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Although Jed came across as a bit of a gruff comedian, no one had broken into Gabby’s room again while he was on watch. 
    When they’d first been introduced, Jed had seemed familiar, but Christina couldn’t place him and he didn’t elaborate on whether they’d met before.  She just put it down to Jed’s easy manner that was somehow comforting, even if the man himself was built like a street fighter.
    For her first tour of duty looking after Gabby, Christina had managed to avoid her hometown, but her luck ran out for the second.  Gabby was about to be released from hospital and for some bizarre reason, Dad and Johnny decided they should return to Shanwick for Gabby’s recuperation.  Christina had argued strongly against this because Gabby lived in Seattle, Johnny lived in New York, and she in Washington. 
    It made no sense to Christina for them to move back to Shanwick.  When she was outvoted 3-1, Christina petulantly refused to return to Shanwick until her father emotionally blackmailed her.  Dad suggested remodeling the house for Gabby, something that hadn’t been done since before their mother died and all of them had wanted. 
    With sad eyes and a drooping mouth, Dad looked at her.  “I understand.  You’re really busy, but it would be so nice to see the family come together – just once - for your sister .” 
    Christina didn’t admit defeat often, but on this, even she knew she’d been beaten.  She always rose to the challenge of a fight and would take no prisoners, but she hated hurting people intentionally, especially her father.  As a compromise, she agreed to two weeks in Shanwick and reserved the right to leave if she found it unbearable. 
     
     

Chapter Six – The home route
    Christina, Shanwick, The Past, Saturday 29 September 2012, (Seven days ago)
     
    “Rory Gallagher was a better guitarist than Jimi Hendrix.  Hendrix even said so,” Dad insisted.
    “Oh come on, Dad,” Johnny snorted, “he was just being polite…”
    “Rubbish,” scoffed Dad, “it was the truth.  What do you think, Dina?” 
    “I-don’t-really-care,” Christina groaned.
    She could feel the eyes of her father and her brother on her, but she chose to ignore them.  She knew she was being rude, but she was finding it difficult to control her irritation.  Christina had been house bound, by choice, for a week and she was slowly going stir-crazy with only the Martin men for company.
    Unlike the rest of her family, Christina was not remembered in her hometown with fondness or grudging respect.  She had been the town’s resident bad girl, someone the police once questioned as a murder suspect, and a morality tale of how girls shouldn’t behave.  It didn’t matter what she did in her professional life, here in Shanwick, she may as well have been in stasis as at circa 1998.
    Despite Dad and Johnny’s best efforts, Christina had remained inside the house, refusing to venture into town.  She just wanted to leave and her depressive mood had begun to suck the life out of everything in close proximity.
    “Wow,” Johnny laughed.  “You’re just a little ray of sunshine, aren’t you? 
    “She’s my very own little Eeyore, the donkey,” Dad snorted.
    “Are you calling Dina an ass, Dad?” 
    Both the Martin men started guffawing, which made Christina sigh and turn away.  She was tempted to wrestle Johnny to the ground, like she did as a teenager, and put him in a headlock.  It wouldn’t be the first time, and at the rate things were going, it wouldn’t be the last.  Johnny must have sensed her line of thinking, because he moved out of reach, and kept looking out the corner of his eye to make sure she didn’t pounce. 
    Instead of inflicting bodily injury on her brother, she buried herself in renovations - stripping wallpaper, sanding, filling holes in the walls, and trying to avoid her family.  If she’d allowed herself, she might have actually enjoyed the experience, but she didn’t.  She