Come Monday (15 page)

Tris shrugged and grinned. “Of course, I could be completely wrong. I suck at this bartender shit. People sit on that stool and unload all their problems on me and I never know what the hell to say.”

Will laughed. “You did okay tonight.”

“Yeah, well, you may not think so later.”

“Why’s that?” he asked.

“Once all this stuff with Keira blows over, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna have to kick your ass for that ‘she was too innocent and I pushed her too hard’ comment.” Will threw his hands up in a sign of mock surrender. “Fair enough. I’ll consider myself warned. Just so you know though, you throw a punch at me and I’m hitting you back, regardless of the reason.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, bud.”

“Guess I’ll go home. There doesn’t seem to be anything I can do here.” 117

Mari Carr

“You driving?”

“No. I only live about two miles away. I think a nice long walk might do me some good. Night, Tristan. Thanks.”

“For what’s it worth, I hope she figures it out. You don’t entirely suck and I actually think you might be pretty good for my sister.”

Will laughed. “Thanks for the vote of support.”

He walked out into the chilly night air and sighed. He hoped she figured it out soon too because life without her seemed too bleak.

* * * * *

“Well, I expected I might find you here.” Pop entered her bedroom and Keira sat up, forcing herself to smile at what she was sure he’d intended as a joke. She’d shut herself in her room the night she’d broken things off with Will. For two days, she’d drifted between sleep and tears, only eating when her sisters forced her to. She’d made a mess of everything.

“I think perhaps it’s time you and I had a little talk. A long-overdue talk,” Pop began.

Keira sighed, her heart dreading the coming conversation. She’d let them all down.

She knew that. She deserved her father’s lecture, but she hated knowing she’d disappointed him so.

“Actually,” he said, clearing his throat, “I think it’s rather a long-overdue apology that’s needed.”

She fought back the tears that sprang to her eyes. She’d cried so much in the past forty-eight hours she was surprised she wasn’t in the hospital suffering from dehydration. She threw her arms around his neck as she spoke. “Oh Pop! I’m so sorry!

So sorry. I don’t know how I can ever ask you to forgive me. I’ve been so selfish.”

“
You’re
sorry?” he asked, pulling away to look at her. “Kiki.
I’m
the one who should be saying he’s sorry.”

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Come Monday

“You?”

“Yes, me. I’m afraid I’ve let you take far too much on your young shoulders these last few years and I’ve not realized the pressure you’ve felt as a result.”

“I don’t understand.” Her father was sorry? She was the one who’d insisted on returning to college when her family needed her. The one who’d started spending all her time with Will and forgetting that her sisters and brothers, that Sean, needed her.

“I think it’s time I explained a few things to you. Some things I didn’t see until this past month. I—”

She cut him off, certain he didn’t understand what she’d done. “Pop, I know that I’ve been a bit distracted with Will, but you don’t have to worry about that anymore.

I’ve broken up with him, so I’ll be home more often. I won’t let—”

“Keira,” her father said sternly. She sucked in a breath at his use of her real name.

He only ever used his pet name for her, reserving her real name for times when she’d misbehaved. “You need to stop talking and start listening.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

“When your mother passed away, I was devastated,” he began.

Keira nodded as a tear escaped. She swiped it away quickly.

“I fell apart,” he confessed.

“No,” she said. She was old enough to remember that time. Her father had been a pillar of strength, keeping the restaurant running, making sure his children had everything they needed.

“Perhaps not externally, not so you could all see, but on the inside, I was shattered.

I got up every morning and I went through the motions, but I saw very little. It took me months to pull myself together enough to look around. At that point, you’d graduated from high school. You’d let the fall semester of college come and go without you and you’d assumed responsibility for far more than I should have allowed.”

“That’s not true,” she started, but her father waved her to silence once more.

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Mari Carr

“You are very much like your mother, Kiki, and I don’t just mean in looks, although you are the very spit of her.”

She grinned at his familiar expression. She’d often been confused for her mother by distant acquaintances who hadn’t realized her mother had passed away.

