The Last Thing He Needs (23 page)

Judy, on the other hand, made it known early in the season that Christmas was going to be A Big Deal. She insisted on everyone going to the mall together right after Thanksgiving and getting a picture taken with Santa. Her treat. Of course.

Tommy generally avoided the mall at all costs, especially at the holidays. Not only did they not have enough money to buy anything, but he didn’t trust Davey’s sticky fingers there. The kid was like a magpie, and Tommy wasn’t sure Davey could resist all the shiny objects. The last thing Tommy needed was for him to get hauled off by mall security right before Christmas. Just thinking about the crowds and the noise was enough to give Tommy a headache. Mostly, he didn’t like taking them places filled with things they’d want but couldn’t have.

Max and Zoe were the only ones young enough to believe in a giant elf who dropped down a chimney they didn’t have to leave toys and candy for them, and they were too little to care. The rest had learned at a young age that Santa skipped over their house, and then they realized—younger than most of their classmates—Santa wasn’t real at all. Despite all that, Carrie and Collin stood in line with a short list prepared, their eyes alight with what Tommy thought of as bitter, dangerous hope.

The picture was just supposed to be the kids. But when Max and Zoe saw some strange man in a red suit and the rather disgruntled-looking elves, they both started to scream like banshees. That’s how Tommy ended up on one side of the photo and Bobby on the other. It took four attempts to get a decent shot. Max was picking his nose in the first, and Zoe had jerked Santa’s beard off in the second. Mike was rolling his eyes in the third shot, but the fourth, Tommy hated to admit, was heartwarming. The kids were all dressed in their best clothes—just sweaters and jeans—but they looked nice and clean. They were all smiling at the camera and Bobby was grinning, his face in profile because he was looking right at Tommy.

Looking at that photo, no one could have guessed they were a band of thieves and swindlers, and two children of a whore.

Tommy liked it and even paid a couple of dollars for a cheap frame so he could stick it on a shelf in the living room, but that picture was a lie, and he knew it.

The following week, Mike and Davey came home with a small Christmas tree. Tommy never asked where they “found” their trees. They usually just appeared in the early-morning hours, but this year the boys were bounding through the door with one in the middle of the afternoon.

“Tommy!” Mike shouted as he and Davey struggled to drag it through the door. “Guess what!”

“You got a tree,” Tommy answered before taking a sip from his coffee cup. He had to work later and was already wishing he could take a nap.

Mike rolled his eyes. “
Obviously
. But we got a job too.”

“Both of you?” Tommy asked, falling down on the sofa. “You got school.”

Davey waved his hand and said, “It’s almost out for winter break.”

“Yeah, and besides, the guy down at the lot said we could just come by a couple hours in the afternoon,” Mike explained. “We worked for him today, tied the trees up for people, and stuck ’em in their trunks and stuff, so he gave us this one for free.”

“And ten bucks each!” Davey added. Tommy had always thought Davey enjoyed stealing, but apparently it was the money he enjoyed, not the means that brought it.

Mike disappeared into the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with an old bucket full of rocks and water. Davey seemed to read his mind and started to shuffle the tree to him.

“I stashed the money under the sink,” Mike said as he and Davey tried to secure the tree.

“Go get it back,” Tommy told him.

At the shocked look on Mike’s face, Tommy added, “This is like found money. We didn’t plan for it, so you two should keep what you earn.” Even Davey looked like he was going to protest, so Tommy said, “I’m proud of you two. You didn’t lift it, you didn’t take advantage of anyone, and you figured out a way to earn some dough in the process. You should keep it.”

The boys had wrestled the little tree into place and they both stood up, wiping sap from their hands on their jeans. They had guilty looks on their faces, and Tommy wondered what the real story was, but he didn’t have to ask.

“See, the thing is…,” Mike started.

Davey huffed and stepped up. He was more used to having to confess his crimes to Tommy than Mike was. “The guy saw us eyeing this one and he came over to us. He said he’d caught us on video the last couple years nicking a Christmas tree. He never reported us because he figured if a kid is desperate enough to steal a tree….”

