry again. Snow piled up so thick and high it covered half her second-story window. Those were the best days. Penny loved true winter, especially when she could snuggle indoors by the fireplace in the formal living room and lose herself in a book for a few hours. Heaven was also Erica’s homemade spiced apple pie made just for her from preserved apples picked at the nearby orchard.

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