Page 15 of Heart Strings
“No, there’s—”There’s been no one since you.My tongue transforms into cotton at the thought of saying that out loud. I clear my throat. “I’m focusing on school. No time for that.”
“Right, right.” Aidan nods vigorously, the way he does on those rare occasions he’s nervous.
“Are you bringing a plus-one?”
We’ve never had a post-relationship debrief, no sense of closure. One day, he got the call every struggling musician dreams of, but it came at a cost: us. We both knew things couldn’t be the same between us if he was on the road. For the sake of my sanity, I decided I’d rather not know what his shiny new life looks like. For all I know, he has a famous girlfriend.
“I’m taking some time with my family. Working on new material,” he says. “Keeping out of trouble.”
Relief rushes in and my mask of casual indifference slips into an unconscious smile.Fuck fuck fuck. The corners of my mouth drop. I jerk my thumb back toward the A&E unit like a hitchhiker. “I need to get back to work now.”
Chapter 9
Aidan
The ghoulish grinningface of a ventriloquist dummy peeks out from the darkness when I open the wardrobe in the guest room.
“Holy shite!”
I stumble back, slamming it shut. “Fionn! Marie!”
Laughter rings out from the hallway. Their Christmas bathroom prank had been so successful, our da thought it was Marie shrieking and not me. Blame the R. L. Stine books I devoured as a kid, but nothing is creepier than a ventriloquist dummy. Fionn tumbles into the room with a shite-eating grin.
I rip the wardrobe open again and grab the dummy, tossing it at his chest. The wooden body hits his sternum with a thud. “You will cry when I exact my revenge.”
Marie walks in and he thrusts it at her as if we’re playing a game of Hot Potato. She launches it onto the bed. Fionn plops down beside it, unfazed. I resist the urge to snatch up the demonic thing and throw it in the bin, only because it belongs to Marie.
“Where are you headed?”
“Callum and Lark’s stag/hen party,” I remind him. “Lo will be there.”
Fionn picks up the dummy and shoves his hand inside. Speaking from one corner of his mouth, he goes, “Oooh! Can I come, too?”
“Stop that right now. It’s…unsettling.”
“The dummy isn’t what’s unsettled you,” Marie says. “I saw you and Lo talking at the hospital.”
The relieved uptick of Cielo’s mouth has haunted me since. When I told her I’d be attending the wedding without a plus-one, a brief smile had flashed across her face. That had to mean something, right?
“Don’t get excited.” I ought to listen to my own advice.
Marie looked up to Lo so much during our relationship; she’d always wanted a sister. Growing up an only child, Lo had wanted that, too. For a time, they filled that role for each other. Lo helped her with homework and taught Marie to apply feathered eyelashes after she’d lost hers to chemo. It really felt like she was a part of my family in that moment. I imagined her being a part of my family, my life, forever; something I’d never thought before.
“We were just trying to get over the awkwardness between us before we spend all afternoon trapped on this tiny boat together.”
Marie raises a brow. “Didn’tyouarrange this party?”
“Yes.”
“So you planned a party where you’d be trapped together in close quarters…” Fionn says, tenderly tucking the dummy under the duvet. Sick in the head, that one. When we were kids, hetrapped me in the pantry and stuck a mop in the handle to lock me inside. The little bastard took full advantage of his younger age with the knowledge that I couldn’t retaliate. Him and Marie both.
“Callum has social anxiety. We needed to keep it small for his sake.”
“Right,” Marie mutters skeptically.
It is true. And I wanted to do something special to make up for missing their engagement party last year since I’d been touring. I knew Callum would enjoy a chance to experience the bay from one of the sailboats he loves to watch. It was only a convenient coincidence that I chose a tour in the smallest ship: a twenty-footer with a fixed boom and stays. One that would practically keep Lo in my lap the entire afternoon.
“Hey, remember that shirt Cielo liked? You used to wear it all the time?” Fionn asks. “You should pick that one today. I found it in the wardrobe when Mam made me clean up. Surprised you left it behind last visit.”
