Fighting for Her

Riley reached behind her seat for her bag so she could get her phone and text Anna but grabbed something much larger. It was Tommy's gym bag. She stared at the front door of the house that he had just walked into.

Stop being a chicken. Riley pulled the bag out of the truck and slowly walked up the front steps. She rang the small doorbell and stood in front of the screen door, staring at the horse drawn carriage that was depicted in white. A few seconds later, the four small diamond shaped windows on the front door were filled with the face of an older man. He pulled the door open and smiled sweetly at Riley.

"Can I help you?" He spoke with a deep voice, his eyes as blue as Tommy's.

"Yes, hi." She stammered. "I was wondering if you could give this to Tommy. He just left it in my truck." She held up the black bag.

The older man pushed open the screen door. "Please come in. Tommy just ran upstairs."

"Oh its okay, if you could just give it-"

"TOMMY!" The older man had already walked inside and was yelling up the stairs, leaving Riley standing in the doorway. He looked her way and motioned for her to come inside. "Come inside, you'll catch a death of cold out there."

"Uhh," Riley bit her bottom lip. "Okay." She stepped over the threshold and closed the door behind her. The house was neat but old fashioned. Kind of like her grandparents house. The carpet was a dark mustard color and the walls were filled with pictures of a young Tommy and another boy. She wondered if this was his brother. He hadn't mentioned him before.

"TOMMY!" The man yelled again.

"You don't got to yell, Pop. What is it?" Tommy came stomping down the tiny stairwell. He stopped as soon as he saw Riley.

"You left your bag." She held the bag out to him and curved her lips into a small smile.

He looked from Riley to his father. "Thanks." He reached out for the bag and slung it over his shoulder.

"Aren't you going to introduce your friend, Tommy?" Paddy stood between them with a happy smile on his face, surprised that his son had a new friend.

Tommy, suddenly embarrassed, sighed out loud. "Uh, Pop, this is Riley. Riley this is my Pop."

Riley smiled and held her hand out to Tommy's father. "Nice to meet you." He took her hand in his and gave it a gentle shake.

"Please, call me Paddy."

"Paddy." She repeated with a smile. Tommy stood back, rocking on his feet.

"Riley, we were about to eat, would you like to join us?" Tommy's eyes grew wide at his fathers invitation. Paddy rubbed his hands together, anxiously.

"Pop, she's probably got plans already." Tommy interjected.

Riley stared at him and then shook her head. "No, I don't have plans. I'd love to stay."

---

Tommy and Riley sat on the light green couch while Paddy finished making dinner. He had refused her help with dinner as she was a guest in his home and urged her to relax. Tommy was quiet, watching Riley from the corner of his eye. She shifted in her seat, wondering why she had accepted the invitation. Tommy never spoke of his family life to her and he himself seemed as if he didn't want to be here. She stood up and walked toward a stack of books that grabbed her attention.

Steinbeck. Hemingway. Dostoyevsky.

Her fingers traced the spines, catching some of the dust on her finger tips. She felt Tommy looming behind her.

"My dad loves these writers too." She peered over at the framed family pictures sitting on the bookcase. "Who's this?" She pointed to a picture of a woman holding a baby in her lap.

"My mom." He spoke softly, his eyes tired.

"And this?" She lifted a silver frame that held a seemingly recent picture of a man, a woman and a little girl.

Tommy grunted. "I think dinner's ready." He walked over to the dining room and slumped in his seat. She followed and took the seat across from him.

Paddy brought over their plates. Tommy's was stacked with grilled chicken and a ton of broccoli while Paddy game himself and Riley spaghetti.

Tommy smiled at her for the first time since she had been there. She returned the smile. Paddy noticed.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a girlfriend, Tommy?"

Riley nearly choked on her pasta. Coughing she started to shake her head.

Tommy sighed. "She's not my girlfriend, Pop."
Riley finally able to speak repeated after Tommy, "I'm not his girlfriend."

Suddenly feeling like a teenager again, Riley quickly changed the subject.

"You have a lot of pictures of Tommy wrestling. You must be so proud of him." She looked up at Tommy who had his head down, poking a fork at his broccoli.

"Yep. Him and his brother." Paddy glanced over at a picture of the boys holding up trophies and smiling at the camera.

"You have a brother? Is that who's in that picture over there?" Tommy put his fork down with a loud clatter and rubbed his forehead. Riley kept on. "Why didn't you ever tell me?" Tommy slid his chair back with a loud screech.

"Am I supposed to tell you everything Riley? Maybe I don't want to talk about all this shit!" He was yelling at her, his palms laying flat on the table. She looked down at the table, unable to meet his eyes.

"Tommy, just calm down." Paddy spoke but was interrupted by Tommy.

"And you. Do you need to butt into everything? What did I tell you? No bonding bullshit! I just wanted someone to fucking train me. And this-" he moved his arms in a circle around the table, "isn't any happy family dinner bullshit, got it?" He slammed his hands on the table.

Riley was frozen. The face from the video flashed in her mind as she fought back tears. Tommy grabbed his coat and slammed the front door behind him.

Paddy put his hand on Riley's shoulder. "I'm sorry. He's," Paddy paused for the right thing to say, "been through a lot in his life."

Riley's eyelashes fluttered and a stray tear rolled down her cheek. She nodded. "He told me about his time in the Marines, but I had no idea how mad he was at everything."

Paddy shook his head. "This is more than that." He sighed. He told her about his own dark days, when he was an alcoholic and would hit his wife in front of the boys. He wasn't proud of the man he was. "That's why Tommy left with his mother when he was fourteen. Then she got sick. He had to take care of her all by himself. He never told Brendan or me about it."

Riley took a breath. "Brendan is his brother?"

Paddy nodded. "He thinks Brendan chose to be with his girlfriend instead of stay with him and their mother."

"They're the couple in the picture with the little girl?" Riley asked quietly.

"Brendan and Tess. They have another little girl too."

"And their mother?" Riley was wrapped up in the story.

"She passed away when Tommy was seventeen." Paddy took a sip of coffee.

"That's why he joined the Marines right away?" It was all starting to make sense to her.

"Yep. I know he has a temper, but being back here isn't exactly what he wants out of life. I think he's trying to win that prize money so he can move out of here and start somewhere new."

Riley nodded her head. She thanked Paddy and hugged him for dinner. "I'm sorry I made him mad and ruined dinner."

Paddy shook his head. "Don't you dare be sorry. The kids got to face his devils one of these days, and I think you might just be the one to make him do it."