Page 18 of Shattered Union

She wrinkles her nose. “You can’t try them on. Do you know how many times I’ve ordered stuff online only for them to arrive and not fit? I can’t be arsed sending them back for a refund, it’s just painstaking.”

I pour us both a drink. I raise my glass and tip it against hers. “To you.” I smirk at her. “For always being by my side whenever I’m causing trouble.”

She laughs, her head thrown back and her eyes alight with humour. “To you, for being the best friend a girl could want, and for being a bad influence in my life.”

I can’t really dispute that. When we were teenagers, I was the bad influence on her. We were joined at the hip and whatever I wanted to do, Ava was right there behind me, cheering me on and doing it, too. I’d never pressure her to do it and if she said no, I wouldn’t do it either.

I take a sip of the concoction she made, and I cringe at the amount of alcohol that’s in it, but I’m never one to be deterred. I bring it to my lips and take another sip.

“So,” she begins, a devilish glint in her eyes. “How are things going between you and Denis? You’ve been around a lot more these last few weeks. Is he not satisfying you?”

I shake my head. “There’s something wrong with you.” Jesus, she’s a nutter. “We’ve both been busy, he’s had his daughter’s wedding to go to and I’m trying to ensure that O’Hara’s is a success.”

Her eyes soften. “Callie,” her voice filled with love and warmth. “I’m so proud of you. You’ve done amazing since you started. You made one pub, something which was a small local pub, and turned it into a bustling bar. It wasn’t a fluke; you’ve done it time and time again. You’re a shrewd businesswoman who has researched the business thoroughly. You know what works and what doesn’t. Trust yourself and don’t forget to breathe.”

It’s something I battle with constantly. My insecurities. Some days, they can eat me alive, but I’ve been trying to push past them. I’ve heard the murmurs, those that say I’m where I am because of my dad. That may be so, but I could have easily done what Maverick did and sold the pub and done something different with my life. But owning a pub, especially here in Dublin, felt right. Soon, I realised it was what I was meant to do. Going into my pubs and knowing my customers' names and their families. It’s special and they all know me and my staff. It was something I learned pretty quickly that if you treat customers right, they’ll return and they’ll be there for life. And they have. My businesses have bloomed from when I first started out. Every night is a full house in every single pub.

“You never said how old he was,” Ava says, pulling me from my thoughts. “I know you. You have a type; you prefer a mature man. I’m guessing thirty-five?”

I bite my lip. I do like my older men. I hate the bullshit that can sometimes come with guys my age. The constant need for attention which has them making stupid decisions. Oh, I know it can happen with anyone, but with my businesses, I’m busy and I need a man to understand my work is important and older men get and respect that.

“His eldest son is twenty-two,” I tell her and watch her eyes widen. “He’s forty.” He’s not the oldest I’ve dated, but he’s different from the rest. The way he makes me feel is something I’ve not experienced until him. He’s special.

“Is his son hot?”

I roll my eyes. While I like my men older, Ava, who’s twenty-four, prefers her guys younger. Not too young, just a year or two younger than her. So Danny would be right in her league.

“He’s married.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “Damn. Does he have any more kids?”

“I can find out if Malcolm’s single? He’s twenty-one.” I giggle when her eyes light up like it’s Christmas. “Let’s finish these drinks and then head on out.”

She nods. “Where do you fancy going? I’m not in the mood to go to your pubs, hun, I don’t fancy working.”

She’s not wrong. Anytime we go to one of my pubs, it’s always so busy we end up helping out.

“I was thinking we’d go to Voodoo.” It’s a relaxed bar that's also open late.

“Perfect, I haven’t been there in years,” she murmurs as she finishes her drink and reaches for the pitcher and fills up our drinks once again.

“Same,” I reply with a cheeky grin. “I think the last time I was there, it was the night of mine and Mav’s birthday.”

Her eyes widen. “Oh my God, yes. You’re seventeenth, we all ended up at Voodoo, I’m not sure how the hell you and Mav got in that night.”

“Keith,” I snarl. God, even saying that arsehole’s name makes me want to either vomit or punch someone. “He was working on the door.”

“It was where you met him.” She nods thoughtfully. Her eyes are hard and unfocused. No doubt she’s remembering what I looked like when she found me after he had beaten me bloody.

Ava is the only person who knows what really happened between Keith and me afterward. I was ashamed to tell anyone about the beatings at first, needing to come to terms with it. Being a battered woman isn’t something I should have been ashamed of. But I felt as though my family and friends would have judged me. I should have known they wouldn’t have, they loved me. Maverick and Stephen were so angry they wanted to track him down and kill him. They probably would have if Keith hadn't left the country.

Mam made me promise never to keep anything from her again. She was hurt, upset, and beyond pissed. Dad, well, he was wrecked. He felt as though he had failed to protect me. He did not know what was happening and believed he should have known his little girl was hurting. It’s taken us all a long time to come to terms with what went down. I kept a lot of the abuse to myself, not wanting to cause my family any more upset than what they have felt.

“Thankfully, he’s no longer in the country so I don’t have to worry about him.” I know there’s going to be a time when he returns to Ireland, I just pray when he does, he’ll have forgotten about the threats he made to me.

She raises her glass. “I hope his dick falls off, the bastard.”

I giggle at the thought as I toast to that. “Is Andrew picking you up tonight?”

---