“Okay.”
“Now, sit down and get comfortable. I didn’t mean to have you cradle me like a baby,” he says, letting his laugh trail off.
“Thanks for sharing such a personal part of your life. I know that had to be hard, and I’m so sorry you lost your parents. I know there’s nothing I can do or say to make you feel better, but I’m always here if you want to talk.”
He nods. “I appreciate it.”
I take a breath. “I lost my dad.”
My eyes widen at her statement. I had no idea. “I’m sorry.”
She shrugs, playing with some strings on her shorts. “It was three years ago. Before then, I hadn’t talked to him in four years. He and my mom had a messy divorce, due to his affair. My mom led me to believe he abandoned us and wanted nothing to do with me. Meanwhile, he had attempted to send me letters, but she hid them.
“I wasn’t your typical teenager. My mom didn’t allow me to have my own phone until I was eighteen. When I got my own email address, we had already moved away. There was no way for me to get in touch with him. He changed his number when they split. My mom says it was because he didn’t want to hear from us, but now I’m sure it was because she was harassing him.
“Anyway, when I was twenty-one, I was going through some boxes at her place because she was wanting to declutter her house. I came across the letters, and since then, our relationship hasn’t been the same. We yelled and fought, and I haven’t quite been able to forgive her.
“I went to Philly and to the address that was on the letters my dad had sent. He was dying.” Her voice cracks and she brings her fist to her mouth and takes a second to compose herself. “He had lung cancer, and his body was already shutting down. I got about a week with him before he died. I’ll always cherish those moments, because we were able to catch up and clear the air. I was able to tell him why I hadn’t been in touch, but he had already assumed what had happened. I got to tell him I loved him, but I can’t get over the fact that I lost four years with him. I lost four years of hearing my dad tell me he loves me too.”
She breaks down, collapsing into herself as the sobs overtake her. I get up, scoop her into my arms and sit back in the chair and cradle her as she sits sideways in my lap. She buries her face into my neck and cries.
“Life isn’t fair, Royce.”
“I know it’s not, baby.”
“I feel so bad for not reaching out to him sooner. I should’ve tried. He was my dad.”
She continues to bawl, unable to catch her breath. I squeeze her tighter in my arms, wanting nothing more than to absorb some of the pain. I know how she feels. I know this pain. I know the guilt, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
I stroke her hair and hold her until she’s cried her last tear. She sniffles and brings her hand up to wipe her face.
“Death is unstoppable and unforgiving. It leaves a trail of sad people in its wake. And while the grief will always be there, we’re now aware of how short and precious life is. I think people tend to take life for granted. We don’t like to be aware of our own mortality, but once you’ve been affected by death, you’re forced to come to terms with the fact that you will lose people you love, so you have to live in the moment. You have to tell people how you feel and enjoy every second in life. There’s no reason to not be happy. We keep our loved ones alive in our memories and in our stories about them. They’ll only die once we cease to remember them.”
Her bottom lip quivers as she fights tears again. “You’re right.”
“What your mom did was awful, and you deserve to be mad, but don’t miss out on time with her while she’s here. It’s terrible to lose a parent, but it’s worse to lose both. You still have your mom, London, and you don’t want to have the same guilt and regrets when she passes. Just something to think about.”
She nods, her eyes brimming with tears. She makes a sound that’s a mixture of a laugh and a sob. “I’m such a mess,” she says, turning in my lap and wiping her eyes. She stands up and looks down at me. “Can I use your bathroom?”
“Sure. You remember where it is?”
“I’ll find it. Thanks.”
When she leaves, I start collecting our plates and glasses and take them to the kitchen. As I’m throwing out the leftovers, London appears in the doorway of the kitchen. “Can I help?”
“I think I just about got it all.”
She nods and leans against the frame. “I can’t believe it’s already almost four. Time sure does fly when you’re crying your eyes out.”
I turn around and lean against the sink and cross my arms over my chest. “It’s nice to feel your feelings sometimes.”
