by Mari Carr
“Why would you subject your family to that?”
He chuckled. “They all know your mom. And just like you, they’re fine with her. In small doses. We’ll divide and conquer. What do you say?”
Kelli quietly studied his face for a full minute, obviously giving him time to come to his senses. He stared her down.
“I think that might be the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
He laughed loudly. “Shit. Talk about a low bar.”
Kelli tilted her head. “Seriously?”
He revised his statement. “Okay, yeah. You’re right. It’s a damn high bar.”
“Just the same,” she said, “maybe you should clear it with your family. I really don’t want to impose.”
“It’s not an imposition.” Colm knew his family would be fine with it, especially when they found out about his and Kelli’s change in relationship status.
Deep down, Colm was hoping this Christmas would be the first in a lifetime of holidays he and Kelli would spend together as a couple. And he knew perfectly well that meant Christmases with Barb as well.
Colm pressed his forehead against hers. “I guess you’re going to make me go be social, aren’t you? Or can I convince you to go upstairs for a quickie?”
“No quickie.” She shook her head, though she was grinning widely. His invitation to Christmas seemed to have lifted the weight of the world off her shoulders. “I haven’t had my pumpkin pie yet, and there’s no way I’m taking a chance on missing it. You know how those vultures are once the desserts come out.”
Kelli’s favorite part of Thanksgiving was his mom’s pumpkin pie. She loved it so much, Mom baked one for her for Christmas every year that, as her mom said, “Kelli doesn’t have to share.”
And Kelli didn’t.
She didn’t even slice the Christmas gift pie. Just grabbed a fork and went after it.
“Well, if you’re not going to come up for the quickie, you’re coming up to spend the night. Nonnegotiable.”
Kelli gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I’m not a fool, Colm. I’m not about to fight you on something I want. Badly.” She ran her hand down his chest suggestively before drifting even lower. She just barely grazed his covered cock, but it was enough to wake the boy up. “I’m thinking a blowjob might be on the books, thanks to the Christmas invite.”
“Dammit,” he muttered. “An erection and jeans don’t mix, beauty. You know that.”
She gave him a wicked grin and another stroke, leaving him rock-hard. “I do know that. That’s what makes it so much fun for me.”
“Payback’s a bitch, Kell. Just remember.”
She lifted one shoulder as if she didn’t have a care in the world, then she turned back toward the dining area of the pub just as Aunt Riley yelled out, “Dessert!”
He heard Kelli laughing, perfectly aware she’d left him at a disadvantage as she disappeared among the crowd of his family, all of whom were jockeying for position around the cakes and pies.
Colm readjusted his pants, counted to twenty, then pictured Barb in a bikini. By the time he’d gotten himself under control and to the dessert line, the pumpkin pie was long gone. He looked over and spotted Kelli with a huge slice.
He narrowed his eyes because, well, it was his favorite too.
She lifted her hand and revealed two forks.
Oh yeah, Colm thought.
This was definitely love.
Now he just had to convince her.
Chapter Twelve
“Well, look what the cat dragged in. Haven’t seen you since Thanksgiving, lad. Come have a pint with me.”
Colm grinned as Pop Pop waved him over. He’d been in court all day and he was running on fumes. He had actually just planned to swing by to pick up some more clothes, then head over to Kelli’s.
But a pint with his grandfather was something he was never too busy to say no to.
His dad came out of the back and smiled when he saw him. “Hey, stranger. Where the hell have you been?”
Colm sank down on the stool next to Pop Pop. “Long day in court.”
“That accounts for today, but you’ve been scarce since that Friendsgiving party you all throw every year. What’s going on with you?” Dad asked.
Obviously, Padraig hadn’t filled Dad and Pop Pop in on Kelli. He’d have to remember to thank his twin. Kelli was right. It was fun to drop the bomb.
“Well…” he drawled, dragging out the word. It had the desired effect.
Pop Pop loved secrets, and he winked. “Oh yeah. Our boy’s up to something.”
