by Force, Marie
“Yep.”
“Alone?”
“No,” Dec said with a chuckle. “But you’re not interrupting anything. Yet.”
“Spare me the details. I was going to come by, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Come on over, Col. We’re just hanging out.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Colin drove the Harley through the deserted town. White lights twinkled in the windows along the winding row of shops and restaurants that made up Chatham’s quaint Main Street. The winter had been cold, but so far there hadn’t been much snow, and the streets were dry or he wouldn’t be on the bike. He loved the big, powerful motorcycle and the way its rumble vibrated through his chest. Chatham’s seven thousand year-round residents tended to hate noisy motorcycles, but the dark face mask on his helmet allowed him to roar around in anonymity.
Declan lived in a new townhouse in North Chatham, almost to the Harwich town line. He had turned on the porch light for his brother.
“Hey,” Dec said when Colin walked in. Declan and his girlfriend Jessica were sitting together on the sofa and had paused their movie. “Did I hear the bike?”
“Yeah. I went to an Al-Anon meeting tonight, and in the spirit of anonymity, I left the truck at home.”
“Watch out for ice,” Dec warned.
“It’s too warm for ice tonight.”
“Want something to drink?”
“No, thanks,” Colin said.
“How was the meeting?” Jessica asked. Dec had been seeing the cute, friendly physical therapist since Christmas.
“Good. It’s amazing how many people are in the same boat we are.”
“Da said Brandon seemed really good when they saw him,” Dec said.
“Yeah, but the real test begins when he gets out of there,” Colin reminded his brother.
“I hope he can do it.”
“I think he knows by now that he has to, but whether or not he will remains to be seen.” Colin paused before he said, “So, you talked to Da?”
Declan nodded and took a sip from his bottle of Sam Adams. “I hear there’s going to be a changing of the guard, boss man,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.
Colin groaned. “Don’t start that crap. I’m counting on you and Tommy to help me out. We’re going to do this together.”
“Of course we are.”
“So you’re not mad?” Colin asked, relieved that Declan didn’t seem to begrudge him the promotion.
“Hell, no. My first thought when Da told me you were taking over was better you than me. You’ve earned it, Col. No hard feelings from me.”
“I appreciate that. What do you think Brandon will say?”
Declan snorted. “He’s gonna be pissed, but what does he expect? No way any of the guys would work for him, the way he’s been the last couple of years. But he won’t like coming home to discover his little brother is his new boss.”
“True,” Colin said. “But I’m glad to know I can count on you to back me up.”
“Always.”
With that one word, Declan reminded Colin of the close bond they’d shared since childhood. As close as they were, though, they were as different as two people could be. While nothing seemed to faze the laid-back Declan, Colin took everything to heart, which had caused him nothing but grief where Brandon was concerned. But those days were over now. They had to be.
“Well, I’d better get going. Are you guys going to dinner at Erin’s on Sunday?”
“We’ll be there,” Dec said as he got up to walk his brother to the door.
“See you, Colin,” Jessica said.
“Bye, Jess.”
“Hey, Col,” Dec said quietly when they reached the door. “Everything’s going to be okay. He’s gonna make it. The Brandon we know would never do what he did to a woman. That’ll stay with him. It’ll keep him straight.”
“Let’s hope so.”
Colin wiped mud smudges off the chrome fender, stashed the Harley under a tarp, and pushed the button on the wall to close the garage door. He entered the house through the kitchen, where the dim glow over the stove created a narrow swath of light. Moving through the dark, he flipped on a lamp in the living room and sank into an easy chair to pull off his boots.
The house was small, but when Colin thought about the wreck it had been when he found it, he was deeply satisfied by how it looked now. He’d spent two years working nights and weekends—while living in the midst of chaos—to renovate the place. There wasn’t an inch in the house that he hadn’t stripped, sanded, painted, or polished. He still felt like there was something he should be doing when he was home, but it was finally done. With some help from his mother and sister, he had comfortable furniture and tolerable curtains that he’d agreed to under tremendous female pressure. He usually kept them open to maximize his view of Oyster Pond.
He sat back and flipped up the recliner’s footrest, suddenly tired down to his bones. At times like this, the house was too quiet. He’d expected to be married with kids by now. Six years earlier, he’d come close, but his fiancée Nicole called off their engagement a month before the wedding. The blow had devastated him, but in time, he’d come to see that she’d done him a favor. Something had been missing between them. He didn’t know what it was, but he hoped he’d recognize it if he was ever lucky enough to find it.