“True. What’s the rest of your day look like? What were you working on out back?”
“It’s actually something for Cillian. His birthday is coming up, so I’m making a custom cabinet for his art supplies. You should see his studio. It’s a mess.” I laugh, dropping my arms and walk toward London. “So, it’ll have places for his paints and brushes, maybe some smaller canvases.”
“That’s nice. So, you finishing that up tonight?”
“Oh. No way,” I say with a chuckle. “That’ll take a little while to finish. I’m actually going to go to Elijah’s for dinner. We do that every Sunday.”
She tilts her head and smiles. “That’s awesome.” A quick look at the time on her phone and she says, “Well, I can call Midge and have her come pick me up.”
“It’s okay. I can take you home. Or you can come with me to dinner?” I ask, hopeful, yet surprised. I’ve never invited anyone over, and she’s not even my girlfriend, yet I’ve thrown her an invitation. Cillian will have a blast with this.
“You want me to go to dinner with you and your brothers?”
I shrug like it’s no big deal. “Why not? We can hang out here for a while until it’s time to go.”
She looks down at her clothes. “Is it okay to show up like this?”
I chuckle. “You’re not dining with royalty. You can wear whatever you want.”
She considers it for a while, chewing on her lip while she watches me. I give her my best boyishly charming smile.
“Okay. But is it actual dinner food or like chips and stuff?”
I guffaw. “What? People eat chips for dinner? Just chips?”
“And burnt pizza.”
I shake my head, my brows furrowed in confusion, but I laugh anyway. “No, we won’t have burnt pizza and chips. Elijah usually cooks, or me and Cill will sometimes chip in if we get there early enough. On the days we don’t cook, we order Chinese or pizza, but it’s never burnt. Tonight, though, I think we’re having pot roast.”
“Yummy. Okay, but should we bring something? Wine? Rolls? Dessert?”
“Elijah has plenty to drink, but I’ll ask him about the rolls or dessert,” I say, knowing she’s serious about wanting to bring something.
“Okay.”
I smile at her. “Come on, Sunshine. Let’s go for a walk.”
Around six o’clock, we leave for Elijah’s house, but I make Royce stop at Flaky Vicki’s for some dessert first.
“What do your brothers like?” I ask as we inspect a variety of cakes and pies.
“Anything. I promise.”
I scoff. “What do you like?” I move on to a collection of cookies and tarts.
“Anything.”
I shake my head and look up at Vicki who’s watching us with a patient smile. “Sorry, Vicki. We’re still undecided.”
She steps forward. “No worries, sweetheart. If I may, you’re meeting his family for the first time?”
“Uh. No, I’ve met his brothers before, but first time I’m going over for dinner.”
“Ah,” she says with a smile. “I’d suggest maybe going with a cobbler. We have peach and blackberry right now.”
I glance at Royce, waiting for him to make a decision. “Sounds good to me.”
I roll my eyes. “We’ll take the peach. Thanks, Vicki.”
As Vicki puts th
e cobbler in a container, Royce turns to me and says, “You didn’t have to buy a dessert.”
“But I’m barging in on your dinner. It’s the least I could do. Did you tell them I’m coming? They know, right? This isn’t going to be a we-don’t-have-enough-food-for-you situation, is it?”
He grins down at me. “Elijah knows and there will be enough food.”
After I buy the cobbler, we get back into his car and make our way to Elijah’s. I’m greeted instantly by Sugarfoot, who is quickly becoming my best friend.
“Hey, buddy.” I pass Royce the cobbler so I can pet the dog. “Hey. You miss me?” Sugarfoot licks my chin and I giggle. “Guess so.”
Elijah steps into the foyer and chuckles. “Guess he misses having a lady around.”
I stand up and brush fur from my clothes. “Thanks for letting me join you guys.”
“It’s no problem at all. Cill’s already in there,” he tells Royce. A look passes between them that I can’t decipher.
“Come on, Sunshine.”
