In a moment of sweet bliss, Jimmy pulled Moira into his embrace and kissed her. Kathy almost sighed. Envy was such an ugly thing. But she wanted that. She was glad Moira found it, even if it was with Jimmy. Kathy would never quite understand the attraction to a guy who was little more than a caveman, but somehow they made it work.
She shoved another handful of paper into the industrial-sized trash bag. Moira pushed Jimmy toward the door with a stack of presents. Then to Kathy, she said, “Let me help.”
Kathy shook her head. “This was your shower. As the bride, you don’t do any work.” She eyed the pile by the door. “Plus, you’ll need your energy to unpack all of that.”
Moira laughed. “That’s Jimmy’s job. He has some kind of organization in his head for everything.”
“How are you going to get all of that back to your house?”
Moira’s gaze bounced around the room. “Don’t kill me.” She took a deep breath and then added, “If anyone deserves to be killed for this, it’s Jimmy, but since I love him and I want to spend my life with him, don’t kill him either, okay?”
Kathy ignored the bad feeling Moira’s words conjured because when Moira got into full-on rambling mode, she was hilarious. “Just spill.”
“Kevin’s coming to help bring everything to our house.” Moira closed her eyes as if to brace for impact.
Kathy froze. She’d expected this. At some point, they would have to interact. Of course, she didn’t really want him in her house. She’d wanted to keep any interaction with him impersonal. Having him in her apartment was anything but impersonal. Inhaling deeply, she said, “It’s fine. He’s doing a good thing, best man and brotherly duty all rolled into one. Besides, if Jimmy listened to Kevin, he wouldn’t think about whether this would bother me. He probably just believed what Kevin said about us.”
“What’s that?”
She let the trash bag slide to the floor and she plopped on the couch. She’d never mentioned her conversation with Kevin to Moira. Kathy always avoided any situation where he might show up, and Moira treated Kevin like Voldemort—he who must not be named. Plus, Kathy never wanted to cause a problem between Moira and Jimmy. “At your engagement party, he told me that you said he broke my heart—thanks for that, by the way—and he was confused. He thought I broke it off because I just slipped away.”
“What? God, he’s such an ass. How could he not know that you were done with him because he cheated?”
Kathy gave a half-hearted shrug. She’d asked herself that often enough, but never quite arrived at an answer. “We were young and weren’t very good at communicating. He was keeping it casual, and I’ve never done casual. So some blame was on me.” After all, she’d never even confronted him.
Moira sat next to her. “I still want to throat punch him.”
Kathy laughed. She loved having such a close friend. She’d always wanted a sister, and Moira was as close as she got. “Thanks, but that might cause a rift with your new family.”
“Ugh.” Moira performed her best eye roll.
A thump at the door caught their attention. Jimmy came back in with his brother trailing behind. Kathy was struck by their differences. Where Jimmy was broad and muscular, Kevin was lean. They both shared the same dark hair and blue eyes, so there was no mistaking them as siblings.
Making eye contact, Kevin smiled at her and said, “Hi.”
The smile still got to her. God, how she hated that it did. His smile was part wicked, part boy-next-door charm. Such a lethal mix. She nodded and pushed up from the couch to resume cleanup.
“Moira, baby, you had a party and didn’t invite me?” Kevin boomed from the doorway.
“It was a bridal shower. Women only.”
“Jimmy was here.”
“Believe me, I wish I hadn’t been.” Jimmy hefted a stack of boxes and pushed them into Kevin’s arms. For all his complaining, Jimmy had been a great sport. He played all the silly games and even posed with Moira’s ribbon bouquet.
When the guys were gone, Moira said, “I’ll stay and help.”
Kathy nudged her. “Thanks for the offer, but you go home and handle things there.”
“You sure?”
She nodded.
“You’re the best.” She threw her arms around Kathy and squeezed. “I’m glad Maggie begged off being maid of honor. I love her, but this would’ve been a mess with her in charge.”
“Speaking of which, how did she manage to scoot out of here without doing cleanup?”
Moira shrugged. “That’s Maggie for you. She drove my mom home, but as baby of the family, she’s excelled at getting out of work her whole life.”
“At least Norah and Carmen have wrangled the kitchen. They’re dishwashers extraordinaire,” Kathy said, speaking about Jimmy’s sister and Liam’s girlfriend. “I didn’t want to be rude and ask Carmen, but did Liam pop the question yet?”
“No, the big dork. We all know he wants to. I have no idea what he’s waiting for.”
“Is your mom any better with Carmen?” When Liam and Carmen had first started dating, Mrs. O’Leary was rude and distant to Carmen because she wasn’t a “nice Irish girl.”
“Yeah. I think that once she got to know her and realized how much Liam loves her, she knew she needed to get with the program. Carmen is awesome. It’s like having another sister.”
“It looks like your whole life is gonna be one wedding after another, huh? Everyone’s falling in love and getting hitched.” She cleared off another table and tied the bag. One more load and she should be done.
“At the rate all the O’Learys and O’Malleys are dropping, we could open our own wedding planning business. When are you joining the ranks?”
“Need a man first. The dating scene is dismal.” She hadn’t had a steady boyfriend since Ray, and they’d broken up not long after Moira’s engagement party.
Jimmy and Kevin came back in. Jimmy said, “Hey, sweetheart, we’re set. Are you ready?”
Moira looked over her shoulder, “One
