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Fianna
Fianna picked up Dean from the ground and settled on the sofa with her two-year-old nephew on her lap. He stuck his thumb in his mouth and leaned back against her arm. They both giggled when Fianna’s sister Bree and her husband Declan blew raspberries against their daughter Ava’s cheeks on the floor before the sofa.
“I heard from Ro that you ran into him at the Velvet Club,” Declan said.
It took Declan longer than she’d expected to bring up his twin. Now that dinner was done, and they were chilling with little Ava and Dean, her brother-in-law apparently figured it was time.
“Dec…” Bree said as she rather kept the peace.
“He told me he texted Fi...”
Fianna and her family had moved next doors to the Mills brothers when she was eight years old. She’d spent years in the same class as Ronan and Declan. She knew Declan like the back of her hand. He wasn’t about to let this go.
She ruffled Dean’s hair before she let him down on the floor again. Fianna didn’t want to get into this. She’d rather pretend the whole Velvet Club incident never happened.
She hoped her voice sounded strong when she said, “He texted me. Yes.”
Like she was one of his perps, Declan’s scrutinizing eyes bored into hers.
“And?” he asked. The following silence gave away that Declan was in his detective mode.
“And what? He just wants what he can’t have like every other dude out there. I’m not falling for it.”
She added in a whisper, “Not anymore.”
“I know he hurt you, Fi. He’s been an absolute idiot.”
Fianna snorted. “At least we can agree on that.”
“But I know my brother. He’s a part of me. He’s not been himself ever since you two broke up that last time.”
She leaned her head against the back of the sofa and closed her eyes. He was right that their tumultuous relationship had been a roller coaster ride with a lot of pettiness and breakups. Most of their family and friends thought they would get back together shortly after their big fight six years ago.
Fianna had been under that assumption as well. They’d only broken up that day because she wanted Ronan to stop hanging out with those lowlifes who encouraged him to fight for money.
Because they were on a break Ronan had indeed been free to do as he’d pleased. But after an on-and-off-again relationship from the age of sixteen till twenty-three, she had expected more from him than to hook-up with someone the very next day.
Bree must have noticed Fianna’s struggle to keep her hurt bottled up inside now that Declan put her on the spot. Bree got up from the floor, sat down next to Fianna and squeezed her hand. “The same goes for my sister, Dec. Ro’s not the only one hurting.”
A sudden joyous glee from Ava broke the tension.
Fianna picked up Ava, giving her a warm smile. “Thanks for saving your auntie, little one.”
Without glancing back, Fianna walked out of the living room and went up the stairs with Ava in her arms. She’d rather not talk about Ronan or her feelings for him. What was there to say, anyway?
“Bath time, sweetie. You wanna take a bath?”
With her thumb stuck into her mouth, Ava nodded. She mumbled around her thumb, “Dee.”
“Dean is coming. I’m sure mommy is right behind us with him.”
Ava searched over Fianna’s shoulder if she was telling the truth. Fianna entered the bathroom but stopped dead in her tracks. It was like a bomb with towels and young toddler’s clothes had gone off.
“Sorry for the mess. The twins have not been feeling well all day, and I needed to change them three times in the last hour before making dinner,” Bree said apologetically.
“Why didn’t you say anything? I could have helped?”
Bree shrugged while taking off Dean’s clothes and throwing them on the pile on the floor. “It’s just one of those days, I guess. I totally forgot those after you came.”
