Chapter 31 - Dominic
My head is splitting. I try to sit up and groan as my whole body screams at me for moving. I squint at the pale light of dawn that filters through the window as I lift myself up. My blanket falls off and I look at the cushion behind me.
I don’t remember getting those yesterday. I frown, looking around me at the crumpled cans of beer before dropping my head into my hands.
Ugh.
I shouldn’t have done that. I’ve never been a drinker, and I’ve definitely never been one to drink myself into oblivion. I groan again as I brush the blanket off, looking at it one more time before leaning back on the sofa. I definitely don’t remember getting that from the bedroom, but who knows. All I remember is drinking beer, after beer, after beer.
I hardly even flinch when there’s a knock on the door. I sigh and bring my hands to my temples, rubbing them in slow circles to try to ease the pain radiating through my forehead. I don’t care who’s there. I just want to be left alone.
“Dominic!” Aiden’s voice calls out. “Dominic!”
I sigh, groaning as I heave myself off the couch. What is Aiden going to be mad about today? My feet drag on the floor as I make my way to the front door. I open it to see Aiden’s concerned face.
“Dude, what the fuck happened here?” He asks, glancing at the yard. “What the fuck happened to you!”
I groan and turn around, collapsing back onto the couch as Aiden lets himself in. He closes the door behind him and looks around the room, shaking his head and blowing the air out of his nose.
“Dominic,” he breathes.
“Don’t, Aiden. Please,” I say, closing my eyes and leaning back.
“This isn’t you,” he says. I open my eyes to see him sitting on the chair opposite me, studying my face as his eyebrows inch closer and closer together in consternation.
“I know,” I reply. My head is still pounding, and I can barely string two words together.
“Here,” Aiden says, walking to the kitchen and pouring a glass of water. “Drink this.”
I nod in thanks and drain the glass. I empty it in seconds, and Aiden takes the glass from my hands and fills it up again. I drink half of it and finally take a deep breath.
“Thanks,” I say. For the first time this morning, my voice comes out almost normal. Aiden sits down again and looks at me. I sigh and drop my forehead into my hands again.
“I don’t know what happened,” I say, looking at the floor. “I read that letter and then we came back and Mara was… I don’t know what she was doing.”
Aiden is silent for a few moments and I finally lift my head to look at him. He’s staring out the window, chewing his lip as he thinks.
“You really care about her,” he says after a pause.
His comment surprises me, and for a few moments I’m not sure what to say. Finally, I take a deep breath and nod. “Yeah,” I answer. “I do. I did, I mean…” I sigh. “Yeah.”
He nods and swings his eyes back towards me. “I’m not mad at you for getting involved with her,” he says.
My eyebrows shoot up. “No?” I ask.
Aiden chuckles. “Alright, maybe I was. But not anymore. I get it,” he says. He smiles sadly and stares out the window again. “She always had this spark, even when we were kids.”
“Look, if you don’t want me to –”
“Nah,” Aiden cuts me off, shaking his head. “I can’t ask you to stop seeing her. I can’t explain it,” he says, leaning back in his chair. I take a drink of water and wait for him to continue. “I’ve looked at the McCoys as the enemy for so long. I blamed them for so much. Reading those letters this week…”
I snort. “Seems almost anticlimactic for it to all be because of a bad breakup between Dad and Margaret.”
Aiden shakes his head and laughs softly. “I can’t imagine the two of them together. But then again, I think about all the times she was over at our place. I thought it was to bring Mara over.” Aiden looks at me, and his look pierces through me. “I thought the whole family was rotten to the core,” he says. “But after reading those letters, I’m not so sure anymore.”
“My head is all messed up,” I admit. “I’ve got no idea what the fuck to think.”
Aiden chuckles. “Same.”
I take another drink of water and lean back on the sofa, resting my head back and closing my eyes. I can feel Aiden’s gaze on me but I don’t look at him. When he speaks, his voice is softer than I’ve ever heard it before.
“This isn’t you, Dominic. That smashed up table outside, the drinking…”
I take a deep breath and look at my brother. I nod my chin down once. “I know. I couldn’t stand the thought of her with someone else.”
“What are you going to do?”
Aiden is staring at me again, and I feel like my answer to this question is important. I wish I had something to tell him. I wish I could say what he wants me to say. I don’t want to be fighting with my brothers. I don’t want to be doubting Mara. I don’t want to be drinking myself to sleep.
But as Aiden waits for me to answer, there’s only one thing that comes to my mind. I take a deep breath and shake my head.
“I don’t know,” I say.
Aiden drops his eyes and nods his head up and down. He looks out the window again and takes a deep breath.
“I thought Dad’s death was done ten years ago, but it seems to be getting more and more real every year.”
“Who do you think knows about Dad and Margaret?” I ask.
Aiden looks at me and shrugs.
“You think Tim McCoy knows?” I say in a low voice.
My brother shrugs again and we exchange a loaded look.
“The more I think about it, the more Tim and Mara did nothing wrong,” Aiden says. “All these years, I’ve blamed them all for Dad’s death and for taking the business. But now…”
“It’s all fucked up,” I say. I stand up and stretch my body. Out of the corner of my eye, I see some shards of wood through the window. I take a few steps and look outside. I glance at Aiden, who has the hint of a smile playing on his lips.
“Thought you were in the business of making furniture, not destroying it,” he says as the grin spreads across his face.
“Who the fuck knows anymore,” I answer, turning back towards the kitchen and trying to hide my grin. “Like I said, it’s all fucked up now.”