“I would’ve stopped to get him takeaway,” Rowen snapped, and some of that niceness he’d been giving her previously had taken a hike. He sounded a lot more like he had when he’d been giving Tadgh hell.
She wrinkled her nose and didn’t look away from me, and this was familiar from any time Grady ever tried to stop her once she got going on this subject. She just ignored everyone who wasn’t on her side.
“You have to come home and stop running around with these people,” she said, jerking her head toward Rowen as if he couldn’t hear her.
He let out an irritated grunt.
“Mom, Jesus,” I muttered, rubbing my hands over my face. I still didn’t feel one hundred percent and I wouldn’t have been up for this even if I did. “Can’t you let it go?”
She shook her head. “They don’t care about you. I’m your mother.”
“Excuse me,” Rowen growled, and this time the outrage in his tone wasn’t subtle. “Mrs. Maher, I have the deepest respect for ye, but I’ll hafta stop ye right there. I don’t want anything to happen to Fallon.”
She finally whirled toward him.
Rowen blinked at me as if I had any good explanation for why she acted this way sometimes.
I just shrugged.
“Then bring him home and don’t take him away again,” she said, jabbing a finger in his direction.
Rowen rubbed the back of his neck and frowned. “Well, ye know, we could probably visit each week. It must be hard on ye having him away so much.”
I mouthednobehind Mom’s back and shook my head. What the hell was he thinking? Didn’t he see what was going on in front of him?
She jabbed her finger in his direction again. “No, he needs to be here where I can keep an eye on him. He needs me and doctors, not you and whatever is going on in that house he’s living in.” She sniffed.
Rowen’s jaw tightened and his cheeks flushed red.
“She won’t listen. Save your breath.” I shrugged and started inching toward the hallway, hoping he would get the memo that we needed to run like hell or this would get out of control. I was more scared of her than Thiago Reyes. At least he would just shoot me and get it over with.
Rowen raised his hands, as if he was trying to get her to calm down. “I’ve had him to the doctor and he’s fine.”
I groaned as Mom’s mouth dropped open.
“You went with him! You took him with you! You said you wanted to do all those things on your own, since you’re an adult now.” She whirled toward me like she’d just found out I was a murderer—which she probably would’ve been less upset about.
Rowen cringed and gave me a horrified look, so maybe he understood now that we needed to get the fuck out of here. “Mom—” I stepped forward and hugged her, and she clung so that I had to sort of wriggle out of her grasp by nearly dropping to the floor and rushing backward again. “—I love you, but we need to go.” I wasn’t proud of it, but I actually ran toward the front door.
“Fallon Maher, don’t you dare!” Mom called, and I could hear her heels racing after me, but by that time I was out the front door and jogging toward the Lexus. Rowen burst out after me, shaking his head, but Mom caught his elbow and stopped him, and unless he was willing to punch her, he wasn’t going to get loose.
“Mrs. Maher—” Rowen heaved out an exasperated sigh. “—ye do realize yer boy does exactly what yer husband does for a living? I want him safe, but me house or yers, his employment won’t change.”
Mom shoved him, and Rowen was smart because he took the opportunity to hustle down the steps and put some distance between them.
“He’s sick. I told his father to do something about that, too,” she hissed, glaring between me and Rowen. “Just because he hasn’t yet doesn’t mean he won’t. Mr. Killough won’t employ someone unwell. He’s a sensible man.”
“You what?” I asked, my stomach dropping to my toes. “Are you serious?”
“There’s nothing yer husband can do about that, ma’am,” Rowen said, straightening his suit jacket.
She shook her head, curls bouncing against her cheeks, and crossed her arms. “You wait and see.”
“Mom,thisis why I don’t come home. Next time I won’t stop. This is also why I wouldn’t stay here after the hospital! And fuck it, I won’t be coming home for any holidays because you made Christmas hell.” My stomach was queasy, and I had no idea if it was from fighting with her or not eating earlier. She wasn’t wrong, it was stupid to fuck up with everything I needed to do to keep my diabetes in check, but I couldn’t handle this.
Dad pulled his Cadillac Lyriq into the driveway beside Rowen’s Lexus, and he got out, already shaking his head because he knew what Mom was pissed off about—the same thing she’d been upset about since I was diagnosed. He stopped beside me, and she burst into sobs that sounded more angry than sad.
“Jesus Christ, this is my night,” Dad said tiredly. He patted my shoulder, then gave Rowen a look out of the corner of his eye. “Welcome to the family, I guess.”
