Canon

‘What is she doing here? At your grandmother’s birthday party?’

‘Shit, I forgot that our families run in a small circle.’

‘What?’ I frown looking up at Niall, ‘how do you forget something like that Niall? That is a huge detail.’

‘It’s a small town. Everyone knows everyone here just about. And I tried to forget her completely, that’s why. She has been the last thing on my mind. It doesn’t matter, she’s not going to bother what this is.’

Tara spots the two of us with a wild smile from across the room. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that Tara wanted to leap into Niall’s arms and bury herself into him. She probably would if I wasn’t standing an inch away from him. Niall sucks his teeth as she sways her way over to us.

‘Hi, Niall! Hello, Liza.’ She grins twirling a manicured finger in her long blonde hair.

‘It’s Lizette,’ Niall corrects before I had the opportunity to. I hold back my pleased smile that Niall had no problem with setting her straight. ‘Not Liza, Lizette.’

‘I swear that’s what I said,’ she scrunches her pointy nose up followed by a nasally laugh. ‘My apologize, Lizette.’

‘It’s fine, great to see you again Tara.’ I extend a hand out to her which she gently taps not taking her eyes off of Niall.

‘I didn’t expect to see you here today, it’s almost like I’m seeing a ghost.’

‘Well I am the one who’s actually related to the birthday girl remember? Who invited you anyway, and I mean that in the nicest possible way.’

‘Your gran of course, I spoke to her after the church services and she brought it up. You know that I could never refuse a party.’

‘Right.’ Niall nods looking down at me, ‘well we’re going to find a seat so excuse us.’

I watch as Tara skips off and throws her arms around some girl that had been walking around with her iPhone firmly in her hands. I look over at Niall with curious eyes and he stares at Tara.

‘Oh that’s my cousin.’ He answers with a simple shrug, ‘They went to school together.’

Niall and I grab a pair of plates then head to the long wooden table filled with different foods. Niall wastes no time with piling his plate up with every thing in sight. I follow behind dropping different things on my plate as we went. Niall’s mom stood a few feet away from us with the same glass plate in her hands.

‘You could sit with us, if you want.’ Niall speaks and takes his mom immediately by surprise. Her blue eyes briefly focus on me to see if she heard her son correctly. I offer her an inviting smile following Niall over to an empty table. She happily takes a seat across from Niall while I sit closely beside him. The two of them exchange awkward glances from across the table as I casually shift over in my seat.

‘So, Ms. Gallagher – do you have any recommendations of sites I should see while I’m in Mullingar?’ I wonder, starting up conversation.

‘I would definitely recommend that Niall takes you to the Belvedere. It is quite lovely. I’m sure that you would love it, also please call me Maura.’ Maura grins taking a sip of the drink in front of her, ‘I would love it if you two made it out to house before you left. I would really enjoy that.’ She speaks, this time her eyes focused directly on her son.

‘Yeah, I doubt that.’ Niall scoffs folding his arms across his chest pushing himself from the table. I place a hand on his thigh, giving him a slow steady pat.

‘I think that it’s something to consider.’ I clarify.

‘Thank you, Lizette.’

…

‘What a night.’ Niall mutters flopping down into the soft, white hotel sheets.

‘I think your grandma enjoyed herself today. She seemed so happy all night.’

‘That’s the only reason I even considered going.’

‘Have you always been close to your grandma?’

‘Yeh, you could say that. She’s my dad’s mum so I spent a lot of days at her house. I spent a lot of nights when he was constantly drunk off his ass. I spent a lot of summer’s there even after we moved to the states. She’s always been there, through it all. She’s seen me at my best and worst but she didn’t care. She didn’t give up on me. Not once. I’d do anything for her.’

‘I’m so happy that you had a person like that in your life.’

‘I think I got two now.’ He presses his lips against my forehead wrapping an arm around me.

‘You do.’

Niall offers a weak smile as he stares up at the plain ceiling above us. Upstairs, I could hear someone stomping around faintly. On my first day Niall called the front desk and swore that he would kick the person’s door down if they didn’t shut them up so I could sleep. His dark eyebrows were knitted together with frustration and his teeth picked at the insides of his mouth.

‘What’s wrong? I know that look.’

‘If you were me, would you sit down with someone who walked out on you all those year’s ago with no explanation?’

‘Like, I said before, I think you owe it to yourself to get an explanation. I wouldn’t blame you for sitting down with her. I mean, it’s dinner – not like you’re going off on some retreat with just the two of you. Thirty or forty minutes. Tops. She might surprise you with what she has to say.’

‘I guess I’ll call her before it gets too late.’

‘I can’t tell you how proud I am of you; you’re handling this so well. This isn’t an easy situation but you’re making the best of it all.’

‘I love you.’

…

The next day, while Niall went out to do something for Greg I decided to call my mom while my dad was at work. I wait anxiously as the phone rings over and over. I hadn’t talked to her in two days so I was nervous to hear her reaction.