When Davey paused, Tommy asked, “And?”

“And, well, he said last year he decided if he caught us casing his lot, he’d see if we were willing to work for it instead of just taking it.” Davey shrugged and added, “We were.”

Tommy thought it over for a minute before he said anything. “So he was gonna have you arrested if you passed up the offer?”

“Nope,” Mike said. “He’s just a nice guy. He said we could have the tree either way, but he wanted to offer us some work if we wanted it.”

Tommy didn’t know what to say to that. He knew there were nice people in the world. He was even friends with more than a few. But this guy took the cake. What kind of a guy offered a job to someone who made a habit out of stealing from him? Most people, Tommy included, would’ve probably kicked their asses. An alarming thought skidded through his mind before he had a chance to stop it. He wondered if he could figure out a way to get Judy down to the lot to meet the guy. They were made for each other.

He’d heard someone say once that a true sign of being in love was an urge to matchmake for people. He rolled his eyes at himself and finally said, “You should still keep the money, all right?”

“Half,” Mike told him firmly. “We’ll keep half for ourselves and the rest we’ll save for whatever, okay?”

In general, they were a pain in the ass. They were sometimes reckless, sometimes thoughtless, and neither of them liked doing what they were told. But standing there with the winter sun spilling through the window behind them, looking rightfully proud of themselves because they’d worked and done something good for a change, good for the whole family, Tommy had to admit that they were good—no,
great
—kids. They were going to grow into good men, even if it killed Tommy.

“All right, deal. You two keep half and do something for yourselves.” He cleared his throat as his emotions threatened to choke him. “You’ve more than earned it.”

Davey turned a devilish look at Mike and said, “Now you can buy a Christmas present for your
girlfriend
.”

The magical bubble of Best Kids Ever burst when Mike punched Davey in the arm and told him sharply to shut up. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

“No more hitting today,” Tommy told them. “I don’t have time to break up any bullshit if we’re gonna get the tree done before I leave for work.” He finished his coffee before he asked Mike, “Who’s the girl?”

Mike looked at his shoes. “Just a girl at school.”

“You remember the rules, right?” Tommy asked as he narrowed his eyes on Mike.

“Don’t knock anyone up,” Mike said with a nod. “I haven’t even asked her out yet, so I don’t need to worry about that one anytime soon.”

“What’s the other rule?” Tommy prompted him, feeling like between the two, this one was more important.

“Hands off until I know it’s cool with her and
no
doesn’t mean
maybe, keep trying
,” Mike recited.

They’d had that conversation over a year ago, but Tommy was glad to hear Mike remembered every word.

Mike went on to say, somewhat bashfully, “She plays the cello and she likes my poetry.”

Tommy couldn’t hide his surprise. “You write poetry? Since
when
?”

With another shrug, Mike said, “We did a unit on it in English, and I kinda liked it.”

“Gonna let me read any?” Tommy asked, watching Davey out of the corner of his eye.

The kid was picking off any loose needles and fluffing the branches. He was pretty damned proud of that tree.

“Sure. Judy’s got my folder right now, though.” Mike shifted on his feet like he was embarrassed. “She said she was gonna put ’em in a book or something, so I could keep it and read it when I’m older.”

That idea would never have occurred to Tommy. “That’s real nice of her. Be sure and thank her for it, ya know?”

“I will. I mean, I already did, but I will again when she’s done.” Mike paused for a beat and chewed his lip, looking like he was thinking hard about something. “She’s real nice, like… I think it’s what a grandmother is supposed to be like. Baking cookies and doing nice stuff like that.”

Davey was digging in the closet under the stairs when Mike sat down next to Tommy.

“You’re probably right,” Tommy agreed.

Grandma O’Shea had died before any of them were born. Cirrhosis of the liver, of course. But he and Mike were old enough to remember their grandmother on their mother’s side. Tommy figured if he ever looked up a definition for
mean as a snake
, her picture would be there with it for reference.

