He didn’t have the heart to tell her that her father probably only remembered the dirty words now. But Fin could teach them some basics while he was here. Because he didn’t think teaching them how to run in a straight line and not bang into anything was remotely feasible.
*
Half an hour later an utterly dejected Fin started the engine as Sweeney buckled up. ‘That wasn’t too bad,’ she pronounced.
Fin blinked. Was she joking? ‘Thatwas an unmitigated disaster.’
Her lips twitched as he reversed out of their parking spot. ‘They just need a little time.’
‘They’re going to need an Easter fucking miracle,’ he muttered.
Pressing her lips together, she quickly turned to look out the window. ‘It was… entertaining, at least. I got some great snaps. Can’t wait to get back to my laptop and look at them more closely.’
Fin frowned. ‘Entertaining is an understatement.’
As if she couldn’t hold it in any longer, Sweeney laughed. She tried to stifle it with her hand but it escaped nonetheless.
‘This isn’t funny.’ Which only made her laugh even harder. Shooting her an exasperated glare didn’t help.
‘I’m sorry,’ she apologised. ‘Sorry. It’s just…’ More laughter. ‘You should have seen the look on your face when that kid with the red hair did a sliding tackle and took out not one kid but four, toppling them like dominos.’
‘Matthew,’ he supplied stiffly, even though the humour of the situation tugged at the corners of his mouth. ‘I thought the pièce de résistance was when Alex went to headbutt that ball but missed entirely and got Donny, who was just getting up off the grass for the third time.’
She laughed anew. ‘I got that on camera.’
Fin glanced at her. ‘You didn’t.’
‘I did.’
Turning his attention back to the road, Fin’s lips twitched. ‘I gotta see that,’ he said, trying to be serious but failing as a honk of laughter escaped and the dam burst.
When their laughter eventually settled and there was nothing but the hum of the engine between them again, Sweeney asked, ‘Who was the little girl on the sidelines you were talking to with Tori? Is she deaf?’
‘Her name’s Winnie. Tori said she doesn’t talk and her grandfather said that they sign. But—’ Fin’s brow furrowed as he watched the road. ‘I don’t think she’s deaf. She seemed to hear her grandfather when he yelled out to her after she picked up the ball.’
‘So she’s… non-verbal?’
‘I suppose so. I invited her to join in some practice sessions if she wanted, so I guess we’ll find out if she decides to take me up on it.’
‘How long has it been since you signed?’
‘God.’ It had beensolong. ‘About a decade. Not since Granny passed.’
‘I used to love watching you sign. You and your grandmother. You were so fast and it felt like you had your own separate language. Like you had this bond that was stronger than any spoken words ever could be.’
‘Yeah.’ Fin nodded. It had felt exactly like that, and the fact Sweeney recognised it only confirmed how very well she knew him. ‘It was like a bond.’
‘How’d it feel to be signing again?’
He laughed. ‘Rusty. But… also really comfortable. If that makes sense?’ Fin flicked her a glance before returning his attention to the road. ‘Like, that’s what I did here. Back in the day. I signed. It was part of my identity.’
She nodded slowly. ‘It makes perfect sense. You have these really deep ties to Ballyshannon. Much deeper than me. Generations of family and culture that you’ve put on a shelf the last couple of years while you’ve been away, and coming back has been hard and then this whole stupid engagement thing made things weird, but Winnie suddenly connected you to your roots again.’
‘Yeah.’ Fin nodded. It was like Winnie had handed him his favourite pair of old slippers that he’d been missing. ‘Sounds right. Wiseass.’
She hooted out a laugh as she rolled her head to look to the window. There was silence for a minute or two as Fin navigated streets littered with memories, until Sweeney broke it with a real clanger. ‘Mai wants us to come over tomorrow night and discuss social media strategy.’
‘Hell no.’ Fin’s pulse shot up in alarm. ‘Even though I would seriously give a kidney to taste Mai’s bún cha again, we need to stay the hell away from that house. I’m really not comfortable with lying to them and, between the food, the beer, that whole relaxed happy family vibe they’ve got going on and years of telling Donny everything, I’ll be spilling my guts to him in an hour. And you know as well as I do that he’s terrible at keeping a secret.’
