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“Gibs!” Patrick snapped. “That’s too far, lad.”
“No,” Lizzie countered heatedly. “What would be going too far is telling him that Peter Biggs saved the wrong child from the wat—”
“La, la, la!” Shannon sang out in a frantic tone as she reached over and clamped a hand over Lizzie’s mouth. “Words stick, Liz. Please don’t say it.”
“Let her,” Gerard demanded, while he leaned back in his seat and glared at her. “Come on, Viper. Finish what you were going to say. Get it off your chest.”
“Don’t,” the rest of us begged in unison and then simultaneously held our breaths, waiting for all hell to break loose.
“I don’t need to say it,” Lizzie finally replied, eyes locked on Gerard. “From the look on your face, you already know it’s true.”
Shannon groaned, and Patrick dropped his head in his hands. Meanwhile, my jaw damn near hit the floor.
“You did not just say that, Lizzie Young,” I whisper-hissed. “Tell me you did not just say that!” When she made no move to respond, I turned to the boy sitting beside me. “Gerard.” The boy that was climbing to his feet. “No, Gerard, don’t… Just wait a minute, will you?”
He didn’t wait.
He didn’t respond, either.
Instead, he stood up quietly and walked out.
He didn’t even slam the café door behind him.
“That was bad,” Shannon groaned, still covering her head with her hands. “That was so bad.”
“Yep,” Patrick agreed calmly. “A total shit show.”
“You need to apologize,” I snapped, glowering across the table at Lizzie. “You need to go out there and apologize to that boy.”
“When hell freezes over.”
“I mean it, Liz,” I pushed, feeling furious. “Right this second.”
“I’ll tell you what, Claire,” she shot back heatedly. “I’ll apologize to him for his sister dying when he apologizes to me for mine!”
“Oh my god.” I wanted to scream. “Caoimhe has nothing to do with how you spoke to him just now.”
“Caoimhe has everything to do with everything,” Lizzie choked out, tears filling her eyes. “Everything.”
“You and Gibsie have both lost your sisters,” Shannon tried to reason with her by offering. “You know how bad it hurts, Liz. It cripples you daily. That’s how Gibsie feels, too.”
“Maybe,” she conceded, but her tone was still fully loaded with venom when she spat out, “Difference is I had nothing to do with his sister’s death and he had everything to do with mine!”
“How?” Shannon urged. “He was just a little boy when Caoimhe died, Liz. A little kid like the rest of us.”
“Ask his brother.”
“Stepbrother,” Feely interjected calmly.
“Fine,” Lizzie seethed, teeth grinding. “Ask his stepbrother.”
“Mark?”
“And while you’re at it, ask why that monster was involved with my sister in the first place!” Nostrils flaring, she spat out, “Ask whose fault was that.”
“Nope. I can’t.” Shaking my head, I threw my hands up in resignation and slid out of my seat. “I honestly can’t do this with you anymore. I know you’re a good person, Liz, or at least, I know there’s a good person in there somewhere, but I’m tired of being on the front line defending your actions when I don’t agree with them.”
“I never asked you to do that for me.”
