Osmosis

by Susan X Meagher

  “Yes. I did.”

  “You know … Ryan and I had a terrible fight a few weeks ago.” His eyebrows popped up, as if she’d pinched him. “Yeah, it’s not that common,” she continued. “But I told her that I was worried about her cheating on me—”

  His face started to redden. “Has she done anything—”

  “No! Nothing! That’s not the point. Jack didn’t cheat on me and Ryan wouldn’t, but I’m still worried about it. Just knowing that you cheated on Mom has made me doubt Ryan, just enough to put a little kernel of suspicion in my mind. I don’t worry that she’s doing anything now. More that she’ll eventually get tired of me, like you did with Mom.”

  “Why are you telling me this? You’ve never given me the slightest hint that you doubted Ryan. And I never tired of your mother. Never.”

  Jamie shrugged. “I’m just trying to explain why neither Mom nor Kayla nor any woman who knows your history will be able to trust you. I’m on the periphery and your cheating affects me; I can’t imagine how Mom feels.” She reached across the table and covered his cool hand with her own. “You have made some bad investments, Dad, and you’re gonna have to do some work to convince a woman that you’ve changed—if you have.”

  He looked away and took a bite, chewing slowly. “It’s probably useless. You’re right, honey—no decent woman will trust me. I’ll just have to keep dating until women get tired of me or find someone better.”

  “Oh, you sound like you’re a big loser. I think you just want what you can’t have. You were perfectly happy going from woman to woman before. It wasn’t until Mom decided to divorce you that you wanted her back.”

  “That’s not true,” he said, staring into her eyes. “I’ve always loved your mother, and I never, ever wanted to hurt her. She’s the brightest, funniest, warmest woman I’ve ever known. I was a complete idiot to betray her, but I swear I’ve never cared for any one like I have for your mother.”

  “But you did things that would hurt any woman, Dad. Your actions are what counts.”

  “I know. Believe me, I know.” He looked down at his salad and casually asked, “Is she seeing anyone?”

  “Heh. No chance, Dad. If I did know Mom was dating someone, I wouldn’t tell you. Just like I wouldn’t tell her the things you tell me.”

  “Has she asked?”

  He looked so hopeful that Jamie felt a stab of pity for him. Trying to sidestep the question she said, “She’s not the type to ask. You know how private she is.”

  “True. She also has good manners. She wouldn’t want to put you in an uncomfortable position, like I just did.”

  “Who are you?” Jamie laughed at her father’s befuddled expression. “You’re so … introspective!”

  He shrugged, looking embarrassed. “It won’t last. Your grandfather’s influence doesn’t tend to stick.”

  “How about walking around the neighborhood to digest our dinner?” Conor asked as he and Catherine stepped out into the rather bracing evening. She was wearing warm clothes—a knee-length dark brown leather coat and a matching pair of gloves—to fend off the chill, so she agreed. As they walked along, she slid her hand around his arm, finding that she couldn’t even get it halfway around the muscled structure. The warmth just radiated from his body, and within a block she was as warm as toast.

  They walked along Valencia, the main business district of the Mission, passing all manner of stores, all of them of a caliber substantially below those that Catherine normally frequented. Nonetheless, she was fascinated by the brightly decorated windows of many of the storefronts, and mused at the signs propped against the glass. “Many different Latin cultures live in this neighborhood, don’t they?”

  “Yeah. Quite a few. Do you speak Spanish?” he asked, sparing a glance at her intent perusal of the signs.

  “Not well. I speak French and Italian, so I can guess at most words, but I’m far from fluent. Jamie is, you know.”

  “Yeah, I knew that. Ryan’s actually a little jealous of the languages she speaks, now that she has to learn French.”

  “She’s mentioned that,” Catherine smiled. “She says her Gaelic doesn’t help her a bit.”

  “In this country, speaking Gaelic is a nice trick to show off at parties,” he grinned. “Not much use for it.”

