He sank back on the couch cradling the whiskey in one arm. “I really thought I was earning that trust.”
“She was here last night. Moira said she was really upset.”
“Kathy was here?” He took another shot of whiskey.
“Yeah. Before I came home. By the time I got here, she was asleep on the couch. Moira didn’t give me the details, but she said Kathy was a mess and it was about you. I just figured you guys had a fight.”
“Nope. We don’t fight.” He took a swig.
“Everyone fights.”
Kevin shook his head. “Well, Kathy doesn’t fight. Ever. She gets upset and then she fucking runs away.”
The front door clicked and Moira came in. She took one look at Kevin and Jimmy and said, “Shit.”
“’Bout sums it up, babe,” Kevin said. “Can you give me the insight I’m missing? Kathy broke up with me and won’t tell me why.”
He popped the top on another beer. His third? He lost count. Didn’t matter. The alcohol was hitting his empty stomach hard.
Moira sighed and sat next to him on the couch. Weird. She never got within touching distance. Then she did the unthinkable: she placed a hand on his thigh. If he were sober, he’d crack a joke. Of course, Jimmy would beat his ass for that.
When Kevin looked at her, Moira’s face was filled with pity. Damn. This wasn’t going to be good.
“She saw you yesterday.”
“Saw me where?”
She took a deep breath. “She talked to her mom last night and was upset, and she came to see you at your office.”
“No, she didn’t.”
Moira stiffened and she arched an eyebrow. “Yes. She did.”
Kevin shook his head and it felt like his eyeballs were rolling around in his skull.
Moira nudged his leg. “She saw you with some blonde sharing a drink and laughing.”
“Huh?” He blinked slowly and deliberately. “Marnie? That’s the only blonde I was with yesterday. Kathy knew I was meeting with Marnie. I told her. I didn’t lie. It wasn’t secret.”
Moira held up her hands. “Look, as impossible as it seems, I defended you. Her emotions were raw. She was messed up from talking with her mom. You’ve never seen what that does to her, have you?”
He shook his head. “She told me about her parents. About her childhood, but she doesn’t say much.”
“They turn her inside out. And this was worse. She was coming to you for comfort, and she saw you with this Marnie person.”
“She’s a colleague!” Kevin stood and nearly dropped his bottle of whiskey. “For fuck’s sake.”
“What are you doing?”
“I didn’t fucking cheat on her. I wouldn’t do that!”
“You don’t need to yell at me. I told you, I defended you. I didn’t think you cheated on her. I just don’t think she was ready to hear it. She jumped to conclusions because she was upset.”
He set the alcohol on the table. He was done drinking. He needed to think. He needed a plan. “What the fuck do I do?”
“Sleep it off,” Jimmy said. “You can’t do a damn thing like this.”
“Always with the words of wisdom. Good thing you have Moira to do the talking for you.” Kevin sat back on the couch, which he needed because the room had begun to spin. Maybe Jimmy had a point. He looked at Moira.
“I don’t know, Kevin. I don’t know if there’s anything you can do.”
“Don’t say that. There’s gotta be something.” His throat closed and his eyes burned. No fucking way was he going out like this. Crying like a baby and giving up. He snatched the bottle of whiskey off the table and drank until the lump in his throat eased.
Jimmy stood and cleared the table. Moira took the bottle from Kevin’s hand. “This won’t fix it,” she said. “I’ll try talking to her again tomorrow. Get some sleep.”
He rested his head on the back of the couch. Moira got up and returned with a pillow and blanket.
He opened one eye and looked at her. “I’m sorry I was such an asshole to you when we were growing up. You know it was just because I liked you. You know that, right? Jimmy’s lucky to have you.”
“He sure the hell is,” Moira said.
Kevin sat for a while and thought about Kathy and everything they’d been fighting for. He’d sworn he wouldn’t hurt her again, and yet he knew that she was sitting at home hurting right now. He had to talk to her. He stood and the room was still spinning. Using the app on his phone, he called for a car.
Then he did what he learned to do as a teenager—he snuck out of the O’Malley house.
Chapter Twenty
Kathy sat in the dark in her apartment with nothing but the glow of her TV to keep her company. It wasn’t all that late, but she could hear the comings and goings of her neighbors as they enjoyed their weekend. She normally missed out on such things because she was usually in bed. Tonight, she knew she wouldn’t sleep.
She’d spent the entire day thinking about everything she’d seen, heard, and said. She’d let Moira’s words sink in and after a lot of debate, she realized that it didn’t matter if Kevin had cheated. The problem was with her. She automatically went there.
She might never trust Kevin.
Who wanted to be in a relationship like that?
A thump sounded at her door, startling her.
“Hey, Kathy, it’s me. Open up.”
It was Kevin, but it didn’t sound quite like him. She went to the door and peeked through the peephole. He leaned with his arms braced against the door frame.
“Open up. I know you’re in there.” He lifted his head and looked at the closed door.
She realized then that he sounded funny because he was drunk.
He
