An Unlikely Family

Billy turned onto Gulfview Road. Maybe he’d stop and pay Evie a visit. On the other hand, he’d told her he’d call, so that’s probably what he should do.

Since he’d already made the turn and since the water looked so blue and endless and since dinner wouldn’t be ready for at least an hour at the Muldoone house, Billy veered into Claire and Jack’s driveway. He’d give Jack an informal report, maybe have a beer and talk for a few minutes—who knows? Maybe the conversation would lead to the new principal.

He pressed the button on his cell phone that connected him home. “Hey, Daddy,” his daughter answered.

“Hi there, Gemma, what’s goin’ on?”

“Nothing much. Nana’s making me fold my laundry. She says I have to have all my clothes in order by tomorrow morning so she can take me shopping for new school things.”

Clearly detecting the irritation in his daughter’s voice, Billy said, “That’s a good thing, isn’t it? You want new clothes, don’t you?”

“Don’t care one way or the other,” Gemma said. “New clothes just get to be old clothes soon enough, and you end up starting all over again anyway.”

Billy shook his head. Sometimes there was no point arguing his daughter’s logic. “I’m over at Jack’s,” he said. “Tell Nana I’ll be home in time for supper.”

“I’ll tell her. Don’t be late or you’ll be in trouble.”

He could picture Gemma’s finger shaking at the phone—the same sassy gesture Brenda Muldoone had perfected raising Billy and his two brothers. No one should ever underestimate the value of a good finger-shaking. “I won’t be late.”

He stuck the cell phone in his pocket and walked up the few steps to the Hogan’s front porch. Tapping lightly on the door, he hollered, “Anybody home?”

He heard a youthful squeal and a voice calling out that she’d get it. In a few seconds, the door swung open and Billy stared down at Jane, Claire’s daughter. The girl’s deep brown eyes smiled right along with her mouth as she announced over her shoulder, “Billy’s here.” She opened the door wider. “Come on in.”

Jane was cute as a button. All sweet-smelling and sparkly in pink shorts with ribbons in her long dark hair. She was only a year older than Gemma, and Billy often regretted that the two girls had never seemed to hit it off.

“How are you, Jane?” When she assured him that everything was rosy in her life, he asked where Jack was.

“He’s outside.” She pointed through the rear of the house. “Go on out.”

Billy entered the kitchen where Claire and Pet Sweeney were concocting something that smelled delicious. “Ladies,” he said. “Hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”

Claire motioned to a tray of raw steaks on the counter. “You’re not going to be in our way, Billy. At least not until I can actually get Jack to put these things on the grill.” She paused and then said, “Why don’t you stay for dinner? We have an extra. I thought we were going to have company, but she turned me down.”

“She?”

“Yes. You met her—our new principal, Evie Gaynor.”

Billy leaned against the counter. “Evie was coming here?”

“Well, she never agreed to. But I invited her. She said she had some work to do before the teachers arrived for planning sessions tomorrow.” Claire glanced at Pet. “Actually, she didn’t say so, but I think Evie was afraid she’d be intruding. What do you think, Aunt Pet?”

“Maybe.” Pet delivered a mischievous look to Billy. “What do you think? You know her as well as anyone.”

“Me? I just met her…”

Pet continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “Surely you’ve formed an opinion about our Miss Gaynor.”

Normally, Billy could ramble for ten or fifteen minutes on most any subject. But in this case, he simply said, “She seems real nice.”

Pet smiled. “She does, doesn’t she?”

Billy stood straight, suddenly uncomfortable under Pet’s scrutiny.

Claire sprinkled seasoning on the steaks. “So what do you say, Billy? Will you stay?”

“Thanks anyway, but I promised Gemma I’d be home. She’s got my evening all planned out with video game challenges. But I’d like to have a word with Jack, if that’s okay?”

“He’s in the gazebo, avoiding the grill,” Claire said. “I’m pretty sure he and Finn have had enough girl chatter for one afternoon.” She pointed her spoon at the back door. “They’ll welcome another male.”

“Thanks.” Billy left and headed down the pathway to the gazebo, which stood near the shore. He hadn’t been pleased to hear that Jack wasn’t alone and, worse, that his company was Finn Sweeney. “That’s just great,” he grumbled to himself as he meandered through the herb garden Pet had maintained while she’d lived in the smaller cottage behind Claire’s bungalow. He never looked forward to seeing the gruff old fisherman.

Billy and Finn had never gotten along, especially since Billy had once pursued his daughter Helen. Finn had always criticized any guy Helen went out with, and yet she’d ended up with the son of the one man the old grouch had sworn never to forgive. Yet Finn had gotten over his grudge with his decades-old enemy, proving again that life could take some odd turns.

“Look at you,” Billy said to himself. “Who’d have ever thought you’d actually ask your mother to move in with you?” But when Gemma had shown up on his doorstep four years ago, and Billy hadn’t known the first thing about kids, he’d seen Brenda as the answer to his prayers.

Widowed and with no family members who needed her anymore, Brenda Muldoone had willingly come to help her eldest son. Now she strived to keep all of them on the straight and narrow. Though no longer one of her weapons, that now-legendary willow switch reminded Billy every day that she was the woman who could do it.

Jack looked up when Billy stepped on a dry twig. “Hey, look who’s here.”

Finn frowned. “You write your quota of speeding tickets for one day, Muldoone?”

Billy stepped into the gazebo and shook his head. “I’m not getting into an argument with you, Sweeney.”

“It’d be the first time.”

Apparently, Finn was never going to get past all those reckless driving tickets Billy had given Helen, even though the old man knew darned well she’d deserved every one of them. At least motherhood had turned Helen into a conservative driver—something half a dozen fines hadn’t been able to do.

“I’ve come to talk to Jack,” Billy said, sending a pleading glance to the man who was both his boss and his friend.

“I’d like to give you some privacy and take a hike, Billy,” Finn said, tapping the arms of his wheelchair. “Unfortunately my hiking days have been somewhat limited the last forty-odd years.”

Jack motioned for Billy to sit on the bench built into the wall of the gazebo. “What’s on your mind? Is this something you can’t discuss in front of Finn?”

Billy studied the old man’s face for a moment. “I suppose he can hear.”

“Then go ahead and spill it,” Finn said. “Since there’s no way I’m going to end up with you as a son-in-law, I don’t dislike you half as much as I used to.”

“That’s a relief,” Billy mumbled. He clasped his hands between his knees and looked at Jack. “I’m just wondering what you know about the new principal, Evie Gaynor. Have you met her?”

“Not much, but Claire likes her. She was going to suggest Evie move into Pet’s old cottage. It’s been sitting vacant since Pet and Finn got married.”

“That’s a great idea,” Billy said.

“So what’s your interest in her?”

Billy shrugged. “I was just thinking of being friendly.”

Finn snickered. “So that’s what they call it these days.”