Chapter 37

37

DES

L orna eyes me over her cup the following morning as we grab a quick coffee before work. Thank God, sensible sister.

"How's Mom?" I ask.

She makes a face. "She's asked me to set her up on a dating app."

"What?"

"Ever since she found out about you being on Grindr and that threesome you had, she's been going on about how her life isn't exciting anymore and she never meets anyone."

Oh, sweet Jesus. "Do NOT put her on Tinder. Fuck knows what would end up happening."

Lorna snorts. "Tell me about it. She'd be bled dry by some smooth-talking scam artist in a heartbeat."

"Like Dad."

"Yeah," she sighs, rubbing her temples. "Anyway, how are you holding up, Des? How are things with this lovely man I keep hearing about?"

I stir my spoon through my coffee. "I'm not entirely sure, to be honest."

She puts her head in her hands with a groan. "Seriously? What's happened?"

"Ugh. He came out to his family and it didn't go well, so he sort of ditched me and went back into the closet."

Lorna rolls her eyes. "Why is our family so utterly hopeless at relationships? My boyfriend's as dull as ditchwater, you sleep with anything with a pulse and a penis, and don't even get me started on that guy Marla's with. I'm expecting her to turn up as a dead body on a highway."

"Don't say that."

"I swear he's got mafia connections. He'll be in jail within a year, trust me."

If we don't have an actual scandal, we just invent one in this family.

"Work wants me to go to Korea."

"This is news? You're always jetting off to Korea."

"Longer-term than that."

"How long for?"

"A couple of years at least. To set up an office there."

Lorna's eyes widen. "God, that sounds amazing! You lucky son of a bitch. I'd love to be in a company with opportunities like that. I mean we'll miss you, but wow, big brother."

"Well, we'll need lots of legal assistance, so I can push work your way."

She pats my hand. "So like my lovely Dessy, always looking after his sisters. I'd give my right arm to escape this place."

"What, Manhattan?"

"Yeah."

"Really? Why?"

"New York is relentless. People are self-interested. The litigation I deal with …" She shakes her head. "I haven't met a single kind person working downtown."

Her thoughts mirror my own from when I first returned from Korea so vividly that it's almost painful.

I run a hand through my hair. "I don't know, Lorna, before things started to go south with Alex, I wouldn't have even considered it, but …"

Her eyebrows shoot up. "You can't turn it down!"

"Why not?"

"People like us are never given these kinds of breaks. We're poor, working-class Irish immigrants. The prejudice, the lack of connections. And if you add into that discrimination against gay people … opportunities to step up to the next level are as rare as hen's teeth. Think of all the experience you'd gain, the doors it could open for you. You'll regret it for the rest of your life if you don't do this."

"We're not poor Irish immigrants, Lorna. Our grandparents might have been, but …"

"Dad walked out and Mom was a single parent juggling two, sometimes three, jobs. We grew up in the Bronx with creeps on every corner. You know how shit that was. You looked after us, and we all worked our asses off as soon as we were old enough. But we were on welfare."

"Yeah, well …"

"Not yeah well , Des. It's important. I'm clawing my way up and so are you. You can't turn this down."

Damn it. Why did I agree to meet her for coffee again?