Keenan
“Four ball in corner pocket,” Ronan said before he hit the ball with his pool cue stick. Keenan congratulated Ronan with another great shot and joined Pops at his table at his cousin Brennan’s Irish pub, The Lucky Irishman.
“Aye, Keenan. A night on the town with the lads?” Pops said.
Keenan placed his beer bottle on Pops’ table and laughed. “I know you’d rather sit here with Ry. But you’ll have to settle with me.”
Pops’ boisterous laugh ended up in a loud cough.
“Are you okay?” Keenan asked as he slapped Pops’ back, who waved at him to stop.
“Yes, boyo. Just me lungs. I’m fine.”
It reminded him he needed to talk to his mother about Pops’ cough. It didn’t sit right with him.
“Don’t worry, Keen. I’ve been checked out. Nothing serious. I swear.” Pops padded Keenan’s hand on the table and said, “But I would like to talk to ye about somethin’, if ye don’t mind.”
“Sure, Pops.”
Pops rubbed the top of his enormous belly, “I like Ryleigh, I do.”
Keenan kept his voice measured. “But…?”
“But I don’t know if yer ready for her at this time in yer life.”
Keenan rubbed his brow in frustration.
“I mean it, Keen. And Imma gonna go out and say it… Where’s that chancer—our boy’s mother? Have ye heard anythin’ lately?”
Keenan hated Pops thought of Evangeline as a person who exploits any opportunity to further their own ends.
“Don’t call her that. Be nice. She’s still Tommy’s mother.” Keenan always defended Evangeline. Although this time with less grit, and for the first time since she’d left, talking about her even left a bad taste in his mouth.
He’d kept hope for years that Evangeline would come back to Tommy and him. He sighed and watched other patrons in the pub. He thought back to the last time he’d seen her, about three years ago.
When he’d walked into the kitchen that morning, Evangeline stood at the stove, preparing omelets for Tommy and Keenan’s breakfast. She’d looked up at him with glazed eyes. When he’d asked her if something was wrong, she’d denied it.
She’d continued making breakfast and even played with Tommy in the living room. Something she hadn’t done in a long time. In hindsight, she was saying goodbye while neither Tommy nor Keenan knew what was going to hit them.
While at work, his mother called him and said that Evangeline hadn’t picked up Tommy. Alarm bells went off in his head when Evangeline didn’t pick up her phone, even though he’d tried dozens of times to reach her.
He collected Tommy from his mother’s and went home to an empty house. Half of the furniture was missing. She must’ve planned on leaving him because she had to call in help from a moving company to take their sofa, cabinets, dining table and suitcases of clothes with her.
He would never forget the chills running over his spine when realization hit him. She’d left them. She went on and really left them behind so she could live without them.
She’d faked her way through Friday family dinners, through birthdays and other family events for years. How else could she love them one moment and leave them the next?
Keenan still struggled with the fact that she had blindsided him. He had no idea that Evangeline was secretly planning to escape the life that made her miserable.
He’d failed her by not seeing the signs that he now, years later, recognized. She’d faked her way through life for years and had finally had enough. There was no other explanation for it.
“That’s exactly why I think yer not ready for that sweet lass who’s sitting at home, carin’ for yer son.”
“What do you mean?”
“Yer still defendin’ her. My guess is that yer still in love with that wagon.”
“Pops…”