Colm grinned wickedly. “You think so?”
Of course, Pop Pop, the astute man, had been around the night of karaoke. The night the light went on, so Colm suspected his grandfather already had a guess about what was coming. “Confession is good for the soul, Colm. Let’s have it.”
“You think I have something to confess?” he teased.
“Jesus. We don’t have all day. The happy hour crowd is going to descend soon, Son. While I know the lawyer in you likes to plead the fifth—” Dad joked.
Colm grinned. “Neither confirm nor deny, Dad.”
“Yeah. You made my life a living hell with that motto when you were a teenager. But I think you’ll feel better if you just come out with it. Who is she?”
Colm laughed. “Kelli.”
“Kelli who?” Dad asked, proving to Colm just how unlikely his feelings for the girl he’d known since he was five were.
Colm rolled his eyes. “Kelli,” he stressed.
“Paddy’s Kelli?” It made sense that Dad considered Kelli Padraig’s. The two of them had always been thick as thieves, while he and Kelli had solely existed in a barely tolerant of each other realm for most of their lives. Even so…he was getting damn tired of hearing her referred to as his brother’s.
“Yeah.”
Dad rubbed his chin, not bothering to conceal his surprise. “Huh. Well how ’bout that? Gotta admit, I didn’t see that one coming.”
Pop Pop clapped his hands together. “I can’t tell you how happy this makes me, lad. That girl is the bee’s knees.”
Colm took a sip of the Guinness his father had just set down in front of him. “Yeah. She is.” Then he looked at his dad. “And it took me by surprise too.”
“When did this start up?” Dad asked.
“Halloween.”
“Ahhhh.” His father nodded. “And now I understand your gratefulness for blackouts. I’ll have to tell your mom. She’s been curious about it since Thanksgiving.”
“Yeah. It’s been a pretty awesome November. It’s just…” Colm was happier than he’d been in a very long time, but even so, he was aware of the ax poised just over his head.
He needed advice, and he figured these two men were the perfect ones to give it to him. They’d both fought for and won the hearts of their true loves.
“You and Mom were friends before you fell in love, right?” Colm asked his dad.
Dad nodded. “Yeah. She was married to that abusive asshole, James, when she first started coming to the pub every Wednesday. We talked about everything under the sun. Then she got divorced and we fell in love, got married.”
“You’re forgetting she left for a year, Tris,” Pop Pop added.
“I like to purposely forget that part, Pop. Killed me when she was gone. But I understand why she did it. She needed time to figure out how to stand on her own two feet.”
“So you were in love with her before she left,” Colm clarified.
“I’m Collins through and through, Colm. Which means I fell fast and hard and forever…way before she left. But you know all this. Why the questions?”
Pop Pop stared him down. “For a man who considers love a curse, your interest seems odd. Unless…”
“Unless?”
Pop Pop didn’t push. Instead, he said, “I think it’s time for you to explain the it’s just part of your previous comment. What’s going on, lad?”
“Kelli has set something in motion as far as
her future is concerned. Something she planned to do alone. Which means the timing on starting a relationship is…not great.”
Dad frowned. “That’s vague as hell.”
“Her clock is ticking,” Colm said. “She’s sworn off the dating scene and made the decision to become a mother. On her own.”
“I see,” Dad said. “I have to admit that doesn’t surprise me. Kelli’s never had much luck in love, though I can’t figure out what’s wrong with the single men in this city. She’s definitely a catch.”
“She doesn’t suffer fools gladly,” Colm said.
Dad chuckled. “That’s true. She doesn’t. She also doesn’t make rash decisions, so if she’s decided she can handle being a mother on her own, she can.”
“Tell us the rest of it, lad.”
Pop Pop really didn’t need Colm to say the words. He already knew what he was going to say. But the old guy was canny, which meant he also knew Colm needed to come clean about everything.
“I’m in love with her.”
