Page 99 of Making Choices

“It’s good to see you too, lil sis.”

Cherub squeals, clapping her hands together. “You’re finally out of hospital.”

“Yep.” The grin on Fret’s face is an exact inversion of the grimace clouding my mumma’s expression. “I demanded my freedom, and they had no choice but to give in. Six weeks is more than enough time to be locked up.”

“Foolish boy,” Mumma scoffs. She pinches his check, following up with a flick of his ear lobe. “You should be in physical rehab, not dischargin’ yourself to that pigpen you share with your brothers.”

“With Sander and Cub?”

Fret nods, although he avoids meeting his sister’s eyes. I don’t blame him. If Cherub was a cartoon character, there would be steam billowing from her ears. Although willing to ignore sound advice when it comes to her own health, that same lax attitude doesn’t extend to her brothers or the Shamrocks.

Which Fret’s about to remember as soon as she’s done ripping him a new arsehole.

“So...” Cherub slams her hands on her hips. “Let me get this straight… you’ve discharged yourself from hospital, counter to your doctors’ advice?”

“Well, yeah,” he mumbles.

“And you’re planning on moving back in with Sander and Cub, the two biggest grots known to mankind—according to, ah, you?” She thrusts a finger in his face, then counts off her next points as she says them. “Known to mark their love of threesomes with discarded condoms, unable to take a piss without spraying the seat, the floor, and the wall, and incapable of loading a dishwasher or wiping down a kitchen counter, let alone identify a rubbish bin. That’s who you’ve decided to live with?”

“Yep.”

“Rather than check into the rehab centre with the world-class physiotherapist that it took me days of research to find for you?”

Fret nods, shifting uncomfortably in his wheelchair as he shoots me a pleading look. I give him a smirk that tells him he’s on his own, and he scowls in return. Cherub’s gaze flicks between the two of us, then her eyes narrow to slits. Sucking in a breath, I take a step backward to get the fuck out of the firing line.

“Don’t look at him, look at me,” she orders when her brother sends another pleading glance my way. “Because I don’t want you to miss a word of what I say next—”

“Cherub, listen to me. I know what I’m doin’—”

“No. You don’t get to try to rationalise this bad decision… not to me, and certainly not to yourself.”

“It’s my body, my life. If I don’t want to do this rehab bullshit, then I don’t have to.”

“Oh, really… so if I started cutting again, you’d be okay with it? You know, my body, my life, and all that bullshit.”

As the Mayberry siblings quarrel, Mumma sidles up to me. I lift my arm and she tucks herself into my side. Standing at five-foot tall, my mother barely reaches my ribs. When I hug her, she basically purrs with satisfaction, inwardly preening as Cherub starts to override her flustered younger brother’s arguments with facts and sheer will.

Mumma chuckles and the reason for her mid-afternoon visit begins to make sense.

For such a small woman, her ability to make us all dance to her tune is supernatural.

“You brought him here deliberately, didn’t you?” I ask at a level only she can hear.

The smile she hits me with is blinding. “I’ve taught you well, mo ionmhas.”

“I think it’s less about your teachings and more the fear of ending up on the receiving end that makes me awake to your tactics.”

“Tomato, tomahto.”

“You’re diabolical.” I swallow down a grunt when she reaches up and tweaks my ear. “Okay. Okay. I take it back. You’re effective, not evil.”

My mother smirks at me and reminds me where Hunter gets his mean streak from. “Why, thank ya, laddie.”

“You agree, don’t you, Crystal? Slash… I’m making sense. Right?”

Like a marionette who’s had his strings tugged, I redirect my attention back to the bickering pair. Although I have absolutely no idea what we’re supposed to be agreeing to, I still nod my head half a dozen times. My mumma retains the same ability to focus on two things at once that she possessed when I was a kid and doesn’t skip a beat before she responds.

“Of course, that’s why I suggested we pop in here to have a quick chat with you.”

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