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"Not unless you're asking for it, old man." I clasped his hand and let him pull me into a bear hug. The Skipper collected wayward souls like baseball cards, and it was nice to feel a familial embrace that didn't come with a price tag.
"And who's this?" he held out a hand to Teagan. "New guy?"
To my surprise, Teagan laughed and grasped Skip’s hand. "Relocated, more like. Connor's teaching me the ropes."
"How's the shop?" I asked. "That Shaw's they opened up down the street taking all your business?"
"Not really. I keep my prices low enough to compete, and customers are creatures of habit. They've been comin' here for the last forty years, and they'll be comin' here for another forty."
"You should live so long," Skip’s wife called from behind the deli counter. Mary's sandwiches were legendary, and the main reason, I suspected, Skip’s customers remained so loyal. She was just a little bird of a woman, willow thin but with a boundless energy that exhausted me just watching her. She flitted into the back room, reappearing with a wrapped parcel in her hands. “Thought Alfie would be with you, will you make sure his ma gets this? She hasn’t been by this week, and I’m worried she caught that flu that was going around.”
I accepted the parcel with a thank you, knowing damn well that the only flu that Lizzy Doyle caught was the Jack Daniel’s fever. She’d been suffering from that particular ailment since Alfie had been in grade school, right around the time they’d shipped his old man up to the State Pen for manslaughter. Alfie dutifully looked after her, but it was rough on him.
“Say, Mary, you haven’t seen Alfie around, have you? His cell’s been off for the past couple of days, and we can’t get ahold of him.”
“He hasn’t been by, sweetie.” Mary frowned. “I’ll keep an ear out, though. I hear most of the gossip that comes in through here—the good parts, that is.” Then, she brightened. “Speaking of gossip, I hear you got yourself hitched.”
“Last week, to Tommy Quinn’s sister, Cassidy,” Teagan said. “Pretty little thing. She’s a doctor, too, if you can believe it. She and Connor met at the hospital when they brought Johnny in, God rest his soul, and I guess it was love at first sight. Right, Con?”
“Like something off your Hallmark movie channel, Mary,” I lied. Teagan had given me the opening to perpetuate the lie, even though he must have thought it was the truth, since nobody but Tommy and Alfie knew the real story behind our sham of a wedding. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Teagan talking about Cass like that, especially given his earlier remark about our so-called honeymoon. There was something in his eyes I didn’t like.
“I’m happy for you, kid,” Skip clapped me on the shoulder. “It’s been a rocky road, but it looks like things are looking up, yeah?”
I faked a smile. “Seems that way.”
“When did Cassidy move back to town?” Mary asked. “You’ll have to bring her by, Connor, I think I’ve got a few photos of Rosaleen stored away that she might like to have. She used to bring little Cassidy by every night on her way home from the hospital. I practically watched that girl grow up. In fact, why don’t I give them to you now?”
Mary wouldn’t take no for an answer, pulling me and Teag into the back room where she promptly shoved a sandwich in his face with a declaration that he was too skinny and put me to work toting down shoeboxes from a dusty shelf. I could hear Skip chuckling from the front of the store.
I humored her. Mary was one of the sweetest women I knew, and after she’d poured the three of us a healthy glass of whiskey, the stories started flowing. Stories about little Cassidy Quinn, how she loved to play with the neighborhood kids and never passed up a chance to help out whenever Mary needed it. Skip always had a small piece of candy tucked away in his pocket for her, was quick to teach her how to do anything handy, from how to properly swing a hammer to how to fix the frozen yogurt machine when it broke down.
With every story I heard, Cassidy’s face changed slightly in my mind until finally I could picture her as she must have been as a child – bright eyed and eager for life. I felt a strange tug of emotion in my chest, remembering the beautiful night we'd shared together and how much of a lie it all had been.
Before we knew it, nearly an hour had passed. We were just about to leave when we heard raised voices coming from the front of the store, accompanied by a loud crash.
"What the hell was that?" Teagan asked. I was already out the doorway, Mary at my heels.
A man in his early twenties stood across the counter from Skip, shakily pointing a gun at him in an ill-advised robbery attempt. Skip looked more irritated than concerned about this little bit of larceny.
Moving quickly on the balls of my feet, I stepped up behind the thug, sweeping his legs out from under him and disarming him in less than a second. Teagan caught the man by the back of the collar and slammed him face-first into the counter, bending his arm backwards at an impossible angle. Bone cracked with an audible pop, and the man howled. "Do you know who runs this block, precious?" Teagan flicked open a penknife, gently stroking the man's face.
"C-Callum McTiernan," he stammered.
"That's right, you fucking loser. If we see you around here again, if you so much as step a toe east of D Street, I'm going to go to work on you with my friend here. They'll be fishing what's left of you out of the harbor."
Teagan let him up and I propelled him out the door with a well-aimed kick in the ass to speed him on his way. Mary watched the whole thing in stunned silence while Skip laughed so hard, he nearly fell out of his chair. I helped Skip back into it then turned my attention back to Mary, who was looking a bit shaky from the unexpected excitement. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a reassuring squeeze before she was able to force a smile on her face. "Thank you, boys."
"No problem, Mary," I said. "Skip, you'll let us know if that punk shows up again."
"Oh, I doubt we're in much danger of that. Boy damn near pissed his pants." Skip laughed.
As we walked down the block towards our apartment I glanced at Teagan, noting how different he seemed from before. Teag must have seen me looking at him. "Hey, thanks for letting me take the lead today."
"Callum said to teach you the ropes, but it's not like this job is that hard," I shrugged. "Still, though, you did pretty good."
As we walked, I fieldstripped the thief's weapon and tossed into a dumpster. The magazine went into another dumpster a block down. The thing was probably hot, and we didn't need that in our armory in case someone decided to use it.
Teag's hands were stuffed in his pockets, and he was looking uncharacteristically introspective. "Con... about that crack about your wife, earlier. I didn’t mean anything by it." I didn't know what to say to that, so I kept walking. Teag continued on. "I guess I always thought of you as a spoiled brat, coming in here and just getting everything handed to you like you did. Money, a high up position in the Clan, a pretty young wife, I guess it was jealousy talking. Well, that and your stance on the struggles back home."