His mother lamented that three of her sons were late bloomers in the love department. Only Aidan had been different. He’d been married at twenty-two and widowed at twenty-nine. Colin had known of no other woman in his brother’s life until Aidan brought Clare home when their father had the heart attack.
He wondered if Declan had finally found his mate in Jessica. She was a nice girl and seemed well suited to Dec, but it was still hard to imagine his younger brother married with a family. He was still such a big kid in so many ways.
The whole family had been disappointed when Brandon’s lovely girlfriend, Valerie, left him, but they couldn’t blame her. She’d hung in with him much longer than she probably should have. His drinking got much worse after Valerie left, and without her keeping tabs on him, Colin had been sucked more and more often into the daily drama of Brandon’s life.
As Colin gave in to the exhaustion and closed his eyes, he thought of Meredith, the woman he met at Al-Anon. She’d been so sweet and sympathetic to everyone, and it was clear they all adored her. There was something so comforting about being on the receiving end of that kind of empathy from people who’d been there and understood. His last thought before sleep took over was that he looked forward to going back for more.
Chapter 7, Day 28
On the last weekend before Brandon was due home, the O’Malleys invaded Boston to celebrate Aidan’s fortieth birthday. His girlfriend Clare surprised him by inviting his family to meet them in the city for the weekend.
After dinner on Friday night, Colin sat with Aidan and watched the others tear up the dance floor in the hotel’s nightclub. Erin’s five kids were right in the middle of the action, and Aidan smiled when eight-year-old Josh spun his grandmother around. The expression on Colleen’s face was priceless.
“Looks like Mum’s met her match,” Colin said, taking a sip from his bottle of Sam Adams.
“He’s going to be a heartbreaker,” Aidan said.
“For sure. It was nice of Clare to do this.”
“I was so surprised when I answered the door and you were all there. She really got me.”
“That’s not easy to do.”
“I must be slipping in my old age.”
Colin thought his brother looked better than he had in years. Some of the hard edges he’d developed as protection in a world without his beloved wife had finally softened. His eyes twinkled as he watched Clare dance with her daughters Jill and Maggie and Erin’s seven-year-old daughter Nina. “You seem really happy, Aid.”
Aidan glanced over at his brother. “I’m going t
o marry her.”
Colin’s eyes widened. “Really?”
Aidan nodded. “If she’ll have me.”
“Why wouldn’t she?”
“She’s been through some tough stuff in the last couple of years. It’s kind of a long story, but none of it matters to me. All I know is I’m happy again, and she’s the reason—her and her girls. They’re great kids. You should see them ski. They came up after Christmas and wore me out, man.”
“How old are they?”
“Jill’s nineteen and a sophomore at Brown. Maggie’s thirteen, and there’s a third one, Kate, who’s eighteen. She’s living in Nashville, chasing the music dream.”
“Is she that good?”
“She really is. I didn’t believe it myself until I heard her sing. She’s hugely talented.”
“Wow. Well, I hope it all works out for you guys.”
“Thanks. What about you? No ladies beating down your door?”
Colin snorted. “Hardly. I’m so busy at work, I don’t have time for anything else.”
“Da told me you agreed to take over the business.”
“I heard you gave me a glowing recommendation.”
“I just told him the truth.”
Their father waved to them as he danced with his wife.
“He looks good,” Aidan said. “Much better than the last time I saw him.”
“He does,” Colin agreed. “Anyway, I appreciate the endorsement.”
“You know I’m just a phone call away if you ever need me, right?”
“I’ll need all the support I can get, especially when Brandon hears about it.”
Aidan’s genial expression turned stormy. “He can bloody well deal with it. It’s his own fault that he’s in the boat he’s in.”
“Are you ever going to forgive him, Aid?”
Aidan’s jaw clenched with tension. “I don’t know.” Colin watched Aidan seek out Clare on the dance floor. She was a petite blonde with dazzling blue eyes, and she’d had the family laughing over dinner with her jokes about being seven years older than Aidan—although she hardly looked it. She winked at him, and his expression softened. “After what he did to her, I don’t know if I can forgive him. I see red whenever I think about it.”
Colin nodded with understanding. He would feel the same way, but he couldn’t help feeling for Brandon, too.
On Sunday evening, after he got home from Boston, Colin took the company truck to the gas station on Main Street to fill it up for the busy week ahead. If he allowed himself to think too hard about what he had to accomplish in the next six days, he’d never be able to sleep. He’d been working for his father’s company for eighteen years and could remember when there used to be an off-season. These days, they stayed busy year round, and it took serious planning and coordination to ensure there was plenty of indoor work for the men during the cold weather. Most winters they also spent many long, dark nights plowing snow, but this year had been a rare exception to that rule.
