Luck of The Irish (Getting Lucky)

The image of Aiden getting his back waxed was somehow appealing when it should have been the opposite. Maybe I regretted turning him down. Either that, or I was getting lonely.

Liam crossed his arms while he balanced the chair on its two back legs.

"You said you didn't know what he had to do tonight," I reminded him.

Liam burst into his full belly laugh, the booming one he’d possessed even as a small kid. I glared at him, but he’d completely lost it cracking himself up. I was glad one of us found his humor so entertaining. He leaned forward with his hands on his stomach, but he’d already tipped too far back with his hysterics. I saw the oh shit look come over his face before he lost balance, and both he and the wooden chair crashed to the linoleum. That caused me to lose it, too. Liam was on the floor in a heap tears in his eyes from laughing so hard.

"Liam, the epitome of style and grace," I teased.

"It's not funny," he said as he still laughed uncontrollably. "Erin, if you like him, why didn't you agree to go on a fricking date with him?" Liam asked.

"I don't like him."

“Look at you!”

“I don’t like him,” I said. I could feel my brow cinch as I tried to make my expression stern.

"He's a good guy. A great guy, in fact. You could do worse," Liam said. He pulled himself up from the pile on the floor and straightened his chair.

"How do you know he's such a good guy if you’ve known him for all of a week?"

"You should see the stuff he does there, Erin. All these messed up kids that, I swear to you, would have been in jail or dead if it weren’t for him. He's saved them for real and shown them a better way of life. He isn’t just talk, the guy is genuine and changes people’s lives. He's not like the losers Mom has around, that’s for sure. McCarthy’s the real deal."

“I’m sure Mom thought all those losers she dated were decent guys at some point.” I thought about the revolving door of rejects my mother had coming in and out of the house all our lives. The memories made me shudder. Some had been all right, I guess, if I’m being generous, but others had been downright traumatizing. Mom knew how to pick ‘em.

“Mom wouldn’t know what a good man was if it bit her in the ass,” Liam said, his voice tinged with bitterness. He was less removed from the situation than I was and his anger toward our mom quickly filled the room.

“That’s why we’re here and she’s there. No need to dredge up old wounds. She can date whomever the hell she likes and we don’t even have to know about it.”

“Yeah, guess you’re right, sis,” Liam said. He scrubbed his eyes with the heels of his palm. Liam was a good kid, he deserved a break and the distance from our fucked up parent..

“What time am I supposed to get you?” I asked, changing the subject not wanting to talk about Mom anymore. She’d taken enough energy from me already, and I really didn’t want to give her more than I had to.

“Nine,” Liam said as he started clearing the table. “You found him yet?” Our fridge was nearly empty. Just down to condiments and eggs and one carton of milk, which I never drank, but Liam liked to have it in his cereal.

“Found who?” I brushed my hair back behind my ears and wrangled it into a ponytail securing its thickness with an elastic I wore religiously around my wrist. I wasn’t good at holding still while telling outright lies.

“Don’t play dumb, Erin. You know who. I’m talking about Dad. I know you’ve been looking for him. Any luck yet?”

“No,” I lied. My hair had ended up on top of my head in a messy bun. I turned to the sink again so I wouldn’t have to look him in the eye.

“Not a single lead? That’s hard to believe.”

“Believe it.”

“Ok, well, I hate to eat and run, but I gotta get to the gym.”

“Get going then, slacker,” I teased him. “Do some pullups while you’re there.” I watched him put on his shoes and head toward the door. “I’ll see you at nine!” I called out, but he was already out of my line of sight.

Once I was sure he’d gone, I went over to my bag and took out the article I’d recently found.

“Dr. Caleb Walsh’s Only Daughter to Wed Whiskey Heir: The Doctor plans on walking his only daughter down the aisle as he secures a link to Irelands oldest and most acclaimed distillery.”

I didn’t yet have the heart to tell Liam that I’d found dear old Dad. But the painful truth was, he didn’t look like he wanted us anyway. Dad had moved on and maybe it was high time we did too. I crumpled paper in my hand as the tears streamed down my face. Even though we were far removed, it still hurt like new.