Epilogue

Buckle Up, Baby

“I’m going.”

“No, I’m going.”

“Oh for goodness sakes, I’m going.”

Mickey and I were bickering about who was going to pick Ash up from her date with Kellan.

Rhiannon had come around for the aftermath girlie discussion, which was also why Pippa was there with me.

Auden and Cillian were virtually attempting to kill unknown kids somewhere else on the planet on some online game they were playing on the Xbox in Mickey’s family room. And from their shouts, they were succeeding.

Mickey wanted to pick his daughter up in order to give her date the evil eye.

I was not about to subject Aisling to that.

Rhiannon, who already had her coat and was at the door, agreed with me.

“I’ll be back in twenty minutes,” she declared and before Mickey could reply, she walked out.

“I hope he kisses her,” Pippa said dreamily.

I felt a wall of flame come from Mickey.

“Pip!” I snapped, looking to her to see she was gazing as dreamily as her voice at the door, which was when I felt Mickey’s pain for Pippa was going to be next.

She looked to me. “What?”

“Gross! Kissing Ash!” Cillian shouted, showing that clearly the loud explosions coming from the TV weren’t drowning out our conversation.

Or he was listening.

“Not gross, dude. She’s cute,” Auden replied.

Mickey turned menacing eyes to me.

“Auden doesn’t lie, honey,” I said gently.

He stormed off and not long after he disappeared down the hall I heard the fridge open and close then the sliding glass door open and close.

He was drinking beer and brooding about his daughter becoming a woman.

I grinned.

“He’s hot when he’s all dad-who-doesn’t-want-his-daughter-dating,” Pippa observed and I looked to her to see her gaze aimed at the hall.

She was right.

She looked to me and grinned. “He’s a total score, Mom. All the girls at school say it. They even get in heated debates about who’s the hottest dad. Amber Spear’s or Aisling Donovan’s.”

“Obviously, it’s Aisling Donovan,” I stated haughtily.

“Totally,” she agreed, still grinning.

My eyes drifted back to the hall as I mumbled, “Maybe I should go to him.”

“Maybe you should let him get used to it,” Pippa advised, shifting up to sit on her knees on Mickey’s couch in his front living room. “He’s gonna have to. Kellan is into Ash big time. They’re both movie freaks. She knows all about boxing. They watch the same TV shows. For high school, all that is serious. They sit with us at lunch but they’re totally into each other and never stop talking.”

The idea of Ash never stopping talking was one I couldn’t wrap my head around.

But I loved that she found a boy she could open up to.