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PART 1
1
Still Trying
JOEY
“You’re fierce quiet, Joey son.”
“I’m grand, Tony.”
“Are you sure? You’re as pale as a ghost and haven’t had a whole pile to say for yourself all week.”
“It’s all good.”
“You and Aoife haven’t…” He let his words trail off, but kept his worried eyes on me, waiting for an explanation.
“We’re grand, Tony.” I fed him the lie he wanted to hear before turning my attention back to the rachet in my hand. “Everything’s grand.”
“Thank Jesus for that.” Relief flashed in his eyes. “Then you wouldn’t happen to have any idea what’s after getting into her? She’s walking around the house with a face like thunder.”
“No clue.” Liar.
“Really?” He scratched his jaw in confusion. “You’re usually the first to know when there’s drama.”
“Think she had a fight with Casey over the Christmas break.”
“Did she now?”
I couldn’t explain why the words We broke up refused to come out of my mouth. Or worse, why I lied and placed the blame on her best friend instead, but I did it. “Yeah.” I nodded, following through on my bullshit. “I think I heard something about that.”
“Jaysus, it must have been one hell of a fight,” he stated, watching me from the other side of the car we were working on. “She’s been hysterical for days now. Crying herself to sleep most nights.”
Fuck. “She has?”
Her father nodded.
My heart sank into my ass. “Jesus.”
“You should have a word with her,” he added, turning his attention back to the task at hand. “She listens to you. Get her to patch things up with young Casey before she floods the house with tears.”
“Yeah, I’ll, ah, I’ll call her after work,” I managed to squeeze out, though it was hard to breathe, let alone talk.
Because this was on me.
Molloy’s tears were on me.
This whole damn mess was a result of my inability to resist the pull of my fucked-up DNA.
Feeling like my heart was constricting to the point of explosion, I set the rachet down and moved for the back door. “I’ll be back in five.”
“Pack those damn cigarettes in for the new year,” he called after me, but his tone was jokey enough.
Either way, we both knew that I wasn’t going to quit.
Not when I had already given up so much.
Slipping out back, I moved the cigarette balanced on my ear to between my lips and grabbed a lighter from the pocket of my overalls. Sparking up, I inhaled a deep drag and sagged against the wall at my back, feeling a million different emotions rushing through me.