“You’re like her, but you aren’t her.”

His voice was strong and sure and she struggled to comprehend what exactly he was saying.

“I don’t think I’m her,” she said, Will’s words drifting back to her.

“You have so many of her personality traits—her strong sense of responsibility, her serious nature, her stubbornness.”

“Stubbornness?” she said. “I’m not stubborn.”

Her father laughed. “Your mother often swore the same thing, but alas, my dear daughter, you are very, very stubborn.”

“How so?” she asked, aware her voice had taken a somewhat haughty tone.

“You assumed your mother’s role in this house when you were just eighteen and you’ve defended that position with the tenacity of a bulldog ever since.”

“You all needed me,” she protested.

“Yes, we did. We do. But Keira, we need
you
. Not a substitute Sunday.” She closed her eyes against her father’s words. “I don’t say that to hurt you or to imply that you haven’t given this family everything that lovely heart of yours had to share. But I’ll be damned if I sit here and let you throw away your own life because of some misplaced notion that we can’t exist without you.”

“But your blood pressure, your cholesterol—” she began.

“Is pretty much the same as every other mate of mine who’s hit sixty years old. I take the medicine the doctor gave me. I eat the rabbit food Riley shovels at me and I’ve limited myself to one glass of neat whiskey every afternoon—with the doctor’s knowledge and permission, I might add.”

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Come Monday

“Oh.”

“Yes, oh.”

“I didn’t know that,” she admitted, suddenly aware that perhaps she did underestimate her father’s ability to fend for himself. But her siblings were another story.

“Sean got into a fight at school,” she said.

“I know.”

“Did he tell you why? What it was about?” she asked.

“He did not.”

She sighed, frustrated. “I don’t understand why he won’t talk to me about it. He used to tell me everything.”

Her father chuckled. “He told you everything when he was twelve, Kiki. He’s an eighteen-year-old boy, nay, I daresay at this point, he’s a man.” She scoffed. “He’s still just a boy,” she corrected.

“Need I remind you, you were only eighteen when you felt yourself old enough to take over the care of this family.”

“That was different.”

“How?” he asked.

She sat quietly, unsure of the answer.

“You were an excellent student in high school and I suspect you always regretted giving up your dreams of attending college. Tell me, who was it who convinced you to apply to the university and begin taking classes?” Keira stared at her father. It was clear his question was hypothetical, but how had he known? “Sean.”

“Sean loves you, Keira. He adores you and his heart simply won’t let him do or say anything that may hurt you. He’s been fighting to find his own way for years, struggling to become his own man.”

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A pain pierced her heart at the thought of Sean wanting to push her away. “I didn’t realize I was annoying him so much.”

Her father shook his head, smiling kindly. “Not annoying. Mothering, sheltering, coddling. I feel confident he would have been trying to make the same escape from his mother right now, had she lived.”

Keira felt another tear slide, but this time she didn’t bother to wipe it away.

“It’s time for you to fly away too, Kiki. I’ve allowed you to stay too long, made you feel trapped—”

“That’s not true,” she insisted.

“Go. Finish your degree. Be with your Will. Be happy. It’s all I’ve ever wanted for you.”

* * * * *

Keira stood at the front window of the restaurant, glancing up at the overcast sky.

The dreary weather reflected her miserable mood. She’d tossed and turned all night, playing over her father’s words and seeing Will’s face as she ran out of his apartment.

“What are you still doing here?”

Keira turned to find Teagan standing behind her.

“Go talk to him.”

Keira shook her head. “I made a mess of things, Teag. I’m not really sure what I can say to make it better.”

Her sister smiled and placed a comforting arm across her shoulders. “You’ll say you’re sorry and then take off all your clothes. The rest will be easy.” She laughed at her sister’s advice before sobering. “I suck at dating.”

“That’s just because you’ve only ever tried it with lambs. Will’s a lion, king of the jungle. He’s not going to be a pushover and he’s not going to make things easy, but I 122

Come Monday

have a feeling you wouldn’t have it any other way. Besides, it’s obvious that he cares about you. One little fight isn’t going to change that.” She fell silent as she considered her sister’s words.

