Chapter Seven
Lock
Whenmysistercalled,I knew I was in for a long conversation. Her name appeared on my screen just as I walked into the house from work. The last thing I wanted was to engage in family drama, but when Saoirse called, I answered.
“Hey, baby girl. Let me grab a beer and get settled in. One minute.”
She laughed softly. “You need a beer to talk to me?”
I pulled open the fridge. “Don’t I?”
“Oh, probably. I could use one.”
I growled. “No beer.”
“Relax, father. If I drink alcohol, do you think I’d tell you?”
“Saoirse,” I barked. “You’re seventeen. Cut that shit out.”
I could practically hear her eye roll. “Oh, please, dude. As if you weren’t drinking at my age.”
I sat down on one of the rickety chairs on the deck, and the metal creaked under my weight. I’d be pissed if I ended up on my ass.
“You know things are different for me and you.”
Saoirse took after our mother. Tall and willowy, she was a delicate blonde who screamed innocence—even though she could out cuss a sailor. That, she got from our dad.
“Because men look at me and see a damsel?” she asked.
“I know you’re no damsel, but that’s what others see. You can’t let your guard down. Getting drunk in a field with your stupid friends—”
“Hey, Lock? This isn’t why I called.”
I scrubbed my hand over my face, flicking my eyes next door. The lights were on. The drapes were wide open. All three girls were sitting down at the table in their kitchen, eating dinner. They were laughing about something, even the ice queen.
Good. That meant she was feeling better. I’d seen her in class today, and it’d looked like the swelling had gone down on her forehead, but she wouldn’t tell me how her shoulder felt. Actually, she refrained from speaking to me at all.
“What’s up, kid?” I tipped my beer into my mouth, letting the cool liquid slide down my throat.
She groaned, long and pained. I’d gotten enough calls from my little sister to tell the difference between dire and dramatic. That groan sounded somewhere close to dramatic. Either way, I wouldn’t blow her off.
“Since we have a long weekend coming up, Mom said she would take me on a couple college visits. Obviously, I told Dad the plan, and he wants to come too. I couldn’t say no. I mean, I didn’t want to, he’s mydad. But Mom’s flipping her shit. She doesn’t want to seeConnell.Connellwill have too many opinions.Connellwill try to convince me to go to college in Wyoming—as fucking if. She hasn’t calmed down since I told her last night.”
I blew out a long exhale. I’d spent the last decade on the Connell and Lily Kelly merry-go-round. Thankfully, they finally divorced five years ago, but the fights between my parents hadn’t slowed. I’d been out of the house long enough not to get caught in the middle anymore, but Saoirse was still in the thick of it for another year. The kicker was, our dad didn’t even live in the same state as our mom, but they still found a way to drive each other to madness.
“Ignore her,” I said. “She’ll get over it.”
“Easy for you to say. She’s on a rampage. I’ve had to listen to her tell at least ten friends the same story over and over. And you know all her friends are bitter divorcées who hate their exes as much as Mom does, so they’re all egging her on. Like, honestly, what’s so bad about them both taking me to see colleges? They don’t even have to talk to each other.”
I shook my head. “You got me, kid. I’d say they should have never gotten married, but then you wouldn’t exist.”
“Awww, that was pretty sweet.”
“Feel better?”
She sighed. “Not really. I have to tell Mom something else.”
“What?”