She hadn’t run away screaming when he asked her to hang out with him. He took that as a decent sign. And now, she was walking with him through his childhood neighborhood.
He’d never brought a girl home before. Sure, he’d introduced a few to his family. Hard not to when he spent so much time with them, but this was different. He wanted Kathy to know where he came from.
Pointing at the tree on the corner, he said, “That was where I fell the second time I broke my arm.”
“Second time?” she asked.
“I suffered a few broken bones in childhood. Broke both arms—different times.”
“How did you fall out of the tree?”
“I was dumb. I did something to piss Jimmy off, and he was way bigger than me. Still is. I’d climbed the tree to get away from him. I went too high and then fell.” They got to the tree, and he looked up into the branches. “It sucked because I ended up missing half of hockey season. The upside was that Jimmy felt so guilty that he did anything I wanted the whole time I wore that cast.”
Kathy shook her head, making her curls bounce. With a smile, she said, “You started the trouble and then took advantage of his guilt. And Jimmy says Moira’s the menace.”
“How about you? Were you trouble growing up?”
With her lips pressed together, she shook her head again. “No one to get into trouble with.”
He knew she was an only child. Every time he thought about it, it seemed so lonely. Bringing up her childhood took the smile from her face, so he changed the subject again. He pointed at the house they were in front of. “Danny Lynch lived here. He was my partner in crime for most of my childhood. He was the one who told me to climb the tree to get away from Jimmy.”
“Does he still live here?”
“No. His was one of the few families that actually left this neighborhood.”
“Is the neighborhood that fabulous or do people stay because it’s what they know?”
“I never thought much about it. I guess a little of both. It’s a tight-knit community in a huge city. Not too many people in Chicago can say they know all their neighbors. This is like a small town. We take care of our own here. But it’s the people who make it that way, not the location itself.”
“I never had that. We moved around when I was a kid, so I sampled a lot of neighborhoods. Some were good, some not, but we never lived in a place like this.” She tucked her free hand into the pocket of her shorts as they crossed to walk in the middle of the street. “Do you miss it?”
“Yeah. But I don’t regret moving out. I needed to get away, become my own person, away from Jimmy. But one day, I want to buy a house in a neighborhood like this. I want my kids to have a childhood like I had.”
“You want kids?”
She said it like he’d just announced that he wanted to have an orgy in the street.
“Yeah.” Then he thought maybe her question was less about him and more about her. “Don’t you?”
“Maybe. I’m still working on me, so I’m not ready to try to teach someone else how to live.”
He took a few steps in front of her and walked backward as he talked. Eyeing her up and down, he said, “Working on what? You look damn fine.”
“I’m working on the inside stuff. Nothing you can see.”
“Anything I can help with?”
She shot him a glare, but couldn’t hold it and smiled.
He moved beside her again and put an arm around her shoulders. “Just tell me this. Am I the cause of any of the things you need to work on?”
He hated the thought that his careless attitude five years ago caused ongoing damage to her.
“You didn’t cause anything. But being with you taught me about myself and what I need to work on.”
“You want to tell me about it?”
“Not today. Today is about having fun.”
She didn’t shut him down completely. In fact, she left the door open for the conversation to happen at some point in the future.
“Tell me about the rest of the people here,” she said.
Leaving his arm around her, he pointed with the hand holding his beer. “That’s the Doyles’ house. They were the only family that could give the O’Malleys a run for our money. Half of them got kicked out of school at one point or another. If the gossip is true, one even did some jail time.”
“Sounds like a rough bunch.”
“Rough, yeah, but not bad. Their mom was raising them alone. Seven kids. Six boys and one girl. One day, the dad just up and left. Rumors ran wild then. Some say he had a girlfriend who lured him away from his family. Others say he was into the mob for gambling and they made him disappear.”
“So much intrigue. Do you have a theory?” She kept her voice low, as if she was afraid someone might overhear.
“For as gossipy as this neighborhood is, and make no mistake—Moira is always in the thick of it—that’s one thing that isn’t talked about much. The boys never mention their dad. Personally, I don’t buy the girlfriend thing. Michael Doyle loved his boys.” Kevin couldn’t imagine ever abandoning family, especially your kids. He’d hung out with Ronan Doyle growing up, even though Ronan was a few years older. They had never become really close, but they’d been friendly—friendly enough to get into trouble together. Kids with only one parent in a neighborhood like this shared that bond. Kids like the O’Learys didn’t understand what it was like.
Kevin stopped two doors down. “This is where the McCarthys live. They are everything the Doyles aren’t. Two girls, two boys, all of them straight A’s through school, captain of whatever sports they joined, leaders of everything. I bet they never needed
