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Well… screw it. Screw the goddamn rules. Liberty was a place of freedom. Not bound by the same old constraints as everywhere else.
‘I’m going to her,’ said Conor first. ‘First thing in the morning.’
‘Me too,’ replied Finn.
‘As foryou, Shay,’ said Conor, clenching his fist, ‘this thing isn’t over yet.’
‘You gonna hit me?’ asked Shay, taunting him.
Conor gritted his teeth. He would have loved to punch his idiot brother in the face. But he could never do that. Not now. Not ever. No matter how badly he wanted to.
CHAPTER 4
Tammy couldn’t stop crying. Two days in Liberty and she was homesick for a home she no longer had.
Before she’d left her father’s house, he’d been completely clear. He told her that not only did he not want her at his practice, he didn’t want her going home ever again. Not even for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Not unless she got therapy for being a Little, and had the Littleness exorcised from her. Which was as impossible as asking her to scrub off all her freckles, or grow a different mouth.
Not that Tammy had been able to indulge her Little side much since being here. Being in the middle of nowhere with no internet and an important job to do wasn’t exactly conducive to getting into Little Space. And now that she knew that Finn and Shay lived here, she felt like she was being watched and judged constantly, even when she was on her own.
Oh, it was all such a mess. Her father. The Irish brothers. This place.
How had it all gone so wrong? Tammy had worked so hard all her life. Tried her best to be kind and good. She deserved better than this, didn’t she?
There was a part of Tammy, too, that couldn’t help thinking about Conor. Of all three brothers, she would have wanted to see him the most. The Healy brother she had first kissed. The one she had almost felt most comfortable around. If only Conor had been in Liberty instead of Finn and Shay.
No. Tammy wiped her eyes. She had to stop thinking about all the things that she couldn’t have in life and focus on what she had now. She had a roof over her head, albeit a very shaky one in need of some serious refurbishment. She had a job. The potential to make some new friends.
So what if she would never see the house she grew up in again? The house her mother had raised her in?
OK, the tears were back. Again.
She opened up her bag, looking for a toy that might comfort her. A jigsaw puzzle, maybe? Or a coloring book? It was hard to contemplate playing when she felt as sad as this, though. Perhaps she’d just settle for another half hour of crying and then…
Then what?
Today was the weekend. She didn’t have to work on weekends, but she had no idea what to do with herself. It’s not like she could go shopping or sit in a cafe or a park and people-watch. There was nothing to do here. Least of all go to the bar in case she bumped into Shay.
She curled up in a ball and tried to take some deep breaths. As she did so, there was a knock at the door. She felt half-relieved and half-annoyed to be interrupted from her self-pity like this.
Thankful that she was dressed in a normal outfit of jeans and a sweater, with not a rubber duckie in sight, she went down to answer it.
When she opened the door, she almost dropped to her knees in shock.
It was not one Healy brother but two. Finn… and Conor.
Shimmering shipwrecks…
Conor looked ridiculously hot. She’d pictured him so often over the years. Those twinkling eyes. That gorgeous physique. But this Conor — Conor 2.0 — looked even better than she could ever have imagined. Seeing him standing there next to Finn was like playing one of those Spot the Difference games. They looked so similar and yet so different. Conor was more muscular than Finn, less serious.
‘What’s the craic, Tam-Tam?’ said Conor.
Instantly, it was like the years had never passed at all. Like Conor was the same old lovable Irish rogue who had stolen her heart when she was a teenager.
‘Alright, Doc,’ said Finn awkwardly. She guessed that he might feel a little strange about his visit to her the other day, but he didn’t need to worry. She knew better than to discuss private medical matters outside of her surgery. Right now, she was answering the door as Tammy, not as Dr. Southey.
‘Conor,’ said Tammy. Her voice sounded weirdly choked up. ‘And Finn. I had no idea that youbothlived here.’
‘We live at the pub,’ said Conor. ‘With Shay.’
