Page 11 of Beneath Pearly Irish Skies
Their sex life had changed because of it, sadly, some of the spontaneity seeping away. As she looked at Donal fiddling with her fridge, she realized she didn’t want to be limited to that kind of sex again, the kind that only happened at night in a bedroom, when no one could pay a call. She was sixty years old, and most of her life was behind her. She didn’t want to settle for the status quo.
She liked being alone with Donal. Shecravedbeing alone with Donal. Hell, she wanted daylight sex and in-the-parlor sex and on-top-of-the-kitchen-counter sex. At-any-time-of-day-and-location sex.
How was she going to do that in Ireland? And would Donal go for it? She simply couldn’t let it go now. She and Donal had another chance at something hot and special and fun.
Thisshe wanted to talk about.
“Knowing you, it’s been grand for other reasons than the weather being dry,” Liam said, pouring his own coffee and sitting down beside Brady at the table.
“I’ve had some lovely biscuits from Mrs. Cashe this morning. She gave me a whole bag to bring home with me.”
Bets leaned back in her chair as she settled into the visit. She loved this kid. He did more than deliver the post. He delivered hope and connection, which was why he scored so many treats. “I heard Mrs. Kelly gave you some blackberry jam the other day.”
He patted his flat belly. “It’s been a good summer with fall looking promising.”
“How many jars of preserves did you garner so far?” Liam asked, tossing him a bread roll, which he swathed in butter from the butter dish.
“About a baker’s dozen, I think,” Brady responded with his mouth full.
“A very good run then,” Donal called, poking his head out and grinning.
Brady only grunted and took a sip of coffee.
Bets sorted through the mail. When she came to the letter addressed to her at the arts center, she noticed the return address was from the town council. She slit it open and pulled out the typed letter and started to read.
And quickly saw red.
Especially since it was signed by Tom MacKenna, her recent nemesis, the official party in the trio of village busybodies who seemed determined to make her life difficult. Tom’s wife was a pill and her best friend was Bets’ sister-in-law, who hadn’t liked her from the get-go.
“Oh, those bastards!” She felt her heart rate kick up. “I could hit something.”
“What is it?” the three men in her kitchen asked all at once.
Bets waved the letter in the air. “Those village eejits are going to screw up our new arts center before it’s really taken off. It wasn’t enough for them to close it down when it was on my land. Now, they want me to cover the operational costs for the center, saying there’s a budget shortage. Advertising, taxes, utilities, and salaries. The whole shebang.”
“What?”Donal shoved the fridge aside and was beside her in a moment, reading the letter. “Oh, Jesus. I had a bad feeling something like this might happen.”
Liam grabbed the letter and Brady leaned over to read it alongside him. Both started cursing.
“You did?” she called out in an outraged tone. “Well, I didn’t! They paved the road and the parking lot and paid to finalize the building without complaint.”
She’d been happy to cover everything when the arts center was on her land, but when they’d closed her down out of her sister-in-law’s spite and Tom MacKenna’s collusion, that had ended her financial involvement. Managing the center was all she’d agreed to.
“Mum, this is outrageous!” Liam said.
“Total rubbish,” Brady added.
Donal uttered a sigh as heavy as morning fog. “If I’d known what Carrick was planning, I would have told him to make sure they agreed to coverallthe operational costs. I’ve seen this kind of thing before. They got the building ready for use so the village couldsayit has an arts center. How it goes after that isn’t their problem. Especially if they think they can bleed those involved for more money.”
His eyes blazed as he said so, making her proud. Donal was easygoing until he wasn’t.
“They said they were fully behind the arts center,” Liam said. “Now they’re going to withhold funds? They might as well board up the windows and let the mice have their way with the inside. Angie and Megan are going to be crushed.”
Yes, she’d thought of that. Her American cousins were teaching there, and it promised a new path forward for both of them.
Was this their way of trying to force her to resign from managing the center? Tom and company hadn’t liked her stepping into that role, she didn’t imagine, after they’d gone to so much work to close her arts center down.
“Let’s not tell them anything yet,” Bets said. “I’ll look into this and see what our options are.”
