After Kieran and Katie finished their late afternoon repast, it took the better part of two more hours for him to finish showing her around his father's shop. He talked and talked and talked, answering one question after another and even, on several occasions, letting her hold some of his father's more expensive tools. She seemed to soak up everything he told her like a sponge. Seeing her like that, Kieran saw why Katie consistently earned higher grades than everyone else at school.
Is there anything she isn't good at? The question popped into his brain before he could stop it, and he felt like a jerk for even thinking such a thing. So far, Katie treated him with nothing but respect and kindness, but there was also more to it than that.
The brutal, honest truth was that Kieran was lonely, and it wasn't until meeting Katie that he realized just how lonely he'd truly been. Losing his mom had robbed him of the desire and energy to be as outgoing as he'd once been, and this created a vicious cycle of self-isolation which eventually turned him into a social outcast. Katie was the first person he'd spent any time with outside of school in more than three years, with the obvious exception of his father.
Speaking of which...he'll be expecting me at home by now, he thought. Clearing his throat, he said, "Katie, it's going to start getting dark soon. I've really enjoyed hanging out with you like this, but maybe it's best if I drove you home."
Katie smiled. Kieran felt its impact like a physical blow. Would he ever get used to it? Not likely.
"Actually, I was hoping I could come over to your place and we could watch a movie or something. Is that okay?"
Kieran thought about it. Well...Dad's not expecting company, but on the other hand, he'll probably be happy that I'm not spending another afternoon all by myself. "I think it'll be fine." He gave a rueful chuckle. "I'm afraid our TV isn't very big, though."
Katie waved his words aside with an elegant sweep of her hand. "Don't even worry about it. I'm nothing if not flexible."
The lizard part of Kieran's brain noted that, as captain of the cheer squad, Katie was probably flexible in more ways than one. It also wondered, with vivid mental imagery, how that flexibility might be put to use in...other ways.
Kieran quashed that line of thought, though only with considerable effort. Frustration boiled up inside him. For the last time, stop it, he snarled at himself. Katie isn't a piece of meat, for God's sake. Stop thinking like such a knuckle-dragger, Callaway. You think she'll want to be your friend if she figures out what's going on inside your head?
No. Of course not. If Katie knew, she'd be disgusted, and she'd have every right to feel that way. Hell, she flat-out told me one of the reasons she wants to be friends is because I don't ogle her like most guys do. If I start, I'll be no different from them in her eyes.
Katie cleared her throat, a little impatiently. Kieran realized she was still waiting for him to say something and felt embarrassment warming his cheeks. "Sorry! Yes, of course, Katie. I--I'd really like to hang out a little more before we have to call it a night. My place isn't far at all."
Katie gave that thousand-megawatt smile again. "Sounds like a deal to me."
"Just give me a few minutes to lock up on our way out." Kieran fished the keys from his pocket again. "If I left the place unlocked and something got stolen, Dad would skin me alive."
"Take your time," Katie assured him. "I'm in no hurry, Kieran. We've got, like, pretty much all night."
She waited patiently for him as he locked all the doors and switched the security system on before heading outside. It took several minutes--there were lots of keys to sort through before he found the right ones--but soon they were back in Kieran's refurbished pickup truck. The drive was very short, and in no time at all he was pulling into a gravel driveway next to a small, one-story house that, while not decrepit, had clearly seen better days. The paint on the outside was starting to peel, and at least one of the windows was covered with plywood instead of glass. It never bothered Kieran before, but now, with Katie by his side, he was filled with shame at the way his home looked. "It's not much, I know," he admitted.
"It's your home," Katie replied. "That's more than enough for me to like it."
Her simple, no-nonsense response made his heart swell inside his chest. She really is a good person. "Thank you," was all he could think to say.
"You're welcome," she chirped. "So, do you need to knock, or...?"
"No, Dad leaves it unlocked until I get here. C'mon in."
Without further ado, Kieran opened the front door and stepped inside. Katie followed close at his heels. "Dad! I'm home!" he called.
"About time," an older man's voice replied. There was the sound of someone getting up from a chair--Katie guessed the noise was coming from the living room--and then she got her first real look at Kieran's dad.
It was immediately obvious that Kieran did indeed take after his mother. Where Kieran's hair was dark, his father's was a fiery shade of red, though it was going gray at the temples. His eyes were green instead of the chocolate brown color Kieran sported, and his face was more rough-cut and square-shaped than his son's. Still, there was still a resemblance between the two Callaways. Kieran and his father shared the same nose and slender, lean build, though his father had whipcord muscles from long years in his auto shop.
The moment he saw Katie, Sean Callaway stopped dead in his tracks. "Who's this?" he asked. "A friend of yours, Kieran?"
Kieran nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, she is. Dad, this is Katie Petersen."
"Petersen? Like the mayor?"
"Yup!" Katie nodded. "He's my dad! Nice to meet you. I hope you don't mind that Kieran invited me over."
