I loved my dad, but I’d heard all his faults. I knew that he contacted me when he was in town and left my brothers out. Dad went for easy affection, part of his issues with marriage. He would have to work for it. Aiden wasn’t like Dad. But lying by omission was still lying. And just because he didn’t argue with me didn’t mean he wasn’t sleeping around behind my back.

My insides twisted. Thinking about Aiden with another woman tore me in two. It wouldn’t be hard for him. The way he looked. The way he dressed. The confidence that oozed from him.

As Mom would say, That boy’ll attract ’em like fly paper tossed into a shit pile.

I sniffled and swiped the tissue across my nose. “Do you mind telling Randall for me? And the guys? Tell them not to mob Aiden?” I didn’t have the emotional bandwidth for talking my siblings off the edge of a cliff. Randall wasn’t volatile like my brothers, but he had a protective streak when it came to me and my brothers.

When I had told my family I was marrying Aiden, Randall had pulled me aside and grilled me about how Aiden treated me. At the wedding, he’d split his time between beaming at me and studying Aiden.

“Yeah, I can do that. You need time to think and those boys can make it hard.” Mom cleared phlegm out of her throat. “So where are you staying?”

I’d had enough time to think, but Mom had always liked Aiden and the way he devoured her cooking. I fiddled with my tissue. “Can I crash here for a while?”

“Here? You can afford to go anywhere.”

“I told him I didn’t want any of his money.” My wages were funneled into a savings account that I now had to learn to live on.

“What would a McDonough have if it weren’t for pride?” She sat forward and slapped her hands on her knees. “All right. I’ll get the extra room ready, but, Katie—I don’t want you staying here for long. Not because I don’t love having you around, but because I know the lows you hit after divorce. I’m not going to let you get stuck there.”

Another reason why I’d come here. “All right, and I’ll get the room ready.” It was my old bedroom anyway. My niece stayed in it when she slept over. “It’ll give me something to do.”