had been lost at sea.
It seemed as if every bit of happiness had leaked out of the young Quinns’ lives on the day they buried that empty coffin. The things that made them a family had changed. There wasn’t a lot of affection or laughter in the house. Instead, the boys worked and worked … and worked, pushing aside their emotions and their loss.
There had been some good moments, Kieran recalled. The four brothers had built a boat all on their own and he, Dermot and Cameron had spent an entire summer sailing it around Puget Sound, much to the dismay of Ronan, who refused to step on board. But the dreams they’d had for themselves as kids had been replaced by responsibility to their grandfather. Martin Quinn had taken them in when they needed a home. It was their family duty to repay him.
They all attended college locally and continued to work at Quinn Yachtworks, helping to expand the business even more. At first, they’d worked simple jobs around the shop and then, as they got older, they’d taken on more important positions. Cameron ran the design end and Dermot handled sales. Kieran served as chief financial officer and Ronan enjoyed supervising the shop, spending his days working side by side with the builders and craftsmen.
Yes, they’d all put aside their childhood dreams to help out after their parents’ death. But it was silly to think any of them could go chasing after those dreams now. “Where are you going?” Kieran asked Dermot.
“Mapleton, Wisconsin.” Dermot held up his phone, a tiny map on the screen. “It’s not anywhere near water. Except for this little lake.”
“Look up Bitney, Kentucky,” Kieran asked.
“That’s an easy one,” Cameron said. “He’s sending you to racing country. Remember how crazy you were about horses? You used to have all those plastic ponies lined up on your bedroom shelf. And you were always bugging Grandda to tell you about the horse he had when he was a kid. You even asked Da for riding lessons for your tenth birthday.”
Kieran ran his hands through his hair and shook his head. “I barely remember that. I’d almost forgotten about Ma buying me those plastic ones all the time. She’d put them in my lunch box.” He smiled at the memory. His mother had always been thoughtful like that. She’d loved playing with his horse collection as much as he did.
“Whatever happened to those ponies?” Dermot wondered.
“He wrapped them up and put them in the coffin,” Cameron said.
“Right,” Kieran replied. “I didn’t think I’d ever want to play with them again. They reminded me too much of Ma.”
A long silence grew between them.
“What time do you leave?” Ronan asked.
“Eleven-thirty tonight,” Kieran replied. “I’ve got two and a half days on a bus. I can’t imagine how much fun that’s going to be.”
Dermot chuckled. “You can catch up on your reading. Hey, it might be kind of cool. Who knows? I’m trying to keep an open mind. And a forced vacation isn’t such a bad deal.”
“Yeah, let’s see if you feel that way after you’ve been stuck inside a bus for sixty hours,” Kieran said. “Or you come back six weeks later to find your office buried in paperwork.”
“Sixty hours? Look at mine,” Ronan said. “Sibleyville, Maine. That’s about as far away from Seattle as a guy can get. Three and a half days. That’s one day more than any of you guys have.”
Dermot held up his phone. “At least you’ll be near water. Maybe you’ll be able to find a decent job doing something you know about.”
“What am I supposed to do in Vulture Creek, New Mexico?” Cameron asked.
“Well, at least that makes sense. Dinosaur bones. Remember? After you saw Jurassic Park, you started digging up the garden. Dinosaurs were all you ever talked about. And then you found that bone and Da told you it was from a pork chop.”
They all started laughing. Kiernan and his brothers had teased Cam for weeks about that adventure, but their mother had shushed them all, insisting that Cam should do whatever he dreamed of doing.
“Listen, I have to get home and pack,” Kieran said. “I’m the first off. You guys don’t leave until tomorrow.” He looked at the envelope of cash they’d each been given for the trip. “Are you guys going to take some extra money?”
“Grandda said we had to stick with what he gave us,” Cam said. “I figure we ought to play by the rules, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but I’ve got an extra day on the bus,” Ronan said.
“You know what it is,” Cam said. “He came to this country with a hundred dollars in his pocket. I think he wants us to experience what that was like. It forces us to be creative.”
Ronan cursed softly. “The old man is nuts. A hundred dollars went a lot further fifty years ago.”
“I suppose we’ll just have to use our wits rather than our wallets,” Kieran said. “We’re all smart lads. I’m sure we can figure something out. And he did give us the credit card in case of an emergency.”
“What constitutes an emergency?” Dermot asked.
“Imminent death?” Ronan said. “Starvation? The pressing need for a shower and a shave?” He shook his head. “Three and a half days on a bus.”
Kieran got to his feet. “I need a ride home.”
“Why don’t we all go out?” Cam suggested. “We can have a beer and give Kieran a decent send-off. We won’t be seeing each other for six weeks. I think a drink or two is in order.”
“O’Leary’s?” Ronan asked.
“O’Leary’s it is,” Kieran said.
THE BUS HAD pulled into the station in Denver at precisely 6:45 a.m. Kieran glanced down at his watch through bleary eyes. His layover was just a little longer than two hours and he wasn’t sure he could keep his eyes open long enough to make his transfer onto the next bus headed to Indianapolis.
After his first restless night on the way east from Seattle, he had actually been grateful to change buses in Missoula and Billings, using the opportunity to stretch his legs. But the trip was starting to wear a little thin now and he found himself getting crankier by the mile.
Over the past twenty-four hours, Kieran had managed to read both the books he’d brought with him. He’d tried to check his emails on his BlackBerry, only his grandfather had disconnected his internet access. And the scenery was only interesting when it changed, which happened every hour or so during the daylight hours.
With only a hundred dollars in his pocket, his budget didn’t allow for new reading material, so he’d picked up leftover magazines and newspapers from his fellow passengers. He’d read a two-month-old Sports Illustrated and a current issue of InStyle from cover to cover before finding a copy of some silly tabloid with an alien baby on the cover.
Kieran glanced around at his surroundings. The station was bustling with travelers making their way onto morning buses. He grabbed his bag and walked over to the digital display to check on his departure time and noticed that his bus
