Holy shit.
It worked.
Alan: Just wanted to check in. Make sure you were okay.
Aoife: I’m fine. Everything’s fine.
Alan: If you need me, I’m here.
Aoife: Are you sure about that?
Alan: Yes.
Aoife: What’s changed?
Alan: Life’s too short.
Aoife: Has something happened?
Alan: Something’s always happening.
Aoife: Maybe I could call you? Sometime this week?
Alan: I’d love that. You’re sure?
Aoife: Yes. Today’s a good day.
Alan: I’m glad it is, but why in particular?
Aoife: My friend is getting married.
Alan: Oh! Well, have fun.
Aoife: I will. I told my friend that she should give her dad a second chance. It’s funny that you messaged me today.
Alan: You’re always on my mind, Aoife. I have many regrets.
Aoife: Maybe we can talk about them? I’d love to know more about you and Mom.
Alan: I’d love to share our stories. It wasn’t
Aoife: It wasn’t what?
Alan: Sorry, got distracted. We were in love, Aoife. So, you tell me when and I’ll make sure I have time for us to talk.
Aoife: I will.
Aoife: xo
Fifty-Five
Finn
Strolling into the yard, I cast a quick glance around and found where Aidan Sr. and Lena were sitting.
I was going to ignore them, but Jake shrieked, “Grammy!”
“Little traitor,” I muttered under my breath, but seeing I had their attention, I walked over there.
Lena, who’d been sitting with Senior’s arm over her shoulder, sat up with a happy cry, her arms outstretched. I plunked Jake on her lap and shot them both a look.
Senior looked sick. Conor told me he was drinking too much, and I could see it for myself. He was starting to look that odd yellow color—jaundice. Thin and weedy too.
Lena wasn’t doing much better. Though her neck wasn’t scratched red, so she wasn’t doing too badly and was clearly taking her meds.
I tried not to feel guilty, but it was their actions that’d brought us to this tipping point, not mine.
It had been two months since we’d gone to the compound for dinner. Two months since our lives had changed. Two months of silence from the ECD, the Sparrows too.
I was under no illusion that we were in the eye of the hurricane right now.
I wasn’t looking forward to coming out of it.
“You okay with watching him?”
Lena cooed, “Of course,” as she bounced Jake on her knee “You go and enjoy being with your brothers.”
The words had me swallowing, and I tipped my head at Aidan.
As I walked away, I heard her say, “Leave the boy be.”
She never pressured me, whereas Aidan glowered at me as if his displeasure would be enough to make me toe the line.
A part of me wondered if she’d ever told him about going to Conor to handle Michael… and another part questioned if marriages were always so rife with secrets or if that was just how mob life worked.
I didn’t want that for Aoife and me.
I wanted open honesty between us; that was why I’d told her when I’d gotten my vasectomy. That was why I was being candid with her about my grief.
Maybe it was harder being transparent, but it was worth it when she looked at me the way she had in the car.
As I moved away from the arbor that was entwined with the goddamn peonies Aidan had driven me crazy over for the past six weeks, I heard Victoria’s softly lilting voice say, “Shay, are you reneging on our deal?”
I arched a brow at that then heard Shay mutter, “No. I don’t renege. I’m an O’Donnelly.”
She sniffed. “Then teach me how to kiss!”
My shoulders straightened in surprise.
“You lost our bet,” she argued. “I played it better.”
“You didn’t. I was unlucky. Mom’s nesting or she wouldn’t have noticed.”
“Or maybe you’re just a crappy actor. You need to improve on that if you’re going to be president.”
My lips twitched at her sass.
To be honest, I hadn’t heard more than a couple dozen words out of Victoria and thought she was a shrinking violet. I was pleased to know that I was wrong.
Shay huffed. “I actually vomited.”
“She didn’t think you had food poisoning though, did she? And still made you go and sit that exam, no? That means you lost and I won. Pay up.”
Shay had pretended to have food poisoning to get out of an exam and Aela had caught him in the lie?
“Teenagers,” I muttered under my breath, relieved I didn’t have to deal with that for another eleven years.
Deciding to leave them to it, I headed onto the decking at the back of the house and found Padraig having a smoke.
“Finn,” he greeted, beaming at me as he went in for a hug.
I smiled at him and said, “Good to see you, Paddy.” I meant it. He was free from the BS guilt and anger that filled me whenever I saw or dealt with Lena and Senior. “Nice flight?”
He whistled. “You shitting me? Didn’t realize Junior was gonna send me first-class tickets. I had a ball.”
“You’ll get used to it.” I laughed when he shook his head.
“Nah. Things have been tough, Finn. Been in some rough places. But being back with the fam, it’s good, you know?”
“Why don’t you move back to New York? You miss it, and we can find you someplace to live. Hell, you could even stay in my penthouse. No one else is living there.”
He gaped at me. “Me?”
“Yeah. You.”
“You want me, by myself, to live in that massive penthouse of yours?”
“Well, it’s empty because my realtor says it’s ten million over market price. You might as well use it.”
His mouth rounded at the ‘ten million,’ then his shoulders hunched. It was his massive tell. He did it in life and in poker. “I don’t know, Finn. It might not be safe.”
“You weren’t an enemy of Eamonn Keegan,” I pointed out. “Just Michael Byrne. He’s not a problem anymore, is he?”
Paddy pulled on his collar. “No. Conor told me about that.”
I shot him a look. “How’s he doing? I still can’t believe you used to be his confessional.”
“Well, I ain’t exactly a priest, Finn,” he said with a chortle. “But Con and I…” He twined his middle and pointer fingers together. “…like that. I always wished Liam and—” He sighed. “Some shit isn’t meant to be.”
I clapped him on the back. “I know Con’s glad to have you here.”
“Wish Jen were,” he said mournfully.
“You keep calling her?”
“Yeah. This is the first time I’m seeing her. I’m nervous en tabarnak.” He raised his hand, and I saw the wobble, but it was the shift into Québecois that rammed his anxiety home. “Look at me. Shaking like a virgin on her wedding day.”
My lips quirked. “Not this wedding.”
Paddy snorted. “Nah, Junior’s not the sort. Locked her in nice and tight. Some women you’ve got to do that with before they fly off. You seen him in a temper?” He whistled. “That kind of fire needs a woman like Savannah. She’ll be a good match for him. Won’t let him get away with shit.”