Saving 6: Boys of Tommen

“Abusive alcoholics see no age or gender. All they see is a punching bag to take aim at when the notion strikes them.”

“Excuse my flanker,” he told us as he led the blond lad back toward the lounge. “He’s like a bleeding Labrador. Completely harmless, with zero awareness of social cues and etiquette.”

“I was only being friendly,” the blond lad argued as his friend led him away. “It’s nice to be nice, Johnny.”

“Yeah, I know you were, Gibs, but those people are strangers, and what did we say about you talking to strangers?”

“Don’t do it?”

“Exactly.”

Because I’ve put an awful lot of effort into saving you, six.”

Don’t catch feelings and you won’t get hurt

“Because I have no intention of giving a boy that kind of power over me,” I replied simply. “From my viewpoint, men let you down. Even the good ones like Dad can’t be trusted. So why would I ever expose myself to that kind of pain? It would be emotional suicide.”

“The whole world isn’t black and white, Aoife. There’s a whole lot of gray in the middle.”

“But it’s a lot easier to know what to do when it’s another person’s life you’re judging.”

Babies weren’t supposed to be made in order to plaster over cracks in marriages

“Nice game.”

“Nice legs.”

“I might not be the biggest dog in the fight,” I begrudgingly conceded, “but I always have the sharpest teeth.”

“Kind of like the saying: It’s not the size of the dog that matters, it’s the fight in the dog?”