“Unless you’re afraid of lions,” Teagan added. “Or happy with things the way they are?”

Keira shook her head. “Not happy. Definitely
un
happy.”

“So I’ll repeat my previous question. What are you still doing here?” She hugged Teagan and smiled. “I guess I’m going to see Will.”

“I love the decisiveness in your voice. Really inspires confidence in your success.”

“Fine. I’m going to Will’s and I’m not leaving until he accepts my apology and fucks the hell out of me,” she said, her voice louder and filled with glee.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Tris said, coming up behind her. “Damn, I did
not
need to hear that. Shit. I just got a mental image that’s gonna cost me a bundle in therapy to recover from.”

“Ha ha,” Keira said. “I’m going to try to make things right with Will and you, baby brother,” she said, tapping him on the chest, “are not going to stop me.” Tris nodded. “You’re right. I’m not.”

“I’m serious, Tristan, I’m getting sick and tired of this intimidating-brother—” She stopped abruptly. “You’re not?”

“Nope.” He bent down and shocked her by placing a kiss on her cheek. Tristan was never overtly affectionate. “Will’s not such a bad guy and I happen to think he might be pretty good for you.”

“You do?” she and Teagan repeated, both of their voices revealing their shock.

He laughed. “I do, but you may want to get out of here and accomplish the deed before I change my mind.”

She nodded, hugging her brother tightly. “Thanks, Tris.” 123

Mari Carr

He patted her back awkwardly, begrudgingly accepting her embrace. His uncomfortable response was completely Tristan and she laughed. “Well, here goes nothing.”

“Or everything,” Teagan added.

“Or everything,” she repeated, stepping out into the chilly mid-afternoon air.

Will stared at his laptop, the white page taunting him with its emptiness. He’d sat down on the couch to work on his textbook earlier this afternoon. Three hours later, he still hadn’t typed a single word. It had begun to rain, first a sprinkle and now a steady, driving rain that plunged his apartment into darkness. He was too lethargic to even turn on a light.

A soft knock at the door pulled him from his depressed thoughts. It was probably Ms. Davenport from next door. She hated to go out in the rain and was always missing some vital ingredient for a meal or dessert she was making.

He stood tiredly and walked to the door.

“Keira,” he said, shocked to find her standing on his doorstep.

“I was in the area,” she said. Had he not been feeling so miserable he would have laughed at her clichéd line.

“You’re soaking wet.”

She nodded and shivered. “I was w-walking here,” she began, her teeth chattering.

“You walked? From the pub? In
this
weather?” He dragged her inside, closing the door behind her as they stood on the threshold.

As she spoke, he began to peel her wet things off, grateful when she didn’t stop him. She was shivering and he was determined that regardless of her independent nature and their argument, he would take care of her.

“It wasn’t r-raining when I l-left. I was h-halfway here when it started, so I j-just kept walking.”

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Come Monday

He unbuttoned her blouse, dragging the clinging material away from her. “You’re drenched. You’ll be lucky if you don’t catch a cold.” She nodded as he tackled the button and zipper on her jeans. “It was a stupid thing to d-do,” she admitted. “I knew it was going to rain.” He peeled the damp denim down her legs as she kicked off her soggy sneakers.

Once she was stripped to her undies, he grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch, pulling it around her shaking body.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, aware that his tone was harsher, angrier than he’d intended, but he didn’t like the thought of her walking the city streets alone in the rain. Damn woman needed to learn to take better care of herself.

“I…” She paused, leery as she studied his face. He took a deep breath and worked hard to smooth the frustrated lines he was sure she saw there.

“Keira,” he said softly, calmer. “Why are you here?”

“I’m sort of new to this relationship thing.”

Whatever he was expecting her to say first, that wasn’t it.

“I know that,” he said, hoping his answer would encourage her to clarify.

“I mean, I’ve dated in the past, but I don’t think my emotions were ever really engaged. I might have thought so at the time, but now I know they weren’t.”