Page 28 of Soaring Free
“That’s great, no one can ruin your view with some new build,” I say to Ryan.
“That was the plan,” Ryan responds and nods to Jack, while Liam hums in agreement.
The heart of Forrest Falls is three or four minutes north of here, and with his family’s land spreading to the south and west, that just leaves one direction left. “How far is your closest neighbor to the north then?”
“Eventually, they’ll be about a mile or so up the road. But for now, it’s just open land,” Liam comments before clapping his hands together. “Alright. Are we knitting sweaters and gossiping or did y’all come to lose some money to me in poker?” It’s in jest but he’s clearly changing the topic of conversation without clarifying who the neighbors will be eventually. I tuck my curiosity away for another time.
We make our way out to his covered outdoor entertaining area that has a poker table set up to the left. It’s early March so the air is chilly, but a fire blazes in the outdoor fireplace and patio heaters keep the space more than comfortable. To the right, a large television screen is mounted over another stone fireplace that currently has a hockey game on it, but the volume is muted as country music streams from an outdoor speaker system. There’s a set of cushioned patio furniture near the fireplace, and the ceiling has multiple fans evenly spaced out and I imagine they’re helpful on a summer day. A short stone walkway leads to an inground pool and hot tub area. “This is a sweet set up out here, Ryan.”
He smiles, clearly proud of this area. “It’s great for entertaining, but honestly, I use this space a lot when it’s just me. I might cook in the outdoor kitchen just as much as I do in my actual kitchen.”
“One day, I'll convince you to put in a basketball court. I even said I would pay for it—I miss beating my brothers." Jack’s smug grin is answered with Ryan rolling his eyes.
“Keep your coins, money man. It’s fine without a basketball court.”
“For now,” Jack says under his breath and grins at me. Why does it feel like Ryan might wake up one random day to a basketball court added to his backyard?
“Watch out, Ryan. Jack thinks he’s stealth now that he assisted with the extremely rare occurrence of a successful prank being pulled on me. He might get ideas about gifting you one anyway.” Liam scoffs as he organizes his poker chips.
“What happened?” From the very limited information I know about Liam, I can’t see anyone being able to pull one over on him—ever.
Liam rolls his eyes as Jack grins at my question. “I was simply the distraction for the girls’ plans.”
“They used a child!” Liam interrupts.
“Lucy was more than happy to be in on it and you know it,” Ryan chimes in. “You’re making it sound way worse than it was.”
“You didn’t see the texts…” Liam says under his breath.
“What texts?” I’m obviously missing part of the story.
Liam huffs and throws a poker chip down. “This asshole,” pointing at Jack, “cornered me at a family dinner to ask about a security breach at one of his offices. While distracted, my sweet niece Lucy came up and asked if she could borrow my phone to look something up, and I thought it was fine to give her my personal cell. I didn’t know she was a traitor.”
“Can a six-year-old really be a traitor?” Finn inquires.
“She commandeered his phone and delivered it to her mama. Our sweet sisters changed some settings on Liam’s phone so when he texted certain words, they were automatically replaced. The girls knew Liam wouldn’t give her a work phone, so it was a harmless, yet hilarious prank.”
“What words were changed?” I ask Liam.
Liam can’t fight the grin that spreads across his face. “I’ll admit, it was an effective tactic to send in an innocent child, but our sweet sisters’ prank confused the hell out of me later when I was trying to text. They went into my settings and set it up so whenever I typed ‘good,’ ‘thanks,’ or ‘I need,’ the words were replaced with other words.” The other guys are all laughing at this point.
“So, when he tried to text me ‘Thanks, I’m good’ later that night, it said ‘Hurry up, I’m terrible’ instead.” Jack’s shoulders shake as he laughs.
“And when he tried to text me ‘I need to talk to you,’ instead it said, ‘More hugs to talk to you’ and he couldn’t figure out why it was saying that.” Finn’s grin lets me know that pulling a prank on Liam is rarely successful and I want to somehow be involved in the next attempt.
“I have zero remorse.” Jack points at Liam. “Do you know how long it took to get the damn glitter out of my office from the glitter bombs you sent me last month?”
Liam preens. “The extra charge was worth it for the delayed second glitter bomb hidden in the package. Max did me a solid when he sent me the photo of you standing in the wreckage. I might need to frame that one.”
“Hello?” I hear a voice call out from inside the house.
“Out back!” Ryan hollers to who I assume is their sister Vivian’s boyfriend, Walker. Even though we only briefly met the other day, I’ve only heard good things about the man, both personally and professionally. But it’s a little jarring to see him walk through the door in a black T-shirt, jeans, and a backwards hat.
“Sorry I’m late, I felt bad leaving before Eloise was settled down for the night,” Walker explains as he pats Ryan’s back in a quick hug, before repeating the gesture with the other Callahan brothers. I stand and shake his hand; I don’t think we are on the hug level quite yet.
“How many bedtime stories did Eloise get out of you tonight?” Finn asks.
“Viv told me to stick to one … but Eloise may have convinced me to read three.” Walker coughs before continuing, “But I can’t say no to that little girl, so sue me.”