I follow Royce into the kitchen and find Cillian leaning over the counter, pencil in hand as he sketches something out. Our steps alert him of our arrival, so he glances over his shoulder, but quickly does a double-take before standing up straight and turning to face us with a cheeky smile.
“Well, hello.”
“Hey, Cill,” I greet.
Cill’s dark eyes move from me to Royce as his smile grows. “This is a surprise.”
“I thought Royce told you I was coming,” I say, looking at Royce.
“I told Elijah since it’s his house and since he was cooking.”
“Oh, it’s fine, darlin’,” Cill says. “Just wasn’t expecting to see you here. Royce doesn’t bring people over.”
“Oh,” I say, stunned silent. I chance another glimpse of Royce and find him making a face at Cillian. Cill laughs and goes back to what he was doing. When Royce looks at me, I give him a questioning look, but he just shrugs and puts the cobbler on the counter.
“London brought a peach cobbler.”
“Ooh, cobbler?” Cill says.
“That’s nice, London. Thank you,” Elijah says, checking on the pot roast.
“Can I help set the table or anything?” I ask, feeling like I need to keep myself busy in order to not become an awkward wallflower.
“Sure,” Elijah answers. “Royce help her out, huh?”
Together, Royce and I take everything to the dining room table, and soon, we’re all seated around the rectangular table in what has to be their formal dining room. The house is older, but you can tell it’s had some upgrades, however, the open floor plan that’s popular these days doesn’t exist in this house. The dining room is mostly enclosed with one door leading into the kitchen.
Elijah sits at the head of the table, while me and Royce sit to his right, and Cill takes up a spot in front of me. With our plates full of food, we all fall into easy conversation while eating.
“So, London, you didn’t grow up here, right?” Elijah asks.
I shake my head while I finish chewing. “No, I grew up in Philadelphia. I moved here when I was seventeen.”
“Philly’s nice,” Cill says. “I’ve been a couple times. Had an art expo there. Lots of history in that city.”
“Oh, definitely. Sometimes I miss it, but I’ve come to enjoy this small town,” I say with a smile. “I love that you can really get to know people here, and I kind of enjoy the peacefulness. Oh, and there’s never any crazy traffic jams.”
They laugh. “True,” Elijah says.
“Do your parents live here, too?” Elijah asks.
Royce widens his eyes at his brother and starts to say something, but I place a hand on his arm. “No, actually. My mom used to, but she moved back to Philly a few years back, and my dad passed away.”
“Oh. I’m sorry,” Elijah says softly.
“It’s okay. I already had a therapy session with Royce earlier,” I say with a laugh.
They both look to Royce, but nobody says anything else on the subject. “So, you’re friends with Midge,” Cillian says.
“Yep. She’s the best.”
“She’s a trip,” he says with a laugh. “Me and Royce went to school with her. Please ask her to tell you about the bonfire story.”
Royce groans, and my interest is piqued. “What happened at the bonfire?”
Cillian smiles. “Royce can tell you. He was there, too.”
Royce flips Cill off, which only makes Cillian bark out a laugh. Elijah appears just as confused as me.
“Nothing happened. We were like fifteen or sixteen, and maybe people were drinking.” He glances at Elijah. “Maybe I had a drink.”
“Or six,” Cillian mutters.
“Anyway, we had the bonfire out in this place we called the circle of trees. It’s outside of the town’s limits, and it’s a bit of a drive. Anyway, someone came late and the cops followed them in. When the lights started flashing, everybody took off running.” He looks at Cillian. “Well, some people stayed there like idiots.”
“Whatever, bro. You ditched me!”
“Midge starts kicking dirt on the fire, like she’s capable of putting out a whole bonfire by herself. I tried pulling her with me, but she says, and I quote, The fire! We have to put out the fire or we’re going to jail! Never mind the fact that we were all underage and drinking,” he says with a laugh. “So I fucking booked it into the trees. I hid behind one and watched all the drama go down.”
“Fuckin’ punk ass,” Cillian says with humor in his voice.