Colin used his company credit card to pay for the gas and was zoning out watching the numbers click by on the pump when someone called to him. Looking up, he saw Meredith from Al-Anon using the pump across from him, looking adorable in a puffy pink hat over her shiny dark hair.
“Hi, there.” He was delighted to see her and wondered what he should make of that.
“How are you? We missed you on Friday night. Did we scare you away last week?”
“Not at all. I was sorry to miss it this week, but I was in Boston for my brother’s birthday. The big four-oh.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“It was, but the hotel will never be the same.”
Her laughter was almost delicate. She finished pumping her gas and took her receipt from the printer.
“Do you have time for a cup of coffee?” he asked before she could get away.
She smiled. “Sure. Where do you want to go?”
“Is Priscilla’s open this late?”
“I think so. Meet you there?”
“If this thing ever gets its fill of gas, I’ll be there.”
Colin arrived at Priscilla’s fifteen minutes later to find that Meredith had already commandeered a booth.
“Sorry that took so long,” he said when he slid in across from her. She wore a pink sweater, and her cheeks were flushed as if she’d spent most of the day outdoors. “That thing’s a gas guzzler.” He removed his “Chatham Townie” ball cap and put it on the seat next to him.
“Afraid to be mistaken for a tourist?” Meredith asked, amused by the hat.
“God forbid.”
“I noticed the logo on your truck. A friend of mine worked for O’Malley Construction years ago. Paul Tobin. Do you know him?”
Colin realized two things in that moment—his cover was blown, and he didn’t really care. “Sure, I know Paul. He worked for us three or four summers while he was in college. About ten years ago?”
“I think that’s about right. You were his boss?”
“One of them.” He extended a hand to her. “Colin O’Malley.”
She seemed impressed as she shook his hand. “Meredith Chase. I see your company’s trucks everywhere.”
“I guess we’re not anonymous anymore,” Colin said, relieved there were no rings on her left hand and again wasn’t sure why it mattered so much.
She shrugged. “That’s okay. I’ve met some of my best friends through Al-Anon. It’s important we never discuss what happens at the meetings or who we saw there, but there’s no rule about being friends outside the Family Group.”
“I can see how the anonymity helps with inhibitions.”
The waitress came to take their order, and Colin ordered two slices of Priscilla’s famous apple pie to go with their coffee.
“How’s your brother doing?” Meredith asked.
“I’m not sure. He’ll be home Tuesday, so I guess we’ll see then. I wish I’d discovered Al-Anon sooner. I sure could’ve used it the last few years.”
“Is this his first time in rehab?”
“Yes.”
“It might not be his last time, though. You know that, right?”
“I’m cautiously optimistic. He hit a real low point right before he went into rehab, and I think it might’ve been enough to wake him up. At least I hope so.”
“I hope so, too. Do you have a big family? You’ve mentioned two brothers.”
“Three brothers and a sister, who finally became useful to her brothers when she had five kids in five years and took the pressure off us to produce grandchildren.”
Meredith laughed as their coffee and pie was delivered. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this pie,” she moaned a minute later. “I’ll have to be on best behavior for a week.”
Colin chuckled at her dismay. She was by no means heavy. Rather she seemed curvy in all the places that mattered. “So you know all about me, but I know nothing about you.”
She shrugged. “There’s not much to tell. I grew up in Orleans, and I teach fifth grade in Brewster. I have my parents, a sister, a nephew, a cat, and a lot of good friends. Pretty boring, really.”
“That doesn’t sound boring at all. Do you live here in Chatham now?”
She nodded. “Stepping Stones Road. What about you?”
“I have a house on Oyster Bay Lane off Cedar Street.”
“Near the pond?”
He nodded.
“Did you grow up here?”
“Yep. My parents still live in the same house on Shore Road.”
Her eyes lit up. “Oh, I love it out there. I walk on the beach at Chatham Light every chance I get.”
“We always say the O’Malleys keep the neighborhood humble. My parents were there long before it became swanky. In fact, in a move that I’m sure made the neighbors cringe, my mother had the house painted Pepto-Bismol pink two years ago.”
“I know that house! I love it!”
Colin groaned. “Tell me you’re kidding.”
“I’m not. It’s
so whimsical.”
“If you ever meet my mother, you can’t tell her that.”
Meredith laughed. “I’m not making any promises.” She reached for the check, but Colin swiped it away from her.
“This is on me.”
“Thank you,” she said with a faint blush to her cheeks that he found charming.