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“Mom, Uncle, this is my boyfriend, James.” His wide grin, full of pride, spreads across his face.
“It’s a pleasure, James. My name is Connor,” I say, pulling him into a quick hug too.
The unease I saw on his face when he walked in behind Sean melts away just as quickly.
“I’m Alannah. It’s so great to meet you, sweetheart,” my sister sniffles.
I can’t help but chuckle.
“Shut up, brother. It’s sweet.” She slaps my arm.
The four of us gather around Alannah’s dining room table. I ask James a few questions to get to know him when Sean tosses a roll at my head. I catch it before it can make impact.
“Uncle, stop interrogating him.”
I chuckle in response. “Okay, sis, you’re up.”
I wink at Alannah, who goes into a barrage of questions.
By the time we’ve finished dinner, we know everything we could hope to know about James, down to his first pet’s name. Kirk, in case you were wondering. An orange asshole tabby. The kid’s words, not ours.
I don’t bother hiding my smile when James leaves. Sean looks between Alannah and I, his eyes glassy with unshed tears. Without a word, he crosses the distance between us and hugs us both. We stand there for several moments, the three of us holding on to each other. My sister’s soft sniffles break my heart, knowing she’s thinking about Sean’s dad. When Sean pulls away, he looks up at me.
“Thank you for being here, Uncle.”
“Boyo, there’s nowhere I’d rather be tonight, but tell me, why are you sad?” I wrap an arm around his shoulders.
“I just wasn’t sure. James isn’t what you go for, and I just…”
I put my hand up, allowing the words to die on his lips.
“Boyo, I don’t care if you date a man, a woman, or five men and women at once, so long as you are happy, responsible, and not hurting others.” My serious gaze meets his unsure expression, which relaxes when he realizes my sincerity.
He doesn’t say anything else, just stands there holding me close like he did when he was younger. I spend a few more hours with my little family before I say goodbye to Sean and Alannah, letting them know I’ll be over for dinner later in the week before leaving for the night.
When I get to my car, I pull out my phone, noticing a missed text.
Andy:
I guess she isn’t that important to you. Good to know.
Connor:
What are you talking about?
I spend a long while staring at my phone, waiting for a reply. When nothing comes, I dial Hadley’s number. No answer, though it’s after ten p.m., so she’s likely sleeping.
I’ll wait until tomorrow and try again. If my hair hadn’t prematurely grayed, I’d blame her bodach of a husband for my silver locks.
Chapter Twenty-Six
HADLEY
I enjoyed the day with my girls so much. I’ve needed it after everything that’s happened with Andy. I’m still not sure how I feel about everything, and I’m hoping that he actually goes to therapy and works to get us back to where we were. We owe that to each other.
Ryan and Kat have made their opinion on giving him another chance very clear, but after all the time we’ve been together, the least I can do is try to save our marriage. If it can even be saved at all.
It’s five p.m., the girls left about thirty minutes ago, and I’m debating what I want to do for dinner. Now that I have a phone, I consider getting takeout from the Chinese place that Andy and I used to order from fairly often. After perusing the menu, I text Andy to find out what he wants so I can place our order. Hopefully it will be here by the time he gets home.
