Page 89 of Not Since Ewe
Okay, so Tess’s dad thought I was his brother. That was good, right? Him saying anything at all seemed like a pretty big win at this point.
“Do I look like him?”
Tess shifted her gaze to me. “A little, actually.” A smile ghosted across her expression as she reached up and smoothed my hair down. “Just go with it.”
All right.Whatever she wanted. I turned back to her father and smiled. “Hey, Joe. How’s it going? Sorry it’s been so long.”
His hand twitched in his lap, and I reached for it. The bones in his hand felt fragile as glass, but he curled his fingers around mine with a surprisingly strong grip.
“Billy,” he said again.
“That’s right,” I agreed. “I’m Billy. And you’re Joe. My big brother.”
It felt a little strange to be lying to him, but I supposed it couldn’t hurt. If it gave him comfort to think his long-dead brother was here with him, then he could call me Billy all he wanted.
“Here,” Erin murmured, sliding a chair up behind me and winning the undying gratitude of my poor fucking knees.
I reached between my legs and pulled the chair closer as I sat down. “I’ll bet we used to go to a lot of Cubs games when we were kids. Sat in the bleachers, back when tickets were only a buck. We were a couple of bleacher bums, weren’t we? Maybe we even hung out on Waveland with the ballhawks sometimes after school, hoping to catch a homer when we couldn’t get into the game.”
Joe’s mouth pulled into a smile.
While I was still getting over the sight of that, he turned his head and looked at Tess. He didn’t say anything, but he kept on smiling right at her.
It was impossible to know if he recognized her—or maybe thought she was someone else—but from the way Tess’s breath hitched I could tell it was a big deal just for him to look at her.
“Hi,” she said, her voice wobbling a little. “It’s nice to see you.”
I reached for her hand and brought it together with her father’s, replacing my hand with hers. His fingers twined around hers, holding on tight this time.
Erin squeezed my shoulder when I leaned back in the chair.
“How about that?” I said, feeling a little choked up as I watched Tess and her father. “Go Cubbies, yeah?”
CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN
TESS
“You look like you’re in a good mood,” Marie commented as she popped her packed lunch into the break room microwave.
I realized I must have been smiling as I rinsed my coffee mug in the sink. “I suppose I am.”
Marie edged closer as the microwave hummed behind her. “How’d it go yesterday with Erin and your dad?”
“Really, really great, actually.”
As part of my new resolution to cultivate deeper friendships, I’d been keeping Marie up to date on the latest developments in my relationships with both Erin and Donal. I was still getting used to opening up voluntarily and sharing the personal details of my life, but it got a little easier every time.
I told Marie about Donal volunteering to come along and my father mistaking him for my uncle. It was the first time in weeks that my dad had made eye contact with me or spoken in my presence. And Erin had been there to see it. I’d been so afraid he’d be having one of his bad days. Sometimes he could be angry and violent—or worse, despondent and crying. But instead, she’d gotten to see a small glimpse of who he used to be.
“That’s wonderful,” Marie said when I finished the story. “I’m so happy for you and Erin.” The microwave dinged, and she popped the door open to retrieve her lunch. “Are you eating here today?”
“No, actually, I’m meeting Donal for lunch in a few minutes. I need to get going.”
“Well, have a good time. I’ll be here eating my soggy stir-fry all alone.”
“You want me to bring you something back?”
She smiled and shook her head. “No, I’m playing with you. Go. Enjoy lunch with your man.”
