The same Joey who looked incredibly uncertain, as he looked from one face to another.
Stretching my leg out, I discreetly nudged his foot with mine.
His wild green eyes flashed to mine, and I gave him a reassuring smile.
“So, Joey, love,” Mam said, when Kev finally decided to stop blowing his own trumpet. “Kev’s aiming to get into UCC. Aoife’s hoping for hairdressing. What are you planning to do after sixth year?”
“What do you mean what’s the plan?” Dad interrupted, a spoon full of ice-cream held in the air. “He’ll complete his apprenticeship and come on fulltime with me at the garage.”
“Would you stop, Tony,” Mam admonished, reaching over to slap my father’s leg. “I was asking the young lad what he wanted to do after school, not what you want him to do after school.”
“I, ah…” Roughly clearing his throat, Joey set his bowl on the floor beside him and turned to my mother. “Well, ah, I was hoping that Tony would consider taking me on for an apprenticeship.”
“See now, Trish.” My father beamed like the cat that got the cream. “And there’s no hoping required, son,” he added, this time addressing Joey. “I didn’t spend the last five years training you up for some other fella to swoop in and steal you off me.”
“Holy fuck.” The tension in Joey’s shoulders seemed to melt away as he looked at my father like he just told him he won the lotto. “Are you serious?”
“I am,” Dad replied. “Just finish off this last year of school, do the best you can, keep your head down and out of trouble, and we’ll talk business then.”
“Jesus.” Exhaling a ragged breath, Joey dropped his head and cupped the back of his neck. “Thanks, Tony.”
“Don’t you go scaring him off now, ya hear?” Dad said, eyes on me. “I can’t be losing my apprentice if you two decide to part ways.”
“You won’t,” Joey assured him. “I won’t mess this up.”
“Yes, good lad,” Dad said. “But I was talking to her ladyship alongside you.”
“Me?” I laughed. “How am I responsible for this metaphorical parting of ways?”
“Probably because you’re such a demanding pain in the hole,” Kev offered dryly. “And Dad’s having a hard time understanding why anyone would voluntarily agree to set up house with such a princess.”
“Ha fucking ha,” I shot back, digging both of my couch buddies in the ribs when they erupted with laughter. “Aren’t you all just so hilarious?”
“Don’t worry, Aoife, love,” Mam offered then. “Dad didn’t have to pay Joey too much to go out with you.”
More eruptions of laughter unfolded.
“Ah, don’t you take any notice of them, pet,” Dad crooned, through fits of laughter. “It only cost me a fiver.”
“I hate you all,” I announced dramatically, and then waved a finger in Joey’s amused face. “Especially you, turncoat.”
SIXTH YEAR
HOME BY NOW
AUGUST 31ST 2004
JOEY
“You need to do something,” Shannon all but begged when I stepped through the front door on Tuesday evening after an extra-long training session with the minors in the city. “Please, Joe, please, you have to do something!” With tear-filled eyes, she clung onto my arm like it was a life jacket. “There’s so much blood.”
“Jesus Christ, calm down,” I snapped, dropping my hurley and gear bag on the hallway tiles. “What’s after happening?” I demanded, flustered, as I glanced around wildly. “Who’s bleeding?”
Hiccupping out a sob, Shannon dragged me up the staircase, stumbling over her own legs, until we were on the landing.
“In there,” she choked out, pointing to the bathroom. “In there, Joe.”
“Mam,” I strangled out, chest-heaving, as I threw the bathroom door open and barreled inside. “Mam!”
“It’s not Mam,” Shannon cried out. “It’s—“
“It’s okay,” a small voice said, and my legs gave way beneath me.
“No.”
“It’s okay, Joe.”
No, no, no.
“Really, I’m okay.”
Please God no.
Sinking to my knees on the blood encrusted floor, I just stared helplessly at the small child leaning over the side of the toilet, and the steady flow of blood coming from his nose.
Completely fucking reeling, I felt my head grow light as memories from what felt like a lifetime ago bombarded me.
“It’s okay, Dar,” I wheezed, leaning heavily over the toilet bowl, as a mixture of vomit and blood continued to heave from my black and blue stomach. “I’m okay.”
“Joey,” Darren croaked out, as he knelt beside me and kept a steadying hand to my back. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here. I had training.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I strangled out, as the pain of having my seven-year-old nose broken threatened to consume me. “I don’t care,” I continued to say over and over, hoping that if I said it enough times, it might come true.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Tadhg tried to comfort me by saying, as he spat a mouthful of clotted blood into the toilet bowl. He pressed a fresh wad of tissue to his clearly broken nose as the skin under his eyes already started turning a yellowish brown. “Really, Joe, it doesn’t even hurt.”
“He’s gone,” Shannon hurried to fill in. “I think he left because he knew you would be home soon.”
“Home soon,” I mumbled, shaking my head.
“Yeah,” she replied softly. “You’re usually home by now.”
“I’m sorry that I wasn’t here to protect you,” I heard myself whisper, numb to the bone, as I watched him churn in pain. “I had…training.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Tadhg replied, giving me a horrible taste of Deja vu. “I don’t care.”
“What happened?” I strangled out, feeling my heart hammer violently in my chest. “What the fuck happened, Tadhg?”
“Dad hit Shannon,” Tadhg bit out. “So, I hit Dad.” He spat out another globber of bloodied snot. “Dad hits harder.”
“Jesus Christ,” I choked out, staggering to my feet, when a surge of panic rocketed through me. “Ollie and Sean?“
“Are in your room listening to music,” Shannon hurried to say. “I hope that’s okay. It’s the only place they feel safe.”
It wasn’t okay.
None of this was okay.
I’d been knocked on my ass again, and I was losing the will to get back up on my feet.
“Are you staying home tonight?” Shannon asked. “Or do you have plans with Aoife?”
“No,” I replied, pulling my phone out of my pocket and quickly unlocking the screen. “I don’t have any plans.”
Joey: Change of plans. Can’t meet up tonight. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.
Molloy: Absolutely unacceptable, Joseph. I’m outraged.
Molloy: Joke. Hope everything’s okay?
Joey: All good. See you in the morning.