Judging Joey by Elizabeth John Read Free Book Online

happen to me. I’m fit as a fiddle.” He pounded his abdomen. “I have the abs of a thirty-year-old. Well, maybe a forty-year-old.”
    When Madeline turned back to him with an arched brow, he admitted, “Oh, all right, a fifty-year-old, but a young fifty-year-old.”
    “Sixty-year-old’s more like it,” she coughed out, which sounded like something between a sob and a laugh.
    He reached for her hand and squeezed. “Now, what’s got you all upset? This is not about my health. Something’s troubling you.”
    “It’s nothing.” She tried to shrug off his concern, but he knew her too well. He sat and watched her with worried eyes. “It’s nothing,” she repeated.
    When he remained silent, but watchful, she decided if she couldn’t talk to the man who raised her like his own daughter since she was fifteen, then who could she share her problems with? He was after all, the only true father-figure she had ever known and he was her closest relative.
    “It’s silly. But something happened at the carnival today that brought back memories and all sorts of feelings that I thought I had buried. Or at least come to terms with.”
    “Go on,” he coaxed, making her feel safe, just like he had when her father died and her mother had all but abandoned her.
    “I saw someone today that I haven’t seen in a long time. It must be at least eight years. Not since high school graduation. His nephew’s in my class.”
    “An old friend?”
    “Hardly. Joey O’Neill. Football jock. Dated only cheerleaders and athletic girls. Most of them blond. Never paid much attention to the girls on student council or the debating team. You know the type.”
    He nodded. “Or the school newspaper staff?”
    She turned away, unnerved by her uncle’s keen perception.
    “O’Neill. Why does that name sound familiar? Do they go to our church?”
    She shook her head to say no. “They go to the parish on the other side of town. But you remember the O’Neills. I used to talk about them all the time. I had a bit of a crush on Joey. They still live over on Oak Tree Court. In one of the old McMansions.”
    When her uncle shrugged and shook his head, Madeline continued, “You know, five boys and one girl. All the boys were sports jocks. Come to think of it, so was Caitlin. They’re all lawyers now. Except Joey. He’s a cop. Mr. O’Neill is the patriarch of the family law firm.”
    “Hmm, yes. I vaguely remember you mentioning them. So what about this Joey O’Neill has you upset? Did he dredge up some bad memories of high school?”
    “He was at my school’s Fall Carnival today. Volunteering at the Pie-In-The-Face table.” She smiled when an image of a teenager pelting Joey with cream pies came rushing to her mind.
    “Seems like you enjoyed something about seeing him today.”
    Madeline waved her hand in the air. “You should have seen how many people lined up to throw pies at him.”
    Uncle Mark narrowed his eyes. “Sounds like he’s made a few enemies.”
    “No. You see, that’s what I thought at first too. But after watching all those people lining up and laughing, I realized it wasn’t at him, but with him. Well, with the exception of a bunch of rowdy teenagers.” She stood up and leaned against the counter, having the urge to move about. Damn that Joey O’Neill. Something about him had the power to make her feel a little uncomfortable. Even now.
    “Maddie, sit down and finish your dinner. It’s getting cold.”
    She looked at her uncle, the man who took her in as a troubled teen when her father died after a long struggle with cancer and left her an orphan. Prior to getting sick, her father had worked two jobs to pay the bills her mother had racked up and spent the rest of his time trying to keep her mother out of trouble. So Madeline was always an afterthought.
    When her dad passed away, she was as close to being parentless as one could get. She could hardly count on her neglectful mother.
    Uncle Mark, her mother’s only and