Rhiannon then cottoned on to the fact that they were possibly picking on her and pointed out that she should give them less to pick on, in other words, having a shower and taking care of herself better.
She also asked if she and Mickey needed to contact the school.
Aisling had flatly refused this and before any headway that was gained could be lost, Rhiannon backed down. However, she asked for Mickey to keep an eye out when he got the kids back just to make sure that Aisling was still improving.
It seemed she was. She not only showered, she also helped me with dinner. She wasn’t back to her quiet but present self, but it was something.
Mickey was relieved. Mickey also communicated this to her, taking every opportunity to do that he could, without making it obvious or overbearing.
He’d also started calling her his “pretty girl” or his “gorgeous girl,” things he used to say but he said them now still infrequently but with greater regularity.
These were from her dad, not some cute boy, but it was plain to see she was responding. When he said them, her face would change in a way that was good, not bad. Or she’d hunch her shoulders like she was trying to hold the subtle compliments to her.
It didn’t hurt that Cillian, as if he sensed all this was happening (when, at his age, I was sure it was flying right over his head), got in on the act. He praised her cooking. And the first time she said she was going to watch TV with us instead of slinking to her room, he’d cried, “All right! What should we make Dad and Amy watch, Ash? I’m totally thinking Arrow.”
“Someone kill me,” Mickey had murmured, and both his kids had laughed (both of them!).
We’d watched Arrow. I’d never even heard of it but it was pretty good, even if I wasn’t into superhero kinds of things.
What was great about it was that Cillian and Aisling kept up a running commentary, catching us up on back stories we could have no idea about.
And Aisling was almost as into this as Cillian.
So the efforts of the three adults in Ash’s life were obviously working. It wasn’t a miraculous change but the silence, isolation and gloom seemed to be lifting.
And now she wanted me to go shopping with her and her mother.
“She’s not drinking,” Mickey announced rather than repeating the insanity of me shopping with his daughter and ex-wife.
“I’m sorry?” I whispered.
“She isn’t drinking.”
I stared.
“Ash told me. Not the whole week she had them. Not a drop. And when Rhiannon wasn’t around, Ash looked and there’s no liquor in her house. Not wine, which is what she drinks, but not anything and she keeps other shit there for when she has company.”
“Oh my God,” I breathed.
This was incredible.
“I don’t know,” Mickey stated. “Don’t got my hopes up, don’t want my kids’ up. But she’s spoken to me on the phone and I can tell, in the evenings, when she’s slidin’ toward gone, slurrin’ her words, losing track of the conversation. She’s all there. She hasn’t been all there in ten years. Now, she’s all there.”
Could it be that everything was going to turn out right?
Mickey kept going, “So, Ash wants you and Rhiannon to bond. Rhiannon knows this and she wants our daughter to have this. She said you were cool when you answered the door. She knew it was a surprise for you when she showed, not a good one, but you were nice to her. Offered to let her see the kids. Told her it was nice to meet her. It wasn’t good why we got divorced and we didn’t agree on why we got divorced. What we agreed on is that we’d do what we could to make us bein’ apart as easy as possible for the kids. She’s nice. Doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, unless she’s in denial and fuckin’ up her life. That means she will not do you dirty. I don’t suspect she wants you in her crew. I think she just wants her daughter to have somethin’ solid and real. Folks around her who give a shit and also get along. And babe,” he moved closer to me, “it’d mean a fuckuva lot you did this for me too.”
Shit, I had to do this.
Shit, I had to do this.
“I’ll do it.”
His grin was not easy.
It was warm and beautiful and utterly amazing.
“Thanks, Amy,” he whispered.
For that grin, I’d do anything.
Then again, I’d do anything for Mickey.
And Aisling.
“Do anything for your girl, Mickey,” I replied.
That got me more grin until I lost it when he was kissing me.
“You guys gonna stay in there until Armageddon or what?” Cillian shouted and Mickey broke the kiss. “Spaghetti’s ready!”
“Cill! Shut up!” Ash yelled on the heels of Cillian shouting.