Ronan’s headwas filled with too many thoughts. He had more fun last night with Chloe than he thought when he’d headed over there. He hadn’t planned on getting laid, and he wasn’t about to complain about her taking the lead and offering a blowjob. But the rest of their conversation about his crew and her investment in his investigation about his dad did a number on him. He hadn’t ever had anyone to talk to about this. He had no business sharing with Chloe. But she made it easy.
Brendan said he was going to look into the guys he’d chosen to be on his crew, but he hadn’t gotten back to Ronan with any more information.
For the first time in years, he felt like he had forward motion in finding out what happened to his dad, but he still didn’t know anything. He was hopeful and frustrated all at once. He texted Brendan and asked him to come over to his house after work today so they could figure out their next moves.
It was strange not only talking with Brendan regularly again but actively working together on something. As young kids, they’d been close. Irish twins, barely a year apart, they’d been inseparable. Everything changed after their dad went missing. Ronan had been angry and acted out; Brendan searched for answers. By the time Ronan wanted answers, Brendan had shut down, which just made Ronan act out more.
Their relationship was far from perfect, or even back to where it used to be, but these past few weeks had taught him how much he’d missed his older brother.
In the kitchen, Ronan found Declan hunched over the same card table with his pages and Ronan’s laptop. “Help yourself to my shit.”
“It’s not like it was password protected. And I told you I don’t have a computer. I didn’t think it would be an issue.”
“It’s not. Just have a lot on my mind and I’m not used to other people being around.” Speaking of which, he should probably get rid of Declan before Brendan showed. Brendan’s arrival would be suspicious enough, but if Declan overheard their conversation, he would tell the rest of the family.
“Lucky for you, I have plans tonight,” Declan said.
Dodged a bullet there. “Date?”
“Nah. Just hanging out with Tyler. He’s finally moving back. He’s staying with his sister and from what I got from his texts, she’s driving him nuts.”
“I know the feeling,” Ronan countered.
Declan flung a pencil at Ronan. “Fuck you. I stay out of your way. I even bought beer and food for the fridge.”
“I was kidding. You don’t irritate me too much more now than you did when you were ten. What time you heading out?”
“’Bout a half hour. The bar has happy hour wings.”
Ronan set his keys on the table. “You can take my truck as long as I can trust you not to drive drunk.”
“Really?”
“It’ll be cheaper than Uber and faster than the bus.”
“Cool. Thanks, man. I have the list of materials and a plan for the kitchen. Maybe tomorrow we can go over it.”
“Sounds good. Have fun. Tell Tyler I said hi.” Ronan went to shower and change. By the time he returned to the kitchen, Declan was gone. He opened a beer and scanned the contents of his fridge to figure out dinner.
Declan’s idea of buying food was questionable. He did get milk, probably because Declan could practically live on cereal. There was a loaf of bread and jelly. The man still ate like a twelve-year-old. Not liking those options, he texted Brendan.
I’m ordering dinner. You want in?
Sure. Whatever you get is fine.
Ronan called in an order at the pizza place down the street. He didn’t want to try guessing what Brendan would like and pizza was always a safe bet. Then he cleared Declan’s mess from the table and pulled out his notes.
Over the past few weeks, he realized that all of the information he’d kept in his head was a jumbled mess, so he began writing it down so he could look for connections. When the bell rang, he answered the door to find Brendan and the pizza guy on his porch.
“I have the best timing,” Brendan said. “Pay the man.”
“Already paid, asshole.”
“In that case,” he turned to the delivery driver and said, “I’ll take this.” Then he pushed past Ronan into the house.
Ronan handed the man a tip and closed the front door behind them. “Take it to the kitchen.”
“Love what you’ve done to the place,” his brother said as he set the pizza down on the table and his bag on the floor.
Ronan gathered his pages and stacked them on the corner of the table. Then he grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge.
“How are things going with Declan?” Brendan asked.
Ronan shrugged. “He’s working on something for this kitchen. It’s taking him a fuckton of time to figure it out, so I guess it’s a good thing I’m not in a hurry.”
“See? It was good that I sent him over. Where is he now?”
“Hanging out with Tyler. It’s probably good that he’s not here getting involved in this.” They each reached into the pizza box and grabbed a slice.
They ate quickly and in silence, which didn’t bother Ronan. When they had their fill, he closed the box and pushed it to the corner of the table, opposite of where he stacked his papers. “I didn’t know how to organize the information I have. Most of it isn’t even concrete, just feelings and impressions I’ve gotten. But it’s led me here and something is starting to shake loose.”
“How do you mean?”
“Even though Danny Cahill tried to convince his father that I’m just a stellar employee, he brought in two of my guys to question them.”
“You’re a new supervisor. Not that out of the ordinary.”
“It is when he asks about how I treat the older guys on the crew. You know, the ones I picked because they’ve been at Cahill for twenty years?”
“So you’re making them nervous. What about the old guys?”