“In the kitchen,” he hollered back.
Aware that Paddy followed me, I headed to the kitchen and found Kid with a mixing bowl full of cereal.
Peering into it as I approached, I asked, “Honeycomb?”
“You’re not having any.”
I scowled. “Why the fuck not?”
“You brought him.” He sniffed at Paddy. “What doyouwant?”
“Could you sound anymore petulant, Kid?”
“Yeah, I could if I tried.” He pointed his spoon at Paddy. “You knew I depended on you. You left me anyway.”
Paddy’s nostrils flared and his shoulders hunched again, his ears pretty much diving under the upturned collar on his coat.
Watching him turn into a tortoise, I asked, “What did you depend on him for?”
“Everything Da never gave me.” Con shoved a heap of cereal into his mouth.
“Which was? You were his fucking favorite,” I pointed out, bewildered.
“Con and I used to talk, didn’t we?” Paddy rasped.
“We did. About everything and anything. You were the only one who got me, Paddy. But you left me.” Con’s brow furrowed. “How could you do that?”
“Your da wasn’t wrong, Conor. I was never any good at the Firm. I fucked up all the time, and that was the final straw. When my life was on the line, I guess I took my chance.”
“And left me behind.” Kid’s voice wasn’t plaintive, just matter of fact. He squinted at him, malice in his eyes, as he declared, “You’re a piece of shit godfather and an even worse dad.”
“Fucking hell, Con, that’s hard,” I bit off, shooting our uncle a glance.
Though Paddy had blanched, Conor merely said, “You can say that knowing he left Jen behind?”
I hissed.
Fuck.
I’d forgotten about Jen and her ties to us.
She was an O’Donnelly.
“What a clusterfuck,” I muttered. “Did you know you had a daughter?”
Paddy frowned. “Shut up. I don’t have a girl. I got Liam. He look like a girl to you?” He straightened up. “I know I’m a piece of shit godfather, Con, but there’s still time to make it right, ain’t there?”
“Why? What do you want?” he sniped.
“Finn said you’d help Liam with some funds of his that were stolen, but that’s for him. Not me. I won’t see a dime.” He raised his hands. “I missed you, little fecker. So many times I wanted to pick up the phone and call you, but I—”
“Didn’t. You know I can keep a secret,” Conor ground out. “You know I fucking can. Why would you keep that from me?”
“Because of all the shit that went with it! I knew what would happen. You’d want to come live with me—”
My brows rose at that. “What?”
Paddy sighed. “Con always wanted to come and stay with me.”