Starting Over (Treading Water Trilogy) (13 page)

When Declan finally let him go, Brandon turned to Colin. “Hey, Col.”

“You look good, Brand.” Colin reached out to shake his brother’s hand. “Really good.”

“I feel good,” Brandon replied as he shook hands with his brother-in-law Tommy. “Where’re the kids?”

“Spending the night with Tommy’s mother so we could have some grown-up time tonight,” Erin said.

“Why’s everyone acting so weird?” Brandon looked around and noticed none of them were drinking. “Oh, come on, you can have a beer or whatever. You’re not going to knock me off the wagon.”

“That’s all right,” Colleen said. “We don’t need it.”

“Mum, listen, you guys have to do your thing. I appreciate the consideration, but this isn’t your problem. It’s mine. Now, Erin, get these guys some beers and be normal, will you? Please?”

All eyes shifted to Colleen.

“Well, I guess it’s all right, but if you change your mind, Brand, you just say something,” Colleen said. “We don’t want to make it any harder on you than it already is.”

“I need normal, Mum.” Brandon kissed her cheek. “Erin, get Da a beer before he starts drooling.”

They all laughed at the scowl Dennis sent his son, and Brandon felt things slide back to normal, or what was passing for normal these days.

After they dined on barbequed chicken, baked potatoes, and salad, Colleen corralled her sons into the family room off Erin’s kitchen.

The “boys” exchanged nervous glances. This felt an awful lot like the lineup they endured after they broke the window at Old Man
Kuzminski’s
place and then lied about it, or the time they blew out all the tires in Jimmy Olsen’s father’s car when thirteen-year-old Jimmy took them on a joy ride that’d actually been Declan’s idea.

“What’s up, Mum?” Dec asked when Colleen closed the door. “What’d we do?”

“Don’t be a dope. You didn’t do anything. I talked to Aidan this morning, and he sounded odd. Have any of you talked to him?” Colleen was so dwarfed by her sons that she had to tilt her head at a dramatic angle to see their faces.

“Not since we got home from Boston on Sunday,” Colin said.

“Why were you in Boston?” Brandon asked.

“Clare had us all to the city for Aidan’s fortieth birthday,” Colleen said.

Brandon felt a stab of remorse over missing what sounded like a fun time—a fun time that centered on Aidan. Interesting that he felt remorse and not anger, Brandon thought. Before he had a chance to chew on that revelation, his mother continued.

“I didn’t like the way he sounded. Something’s wrong with him, but he wouldn’t tell me what it is.”

“You don’t know that, Mum,” Colin said. “He could’ve just been tired or not feeling good.”

“It’s more than that. I could hear it in his voice the same way I’d hear it in yours if it were one of you. I want you boys to go up there this weekend to check on him.”

“I’ve got plans,” Declan protested.

“I’ve got a date,” Colin said.

“He certainly doesn’t want to see me,” Brandon said.

Colleen held up her hand to shush them. “Something’s wrong with your brother, and the three of you are going to Vermont on Friday to find out what it is.” Her stern green eyes skipped from one of her grown sons to the other and then the third. They were as powerless against that particular look of hers in their late thirties as they’d been in their teens. “Do I make myself clear?”

They looked down at the floor and mumbled, “Yes, Mum,” in three-part harmony.

“That’s my boys,” she said as she turned and left the room.

When she was gone, Colin spoke first. “How old do you think we’re going to be before she can’t pull that shit on us anymore?”

“Apparently, older than we are now,” Declan said.

“She’s only sixty,” Brandon reminded them. “She could have thirty or more good years left in her.”

They groaned.

“I have to be back by six on Sunday,” Colin said.

“Jessica’s going to be pissed,” Dec said. “Her parents and sister are coming to town this weekend. I’d better go call her.”

When they were alone, Colin turned to Brandon. “You look so good. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

“I’ve lost twenty pounds of bloat. Been running again, too.”

“Is it hard? Not drinking?”

“Minute-by-minute struggle, but I’m handling it.”

“Ah, Brand, about the work stuff—”

“Are you waiting for me to flip out?”

“Kind of,” Colin admitted.

“I won’t lie to you. I’m not thrilled about it, but I’ve learned that anger leads to some really bad shit for me. So I’m choosing not to be angry about it.”

Colin opened his mouth to say something but closed it again as he studied his brother. “You surprise me.”

“I surprise myself. Start getting bitchy with me at work, though, and I’ll pound your ass into the ground—but not in anger, of course.”

Colin cracked up. “Duly noted.”

Chapter 12, Day 33

Standing under the slow trickle of the shower in the super’s apartment, Brandon made a mental note to address the piss-poor water pressure first thing on Monday. His muscles ached from two days of hard, physical labor, during which he’d replaced the sagging front stairs and torn out the carpet as well as the kitchen in his apartment. He also met the rest of the tenants, all of them older people who lived alone, and explained the renovation plans to each of them.

As he ran a razor over his face, Brandon remembered he needed to check the mousetraps in Daphne’s apartment before he left for Vermont. Upon an earlier check, he’d discovered the little bastards had managed to swipe the bait without being caught. He felt like Wile E. Coyote trying to capture the Road Runner.

The frantic Road Runner music was still playing in his head as he ran a comb through his unruly hair and got dressed.
Time for a haircut
, he thought, studying his reflection in the mirror. His face had lost the bloated, unhealthy look he’d worn for years, and he was starting to recognize himself again.

At the AA meeting in Harwich that morning, he’d shared a small part of his story. Joe had encouraged him to take that step to get the first time behind him, and Brandon had to admit his sponsor was right—he felt better afterward. They also helped him locate a meeting he could attend while he was in Vermont.

