AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Perplexed, I decided that I’d get nowhere hovering by the elevator.
Tracing Conor’s path, I followed the sounds of chatter, too, and discovered the kitchen.
I’d seen Aoife in church and had taken note of the kindness with which she spoke to Father Doyle who was a douche. I’d also noticed how the O’Donnelly brothers teased her and how she teased them back.
The rumor mill said she was pregnant, but I didn’t have a clue if that was true or not, if it was just the usual bitches being bitchier than normal.
Most of the women my age were always griping about how a hottie like Finn O’Grady had ended up with a woman of Aoife’s size, which epitomized why I loathed my social circle.
Father insisted I hang out with them, but the only person I genuinely liked was Sarah. And whenever Sarah, who was as curvy as Aoife, heard those bitches, she always blanched and escaped to the restroom. Though I followed, she never admitted how much that stung.
We might have left school long behind, but bullies were still everywhere and neither of us were brave enough to stand up to them.
Sarah, because she was shy around anyone who wasn’t me. Me, because those bullies reminded me of my mother. While she was the queen of insults and, by comparison, they were wannabes, I’d never been very good at fighting bitchy fire with fire of my own.
Seeing Aoife bustling around Conor’s kitchen as if she belonged there, I realized that this was a common occurrence—she fed him.
“God, you’re the best, Aoife. Thank you.” He was groaning as I walked into the room.
“Would you like help with the bags?” I offered quietly, feeling guilty that I’d never really introduced myself to her. That I’d never defended her to the bitches in our circle, either.
Either this situation with Bill Murphy had made me braver or being around Digger was rubbing off on me.
Aoife, not expecting a second person to be in the apartment, jumped at my question, and Conor, turning around with a dish of pie—an actual pie dish—in his arms, shook his head. “Nah, I’ll bring them in in a second.”
“It’s not a problem,” I dismissed, rushing into the hall to bring in the carrier bags.
I caught Aoife whispering something to Conor, but he was too busy eating pie, then she shut up when she saw me and sent me a smile.
It didn’t hit her eyes.
The kindness with which she’d looked at Conor was absent, amplifying my guilt as I muttered, “Here you go.”
“Thank you,” she said, her tone regal.
Conor, not entirely unable to read the room, pointed his spoon between us. “What’s going on with you two? Do you know each other?”
“No,” I answered awkwardly.
“I’ve seen her at events,” Aoife said.
My cheeks pinkened. “I spend most of my time in the restroom with my best friend, Sarah Mulhearne. The women pick on her because of her size.”
Conor’s spoon waggled in the air. “What’s wrong with her size?”
Aoife sighed. “Men.”
“Nothing’s wrong with her size,” I countered. “She’s healthy. That’s all that matters.”
“You know women can be catty, Conor,” Aoife chided.
It was clear, from her tone, that she thoughtIwas catty too. Which was unfair. Iwasn’tcatty. My mom was, but I wasn’t.
Flushing more than ever, I muttered, “I hope I’ve never said anything to offend you.”
“Of course not,” was Aoife’s bland retort. “You really hang out in the restrooms?”
I hunched my shoulders. “Those parties aren’t my thing.”
