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“You know I’d help if I could,” Shannon blurted out, looking guilty. “But he won’t let me get a job.”
“Stop. Don’t even think about taking on blame for this, Shan,” Joey warned, holding a hand up. And then, with a wince, he added, “Check the fridge for me, will ya?” When she obliged, showing us that it was completely bare, I watched as my boyfriend balled his hands into fists and growled. “Fucking cunts.”
“The cupboards are the same,” Shannon said quietly. “Mam usually does the shopping on Saturday.”
“Usually,” Joey sneered, hands in his hair as he slumped over the table, staring down at the stacked coins.
“She wouldn’t leave like this, Joe,” Shannon offered quietly, worrying at her lip. “She’d never leave us without the shopping.”
“Well, she did,” Joey shot back, tone hot and full of resentment. “Fuck it, it’s grand. We’ll manage.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay,” his sister replied, looking upset and sounding unconvinced.
“I’ll give Mark a buzz in the morning,” Joey offered. “He has a conservatory job lined up in the city next week. I’ll ask if he needs a laborer.”
“No way,” I argued. Mark was one of Dad’s clients that used the garage. Every time he came in for service, he tried to poach Joey to work construction for him. It drove my father crazy. “You can’t miss school. It’s the leaving cert.”
“No,” he replied, tone hard and unyielding. “I can’t let the kids go hungry. And God only knows when that bitch will come back.”
“Joe, I can help with—”
“I am not taking your money, Aoife,” he all but spat out, looking mortally offended at the very thought. “So, please don’t offer.”
“Joey.” I shook my head, feeling at a loss. “I want to help you.”
“And I love you for that, but I’m not taking handouts from my girlfriend.”
The look on his face assured me that for him, the topic of conversation was over and done with.
“Do you know where she is?” I asked instead. “Your mam, I mean.”
“I presume she’s gone to find him,” Shannon replied, looking so small and lost.
“Okay, don’t bite my head off for this,” I said, choosing my words carefully, fully aware that I was poking a bear. “But should you maybe think about calling in the authorities?”
Joey glared at me.
Shannon gaped in horror.
“They can’t keep doing this to you,” I tried to persuade, feeling sick to my stomach and hating the look of betrayal in their eyes as they looked at me. “And you’re both here alone looking after three small children.” I shook my head. “It’s not right or fair on any of you.”
“No, it’s not right or fair on us, but Shannon and I have been down that road before and there’s no fucking way that we’re going back there,” Joey blurted out, stunning me.
Back there?
Back where?
“Joey!” Shannon hissed, horrified that he spoke so freely around me.
“Look at us, Shan,” he replied wearily. “She can already see how fucked up we are!”
“What do you mean?” I asked, giving my boyfriend my full attention. “Back where? What are you saying, Joe?”
“When we were small, before the boys were born, when it was just Darren, Shannon, and myself, the three of us were put into care for six months,” he blew my mind by revealing.