  They had passed the most populated parts of the street, so they crossed the street to return on the other side. As they passed in front of an all-night donut shop, one of the patrons caught sight of Conor. Martin was being waited on, so he couldn’t step outside just then, but as soon as his order was paid for, he went outside to say hello to his son. Ahh, he thought to himself as he saw Conor escorting a stylishly dressed woman down the street. They were arm in arm, and occasionally stopped in front of a store to comment on something. I didn’t know he was dating anyone, he mused as he turned to take his purchase back to the firehouse. I suppose I’m always the last to know, he reminded himself with a chuckle.

  Ryan was already in bed when Jamie got home. She was half asleep, but she sat up the minute Jamie’s foot hit the stairs. “Jamers?”

  “Yeah, honey. I’m home.”

  “James?” Mia called out, giggling.

  “Yes, dear?” She poked her head into Mia’s room. “May I help you?”

  Mia was lying on her bed, watching TV. “Miss me?”

  “Always.” Jamie went to the bed and kissed Mia’s curly head. “But I have to go. As soon as Ryan’s asleep, I’ll come back.” She ruffled Mia’s hair and went into her own room, waggling her fingers at her lover. “I had to make sure the little one was tucked in properly.”

  “I tucked her in. After rubbing her feet and moisturizing them.”

  Jamie bent over and kissed her. “Good girl.”

  Ryan got up and started to undress her. “Did you have fun?”

  “Ahh … yeah, I did. Things were very different between us. I have no idea what’s gotten into him, but he was Mister Sensitive. He actually sounded like he was related to my grandfather for the first time that I can recall.”

  “Weird. Has he gotten religion?”

  “Doubtful.”

  “Do you need to take your splint off?”

  “No, I’m fine. I’m gonna brush my teeth. Get me a T-shirt?”

  Ryan turned and took the shirt that was lying on Jamie’s pillow. “All ready for you.”

  “You … my little spouse … are very nice to come home to.”

  Ryan put her arms around Jamie and hugged her tightly. “Are you gonna sneak off to Mia’s room when I’m asleep?”

  “Damn, you’ve got good ears!”

  Taking a playful nip from one of Jamie’s, Ryan growled, “I’m keeping a close eye … and ear on you.”

  When Martin arrived home from work on Thursday morning, he asked Maeve if she wanted to go to the children’s house, so they could all eat breakfast together. As usual, she was amenable, and they showed up just as the boys were getting up. When Conor appeared, bright-eyed and alert, Martin couldn’t help but tease him. “I thought you might be a little bleary after your date last night.”

  Conor blinked at him. “I didn’t have a date.”

  “It’s all right, son.” He chuckled. “You don’t have to hide such things from me at this point in your life.” When Conor still looked blank, he informed him, “I saw you walking down Valencia last night with an attractive woman.”

  Conor nodded slowly in comprehension. “I wasn’t on a date, Da; I was with Catherine.”

  “Catherine?” Martin gaped. “Really?”

  “Yeah. She came by in the afternoon and neither of us had plans, so we just hung out. Why didn’t you say something?”

  “You know I don’t see clearly in the darkness,” he explained. “I was fairly sure it was you, but I didn’t want to run down the street carrying two dozen donuts only to find out I was wrong.”

  “No, it was me,” the younger man said agreeably. “Sorry we didn’t get to chat. Catherine could have told you what a great meal we
had. She’s never been to The Mission so I took her to La Cabana. I think she really enjoyed herself.”

  Martin nodded, giving his son a concerned look before he went into the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee. “Anything wrong, Marty?” Maeve asked quietly.

  “No, no, of course not,” he said brightly. “Nothing at all.” As he walked into the kitchen, he thought, There had better not be.

  At six o’clock on Friday evening, Ryan pulled up to the three-flat in The Mission. She waved to her cousins, uncles, and aunt and said as she let Jamie out, “We’re the last ones. Go on and start looking around. I’ll find somewhere around here to park or go home and run back.”

  “Got your running shoes?”

  “No. I tried to dress nice for my girlfriend. But if I have to run back, I’ve got plenty of single-girl clothes at home.”

  “Take your time, honey. With all of these people, we might be here until dawn.”