“The cops were pretty cool, honestly. There were a couple sober guys who talked to them, and nobody actually had any beer on them, but there were some crushed cans on the ground. They lied and said they were already there. The cops told them to put the fire out and leave, and Midge was like, ‘See! You’re welcome, officers!’” We all laugh, and then Royce continues. “And the bottom of her fuckin’ khaki pants were covered in filth, and her shoes were ruined. She was so pissed the next day.”
“Not only that, but somebody told us if we put pennies in our mouths then if the cops gave us a breathalyzer, they wouldn’t be able to read it. So, half of us have fucking mouthfuls of coins. So gross, man,” Cill says, laughing at the memory.
Elijah chuckles and shakes his head. “Y’all definitely got into more trouble than I ever did.”
“Mom and Dad never found out about that, did they?” Cill asks Royce.
“Nope.”
“Lucky asses,” Elijah states.
“Sounds like it would’ve been fun to grow up here.”
“It wasn’t bad. At the time, we talked a lot of shit about how there wasn’t anything to do, but we always found trouble,” Royce says with a mischievous grin.
“Lots of parties and bonfires. If we didn’t know the host of a party, then we had a friend who knew them. Nobody questioned who showed up to their house while their parents were out of town, we all just wanted to drink and have fun,” Cill says.
“I didn’t get to go to parties like that. I was pretty sheltered, I guess,” I say with a chuckle. “I was homeschooled, even back home. I knew a few kids from around the neighborhood, but even if there were parties, my parents would never let me go.”
Royce scoffs. “Our parents didn’t let us go. We came up with some bullshit excuse like we had to go to a friend’s house to study or work on a project. Typical shit like that.”
“Or remember when you graduated high school and we said we were going to have dinner with Justin and his family, then we called later and said they had invited us to go camping. Like, what kind of dumbass excuse?” Cill says, dying of laughter.
“Hey, you told me that,” Elijah says. “I was your guardian then. You guys didn’t actually go camping with them?”
Royce and Cillian start cracking up. “Fuck no, man,” Cill says.
“We were at a college party,” Royce confesses. He tries to stop laughing. “Don’t worry, we’re fine.”
El
ijah shakes his head, and then we all start laughing again.
After we finish dinner, I help Cillian take the dishes back to the kitchen while Elijah and Royce cut and serve the cobbler.
As I’m handing Cill the dishes to put in the dishwasher, he says, “I’m glad Royce brought you over, London. He’s been talking about you for the past few Sundays. At least now you’re here, and we don’t have to listen to him pining.”
My heart does a flip in my chest. “Oh yeah?” I say, trying to play it cool.
He shakes his head, the longer hair on the top of his head falling to his forehead before he pushes the strands back and looks at me. “Oh yeah. And he’s never brought anyone over before. Granted, he’s never had a serious girlfriend.”
I hand him a plate. “Well, I’m not his girlfriend.”
He smirks. “I know, but doesn’t that say something?”
His ink covered arm reaches out to grab another plate from me. I bring myself out of my frozen state and try to return his smile. “I really loved being here with you guys. My dinners aren’t this entertaining. It’s usually just me and Pennywise.”
“What?” Cillian questions, his laugh short and confused.
“Oh. Pennywise is my cat.”
“Oh!” He laughs. “That’s fucking awesome. I was thinking dinner with Pennywise would probably be pretty damned entertaining.”
“Scary, more like.”
“Ah, he’s just misunderstood.”
“He kills kids!”
Cillian laughs. “Yeah, but…okay, maybe you’re right. There’s no redemption for that crazed clown.”
“Hey Cill, Elijah wants to talk to you in the dining room,” Royce says, coming to a stop behind me.
Cill looks confused before Royce gives him a look. “Ah. Okay.”
Once Cillian’s gone, Royce moves to stand next to me while I dry my hands on a towel. “You having fun?”
“I am,” I say with a giant smile. “Your brothers are great.”
On the Rocks (Kingston Brothers Book 1) Page 20
