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“No, this is great. Yeah, if Da dies, that leaves my mother alone. Would you hate it if she came to live with us?”
Cringing, he was careful how he worded his next sentence. “If it comes to that, of course she can live here. What about your brothers and sisters?”
“They’ll have to fend for themselves,” she said. “We only have room for one.”
They ate the meal, which turned out to be delicious.
“I’ve got a surprise for dessert. Stay put and I’ll be right back.”
He’d put the pie in to heat on low, and it was toasty just in time. With a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it was the perfect dessert. He took it out and put it in front of her, the offensive letter in his back pocket. When she’d taken a bite and there was a lull in the conversation, he began his confession.
“You asked me why I’d gotten up so early. It was so weird. I woke up out of nowhere, no sounds or noise. I just knew to get up. Even Ralph looked at me like I was a ghost.”
They both looked over at Ralph napping in the evening sun.
“I went right to the mailbox. You know I never get the mail. But something compelled me to get the mail instead of leaving it for you to get. In all that pile of crap on the counter was this.” He reached around and pulled the envelope out of his pocket.
She put her fork down and leaned back. “You got orders.”
Frowning, Mike was stymied. This girl had ESP or something weird from her Irish genes. His mother and aunts had said to watch out for it, and here it was.
“Yes, but how’d…”
“I just knew. I knew when I walked through the door, but I didn’t want to put a curse on us, so I didn’t say it out loud.”
They sat in silence for a while.
“Do you want to clean this up? We can talk while we work.”
He knew Aisling would have trouble concentrating with piles of dirty dishes, so he gave in. “Yeah, let’s clean up. I’m suddenly beat.”
“Honey, you go lie down and I’ll do it. You can still sleep for four hours. Go.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, knowing he was wimping out.
“Yes. Just answer me one question. Where are you going?”
“I don’t know yet. My weekend was moved up to this Saturday, and I’ll find out then. I’m sorry about your Halloween party.”
“Mike, I don’t care about that,” Aisling said, taking their plates inside. “We just need to get through the rest of the week. Go lie down and I’ll wake you up when I come to bed.”
She had to be up at five thirty, so ten was her bedtime at the latest, and he had to be in Escondido by eleven. He bent down to kiss her, stifling a yawn. Everything had crept up on him.
“Like ships that go bump in the night,” he said before turning back to their bedroom. And then he got an idea. “Come lie down with me. It will be the last chance we get until I get home Friday morning.”
He worked his eyebrows up and down playfully. The dishes could wait. Placing them in the sink, Aisling took his hand to go back to their bedroom, taking advantage of every second they could be together.
That night at the fire station, Devon waited in the parking lot for Mike to arrive. It was the first night of a three-day stretch. The night was warm for October, the winds blowing dust in his face. At five to eleven, he heard Mike’s car on the dirt road before he saw it, the low rumble of a high-performance engine a giveaway from the pickup trucks and SUVs the other firefighters drove. Devon stepped out so Mike could pull in next to his car.
“How’d it go?” he asked.
As they walked into the station, Mike explained the barber’s dinner suggestion and Aisling’s response.
“She’s pretty upset,” Mike said. “It was touch and go if we go to work or stay home together. But we decided to take time off as soon as I find out dates. She has a little time coming, and I’ll just start my leave early. Chief might fire me when he hears.”
“It’s against the law,” Devon said, bristling. “He wouldn’t dare.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him.”
