Page 45 of Alfie: Part One
Oh shite.
I glanced at Liam, who chuckled under his breath. Then he shrugged and inclined his head a little.
Okay, then.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah. I am. Which means I can throw you in the water whenever I want.”
CJ gasped. “Uncle Kellan protects me!”
I didn’t know about that. Kellan was busy judging the splash jumpers and eating chips.
“Same goes for you, lad,” Liam told Trip. “Right now, only the ice cream saves you.”
I smiled, and it felt like a weight was being lifted off my shoulders.
We were really doing this family thing, weren’t we?
Trip, ever the genius, giggled and rose to his feet. “I’m gonna top this off. Bye!” He ran away with his cone toward the ice cream machine.
“I’mma get ice cream too!” CJ yelled and followed. “Bye-bye! Trip, wait for me!”
Clever boys.
And cute as fuck.
“I was thinkin’,” Liam said. “We fly home on Monday, but do you wanna grab lunch after church tomorrow?”
Absofuckinglutely.
“Yeah, sounds great,” I replied. Even more so because I wouldn’t have to worry about running into Ma. These days, she always attended the second service, and the O’Sheas went to theearly one. “Will you let Nessa interact with me?” It was half a joke, which I hoped my smirk showed.
He chuckled and glanced over at where Nessa was watching Cory and Eddie. “Maybe I’m overprotective.”
It was fine. I got it.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “You gotta make sure I’m not some lunatic.”
His smirk mirrored my own. “I can’t say I’ve been that worried. If Kellan vouches for you, I’m good.”
Cheers to Kellan.
“Besides,” he chuckled, “we’re the lunatics here, mate.”
I grinned.
CHAPTER 6
West Scott
Iswallowed dryly and moved on to the next photo on Emilia O’Shea’s account.
Emilia and Alfie grinning in a selfie, with a young child squished between them. Another picture, where I saw Ellie and Trip in the pool with a bunch of other kids. The caption for the ten photos jumped off the screen.Pool day and barbecue fun with the family. The man himself, Finnegan O’Shea, was in some of the photos too. One in particular where he was squeezing his wife to him, kissing her cheek, while Alfie and another man walked by in the background, their half-blurry expressions frozen in laughter.
More photos of children—in the pool, out of the pool, eating hot dogs, ketchup smeared all over, then eating ice cream just as messily. Ellie was laughing her butt off with another boy, and both had ice cream all over their faces.
My ears started ringing.
I went back to Alfie’s account and looked at the counter again.