Dad laughed. “Well, that’s one way to look at it.”
“So you’re right. This isn’t the beginning, but…Kelli doesn’t consider this a beginning to anything. She thinks we’re just—” Colm stopped when he remembered who he was talking to.
Pop Pop winked at him. “Your father and I have been around long enough to fill in the rest of that statement. So am I to understand you haven’t spoken to her about wanting a commitment? A relationship?”
Colm shrugged. “It’s only been a couple of weeks, and given the fact she’s just sworn off men…that she’s seriously pursuing this single motherhood thing…”
“Let’s break it into pieces. She wants children, Colm,” Pop Pop said. “That desire isn’t going to go away. Having kids is a huge step, one that Kelli is obviously ready to take. What about you?”
“I want kids.” As soon as Colm said it, he realized he probably wanted them every bit as much as Kelli. “I’ve always wanted kids.”
“You’ll be a great father, lad,” Pop Pop said, gripping his shoulder. “At heart, you’re as peaceful and gentle as a dove. Wonderful attributes for a man with children.”
“Shit. You found a way to make me hate the meaning of my name less. How long have you been holding on to that gem?”
Pop Pop winked, even as he jokingly said, “Language.”
Colm smiled appreciatively at his grandfather, touched by his genuine belief in him. “If I could be half the father you and Dad were, I’d be happy. Not sure how either one of you did it.”
Pop Pop had lost Grandma Sunday when all of his kids were still living at home, Aunt Keira—the oldest, only eighteen at the time—all the way down to Uncle Sean, who’d still been in elementary school. Somehow he’d managed to run the pub and raise their seven kids on his own.
Pop Pop chuckled. “Well, I’m not going to say it was all sunshine and roses. God knows Riley and Sean tested me at times.”
Colm glanced at his dad, grinning. “And I know Paddy was a handful.”
Dad laughed. “Yeah. Paddy. Let’s go with that. So, you’ve been dating Kelli for a couple of weeks. That’s early in any relationship to be thinking about kids.”
“I know, but…” Colm didn’t want to say what he was really thinking because he figured he’d sound like an idiot. Two weeks was too early.
“But it hasn’t been two weeks,” Pop Pop finished for him. “Not really.”
“Seem to recall having a similar conversation like this with Paddy,” Dad added. “The day after he met Mia.”
Colm took a swig of beer, hoping it would dislodge the lump in his throat. “He was ready to marry her that day.”
“He was. And he and Mia had only known each other hours. Pop and I told him to slow his roll, to take some time to get to know her. I’m not sure…”
“Not sure?” Colm prodded.
His dad shrugged. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty. I probably would say the same thing to him today, but the fact remains, Paddy was right. He knew she was meant to be his.”
“Kelli and I have known each other a long time. A lifetime.”
“The heart knows what the heart wants, Colm. My heart beat for Lane from the first second she sat down at the end of this bar and we started talking. And my feelings for her continued to grow. They’re still growing. Every day I look at her and can’t believe she’s mine. That she can still spend year after year with this grumpy, opinionated, getting-bigger-around-the-middle old man.”
“You finally realized you and Kelli are both walking in the same direction. That you have the same hopes and desires.” Pop Pop had described his relationship with Grandma Sunday that way once. Said that love had snuck up on him, one look, one word, and then…
“Click,” Colm whispered, recalling that conversation so many years ago.
Pop Pop smiled widely. “Just like Romeo and Juliet. But with a better ending.”
“So I’m not crazy?” Colm asked.
“No, lad.” Pop Pop squeezed his shoulder. “You’re just in love. And it’s about damn time.”
Colm laughed. “Language, Pop Pop.”
Chapter Thirteen
Kelli sat on her couch, staring at the TV like a zombie. The damn thing wasn’t even on, but she didn’t have the energy to lean forward to pick up the remote. Mojo was curled next to her, purring away, happy to have her home from work.
Kindergartners in the month of December, hopped up on Santa Claus and candy canes, were a blight on the planet. There were only two more school days until holiday break and she was not going to make it.
Her phone pinged, and she groaned. It was on the coffee table next to the remote. She considered ignoring it, until it pinged again.
She forced herself forward, reaching for the phone and the remote at the same time. Work smarter, not harder. Then she fell back against the couch once more.
She glanced at the screen and smiled. Then she caught herself.
She was smiling at a goddamn text from Colm Collins. Padraig would tease her endlessly after her years of bitching about Colm if he could see her now.
Did you eat yet?
Colm didn’t even bother to wait for a reply before texting again.
On my way. Stopping for takeout.
He was bringing food.
Right to her house.
There were a lot of past sins she could forgive him for, simply for feeding her. The Barbie doll haircut in kindergarten; the Smelly Kelli nickname; telling the entire fourth grade class she had lice when she didn’t; stealing her clothes one night senior year when she was skinny-dipping in a friend’s pool, so she’d had to drive home wrapped in just a towel.
Maybe she didn’t forgive him for that one. Her mother had been awake when she got home and still brought up “the naked incident” whenever she wanted to make a point about Kelli being too wild and needing to settle down.
She texted him back.
Need wine too.
She could almost imagine him chuckling.
Bottle enough or should I go for a case?
Okay. He was forgiven for
