Page 7 of Surrender
“I’ll miss you too, pain in my ass. Bring me back something nice, will you?”
“I’ll bring something I can crack over your head.”
She laughed, her voice thick with tears. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
She just looked at him. “You know what for.”
As they drove off into the night, laughter and cheers chasing them, Keefe stood between Caitríona and Ronan. All three of them had tears in their eyes.
“You’re next, son,” Ronan said.
Keefe looked out into the glowing garden, where Ginny now stood dabbing her eyes as she waved goodbye to the happy couple.
“We’ll see, Dad,” he murmured. “We’ll see.”
Chapter 4
The pub was silent. The kind of silence that pressed in around the edges, thick and alive, broken only by the low hum of the old refrigerator in the kitchen and the occasional creak of wood settling in the ceiling beams.
Keefe sat alone in his office, the desk lamp casting a soft golden pool of light across the paperwork he wasn’t looking at. He hated paperwork. It was the worst part of the job but unfortunately, necessary. He was leaning back in his chair, arms crossed loosely, staring at the opposite wall as if it might suddenly say something helpful.
His thoughts had long since drifted to nowhere useful. Mostly, he was just tired. Bone-deep tired. And not just from the long hours. He loved his work. He loved the pub and everything that came with it—except the damn paperwork.
No, this fatigue ran deeper.
The door creaked open slightly, and Ginny peeked her head in.
“Is it quiet or loud?” she asked, softly.
Keefe blinked, pulled from whatever fog he’d been drifting through. “Sorry, what was that?”
She stepped further into the room, her voice calm, curious. “The silence. Is it quiet or loud?”
He let out a soft breath, his lips curving into a weary but appreciative smile. “Loud. Very loud.”
Ginny nodded knowingly. “I figured. You had that look about you.” He watched her lean against the doorway, her arms crossed loosely over her apron. She wasn’t looking at him, just at the floor, thoughtful. “I’ve had a lot of time on my own. That’s when it gets the loudest for me. My momma always says that life gets easier and harder all the time,” she added. “I don’t know why, but that’s supposed to be comforting, I guess.”
Keefe huffed a laugh. “A wise woman.”
Ginny wrinkled her nose. “Not really. She heard that from her momma and just says it now to sound wise and all. The truth is, she doesn’t know shit.”
That got him. He smothered a grin and looked down, shaking his head. It was the first time he’d ever heard Ginny truly insult someone. She was pretty good at it too.
She glanced up and caught him smiling.
“Have you made any friends?” he asked.
She perked up slightly, then slouched again. “No, not really. I mean Darcie is about the sweetest person I’ve ever met in my whole life, but you know, Darcie’s a new mom and all… The customers are friendly enough, and I’m getting to know them, but no one I’d call up just to talk or have lunch with or something like that. Have you heard from Sophie and Liam? Are they having the best time ever?”
Keefe reached into the drawer and retrieved his phone. “See for yourself. Sophie’s been sending photos.”
He handed the phone to Ginny, who stepped closer to the desk and scrolled slowly through the pictures. One of Sophie beaming with sunglasses on her head, Liam looking sunburned and smug beside her. A view of a white-walled town cascading down a cliff. A sapphire blue sea stretching into forever.
“They look so right together, don’t they?” she murmured.
“Yeah,” Keefe said, watching not the phone, but her face. “They always have.”
