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“You really mean that, don’t you?”
I nodded. “I really do.”
She stared at me for a long time before blowing out a breath. “You’re going to make a wonderful little mammy. Do you know that, my girl?”
“Yeah,” I mumbled. “Sure I am.”
“You are,” Mam pushed. “I can see it now. I can see everything so much clearer now.”
“See what?”
“You,” Mam replied. “The woman you’re becoming. That backbone of steel behind you. The reason why he’s so drawn to you.”
“Who?”
“Joey.”
My face heated. “Oh?”
“Obviously, you’re a beautiful-looking girl.”
I snorted and waved a hand in front of myself. “Obviously.”
“And modest,” Mam jibed before continuing, “But you’re so much more than a pretty face. You are warm, Aoife. That poor boy never stood a chance with you, did he? Not when everything he’s never been given flows from you like a waterfall.”
“No, I’m drama, remember?” I joked, feeling embarrassed.
“You’re that, too,” she agreed with a smirk. “But my god, does warmth shine out from beneath that mischievous exterior of yours. It’s infectious.”
“Ah, that would be the pregnancy glow shining, Mam.”
“Would you stop deflecting and take the compliment.”
“Yeah, well, I can’t help it.” I grimaced in protest. “It’s weird.”
“You don’t have any problem taking a compliment when it comes to your face.”
“Yeah, well, I can look in a mirror whenever I want validation for the physical,” I shot back unapologetically. “I can’t exactly cut myself open and see all this fuzzy, infectious warmth now, can I?”
“Well, trust me, it’s there,” she replied, smiling. “And don’t you dare ever lose it.”
53
How Did I Get Here?
JOEY
With the mother of all headaches, I slowly blinked awake. I felt fucking horrified as I slowly registered the fact that I was facedown on a stranger’s floral-patterned bedsheets, with no recollection of how I’d gotten there.
Panic-stricken, I quickly sprang up on my elbows and looked down, relieved to find myself fully clothed in my school uniform. I even had my shoes on.
Cracking my head off a familiar bunk-bed bar above me, I slowly realized that I was in my own bed, but the sheets had been changed—by Shannon, no doubt.
“So, you live to tell another tale,” Podge said flatly as he sat on the edge of the mattress with an empty water bottle in hand. “What the fuck, Joey? I thought you got a handle on this.”
“Why are you here?” I muttered, gingerly pulling myself into a sitting position as the room felt like it was floating around me. Pushing my damp hair out of my eyes, I asked, “Why am I here?”
“I brought you here,” he replied. “You passed out in the toilets at school this afternoon, asshole. Aoife found you and came and got me. You’re damn lucky that Nyhan didn’t catch you, or you’d be out on your ass.”
