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“I don’t think you broke any laws,” I say after we’ve lowered ourselves into the car and fastened our seat belts. “I’m sorry I never spoke to you before.”
“Are you kidding? I would have told me to go fuck myself.”
“I might have said that under my breath when I hung up on you.”
“As it should have been.” She starts the car. “Wanna grab a coffee on the way back to your house?”
“Hell, yes.”
The drive into town is quick, and Heather pulls up to my favorite drive-thru coffee stand. We place our order and then head to my house.
My ma and da are sitting on the porch swing as if they just hang out there every day.
When Heather stops the car, I turn to her.
“Want to meet my parents?”
Her eyes widen, and she snorts out a laugh. “Hell, why not?”
“They’re nice. You’ll like them.”
When we climb the stairs with our coffees, I smile at my parents.
“Hi, guys. This is Heather. Heather, this is Fiona and Tom O’Callaghan, my parents.”
“Oh, darlin’,” Ma croons and stands, but rather than hugging me, she wraps her arms around Heather. “Are you all right, then?”
“I’m…I’m fine, thank you.” Heather pats Ma’s back. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“I told you,” I say as I sit next to Da and rest my head on his shoulder, “we tend to just bring people into the fold. And it looks like you’ve been folded.”
“I would think you’d be angry with me,” Heather says as fresh tears fill her eyes.
“And what for?” Da demands. “T’wasn’t your fault that Joey Lemon was a lowlife, was it? And you have a wee one to care for on top of it.”
“Did you bring her with you?” Ma asks, her voice full of hope.
“No, she’s in Texas.”
“Probably for the best,” Ma says with a nod. “If you come with us to the pub, we’ll feed you full of whatever your heart desires.”
Heather laughs and shakes her head. “I’m sorry, I have to get to the airport. But I’m so grateful that I got to meet you.”
She turns to me as I stand once more.
“Thank you. For not kicking me out and for helping me.”
“You’re welcome. Just call when you get home, and I’ll get you all of the information you need.”
Heather says goodbye, and once she’s driven away, I sit between my parents on the swing. Ma takes my hand, and Da kisses my cheek.
“She seems very nice,” Ma says at last.
“Yeah. She is. And he hurt her like he did me. Worse, really, because she had a baby, and he didn’t care at all.”
I tell them about Heather’s fiancé, and Da nods.
“They’ll be taken care of, and that’s all that matters.”
“I hate to say this out loud, in case I jinx it,” I say and squeeze Ma’s hand, “but I think that’s the last of it. I can finally move on with my life.”
“And it’s about time,” Ma says. “Because you still have a lot of life to live, my sweet girl.”
Chapter 13
~Cameron~
“I’m dreading this,” Maggie says as I pull into the car lot in Seattle.
“Obviously. You dragged your feet getting ready to come here today, and I think they’re going to close in about three hours.”
“If I can’t buy a car in less than three hours, there’s a huge problem. Huge.”
“It’s not a quick process, you know.”
She looks over at me with disgust, and I can’t help but laugh.
“Come on. It won’t be so bad. You can afford pretty much anything you want here.”
Maggie sighs and gets out of my car as if she’s being dragged to the dentist for a root canal. Before we can even start looking at the rows of available vehicles for sale, a salesman comes walking toward us.
“Hi there, how can I help you today?”
“I need a car,” Maggie says.
“You came to the right place,” he replies and then offers his hand to me. “I’m Roland.”
“Uh, Cam. Maggie is your customer. I’m just here for moral support.”
“Nice to meet you, Maggie,” Roland says. “So, what are you looking for?”
“Literally anything that runs,” she replies. “I don’t care other than that.”
Roland presses his lips together and then looks at me.
I shrug.
Good luck, buddy.
“Do you prefer a sedan or an SUV?”
“Don’t care.”
“Any particular color?”
“Nope.”
Roland laughs and rubs his hand over his neck. “Okay. Let’s start with this. What will you be using it for, on a daily basis?”
“Pretty much just going back and forth to work, but I live on one of the islands, so we do get unpredictable weather.”
“Okay, that’s a good start. An all-wheel-drive SUV might be good. But a smaller one, I think.”
“Yeah, I don’t need a tank,” she agrees. “But all-wheel-drive sounds good.”
“Great, we have a place to start. Let’s look over here.”
Roland steers us a couple of rows over to a line of sleek, brand-new vehicles.