‘Hello?’ My dad answers catching me off guard with his deep voice, ‘Lizette?' Is that you?’

‘Hi, dad.’ I swallow sitting down on the side of the bed with the phone pressed firmly to my ear.

‘I haven’t gotten so much as a phone call from you in days. We’ve been worried out of our minds. Not knowing who you’re with and what you’re doing and the best I can get is “hi dad” – what the hell has gotten in to you? What do you have to say for yourself?’

‘I felt like I did what I needed to do dad. I’m sorry that you can’t understand it or you don’t agree with it but I am happy with Niall.’

‘When will you end this charade of yours? Come back home and everything will go back to the way it was. The way that we like.’ He speaks quietly yet sternly. I could see his thick eyebrows pushed together with frustration right now.

‘I don’t want it to go back to the way it was. I didn’t like it.’

‘Either you get rid of him or you can’t come back here.’

‘What?’ I blink, feeling my heart drop to my feet, ‘what do you mean? Are you kicking me out?’

‘You’ve given me no choice. I have tried and tried with you repeatedly. If you don’t want to listen to what I have to say or follow my rules then I can’t have you in my house.’ With that the line goes dead.

An unfamiliar feeling coursed through my veins, leaving me toxically numb. My dad has never been so mad at me to the point where he tells me I’m not welcome in my own home. A slow, lone, tear slides down my cheek before leaping from my chin to my arm. Salty tears streamed down my face ruining the makeup I just applied to my face. The hotel door dings as Niall slides the key inside. I attempt to wipe my face as Niall shuts the door behind him and throws his keys onto the small table near the door.

‘I’m back, looks like it’ll just be you and me at dinner tonight. Greg’s not up to it or he’s getting back into his old patterns. I don’t really know.’ Niall murmurs kicking out of his shoes and lying down on the bed beside me. ‘What’s wrong?’ he immediately frowns pulling a hand on my back, ‘Lizette, what’s the matter?’

‘My dad just kicked me out.’

‘He what?’

‘He basically told me that either I had to end things with you or I wasn’t welcome in his house anymore.’

Niall silently stands up from the bed and goes to the closet pulling my suitcase down from the top. I watch as he grabs my clothes and puts them in the suitcase one by one.

‘What are you doing? Niall, stop.’

‘I’m not going to be the reason you have a shitty relationship with your dad. How am I supposed to look at myself every day knowing that you’re out of your house because of me? This can all be avoided. I can drive you to the airport, we’ll exchange your ticket before it’s too late.’

‘So, you’d just get rid of me? Just like that?’

‘I’d never do that and you know it. I can’t live with myself knowing that I ruined your relationship with your dad. It’s not fair to you.’

‘I don’t want to get on any plane and I definitely don’t want to leave you, not right now.’

‘I can’t take your relationship with your dad away from you.’ Niall speaks kneeling down in front of me, ‘I’d never forgive myself.’

‘But, I love you. I can’t be away from you anymore. We tried that and it didn’t work.’

‘I love you too, Lizette.’

‘Then don’t make me leave.’

…

Niall and I pull into the long circular driveway that led to a large brick house surrounded by fresh green grass. Niall hesitantly gets out of the car slowly shutting the door. I place a sturdy hand on Niall’s back following him up the large steps. He gives the presses the doorbell before backing up. Niall’s mom pulls the door open a few moments later with a bright smile and a red apron wrapped around her waist.

‘I am so glad that you made it.’ She beams happily letting us inside, ‘please make yourself at home. We’ll be eating as soon as Sean gets home. Ginny should be around here somewhere, she’s six and harmless. Quite talkative.’

Just as she finishes her sentence a small dark haired girl with bangs covering her eyes as she ran. She wore a pair of pink shorts and a white top to match her white bow in her hair.

‘Mummy, I’m hungry!’ she pouts standing on her tiptoes to see the counter, ‘where is daddy so we can eat?’

‘He’s on his way sweetie, say hello to Niall and Lizette.’

‘Hi,’ she looks up at us with piercing blue eyes, ‘I’m Ginny.’

‘Hi, Ginny. Nice to meet you.’ I smile in return shaking her tiny hand. Niall uncomfortably nods his head looking down at his half-sister.

The doorbell rings and Maura wipes her hands before scurrying over to it with Ginny right behind her. Of all people Tara stands in the doorway just a few feet away from us.

‘Hi, is my uncle around?’ Tara speaks and my eyes nearly pop out of my head. Did she just say uncle? As in Niall’s mom married the uncle of someone he used to have sex with. ‘Dad wanted to see if he was around to help him with the car before tomorrow morning.’

‘He’s not in yet but he should be here shortly, you’re free to come in and wait.’ Maura fans her inside before shutting the door behind her. Tara walks inside followed by a tiny boy dressed in a pair of jeans and a plaid button-down. His dark hair was spiked up all over his head. I stare at the little boy, wondering why he looked so familiar then look over at Niall. Suddenly, it made perfect sense.