Dad blew out a long breath. “Damn. I was starting to worry we’d never see the day. You’ve changed girlfriends more than most people change underwear.”
“Very funny,” Colm replied, eyes narrowed, though there was no heat behind the phrase. “I think she’s the one.”
Pop Pop studied his face. “You don’t think, Colm. You know.”
“Yeah. I do know. But like I said, the timing on this…is tricky.”
“This isn’t a new relationship, Colm. I venture to guess you know Kelli better than any woman you’ve ever dated,” Dad said.
“I already know all the stuff about her that’s going to drive me crazy, and she knows the same about me.”
Dad laughed. “Well, that’s one way to look at it.”
“So you’re right. This isn’t the beginning, but…Kelli doesn’t consider this a beginning to anything. She thinks we’re just—” Colm stopped when he remembered who he was talking to.
Pop Pop winked at him. “Your father and I have been around long enough to fill in the rest of that statement. So am I to understand you haven’t spoken to her about wanting a commitment? A relationship?”
Colm shrugged. “It’s only been a couple of weeks, and given the fact she’s just sworn off men…that she’s seriously pursuing this single motherhood thing…”
“Let’s break it into pieces. She wants children, Colm,” Pop Pop said. “That desire isn’t going to go away. Having kids is a huge step, one that Kelli is obviously ready to take. What about you?”
“I want kids.” As soon as Colm said it, he realized he probably wanted them every bit as much as Kelli. “I’ve always wanted kids.”
“You’ll be a great father, lad,” Pop Pop said, gripping his shoulder. “At heart, you’re as peaceful and gentle as a dove. Wonderful attributes for a man with children.”
“Shit. You found a way to make me hate the meaning of my name less. How long have you been holding on to that gem?”
Pop Pop winked, even as he jokingly said, “Language.”
Colm smiled appreciatively at his grandfather, touched by his genuine belief in him. “If I could be half the father you and Dad were, I’d be happy. Not sure how either one of you did it.”
Pop Pop had lost Grandma Sunday when all of his kids were still living at home, Aunt Keira—the oldest, only eighteen at the time—all the way down to Uncle Sean, who’d still been in elementary school. Somehow he’d managed to run the pub and raise their seven kids on his own.
Pop Pop chuckled. “Well, I’m not going to say it was all sunshine and roses. God knows Riley and Sean tested me at times.”
Colm glanced at his dad, grinning. “And I know Paddy was a handful.”
Dad laughed. “Yeah. Paddy. Let’s go with that. So, you’ve been dating Kelli for a couple of weeks. That’s early in any relationship to be thinking about kids.”
“I know, but…” Colm didn’t want to say what he was really thinking because he figured he’d sound like an idiot. Two weeks was too early.
“But it hasn’t been two weeks,” Pop Pop finished for him. “Not really.”
“Seem to recall having a similar conversation like this with Paddy,” Dad added. “The day after he met Mia.”
Colm took a swig of beer, hoping it would dislodge the lump in his throat. “He was ready to marry her that day.”
“He was. And he and Mia had only known each other hours. Pop and I told him to slow his roll, to take some time to get to know her. I’m not sure…”
“Not sure?” Colm prodded.
His dad shrugged. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty. I probably would say the same thing to him today, but the fact remains, Paddy was right. He knew she was meant to be his.”
“Kelli and I have known each other a long time. A lifetime.”
“The heart knows what the heart wants, Colm. My heart beat for Lane from the first second she sat down at the end of this bar and we started talking. And my feelings for her continued to grow. They’re still growing. Every day I look at her and can’t believe she’s mine. That she can still spend year after year with this grumpy, opinionated, getting-bigger-around-the-middle old man.”
“You finally realized you and Kelli are both walking in the same direction. That you have the same hopes and desires.” Pop Pop had described his relationship with Grandma Sunday that way once. Said that love had snuck up on him, one look, one word, and then…
“Click,” Colm whispered, recalling that conversation so many years ago.
