Page 1 of Return
Chapter1
The room wassilent except for the faint hum of the overhead lights. The doctor’s words hung in the air like a death knell. The chill of the sterile office amplified the silence. Her fingers trembled in her lap, the wedding band on her hand feeling more like a shackle than a promise. He didn’t look at her, his jaw tight, his gaze fixed on some point far beyond the frost-rimmed window. She had braced herself for this moment—for the unraveling of a life that had been fraying for years. He stood up abruptly, the screech of the chair legs against the tile slicing through the stillness. She didn’t need to look up to see his expression. She could feel it, sharp and cutting, the way she’d felt it for years. The diagnosis had only confirmed what he’d already decided—that she was a disappointment, a failure, an obstacle to his happiness.
“So, what do you think, Soph?”
“What a dump.”
“I know. She’s a real beauty, isn’t she?”
“No, I meant what a dump.”
Sophie O’Brian stood beside her twin brother in the middle of a pub dining room, covering her mouth and nose with a tissue. Dust inches thick blanketed the forgotten mantel and beams, spiderwebs hung in hazy clouds, and an aging roof loomed above them, and under her feet the wooden floor groaned.
Dump.
But Keefe, standing beside her with a twinkle in his eye, saw something else entirely. He saw a gleaming oak bar, a warm fire, the heartbeat of a place waiting to come alive. “Come on, Soph,” he said, nudging her. “Can’t you see it? The place has soul.”
Squinting past the grime and ruin, she began to see the place through Keefe’s eyes. Maybe if she looked hard enough, she’d find the magic he seemed to see so easily.
“Come on, it’s not that bad.” He waited a minute and watched his sister look around. “Sure, it needs some work and sprucing up, but nothing too major.” He waited a few beats before pressing a little harder. It had been more than a year since her divorce and she was in no better shape than she was the day the decree came through. Sophie needed this place as much as it needed her. “She’s great, right? I think she’s pretty great.”
Sophie continued looking around, scowling.
“I was thinking we could take out those booths over there on the far wall and make a little stage area. And the kitchen needs updating, of course, but it’s in good working order as it is, so if you thought we should wait to spend anything on that, I would understand.” Like hell he would. He had his eye on a French stove that was calling his name but he was willing to promise anything if it would get her to say yes. “And don’t you just love these hardwood floors, Soph? They will shine like new when refinished. And we could have a mural painted outside—you love places that do that. And then there are the rooms upstairs. We could have a B&B.”
Sophie looked at her brother and grinned and shook her head. He hadn’t been this excited about, well, anything really. Then she took another walk through the old Irish pub. It had good bones. Even covered in dust and cobwebs, its old world charm gleamed. He was right. A stage area would be nice and she could picture how nice the oak bar would look once they restored it. As for the kitchen, that was Keefe’s domain. She would rein him in when needed—and it would most definitely be needed. If she knew her brother at all, he would already have a stack of restaurant supply catalogues with pages of the most expensive equipment money could buy dogeared.
“You love it. I can see it in your face Soph, admit it! You love it.”
The place needed work, but that was okay. Sophie was never afraid of elbow grease.
Sophie nodded and softly, if not cautiously, smiled. “I do. But, are you sure this is what you want to do? You really want me involved in this?”
“We always talked about having our own pub. Well, why not do it? Really do it?”
“Keefe, it needs a new roof, and that’s only the beginning.”
“That’s not very constructive.”
“Constructive? Oh, you want constructive?” She flipped him off with a smirk. “All I’m saying is, it’s a lot of work.”
“Is there anything that isn’t?” She needed a fresh start and what better place than here? Their family was here, and it was a million miles away from Massachusetts, an ex-husband and terrible memories. “Just think, this time we won’t be leaving after a couple of months in the Summer or a few days over the holidays. Won’t it be nice to see Aunt Nan whenever you want? You two were always close. You’re always talking to her on the phone. Well now you can knock on her door. And Connor and Darcie are about to have twins. You will love being here for that.” He was wearing her down. He could feel it. “Come on. This is your favorite place in the world, Soph… And honestly, I can’t do this without my big sister.”
Keefe only mentioned that three minutes and eight seconds age difference when he wanted to twist her arm. It worked every time.
But he was right—Ireland was indeed her favorite place. If she was honest, the location had been the most appealing part of his entire scheme. Sure, she looked forward to being business partners with her brother—they had always worked well together—but the fact that he’d chosen a place in Ireland, taking her a million miles away from Massachusetts, was what she truly looked forward to.
As for Sophie, it had been so long since anyone asked her what she wanted that she’d long since forgotten any dreams she may have once had. Nothing in her life had worked out the way she thought it would, and she had nobody to blame but herself. Although it had taken years, she now understood that her only hope of recovery was accepting that she wouldn’t get a better past and learn to move on.
Now here she was, standing inside a one- hundred-and-fifty-year-old pub in County Kerry, Ireland only miles away from her aunts, uncles and cousins, and for the first time in a very long time she didn’t feel out of place.
“Be honest. Are you asking me to do this because you didn’t want to leave me alone?”
“I’m doing this because I didn’t want to leave you alone and because I don’t believe there’s a better person to restore and run this place than you. Between us and Simon and Connor’s crew we should be all set for repairs of pretty much everything, don’t you think? You know about renovations and have a great eye and they will take care of the rest and if they can’t, then they will know who we should call.”
“Jesus, Keefe, you make me sound like Bob Villa.” She had to admit that she felt lighter being back in Ireland. She’d even put on jeans for a change instead of sweatpants this morning. That was a step in the right direction. She ran her hand along the dusty bar. The smell of countless wood, and doubtless peat fires as well, was ingrained into the very essence of the place. She could picture a large warming fire burning bright inside the cobblestone fireplace that stood tall on the opposite wall. So, what the heck? “You really have this all worked out, don’t you?”
“Yeah, pretty much. Honestly, it would be simpler if you just agreed so we could get on with it. I’d like to be open by the Spring if we can swing it.”
