As kids, Donny had never met a secret he could keep. There was no malicious intent—he was just a gregarious oversharer who rarely ever realised he’d betrayed a confidence until it was out of his big mouth.
‘True, but…’ She rolled her head back to pin his profile with her warm gaze. ‘We’re not the ones lying to them.’
Fin pulled into the driveway, cut the engine and turned in his seat. ‘Yes, we are. It might not have been our idea but we’re a party to it. Thanks to ourmothers, we’re in this up to our necks.’
‘I know.’ She huffed out a breath. ‘Wewilllaugh about this one day, right?’
Fin rolled his eyes. He bloody hoped so. This situation—dreamed up by two sixty-year-old women trying to cover their asses—was so ridiculous it was comical. ‘Yeah, yeah.Oneday.’
Eight
Sweeney was still grinning as they entered the house a minute later, but it didn’t last long. All the lights were out apart from the night light Rhonda kept plugged in at one of the kitchen power points so late-night snackers could see where they were going.
‘Mum?’ Fin called.
There was no answer as he switched on the living room and kitchen lights, which was when Sweeney spotted the letter on the dining table. Snatching it up, she read it out loud.
‘Dearest Feeney.’
Fin snorted as he opened the fridge and stuck his head inside.
‘We hope training went well. There is no doubt in our minds that with both your skills the Banshees will not only be able to travel to the comp but shine.’
Another snort, muffled this time. ‘We need a magic wand for that.’
‘Connie and I have decided—’
‘Oh god,’ Fin interrupted, straightening with alarm, plastic orange juice bottle in his hand. ‘What now?’
Despite knowing she too should be concerned, Sweeney grinned at the horror on his face as she continued. ‘That it would be a better look if we gave the two lovebirds the run of the place without your old mother hanging around.’
Shutting the fridge door, Fin shook his head. ‘She cannot be serious.’
Sweeney doubted Ronnie was serious about the old bit, but the rest? Yup … ‘With you in Dublin and Sweeney flitting around the world, you don’t get a lot of couple time—’
‘That’s because we aren’t a bloody couple,’ he spluttered.
‘So, it would be remiss of us to not give you that opportunity now you’re both under the same roof.’
‘Jesus, are they… drinking their own Kool Aid over there, do you think?’
‘Ballyshannon and Marjorie Weaver (who BTW called in after you left with some old wedding magazines but actually to snoop around the house if you ask me—looking for what, I have no idea) are watching and it’s just until Sweeney leaves in a few days. There’s a pasta bake in the oven for tonight but we’d love it if you could join us for dinner after training the next couple of nights so Connie can spend some time with Sweeney.’
As far as Sweeney was concerned, going to her house with the buffer of Fin and Ronnie and the topic of the fake engagement to occupy them was the best way to spend time with her mother without having to be alone with her and the memories of twenty years ago.
Win/win. And perhaps the one good thing to come out of this whole fiancé fiasco.
‘Also,’ Sweeney continued, ‘Connie has stocked the freezer with a couple of tubs of Golden Gaytime ice cream.’
Her mouth watered at the thought. At least that was some compensation. She glanced up from the page, her eyes meeting Fin’s. ‘It’s signed, love from your ever grateful mothers. And then a bunch of x’s and o’s.’
Fin rolled his eyes. ‘They should take that letter and put it in an official archive somewhere. That’s a masterclass in how to flatter, cajole, guiltandbribe in two hundred words or less. Those two are wasted at the library. They really should enter politics.’
He chugged back half the orange juice as she watched, the bob of his whiskery throat strangely thrilling. Wigged out by such an errant thought, Sweeney gave herself a mental shake. ‘I’m going to tell your mother you drank straight out of the container.’
For a brief second, she saw a flicker of eight-year-old Fin, who would never have dared even contemplate the egregious sin of drinking from the container, before thirty-two-year-old Fin’s gaze turned defiant and he slowly and deliberately licked the inside of the lid before twisting it back on and returning the juice to the fridge.
Sweeney wrinkled her nose. ‘Ewww.’
