It wasn’t a romantic declaration of love. It was the truth.
And she threw it right back in his face. It didn’t matter to her she was his first girlfriend and that he’d never given anyone that part of him. Or that he needed time to adjust to this new situation before he would get into something even deeper.
It was like she said ‘sayonara, thanks but no thanks.’ before she fucked right off and out of his life. He couldn’t deal with that. He grew up around his dad, who walked away without looking back.
Teagan did the one thing that made him see why they would never work. She had no trust in him. And he could never trust her now that she had just left him over a stupid argument.
Catriona stuck her head around the corner and said, “Nanna and Grandpa are back.”
He nodded and took the ice cream out of the freezer while his sister got the bowls. Catriona rummaged around in the drawer, rolling her eyes when he waved the ice cream scoop.
“I heard from Nora that you don’t want to talk about Teagan...”
He filled the last bowl with a scoop of pistachio, intent on ignoring Catriona’s Captain Obvious remark.
“Yep.”
“I hate it when you get like this,” she said.
“Like what?”
She picked up the tray with the bowls and said, “Distant. All up in your head.”
He clanked the ice cream scoop on the counter. “I’m not distant.”
She matched him as she clanked the tray back onto the counter. “Yeah. You are. You’ve been horrible to live with these past three weeks. You only talk when we ask you something and then you reply with just a few words.”
His palms got sweaty as his heart raced in his chest. He needed to get some fresh air.
“You know what? You’re acting just like Dad,” she spat.
His eyes narrowed at his sister as she’d dared to compare him with that asshole. “What did you just say? Are you out of your fuckin’ mind?”
She poked a finger in his heaving chest. “Take a good look in the mirror, Dev. Tell me what you see?”
He opened his mouth to give her a piece of his mind, but she continued, “I’ll tell you. You’re being withdrawn. You’re short with everyone who loves you. It’s like you’re here, but you ain’t. It’s just a matter of time before you start spending nights at the clubhouse again. Fuckin’ every skank that wants to suck your dick.”
“Catriona! Wash your mouth,” their grandmother said from the kitchen doorway.
“Sorry, Nanna. But somebody has to tell him. He’s been an absolute jerk.”
“Can you give us a moment, sweetheart?” Nanna said.
Catriona nodded. “No problem. I’ll be in the other room, talking shit about your ass,” she said as she gave him a stern look.
He just had to smile, since she was just like him. He couldn’t help but chuckle when she flipped him the bird. At least he always knew what he got with Catriona. They were both brutally honest.
Nanna sighed as she took a seat on a barstool. She tapped the seat of the stool next to hers. “Come sit for a minute. I think this talk is way overdue.”
Devlin sat down and waited for his grandmother. He loved her. Perhaps even more than his own mother. Scratch that. He definitely loved her more than her. Nanna had been there for him and Kieran when his father had left them and his mother had been out of her mind from heartbreak.
His parents shouldn’t have been parents. It was a harsh conclusion, but it was the truth. His father would walk in and out of his life for years without any contact in the years he was away. And his mother cried every day, making excuses for the asshole or finding faults in Devlin. She even told him when he was an eight-year-old boy that if he hadn’t talked back to his father, he wouldn’t have left them.
“I failed you, Devlin. I’m so sorry that you had to stay at your mom’s house while Rob was away. Your grandfather and I thought that letting you and Kieran sleep over as much as possible was enough. But I can see now that it wasn’t.”
He stared out of the kitchen window, watching the leaves fall down from the trees in the backyard. “It’s okay, Nanna. It’s nobody’s fault but Rob and Brenda’s.”
She clucked her tongue. “Do you know how much guilt I carry because of Rob? He’s my son, but he’s a lousy father. Always has been. I don’t know how we could have raised such loving fathers and then, Rob…”