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“Don’t be so dramatic, Gibs,” Mam scolded, scooping up the snow-white ball of fluff. “Brian has a heart of gold.”
Brian purred in response to my mother’s welcomed affection but narrowed his beady green eyes at me in warning. As if to say, I’ll get you next time.
Not if I get you first, fucker.
“Yeah, well, if I’m found mangled in my bed some morning, with cat scratches all over my body, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I huffed as I shrugged on my shirt, not bothering to button it. “Because you’ve had plenty warnings, woman.”
“That will never happen.”
“It could.”
“You’d have to sleep in your bed for that to happen.”
“Hi, Gibs,” the smallest of the three acknowledged with a shy smile.
“Little Shannon.” I smiled warmly at my best friend’s girl as she stood in my front hall, armed with what I knew was a mountain of picnic food—courtesy of Mammy K—all ready for a day at the beach.
“Thanks for offering to drive us,” she said when I took the basket from her and set it down on the sideboard. “Johnny has that meeting with the Academy heads.” Blowing out a breath, she flicked her ponytail over her shoulder and smiled up at me. “His dad is going to drop him off afterward.”
The girl standing beside Shan cleared her throat, and that was all it took for my body to ignite. And holy shit, If I thought my heart had beat hard at the fear of water earlier, it paled in comparison to the tornado of internal tremors that ricocheted through every chamber of my heart at the sight of her.
While I worked hard to keep my head on my shoulders and my heart in my chest, my eyes gave her face their undivided attention. Something that had never been a challenge. Not when she’d been successfully garnering every ounce of my attention since the beginning of time. “Claire-Bear.”
Big brown doe eyes smiled back at me. Yeah, she had eyes that smiled. Her usual mountain of wild blond curls was piled on top of her head and barely contained by what I could only describe as a hair claw. I didn’t know the correct terminology for such feminine creations, but having messed around in her room enough times, I knew it to be a tricky bastard, with a surprisingly forceful sting if it clamped your skin.
Not as bad as a scratch to the gooch from Brian when getting out of the shower, but still.
“Gerard,” Claire replied in that upbeat, lyrical tone of voice I adored. “It’s twenty-six degrees outside and you’re clearly caked in baby oil.” Shaking her head, she tutted in disapproval. “You’re going to burn your nipples again.”
“Ah Jesus, Gerard,” Mam scolded with a heavy sigh. “What did I tell you about protecting yourself in the sun?”
“I already told you, Mam; the sun loves me,” I shot back before turning to Claire. “And if I do burn my tits, you can nurse me back to full health again.”
Shannon laughed. “Again?”
“It’s a long story,” Claire explained, stepping forward to fix the buttons on my shirt. “One full of peeling skin and bleeding nipples that I don’t care to repeat anytime soon.”
“Don’t listen to her, little Shannon,” I offered with a chuckle. “She loves minding me.”
“So, who else is going to be at this beach campout?” Mam inquired, smiling lovingly at Shan who was rubbing the demon in her arms.
“The usual gang,” Claire offered, keeping a wide berth of Brian.
“The usual gang?” Mam’s frown deepened, and I felt myself stiffen.
This was it.
She was about to start.
“Who does that include exactly?”
“It’s okay,” I started to say. “I’ll be okay, Mam—”
“Stay away from the water,” she ordered, cutting me off and delivering her own water balloon of misery on what I hoped would be a good day—and I needed it to be a good day, dammit. I hadn’t slept more than three hours last night, what with my subconscious trying to lure me to a dark corner of my mind.
Good day.
Good day.