  Ryan did have to go to Noe to park, so she decided to take Duffy with her. It had been so long since she’d run with him that it took both of them a few blocks to get in synch, but they were both smiling when they arrived at the building. Her uncles Francis and Malachy were outside, looking at the foundation.

  “I predicted you’d have the dog with you,” Malachy said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

  “She likes to have Duffy around to remind her that she used to be the one in charge,” Francis said, laughing. “Now she’s the one on the leash.”

  “Not funny, but true.” Ryan kissed her uncle. “Everybody upstairs?”

  “Yeah. We thought we’d better check out the important parts. A bad foundation is what costs big money.”

  “How does it look?”

  “Remarkably good,” Malachy said. “And I think we can take these shingles off. The wooden siding looks like it’s in good shape. These ugly things might have protected it.”

  “Jamie said the real estate guy thought they were asbestos. Won’t it cost a lot to have them removed?”

  “Depends on who’s watching,” Francis said, adding a wink.

  Ryan nodded, deciding not to discuss the issue with her pragmatic, cost-cutting uncle. She was determined to follow all of the city codes … especially where they involved hazardous waste, but her cousins would be much easier to manipulate than her uncle.

  It had taken her so long to park, change and run back, that the crowd was almost finished touring when she and Duffy ran up the stairs, almost knocking down her Aunt Peggy in the dimly lit staircase. “Whoa! Sorry!” she said.

  Her aunt kissed her and patted Duffy. “This place reminds me of a building my family lived in when I was a girl. It could be nice if the boys do everything that needs to be done.”

  “I haven’t seen it yet,” Ryan said, “but Duffy likes it.” The big dog hadn’t stopped sniffing since they’d stopped, his nose detecting scents from many, many years of use.

  They decided to go to Francis’ house for soup and salad while they discussed the pros and cons of the building. Ryan and Jamie stopped for the salad ingredients and what her uncles called “fancy bread.” Despite the gentle derision, they always seemed to enjoy the baguettes and filoni Jamie and Ryan contributed. Francis still didn’t understand why a salad had to contain more than a quartered head of iceberg lettuce with a half-cup of Thousand Island dressing, but he ate everything except the arugula, which he declared a weed.

  Everyone agreed that the building was a good one—if they wanted to be landlords. That aspect of the discussion took quite a while, but Brendan had done some homework and explained that it would help them secure future loans if they already owned some property. And given that rents were always climbing, having two units to rent at market price could be very beneficial. The biggest sticking point was price. Niall’s money would make a good down-payment, but they’d need a construction loan and money for supplies.

  Jamie raised her hand. “I’d like to make the loan.”

  “You?” Frank said, his voice squeaking.

  “Yeah, me. I’m ready to take my money out of the stock market and put it in something more secure. I think this is a good investment.”

  Never one to beat around the bush, Frank asked, “Do you have that kinda money?”

  Kieran punched him gently on the shoulder. “Are you the only one who hasn’t figure out that Jamie’s rich?”

  “You’re rich?” Frank asked, clearly surprised.

  “She’s rich,” Ryan said, sparing Jamie the need to reply.

  Frank’s eyes narrowed and he glared at his cousin. “Damn you, Ryan. It was bad enough that she was good-looking …”

  “Behave,” Francis said. “Don’t embarrass the girl.”

  “Oh, who’d be embarrassed?” Jamie asked, blushing furiously.

  Ryan put her arm around her. “She can’t help it. She was born rich and beautiful. But if Jamie wants to invest some of her money, I think we should do it.”

  “I don’t like it,” Niall said. “What if we lose money on the deal?”

  “That’s the risk of investing,” Jamie said. “I know you won’t lose money because you do bad work or buy materials that are overpriced. The only reason we’d lose money is if the real estate market crashes. And if that happens, it happens. If I lost this money it wouldn’t make me have to start working nights. This is just an investment to me—not any different than investing in stocks or bonds. And I wouldn’t do it if I couldn’t afford to lose the money.”

  “Mortgage rates are about 8% now, right?” Ryan asked. “Is that good?”

