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I nodded. “Got my old one back at the garage.”
“Shite, lad.” He smiled, looking genuinely happy for me. “Congrats.”
“Cheers.”
“Hey, guys,” Shannon chirped, strolling into the canteen with her two pals in tow. Her eyes lit up the moment she saw me sitting at the table with them. She even bounced a little, but managed to school her features before reaching the table. “Hey, Joe,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant as she moved to take up the vacant seat next to Kav.
“Shan,” I acknowledged, watching as Kav pulled the chair out for her—the same chair he’d been guarding like a lion all lunch.
“Hi, Johnny.”
“Hi, Shannon.”
“That’s her throne,” Gibsie chuckled in my ear. “Nobody but Little Shannon sits next to the king of the jungle—or in our case, the king of Tommen.”
I rolled my eyes, uninterested in social politics. It did warm something inside of me, though, to see my baby sister find her feet. To have her own circle. To finally belong.
When Lizzie pushed past me, she offered me a sly wink and nothing else.
Not a hello.
Not a smile.
Not an anything, and I couldn’t have been more grateful to her in this moment.
Keeping my eyes trained on her, I watched as she lowered herself down between Feely and another lad with a shaved head, directly opposite Hughie.
This girl. Messy as fuck or not, this girl had my unconditional support.
I had a girlfriend and a son to go home to that I wouldn’t have if she hadn’t taken a second to talk me down from the edge that night. The thought of what could have happened—what would have happened—if she hadn’t intervened meant that I would be forever indebted to her. My son had a father because of her, and whenever the shit hit the fan for her, because it would hit the fan, then she would have my backing.
Yeah, for the rest of the school year, she would come under the same umbrella that Tadhg and Shannon did.
“Well, if it isn’t the broken boy and the comeback kid,” Claire Biggs chimed in as she strolled over to the lunch table and, seeing there weren’t any free seats, dropped onto Gibsie’s lap.
“Oh, Jesus,” Gibs groaned, shifting around in discomfort. “I’m hardly a comeback kid, Claire-Bear,” he added as he concentrated really hard on something.
Not getting a stiffy, I presumed.
Yeah, we’d all been there.
Poor bastard.
“No, Gerard.” Shaking her head, she hooked an arm around his shoulders and leaned in close enough to stroke his nose with hers. “You’re the broken boy. He’s the comeback kid.”
“If I’m broken, then what does that make you, Claire-Bear?”
“I don’t know, Gerard,” she teased. “What does it make me?”
“My it girl,” he purred, arms coming around her as he closed the space between their noses. “My everything girl.”
“Claire!” Hughie barked. “Get off his lap. Now.”
“Okay, he’s definitely the annoying old bastard always ruining a moment,” Gibsie huffed, turning to glower at his friend. “I was having a moment, Hugh!”
“Yeah,” Hughie shot back, red-faced. “With my sister!”
“Fine!” Lizzie snapped, then dragged my attention back to her, as she threw her hands up and glared at Feely. “Say it.” Leaning back in her seat, she folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. “Give it your best bloody shot.”
