Page 58 of Julian

“It was that or football,” Elijah said. “But my mom put her foot down and said no football. My dad tried to fight her on it, but she stood firm.”

“I wasn’t into team sports much. I played tennis and did some track, but I wasn’t very good at either of them.”

“Maybe I can shoot some hoops with Benji,” Elijah said.

“I’m sure he’d enjoy that.”

After they left the rec center, they continued walking on the road that circled around by Jude and Annie’s homes.

“What’s going up here?” Elijah asked as they approached the building site.

“This is Angela and Kiara’s house.”

“Is Kiara going to stay here alone?” Elijah asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Would Jude move in with Angela here? Or would Angela move in with Jude?”

Julian thought of the large log cabin style home that Jude lived in and figured there was little chance they’d choose to share space with Kiara.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “But I assume they’ve figured something out.”

Julian knew a bit about the layout of the house that was being built, since he’d been around for some of the discussions about it.

Kiara and Angela had decided on two separate wings, each with a master suite connected by a common kitchen. It made sense at the time, but somehow, Julian doubted that they would have decided on that design had they known that Angela would never live there.

“It looks like it’s almost done,” Elijah said.

“Yeah, it does. I think Duncan was hoping to have it finished before the baby arrived.”

Julian was a bit curious about what it was like inside, so he headed in that direction with Elijah trailing behind him.

He climbed the steps to the front door and checked to see if it was locked. The door swung open, and immediately he could hear the sounds of workers inside.

“Let’s have a look around,” Julian said. “I’m curious.”

“Hello,” a middle-aged man called out to them. As he got closer, he said, “Oh, hello, Mr. Burke.”

After introductions were made, the foreman gave them a tour of the house. As he walked through the rooms, Julian could see how the house would have been perfect for Angela and Kiara. He wondered if Kiara was disappointed that she wouldn’t be living with her sister.

“That’s a really nice place,” Elijah said as they left several minutes later.

“It is,” Julian agreed.

“Why don’t you have a place here?” Elijah asked. “It seems like all your siblings do.”

“I do have a plot of land that Duncan has set aside for me, but I’ve had no desire to put down roots here.”

“Do you think that will change now that you have a baby on the way?”

“I don’t know.” That was the most honest answer he had at the moment. “I’m pretty sure that Kiara won’t be interested in moving to New York. She’s too close to Angela to want to move that far away. So if I want to see my son, I’ll need to come here.”

They circled back to the main house, then went inside. It was nearing dinnertime, so they went back upstairs to their rooms.

“Does your family dress for dinner?” Elijah asked.

“Sort of. Duncan prefers no jeans or T-shirts. I usually wear slacks and a button-down.”