Pop Pop smiled widely. “Just like Romeo and Juliet. But with a better ending.”
“So I’m not crazy?” Colm asked.
“No, lad.” Pop Pop squeezed his shoulder. “You’re just in love. And it’s about damn time.”
Colm laughed. “Language, Pop Pop.”
Chapter Thirteen
Kelli sat on her couch, staring at the TV like a zombie. The damn thing wasn’t even on, but she didn’t have the energy to lean forward to pick up the remote. Mojo was curled next to her, purring away, happy to have her home from work.
Kindergartners in the month of December, hopped up on Santa Claus and candy canes, were a blight on the planet. There were only two more school days until holiday break and she was not going to make it.
Her phone pinged, and she groaned. It was on the coffee table next to the remote. She considered ignoring it, until it pinged again.
She forced herself forward, reaching for the phone and the remote at the same time. Work smarter, not harder. Then she fell back against the couch once more.
She glanced at the screen and smiled. Then she caught herself.
She was smiling at a goddamn text from Colm Collins. Padraig would tease her endlessly after her years of bitching about Colm if he could see her now.
Did you eat yet?
Colm didn’t even bother to wait for a reply before texting again.
On my way. Stopping for takeout.
He was bringing food.
Right to her house.
There were a lot of past sins she could forgive him for, simply for feeding her. The Barbie doll haircut in kindergarten; the Smelly Kelli nickname; telling the entire fourth grade class she had lice when she didn’t; stealing her clothes one night senior year when she was skinny-dipping in a friend’s pool, so she’d had to drive home wrapped in just a towel.
Maybe she didn’t forgive him for that one. Her mother had been awake when she got home and still brought up “the naked incident” whenever she wanted to make a point about Kelli being too wild and needing to settle down.
She texted him back.
Need wine too.
She could almost imagine him chuckling.
Bottle enough or should I go for a case?
Okay. He was forgiven for the naked incident too.
The man knew her well. Very well. That was proving to be very helpful. Endearing, even.
Is that a rhetorical question? It’s Monday.
She half expected
him to throw in her face the fact there were only two more days in the workweek before holiday break, but the wise man held his piece.
Kelli glanced around the room and considered tidying up a bit. It was a brief lapse she recovered from quickly. Instead, she turned on the TV to watch the episode of “Ellen” she’d recorded.
Colm let himself in just as the show ended. He’d always had a key to her place—or, she should say, she’d always kept an extra key at the Collins Dorm in case she ever locked herself out. She wasn’t sure exactly when Colm had taken it from the tiny dish of “extra” keys that resided on a small table in their living room and added it to his keyring, but since it meant she didn’t have to get up and let him in, she was cool with it.
Mojo hopped up from the couch instantly, rubbing around Colm’s ankles. He’d stolen her cat, the fickle feline perfectly content with Kelli until Colm showed up. Then it was like Kelli was invisible.
His arms were laden down with Chinese take-out boxes, and she laughed when she saw him carrying an honest-to-God case of wine.
She placed her hand on her heart. “Colm. My hero.”
He tilted his head and stared at her for a second like he was waiting for something.
“What?” she asked.
“Paddy gets a marriage proposal and all he ever does is bring you a glass of wine. I’m carrying a case here, Kell. And juggling takeout.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll let you go down on me after dinner.”
“You’re a cruel, cruel woman.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
Colm carried the food and the wine into the kitchen, Mojo hot on his heels. He bent down to pick up her cat, rubbing behind Mojo’s ears, cooing ridiculous—but sweet—words to the tiny creature.
“Who’s a good kitty? Who’s the sweetest kitty in the world?” Mojo rubbed her nose against Colm’s cheek, as big a fan of his beard as Kelli was.
He put Mojo down, opening a can of cat food to put in her bowl.
Kelli considered standing up to help him dish their dinner out and pour the wine, but her body was rejecting all thoughts of movement. It really had been the day from hell. Usually she had more energy, but today had zapped every ounce of it.