Page 333 of Keeping 13

“Well, she’s Joey’s,” Tadhg explained gruffly. “So when he’s not around, she won’t be, either.”

“Oh, okay,” Ollie replied, happy to accept that explanation. “He should keep her, though. She’s so pretty.”

“Yeah.” Tadhg nodded in agreement. “She’s something else.”

“Tadhg Lynch,” I teased. “Are you crushing onAoife?”

His cheeks turned bright pink. “No.”

“Aww,” I swooned. “You’re so cute.”

“Oh, fuck off,” he shot back huffily.

“And you’re even cuter now that your voice is breaking,” I snickered. “My little Tadhg is growing up.” Waggling my brows, I asked, “Should we havethe talk?”

“About Johnny sneaking in and out of your room every night of the week when he was here?Naked,” he shot back, not missing a beat. “That talk? Sure. Do you want to have it here, or down in the kitchen with hismother?”

I swiftly snapped my mouth shut.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he answered himself, giving me a knowing smirk.

“Darren’s driving down for the weekend to help Dellie while John’s gone to the match,” Ollie said then. “I hope he brings Alex.”

“I hope Alexdoesn’tbring Darren,” Tadhg countered with a devilish grin.

“Be nice.” I chuckled. “He’s probably going to have his car full of presents for you guys.”

“And rightly so,” Tadhg agreed. “He owes us five years’ worth of them.”

“True,” Ollie agreed solemnly.

“You two are terrible,” I said, laughing.

“Do you think he’s nervous for today?” Tadhg asked. “Johnny?”

“No,” Ollie answered for me. “He’s Johnny. He’s not scared of anything—and he’s got his dad with him.” He smiled. “John.”

“God, get over this fascination with John, will ya?” Tadhg muttered. “You’re like a stalker.”

“Like you and Dellie?” Ollie countered. “Youloveher.”

“Yeah, I do,” Tadhg shot back, unblinking. “A lot.”

“Yeah, me too.” Ollie sighed happily. “She’s the best.”

“That food,” Tadhg added wistfully. “So much food.”

“Shannon’s getting fat,” Ollie tossed out. “She loves Dellie’s food, too.”

“I’m a size 8, you thug,” I choked out, offended. “I weigh seven and a half stone. I’m not fat.”

“You don’t call girls fat, Ol,” Tadhg groaned. “Remember what Joey told us? They’re always skinny—even when they’re whales.”

“Oh, yeah,” Ollie replied sheepishly. “But she’s up that whole stone, remember? Dellie was crying ’cause she was so happy about it? Remember? The doctors said Shannon was bones and skin and had to get the stones up or she’d get sicker.”

“Skin and bones,” Tadhg corrected with a pained sigh. “And don’t worry about it, Shan. You’re still skinny as a rake.”

“I was never a rake,” I huffed, feeling self-conscious. “Stop talking about it.”

---