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“Did you tell her what you were doing?” he asked.
“I didn’t need to. She is pretty smart. She knew. She thinks it was funny but then told me to stand my ground. We were the two girls with seven male cousins or siblings. She’s always had my back.”
She’d remember that for years to come too.
She always felt a little bit like an outcast in school. At times she didn’t care. She was pretty comfortable in her own skin. It’s just she got worn down a lot by not fitting in as well as other kids did.
And when she tried to act like she didn’t care, it didn’t make as much of a difference to the mean girls. They’d latch on and it was harder to get them off than taking a bone from Fred.
She was smart and knew it. She wasn’t out to be the most popular and she sure the heck wasn’t the most athletic. She didn’t even care if she was fashionable for years.
But Ella told her that the more confident she looked, the more she’d feel it. It didn’t matter if it was in jeans or dresses. It was hardly ever dresses. But she found she did enjoy clothes and looking nice.
“It’s good to have someone like that,” he said. “I never did.”
“I don’t know what it’d be like being an only child. I mean I only had Liam in the house with me, but there were so many cousins. You don’t have cousins?”
“Not immediate ones on my father’s side,” he said. “My mother has a brother who has a few kids, but they didn’t live close by so it’s not like I saw them much and now I have no contact with them at all.”
“I think it’s normal for people to lose contact with their extended family as they get older.”
“You didn’t,” he said.
“Because my Aunt Jolene would never allow it to happen. Not sure how much you know about her,” she said. “She was the oldest of three kids. Her parents immigrated here from Ireland and they were poor. I mean so poor my aunt moved out at eighteen and started to work so she was one less mouth to feed. My grandparents were proud though and worked, they never wanted help. My aunt helped put my Aunt Shay and my father through college. Aunt Shay is a nurse. My father works for an insurance company. I’m sure you know Fierce didn’t turn into a multimillion-dollar name until The Five started to run it after college, right?”
“I did know that,” he said. “It was just the pub at one point, though a very popular one.”
“That’s right. But those five knew what they wanted out of life and they were going to make sure they got it and let their parents have an easy retirement. Which is why my aunt has all this time on her hands to set people up.”
He grinned. “And now that her kids are married and giving her grandbabies, she needs to move on to her nieces and nephews?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’ve known it for years and being the youngest have held out for a while. I figured they were kind of going in order anyway and I had time to figure out her moves.”
“My grandmother started making comments a few years ago. Not sure she has any moves though. What did you learn?”
“I learned that I think my uncle is in on this. My aunt was super annoying on Saturday night and my uncle was right by my side telling me to hang strong and he had my back.”
“Hmmm, trying to befriend you? That sounds a little suspicious if you ask me. Especially if he’s never done that before.”
She jumped up and pointed her finger at him. “See. You get it. But you are a detective. Anyway. Yesterday it was more of the same. But the kicker came when I was getting ready to leave. He told my aunt to cut it out that I’d have nothing in common with Sawyer.”
“Huh?” he said.
“Yep. Let’s be honest. How many Sawyers do you know? I only know you. And if I hadn’t met you already I wouldn’t have known your grandparents lived next door to her. That is totally up their sleeve if you ask me.”
“What did you say?”
“Not a word. I pretended that I didn’t hear that statement and moved off. If I asked who Sawyer was, they’d think I was interested. I couldn’t give them an inch. And now that I know what is going on I have to be extra sly too. But you know, you being a detective and all, I figured we can figure this out together, right?”
He laughed. “We can. Because I think they all might be in on it.”
11
An Active Interest
“Iknow they are in on it,” Faith said. “I mean I wouldn’t have thought it if my uncle hadn’t said your name. How close are my aunt and uncle with your grandparents?”
“Very,” he said. “More than I realized. It’s like they are making a point of saying how much they are now when they haven’t before.”
