Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 48730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Cian’s birthday barreled toward me like a freight train as I scrounged money together so I could get him some gifts. He really needed some new clothes for school, but I wanted him to have something he really wanted, too, so I’d been eyeballing a skateboard in one of the little shops near my work. I was pretty sure I’d be able to swing it as long as I scrimped on groceries for a week or two.
Mom kept her shit mostly together, and she didn’t leave again for more than a night. There were no more outbursts or comments about me and Richie having sex. For the most part, she kept to herself, and we were grateful for it.
I started feeling happy. Hopeful even. Things were going well. Steady. Consistent.
I knew it couldn’t last, but I don’t think any of us could’ve imagined how quickly things would go sideways. It was almost embarrassing to admit how blindsided we were.
CHAPTER 6
Aoife
“We’ll be back soon,” I murmured into the phone as Richie and I walked through the grocery store.
“Saoirse says to tell you that Aisling’s ear hurts, and we’re out of kid’s ibuprofen.”
“Shit. I hope it goes away on its own.”
“Same.”
“Do we need anything else while I’m here?”
“Pack of smokes?”
“Dream on, loser.”
“Mom left her purse here,” Cian muttered to himself.
“She did?”
“Yeah, she was talking to Aunt Ashley on the phone and must’ve forgotten it. You know how they are. Why the fuck she calls her, I will never understand. She took off an hour after you left.”
“Well, brace yourself because I’m sure she’ll eventually realize she forgot it.”
“Yeah, if she can’t find some loser to buy her drinks,” he scoffed and hung up.
I stuffed my phone back in my pocket.
“Everything good?” Richie asked, looking up from where he was leaning on the cart. I loved when he met me after work, but it always took twice as long to get any shopping done.
“Aisling’s ear is bothering her,” I replied with a grimace. “I need to get some pain reliever.”
“That sucks.” He followed along behind me as I hurried up the aisle. “Hopefully she’s feeling better before we head to the river.”
“No kidding.”
“So, we’ve got the cake shit and the picnic shit,” he mused, hurrying to catch me. “Anything else?”
I pulled the medicine off the shelf.
“Just drinks.”
The kids were going to go nuts when they saw what I brought home. I rarely kept snacks in the house because they were usually gone so fast that it felt like a waste of money. While I’d love for the kids to be able to just grab something and go…we really didn’t have the money for them to eat stuff just because they were bored. It was depressing, but food that had to be assembled into something edible was far better than no food at all—which is what would happen if we went over budget and ran out before my next paycheck.
Cian’s birthday was a welcome exception to my rules. We had fried chicken from the deli that would be good cold the next day, four different kinds of chips, a tray of fruit, two different kinds of pasta salad, and I was planning on getting enough soda so that they could enjoy it for the rest of the week. We were going to feast, and I didn’t have to cook anything but the cake. I couldn’t wait.
“You already grabbed Cian’s clothes?” Richie asked as we loaded up the bottom of the cart with drinks.
“Yeah, they’re in there somewhere,” I mused. “I got him a couple pairs of jeans and three shirts. Hopefully he likes them.”
“He will.”
“I don’t know what’s cool with his group of friends. I don’t want him to look like a dork.”
Richie laughed. “You’ve been out of high school for two months, and you’re already afraid you’re not hip to the trends?”
“I’m not exactly trendy,” I replied dryly, gesturing to my work uniform.
“You fit in pretty well here,” he joked, nodding at one of my coworkers who was restocking a shelf in the same uniform.
“Ha ha,” I said sarcastically. “I’m just glad we have an apparel department so I can use my discount.”
“Have you picked up his board yet?” Richie asked thoughtfully.
“No, I went in and built it before work.” I shook my head. “Picked out all the parts I wanted, and the skate shop said they’d assemble and have it ready tomorrow morning.”
“Fancy.”
“Don’t act like you didn’t do the same thing when you got your board.” I bumped him with my hip.
“I could’ve just given Cian my board, you know,” he said quietly. “It’s not like I use it anymore.”
I smiled at him and leaned up on my toes to give him a kiss. “Thank you.” I dropped back down. “They get a lot of stuff secondhand. I wanted him to get some new stuff for his birthday and going into high school, you know?”