Colum
I couldn't believe it when Bridget told me she'd found someone to stay with. "Already?"
She smiled at me, that charming, sweet smile that started to worry me. "I have friends here, don't I?"
I watched her carefully but she just moved around the room, folding clothes neatly and putting them in a bag. "So when can I meet him?"
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "I don't know."
"What's his name?"
"Michel Scarselli." She didn't like playing twenty questions, but she didn't have much of a choice, did she?
I was quiet for a while. "How old is Mr. Scarselli?"
"Twenty-one. And don't look at me like that." She turned and put a hand on her hip, staring me down. "He had a younger brother and two other girls there." I don't know why she thought yet another male and the harem he shared with his brother would make me feel better. That's how I viewed that statement in my own mind anyway. "Stop looking at me like that. He's a nice guy."
Yes, so I looked horrified. But she did seem to go for the older types, didn't she? "I'll talk to him."
She sighed that all-suffering 'Why, oh God, do I have to put up with this eejit?' sigh and went back to packing.. "Fine."
He did seem nice when I finally met him. Which is impressive considering he was dealing with a paranoid, over-protective brother who was a bit worried he was he trying to add Bridget to the harem he had his away in his house. Okay, not really, but worried if he could really take care of her all the same.
"She's 15 years old," I told him. I probably mentioned that little fact several times during our meeting. It was important though, wasn't it? "She needs to finish school, not just spend her time chasing after boys."
I thought about asking if he was Catholic and if there was a church nearby, but even I have my limits. It would probably be better, I decided, to stick to the basics at first.
I also thought about asking to meet the other three, but decided to leave that alone too. Wouldn't it be good for her to have other girls to talk to? And Michel seemed nice and responsible enough. He'd even told me he'd see to it that she finished school. What more could I ask for?
"I know she's not your sister," I said before I left. "But just look out for her as if she were. Please."
I didn't really feel any better about leaving her there. She is my little sister, after all. But at least I knew she had someone to take care of her. I just hoped he would do a good job of it.
I helped her pack the rest of her things and get them to Michel's house. I stood outside with her, next to the waiting cab, saying my goodbyes before I went back to Ireland.
"You'll call, won't you?" I asked before I left.
She rolled her eyes and smiled. She wasn't mad at me for once. Maybe she was too happy to be rid of me to be mad. "Yes, I'll call."
I nodded and looked away. It was harder than I thought it would be, leaving her there. Would it just be myself and Dermot then? No Bridget to yell at us? That seemed terribly empty. I was thinking that if this were what it was like to see your children leave home, it was a good thing I never planned on having any.
"I wanted to get you something." I said softly, holding out a box. "Don't open it now . . . I'll miss you, Bridget."
She took it and smiled fondly. "You eejit. It's your plan you'll be missing if you don't go." She hugged me and kissed my cheek then. "I'll miss you too." And didn't she mean it?
I almost cried when I climbed into the cab to go to the airport. And didn't I have good reason? That was the last I'd see of the girl for three years.