Adam (Farraday Country Book One)

Chapter Fifteen

"I don't believe it." Meg shook her head, failing miserably at holding back her laughter. "You seriously tied your sister to the goal posts?"

"Guilty as charged. But in our defense she was in full protective gear. When Grace complained to Aunt Eileen, she refused to believe we would do anything so obnoxious."

"You got away with it?" Her voice went up a few octaves.

"Nope." Adam slid his wallet from his back pocket. "Finn tattled. Though not on purpose. He told Aunt Eileen how he wanted a real hockey stick for Christmas. That struck her as odd, so she asked him if he liked playing hockey with his brothers. Finn being the youngest boy didn't get to play with Connor, Brooks, and me very often so he was all excited that we'd let him on the team."

"One team?"

"With only six of us, you play keep away. Alternating time periods. One team tries to score, the other team keeps the puck away. Three on one team. Three on the other."

"And that's why you needed a seventh for goalkeeper."

"Exactly." He placed several bills inside the black folder with the dinner tab. "Then Aunt Eileen hit him with the trick question."

Meg couldn't stop from smiling. The more stories she heard, the more she really liked Adam's aunt. His whole family for that matter. "What was it?"

"Bet it's no fun having to play with a girl?"

"Oh, boy. He fell for it, didn't he?"

"He was only seven. Yeah. He fell for it. That night, after supper, my father sat the six of us down in the library and asked us outright."

"What did you say?"

"The truth. None of us were ever willing to lie to Dad. We might skirt the truth from time to time. Leave out a few facts. Maybe drop chaff and distract him but never lied to his face."

"None of you?"

Adam pushed to his feet and reaching her seat, pulled out her chair for her. "None of us. Ever."

"Not even to save your own skins?" She almost jumped in place when his warm hand settled at the small of her back, steering her toward the door.

"If you can't trust a man's word, you can't trust the man."

The way Adam's fingers barely rested against her back kept Meg from thinking clearly. Thoughts were taking twice as long to travel from her brain to her mouth and then form words. "Trust. Yes."

"A man is nothing without respect. Honor is important in our family, more than lip service."

There was no doubt that, unlike her sniveling ex, honor and respect were tattooed on the Farraday DNA. "Which is why one of your brothers is a marine."

"Three actually."

"Three?"

"Once a marine always a marine. Connor and D.J. both did four years each."

"Let me guess. D.J. was military police?"

Nodding, Adam pushed open the exit door, cast a quick glance up and down the street. "It's a beautiful evening. There's a park with a small pond at the other end of the street. Would you like to take a walk?"

"Yes. I feel like a turkey at Thanksgiving. I could use the exercise. It was, by the way, incredibly delicious. Thank you."

"My pleasure." He tipped his hat and extended his elbow to her.