  “I don’t want that,” Jamie said. “I want Treasury Bill rates. That’s the safest investment, and that’s where I was gonna park this chunk of money.”

  “Is that less than 8%?” Ryan asked.

  “Yeah. But it’s fair. I shouldn’t profit off the family. I should just stay even.”

  When she saw her cousins all looking at one another and nodding, Ryan smiled. Jamie was clearly one of the family.

  Part Eleven

  Catherine was already sitting in the stands when Conor and Rory arrived at the Cal/Stanford game on Saturday afternoon. She saw them and waved, and they made their way through the crowd to join her. “Saving a lot of seats, aren’t you, lady?” Conor asked. He bent and kissed her cheek, then Rory leaned around him and did the same.

  “I’ve been getting some dirty looks,” she admitted. “I hate to save seats, but I thought today it was necessary.”

  “We’re the only two from the family. Everyone else had something going on.” Conor looked around, nodding happily. Then he stretched his arms out and his deep voice proclaimed, “These are my people.”

  “You shouldn’t take him to nice places, Catherine,” Rory said. “He thinks he’s a South Bay millionaire now.”

  “He fits in beautifully, Rory. You know … you would, too. I have more appointments than Conor could possibly help me with.”

  The younger O’Flaherty held up a hand. “No, thanks. I mean, I’d go anywhere you needed me to go, but Conor’s your man. He’s always been sure he was delivered to the wrong family.”

  “Someday, when my real parents find me, I won’t forget you guys. I’ll have you over every Christmas, when I have the party for my servants.”

  “I hate to add to his delusions,” Catherine said, “but he honestly does seem like he was born to money.”

  “He was born to blarney,” Rory, said, chuckling.

  “Hey, look who’s here,” Conor said. He pointed to Jim walking along the third base line, watching heads turn and people elbow each other to point him out. “See. I want people to do that when I walk into a place.”

  “They do,” Rory teased. “They say, ‘Isn’t that the jerk who led my sister/daughter/cousin on?’”

  “He’s got your number,” Catherine said, giggling.

  “That was the old Conor. The new Conor is much more serious and mature. I’m looking for a relationship now.”

  “That I’ll believe when I see it,�
�� Rory said.

  Conor jumped up. “I’ll go tell Jim where we’re sitting.”

  “You just want people to see that you know him!” Rory called out.

  “He’s impossible to offend, isn’t he?” Catherine commented. “It’s so nice that you can all take a good tease.”

  “You either learn to take it or end up in tears … or fights. Only one of the cousins doesn’t take well to being made fun of.”

  “Donal?” Catherine asked.

  “You know us well,” Rory said, smiling.

  “He seems like his skin is a little thin. I’ve heard him give some pretty sharp responses to some pretty benign comments.”

  “He’ll burn your ears if you really get to him.” He looked at Catherine for a second. “Is it okay that Jim’s here? I can ask Conor to sit with him in another section—”

  “It’s fine. But thank you for asking. We’re getting along well. We’re united in being friendly, for Jamie’s sake.”

  “That’s what good parents do. Too bad there aren’t more good parents.” He stood and shook Jim’s hand as Conor led the senator to their seats. “Rory,” he said, assuming Jim would have trouble remembering all of the O’Flaherty names. “Welcome home.”

  “How are you, Rory? Is the music business treating you well? I’m surprised you’re here. I thought you went to Ireland in the summer.”

  “I do,” he said, smiling. “But not until May.”

  Jim put his hand on Rory’s shoulder and squeezed it. “I’m glad to see you again. I may give you a call before you leave. I’m considering joining in the sponsorship of a bill to ease imports of certain Irish goods. Maybe you can do a little investigation for me while you’re there.”

  “Sure. I have a lot of free time, and we travel all over the country.”

  “That’s great!” He turned to Catherine, took her hand and kissed it. “The ever lovely Catherine Evans, I believe?”

  She flinched, realizing she hadn’t told him about changing her name. Deciding that now wasn’t the time, she smiled and inclined her head, silently inviting him to sit next to her. When he did, she leaned over and kissed his cheek. “How’s the distinguished junior senator from California?”