She had a tiny dog she would sic on them when they were little because she thought it was funny as hell when they’d run screaming through the house from it. That old bat would cackle like a maniac when they cried and ran to their father to be picked up. She liked to smack Tommy with her cane for no reason at all, and she once told Colleen, who was barely older than Zoe at the time, that she was the ugliest child she’d ever seen and she should have been drowned at birth. Tommy was seven then, and he told her one day he was going to kill her in her sleep. That, for whatever twisted reason, made Tommy her favorite. She still wasn’t nice to any of them, but she said he at least had balls, which was more than she could say for his father. Tommy hated her. She finally died when he was twelve years old, and Tommy cleaned out her jewelry box and sold the few trinkets down at a pawnshop. He had taken Colleen and Mike out for ice cream and stashed the rest of the money.

Mike pulled him out of his thoughts when he said, “Ya know, sometimes I think maybe Bobby and Judy are, like, God’s way of apologizing for how shitty things were.”

Tommy let the comment about God go. He figured he still owed the guy one for the night Bobby was shot. Or maybe he didn’t owe him one, but maybe they were almost even.

“
Were
?” Tommy asked, laughing as he looked around their shabby home.

It looked to Tommy like Mike was trying to decide if he meant it.

“Yeah,” Mike said after a moment. “Things are better, and they keep getting better, ya know?”

Tommy didn’t bother to point out there were a lot of ways things could still go to hell. He didn’t tell Mike, starting where they had, things getting better wasn’t necessarily progress, more like floating on shit in the right direction for once.

Mike was looking at their life like they could see a light at the end of the tunnel. Tommy could too, he just couldn’t tell if it was the sun or a locomotive getting ready to knock them over for good. He decided to let Mike keep the promise of a better future he was starting to believe in.

He decided to let the specter of hope haunt them for a while. “Maybe so, kiddo.”

T
OMMY
WASN
’
T
surprised when the doorbell rang a couple of hours later. The kids were digging through old Christmas decorations and getting ready to trim the tree. Colleen had just gotten home from work, and Tommy needed to leave soon for his shift.

Tommy got up from the floor, but Carrie jumped ahead of him. She had red garland draped over her shoulder like a scarf and a few old Christmas bows in her hair.

Judy stood on the porch with a bright smile on her face. She had a wreath dangling from her arm and a few plastic containers with—Tommy was sure—cookies and fudge in them. Bobby stood behind her looking guiltier than Tommy had ever seen him. He was wearing a Santa hat. Judy was too, for that matter, and she had a stack of them on top of her trays.

“We were told there was a tree-trimming party,” Judy said happily.

Carrie was practically bouncing in front of her. “There is! There is!” she shouted as she lifted her arms to take the trays from Judy.

Tommy took a step back and opened the door wider. He didn’t know who had given the kids Judy’s number, but he was considering shutting off the house phone.

When Carrie made off with the treats, Judy turned and hung the wreath on a rusty nail on the front door. She looked at Tommy and said, “Don’t give me any shit, Tommy O’Shea.”

He felt his eyes go wide with shock. The closest thing to a curse he’d ever heard from her was on the night they’d met, when Bobby’s condition was still a big question mark.

She went on. “For once, could you just say ‘It’s good to see you, Judy. Come on in.’ And maybe give me a hug?”

Bobby poked his head in over her shoulder and said to Tommy, “She’s had three spiked eggnogs. You might wanna do it.”

Tommy let out a bark of laughter and wrapped his arms around her petite body, giving her the hug she asked for. “It’s good to see ya, Judy. Come on in,” he said obediently. When he pulled back, he added, “I kinda like ya like this, Mrs. M. You’re all feisty.”

Judy laughed, but said, “You’re just pleased that you’ve finally driven me to drink.”

“That too.” He let her go into the house. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he heard her whisper the word
asshole
as she went.

Bobby still looked a little guilty, but he was smiling. “I drove.”

Tommy laughed and went in for a kiss, but Bobby stopped him with a hand on his chest.

“Don’t get mad, Tom.”

“Just saying that tells me there’s something to get
really
mad about, Bobby.”

Bobby cringed, but rather than say anything, he stepped to the side so Tommy could see the two carrier bags with wrapped presents in them.