Page 13 of A Very Un-Shakespeare Romance
“Oh, for the love of…” Robbie tipped his head back and regarded the ceiling. “I’m the cop in the family, remember?”
“But we do need a cover story,” Billie pressed.
He gave up. “Yes. As close to the truth as we can get. Because God, I hate lying.”
“No legacy is so rich as honesty…”
Robbie glanced at Billie before narrowing his eyes at Tim. “Have you finally lost it? What gibberish did you just spout off?”
“It’s Shakespeare,” their baby brother stated with a haughty brow lift. “His wisdom relates to all kinds of things.”
Billie gave a snort. “Like in that old Gwyneth Paltrow movie Robbie used to watch, where she’s practically naked—”
“Look, I was a horny teenager whose mother unearthed every dirty magazine I smuggled into my room.” He narrowed his gaze at their troubadour. “But that doesn’t explain why Timmy here is quoting some dead guy. Explain.”
Tim’s smile widened in his angular face. “I seem to have struck a chord. Also, really gross about the Gwyneth Paltrow thing. She’s a wicked successful businesswoman.”
“And Kate Winslet’s an Oscar winner,” Billie broke in. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy that scene inTitanicwhen some chick forces me to watch it.”
“You’re both disgusting.” Tim shook himself, fighting a smile. “If you must know—”
“We really must,” Billie said with a laugh.
“I’m a new fan of the bard. One of the women in our retirement home is a former English teacher, and she’s gone blind from diabetes. I read to her, and we discovered her roommate used to do off-Broadway Shakespeare shows. Her roommate and I started acting out the lines for her, and then the rest of our retirees thought it would be fun to do some productions. It’s a great way to keep their memories active—better than crossword puzzles even.”
“Or sudoku.” Billie laughed. “I told Pop he needed to start doing it when he called me Danny the other day.”
“He probably couldn’t distinguish between you and Danny because you’re both jackasses,” Tim shot back. “Oh, and one more thing. The woman I’m seeing really loves Shakespeare’s sonnets.”
Was baby bro gloating? Robbie couldn’t tell, so he elbowed Billie to signal that it wasn’t time to rag on him about it. “Did we know you were seeing someone?”
Tim took a swig from his bottle. “Nope. It’s going well, so why would I screw it up by having her meet my idiot brothers? You put Kathleen’s husband in the police interrogation room.”
Robbie winced. “That wasbeforeshe and Declan got married. I had to see what kind of man he was, didn’t I? Plus, they’d had a huge fight.”
“And the end justifies the means.” Billie slapped him on the back. “Isn’t that from Shakespeare, Timmy?”
“Not that I know of.” He glared at him, likely because of his hated nickname, Timmy.“All’s well that ends wellseems more apt here.”
“Terrific.” Billie slapped Robbie’s back again. “Glad we got that settled. Back to our cover story. We’ll keep things light because that’s in the kids’ best interest.”
“That’s all that’s important now,” Tim said, taking a sip of his beer. “We need a united front of sensitivity and positivity.”
“Oh, Jesus, here we go again,” Billie complained.
“Stop saying Jesus,” Tim cautioned. “Didn’t you hear me about not cussing?”
“That’s a cuss word?” Billie’s chin jutted out. “He’s a historical figure and the son—”
“You use it like a swear word, Billie.” Judging by Tim’s grin, he was clearly enjoying this. “Use something like holy cow or Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat!”
“And what do you suggest, Shakespeare, for fuck and fucking?” Billie asked with an edge in his voice.
Robbie watched Billie pick up another shell as if weighing the merits of throwing it across the room despite their agreement not to roughhouse. He was ready to catch his brother’s arm mid-throw if necessary.
Tim’s eyes dipped to Billie’s hand before he pursed his lips. “Fudge. Freaking. Frigging. Fecking—”
“We’ll do our best to use alternate words, Tim.” Robbie could see the smoke starting to come out of Billie’s bald head, so he figured it was best to intervene. “On another note, I really am grateful you both came. I thought about taking off with the girls alone, but I figured it would be better to have more backup. Mickey offered to come along too, but I told him I needed him in Boston, working discreetly with IA to find those dirty cops. If for any crazy reason the Kellys find us, which I don’t expect they will, given all our precautions, then I wanted to be with someone who could take the girls and run.”
