Almost Innocent Read Free Page A

jail every week for six months. He refused to see me every single time. I wrote him letters for years, Fi. Years! How in the hell does he interpret that as me not wanting to see him?”
    “I don’t know, Gabby. I only know that I respected the wishes of my little brother. A man who is trying to acclimate back into society the best he can.” Her defensive tone only pissed me off.
    “So you don’t have a problem with him not wanting me to know he’s out, but you’ll show him my Facebook page? What else have you told him about me?”
    “What?” She sounded genuinely confused. I could picture her scrunching up her face.
    “He said that he knew everything there was to know about me because he looked me up on social media. On your account.”
    “We never talk about you. Ever. If I bring you up, he changes the subject or leaves. And I sure as shit never showed him anything on Facebook.” Then she groaned. “That fucking ass. I’m so sorry, Gabby. I have let him use my phone. I didn’t even think about it.”
    I shook my head even though she couldn’t see me. “I don’t care about that. He just seemed to know so much about me, but he didn’t say anything about… has he been to your house? To your mom’s? If he has, he must have seen pictures.”
    “No. He won’t come to my house, and I’m not even sure he’s spoken to Ma. That’s one of his rules. We can’t talk about you, her, or… or…” She cleared her throat. “Or Dustin.”
    I could understand him not wanting to talk about me. Part of me knew he would never forgive me, even though I had held out hope that he would find peace in prison. It also made sense that he didn’t want to talk about Dustin. None of us talked about him. Not really. Once in a while Fi or I would mention our teenage years, laugh about the stupid shit her brothers had done. And I would answer any question that I was asked. The rest of the time, we avoided bringing him up.
    Moira Callaghan though? That surprised me. Declan and his mom had always been close, even after everything. She’d traveled to see him in prison often, and even though she only tolerated me, she loved her family with all of her heart. I hoped Fi was wrong.
    “I don’t know what he saw on your page,” Fiona continued, “but I can guarantee you that if he doesn’t want to talk about you and he doesn’t want to talk about our brother…” she trailed off, letting me connect the dots.
    “Then he doesn’t want to talk about Grady.”
    “Give him time. One day, he’ll get to discover what an amazing kid Grady is. But right now, it would hurt him too much. He’s not ready to be a role model, let alone answer the questions we both know your son has. Let him find himself first, then Declan can be the cool uncle he always planned to be.” She sighed. “Listen, I know it’s a lot to take in, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. But right now, you have more important things to worry about. Go kick some ass at your interview.”
    After promising that I’d call her that afternoon, I hung up and focused on the upcoming meeting. At least I tried to. Every time I thought about one of my practice questions, my mind wandered to a certain blue-eyed man and all the things I should have said to him. I couldn’t ignore the fact that he'd never forgive me for what I was about to do. When he was behind bars, where I couldn’t get through to him, finding an agent had seemed like the right step. Now it felt like another betrayal.
    By the time I found a parking space, I’d come to one very alarming conclusion—I needed to see Declan Callaghan again. We needed to talk. And I couldn’t take no for an answer.

Chapter Two

Declan
    A s I stood in the parking lot, freezing my ass off and watching her drive away, I shoved my hands in my pockets and channeled my inner Bogart. Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine. Why in the hell was she there, in the middle of a town she’d never