“Just this morning. She called me on her way to the gym. Just to chat. I was going to call you next.”
“Okay. Well, who's your girlfriend?”
“Her name's Julia. We met at the post office of all places. She moved to Connecticut three years ago, but her husband was diagnosed with cancer right after that, and he passed away. So we're both widowers, which is nice.”
“Sure.” I wandered away from the kitchen now that Amy had turned on her stand mixer to make whipped cream.
“There was a long line at the post office that day. And we got to talking. The next thing I knew, I was asking her to coffee.”
So sweet. I smiled wide and leaned against the corner of the wall in the living room as Luke breezed past me, apparently on his way to help Amy in the kitchen. Eamon looked up from an album cover he was studying and gazed at me with his adorable appreciative stare.
“Good for you, Dad.”
“It's been six months now. I thought it was time to tell you girls.”
“I have someone new in my life, too. Well, it's someone I knew before. From when I lived in Ireland.” Now I really had Eamon's attention. He set aside the album cover on the table then took a long draw of his wine, not taking his eyes off me.
“Is this the musician Amy was telling me about?” Dad asked.
“She told you?”
“You know your sister. She has a mouth like a sieve. Everything comes out eventually.”
Eamon rose from the sofa and wound his way over, placing a kiss on my cheek then pointing down the hall toward the bathroom. Being near him still brought about that flutter in my chest. Would that feeling ever go away?
“So, tell me about your guy,” Dad said. “I don't think I can pronounce his name.”
“It's Aim-un, but spelled with an E-A. He's staying with me right now. He just finished a tour of the US and he's busy working on material for a new album."
"Do you love him?"
My dad was not beating around the bush. “I do love him. Very much.”
“Does that mean I'll be marrying off both daughters soon?”
“We're taking it one step at a time right now. We spent a lot of time away from each other. We're still getting reacquainted.”
Eamon emerged from the bathroom, and sauntered over to me. He brushed my arm with the back of his hand, looking into my eyes. I could hardly stand up straight and it wasn't even like he'd touched my skin—this was all through a wool cardigan.
“Do you think he'd like to come for Thanksgiving? Up here? To Connecticut?”
“Really? We haven't done Thanksgiving at home in years.” For a long time, it was easier for Dad to come into the city and for Amy and I to host at our apartment. She and I shared the cooking duties, I'd sleep on the couch, and let Dad have my bed. We celebrated the holiday without feeling like the ghost of my mother was in attendance. It wasn't that we didn't want Mom there. We merely wanted to keep things light.
“I know, I know. And I would otherwise say that would be fine, but Julia has dogs and it's very hard for her to leave them. She doesn't like to put them in a kennel.”
I pulled the phone away from my ear and muted it. “My Dad wants to know if you want to come to Connecticut for Thanksgiving.”
“Yeah. Absolutely.” Eamon answered with zero deliberation, his face lighting up, which made me infinitely happy. “Fiona will be with us though,” he added.
I took Amy’s phone off mute. “Dad, can Eamon bring his daughter? We could put a blow-up mattress on the floor in my room.” Thinking about going home and bringing Eamon made me both excited and unsettled. He was going to know that things were weird the instant he walked into that house. I was going to have to tell him everything and pray that he didn't think less of me.
“Does that mean you'll come?” Dad asked.
“Yes, Dad. We'll come.” I smiled at Eamon, overcome with how much this meant to me.
“I thought it’d be nice to have everyone here. Amy and Luke. You and Eamon.”
“You already asked Amy?”
