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He shrugs. “It was your favorite.”
A ball of emotion gets stuck in my throat. It was. The fact he remembers that chokes me up, but of course he would. The only happy memories of my childhood involve him in some way. I clear my throat before I speak again, to stop my voice from cracking when I do.
“You canceled a date that night to cook our tea and watch a movie with me and Mikey.”
He goes back to staring out of the window. “Did I?”
“Yeah. You remember her name?”
His brow furrows in another frown before he shakes his head. “No.”
“Lainey Uxbridge,” I remind him. “You’d be after her for weeks and she finally agreed to go out with you. Then you went and stood her up.”
“I don’t recall.”
“No. But you remember Jodie Maloney though?”
He looks up at the ceiling as though deep in thought. “She was the first girl to break your heart, kid. Course I remember her.”
“You remember what you told me when you found me sulking on my bed?”
“Probably to stop sulking before Patrick saw you and gave you a smack in the mouth for it?” he says, voice laced with menace now and I regret making him thinking about our bastard of a father. But I guess it’s inescapable whenever we think about our life back in Ireland.
“No.” I shake my head. He said nothing of the fucking sort. “You put your arm around my shoulder and you told me that broken hearts were a fact of life and a rite of passage. You said it made me a man, and that men weren’t afraid to feel that kind of pain because it was the kind that made life worth living.”
He blinks at me. He remembers exactly what he said.
“I went out and found a new girlfriend two days later,” I remind him.
“Then she broke your heart too,” he says with a smirk.
“She did,” I agree. “I sure knew how to pick them, huh?”
He shrugs. “Well, your taste in women has improved significantly since then.”
With that reminder of our beautiful wife and our unborn baby, I smile at him. “You want to know why I’m not even the slightest bit concerned about becoming a dad for the first time?”
His jaw ticks as he stares at me. “Why?”
I stand and take a few steps until I’m standing right in front of him. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I squeeze gently. “Because I learned everything I need to know from the best fucking dad any kid could ever ask for.” He blinks at me, confusion flickering in his eyes as though he thinks for the briefest of moments that I might be talking about Patrick fucking Ryan, but to be absolutely crystal clear, I add. “The kind who cancels dates and makes his kids’ favorite dinner when he has his first broken heart.”
Tears prick at the corners of his eyes and now a giant fucking sob gets stuck in my throat too. I swallow it down. But I have no idea how he’s so hard on himself when he’s the best fucking man I’ve ever known. “Now for the love of fuck come to bed so that Jessie doesn’t freak out if she wakes up and you’re not there.”
I don’t give him time to argue. Instead I head out of the room and make my way to bed.
Jessie is lying on her side, curled up beneath the covers. I slip in beside her, resting my hand on her stomach as I press myself up against her back. She murmurs softly in her sleep. I enjoy having her to myself for a little while, even as I hope Shane joins us soon. For her sake, but mostly for his.
“Liam?” she mumbles sleepily.
“Yeah, baby. Just me. Go back to sleep.”
She turns in my arms, wrapping hers around my neck. “Where have you been? I missed you.”
I press a soft kiss on her lips. “Just turning off the lights.”
“Where’s Shane?” she asks with a yawn.
“He’ll be here soon,” I assure her, pulling her closer to me.