Brandon checked his watch. He had fifteen minutes until Declan and Colin were picking him up in Dec’s new Mustang. Taking the stairs two at a time, Brandon made his way to Daphne’s third-floor apartment and knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” Mike asked through the door.

“Brandon.”

Mike opened the door and greeted him with a big smile. She’d been down to visit him a couple of times over the last two days, and while he wanted to be annoyed by her, he couldn’t quite seem to get there. She was so damned cute.

“Hello,
madame
,” he said with a low bow that made her giggle. “Is your mother home?”

“MOM!” Mike yelled.

“I could’ve done that.” Brandon made her giggle again when he opened his mouth in a mock scream. He was relieved to discover he could still be playful with a child. Maybe there was hope for him with his nieces and nephews.

Daphne came out from the kitchen, and Brandon had to fight the urge to drool right there on her doorstep. She was wearing another of those tank tops—this time in a soft salmon color—and black yoga pants that left
nothing
to the imagination. Her blonde hair was piled on top of her head in a style that would’ve been messy on anyone else. On her it was perfection. She was a goddess—an unfriendly goddess—but a goddess nonetheless.

“You’re staring,” Mike whispered.

“What?” Brandon tore his eyes off the mother to gaze down at the equally fetching daughter.

“You’re
staring
,” she whispered again.

“Oh, um, I, ah, wanted to check the traps.” He cursed the goddess for making him into a stammering fool.

“Come on in,” Daphne said. “See, that’s how it’s done: you knock, I say come in. You’re getting it.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Brandon said in a deliberately dense-sounding tone. “I might be a dumb man, but I
can
be trained.”

Mike giggled.

Even Daphne cracked a reluctant grin.

Brandon went to check the traps and found that he’d been outfoxed again. “Damn it,” he said under his breath.

“
Ummm
, you
sweared
.”

Brandon almost jumped out of his skin. “Christ, you scared me,” he muttered.

“You did it again!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, amused by the scandalized expression on her cherubic face.

She plunked herself down next to him for a nice long chat. “Why’s your hair all wet?”

“Ever heard of a shower?”

“Why would anyone take a shower when it’s still daytime?” she asked, her nose crinkling with disgust.

He tossed his head back and laughed. “Because I needed it after working all day, and I’m going on a trip.”

Her face fell with disappointment. “Where’re you going?” she asked in a small voice that tugged at his heart. Yesterday he’d noticed her playing by herself in the fenced-in backyard. She was the only kid in the building, and there was an aura of loneliness about her that saddened him.

“I’m going to Vermont for the weekend to see my brother.”

“You have a brother?”

“Three of them.”

Her eyes widened with envy. “
Three brothers?
You must’ve had lots of fun when you were kids.”

“We did.” He smiled as he remembered the chaos of growing up with four siblings. “There was always something to do, that’s for sure. I have a sister, too, and she has five kids, including three little girls just like you.”

“You’re so lucky. I just have my mom.”

“Maybe you can play with my sister’s kids sometime.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

“
Can I?
Do you mean it?”

“Sure,” he said, taking great pleasure in her delight.

“Mike, are you talking his ear off?” Daphne asked from the hallway.

“Of course not,” Brandon answered with a wink at his friend. “She’s keeping me company.” He pulled out the baggie of cheese he’d brought with him to bait the traps. “Don’t go near these things, Mike. Do you hear me?”

She nodded. “Uh-huh. Guess what, Mom? Brandon said I can play with his sister’s kids sometime.”

“Brandon said that, did he? Since when are you calling a grown-up by his first name?”

“Since he told me I could,” she said with a conspiratorial glance at him.

“Mr. O’Malley is my father. I’m just Brandon.” He tugged on one of the girl’s pigtails. “My friends call me Brand.”

“That’s a nickname like Mike, right?”

He chuckled. “Exactly. Well, ladies, I have to run. My brothers will be here in a minute to pick me up. You guys have a nice weekend.”

“When will you be back?” Mike’s tiny lips twisted into a woman-sized pout.

“Sunday night. I’ll come see you then, okay?” Again it seemed his mouth was working without backup from his brain as he made a promise to the child.

“Okay,” she said and scampered off to her room.

“Sorry if she’s being a pest,” Daphne said.

“She’s adorable. I like talking to her.”

“I appreciate you being nice to her and everything, but…”

“But what?”

She bit her bottom lip, and Brandon found himself staring again, wondering if that lip tasted as sweet as it looked. “I don’t want her getting attached.”

“Why not? I’m not going anywhere.”

“I don’t know how long we’ll be here, and the fewer attachments she forms, the easier it’ll be when we move.”

Disappointment spiraled through him. He’d have to wait until later to think about why. For now he wanted to enjoy being close enough to the goddess to smell her alluring fragrance. He was also close enough to touch her, even though he’d probably be risking a finger or two if he did. “Where’re you going?”

“I don’t know yet. It all depends.”

“On?”

She shook her head. “Nothing,” she said, shutting down so tightly he could almost hear the door slam in his face. “Thanks for checking the traps.”

“No problem. Do you mind if I stop by to see Mike on Sunday? I sort of promised her I would.”

“Fine,” she said with a deep sigh, as if the weight of the whole world rested on her petite shoulders.

“I won’t hurt her,” he said with a fierce determination to mean it. For reasons he didn’t quite understand, it mattered to him that he be someone the girl could count on, despite his horrendous track record in the reliability department.

“I won’t let you,” Daphne said with determination just as fierce.

Brandon held her gaze until the loud blare of a horn from the street jolted him out of his trance. “That’s my ride. I’ll see you.”