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They heard voices coming from the stairs, and Sunnie sighed.
“They’ve been downstairs in the pub since eight o’clock this morning,” Finn told her as the sound of her mom and Bubbles’s loud voices drifted to them from the living room. “I told them you needed the sleep.”
“Thanks,” she murmured to her brother mere seconds before Mom walked into the kitchen, crossing the room to pull her into a big hug.
“I’m okay, Mom,” Sunnie said, wondering if that statement would hold true when Bubbles engulfed her from behind, the two women squeezing her with the combined strength of a boa constrictor. “Um…I can’t breathe.”
“Hush,” Bubbles said, clenching even tighter. “I swear to God, Riley and I both lost ten years off our lives last night when your dad told us what happened.”
Mom released her first. “Finn said Derek left you alone on the street.”
“We had a fight. I broke things off. Probably should have waited to tell him what an asshole he was until I was closer to home.” It was a weak-hearted attempt at a joke, but Sunnie was struggling to find her footing.
She and Derek were hardly a serious item. They’d gone out half a dozen times in the past month or two, and she hadn’t even slept with the guy because…she just hadn’t been feeling it.
“I’m going to kill that son of a bitch,” Bubbles declared menacingly.
Finn and Landon said in unison, “Get in line.”
“This isn’t really Derek’s fault. I should have found a café and called an Uber. Instead, I was pissed off and started walking, even though it was getting dark. It was a really stupid thing to do.”
“Damn right it was. Child, your mother and me did not raise you to act like a damn fool,” Bubbles said.
Sunnie laughed. She adored her “aunt” Bubbles. Loved the woman’s straight-shooting ways, her foul language and her extremely inappropriate stories about when she was a ’ho back in Vegas.
Mom shook her head. “Don’t take up for the man, Sunnie. A nice guy would have driven you home no matter what. I think Bubbles and I might pay him a visit and educate him about that.”
Sunnie suspected Derek might prefer an ass-whooping from Finn and Landon over a tongue-lashing from Bubbles and Mom, but she didn’t bother to try to talk her mom out of it. It would be a pointless battle to wage. Riley Young protected her children more fiercely than a lioness. She’d give Derek a piece of her mind, no matter what Sunnie said.
“I’m fine,” Sunnie stressed. “Honest.” Then she looked at Landon, anxious for a chance to escape them. “Finn said you’re supposed to take my statement.”
He nodded.
“Not yet,” Mom said. “There’s someone else waiting to talk to you.”
“Who?”
Mom pointed down. “Pop’s in the pub. He’s fretting and won’t feel a moment’s peace until he sees you. Go talk to him.”
Sunnie wasted no time, racing back to her room to don a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. She threw her hair up in a ponytail, thinking it was good enough. Then she glanced in the mirror—and spotted the baseball-sized bruise on her cheek.
There was no way she’d let Pop Pop see that.
Grabbing some foundation and powder, she did her best to conceal it, then headed downstairs.
Pop Pop was sitting at his usual place at the bar. It was lunchtime, so there weren’t more than a dozen or so folks scattered around the pub, grabbing an early afternoon drink. Sunday’s Side, the restaurant, was busier with the lunch rush.
He smiled when he saw her, but the expression didn’t reach his eyes. She walked straight into his outstretched arms.
“I’m okay, Pop Pop,” she whispered to her beloved grandfather.
“Lie to the others all you want, lass. But you don’t have to say those words on my account. I know you’re not. Just sit here and stop pretending so hard.”
“You’re not going to yell at me too?” she asked.
Pop Pop shook his head. “I suspect Aaron, Finn, and Landon have handled that well enough.”
She giggled. “You forgot Mom and Bubbles.”
