22

SEVENTEEN

AELA

IT WAS Seamus’s first day of school.

The first day where Declan could officially return to work, and that was because he’d had the all clear.

I was nervous for both of them, but nervous mostly for myself.

The all clear, an empty nest, I knew what that meant.

No way was Declan returning to work today. No way. No how.

This was it.

The start of something that had been brewing for decades.

I licked my lips as I dropped a couple of pancakes on Shay’s plate. He was wearing a uniform that he’d been bitching about since I’d bought it, which