Page 47 of Against Ebony Irish Seas

He shrugged. “I grew up. Teachers aren’t supposed to pull pranks. They’re supposed to stop them.”

“No, it would seem teachers grade homework and stay home a lot.” Liam sat on a navy blue mat and smiled. “Looks like your inner child needed some expressing. It’s hard to be serious all the time. After Sorcha died, I know your grief was compounded by Carrick’s.”

He lowered his gaze to the stone floor. “We were all struggling, Carrick most of all. I’m glad those days are behind us.”

“Me too.” Liam rested his hands on his knees. “I imagine this playful energy is good for your dating life. Why don’t you hang out down here until you have to go? I’ll help sneak you out of the house. I heard Kathleen talk about heading to Mr. Price to see if she and Ellie could find soaker-hose water guns.”

Wincing, he rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m in for it then.”

“Women don’t like to get their hair wet—except perhaps from the rain. Plus, they aren’t Irish.”

“No, they aren’t.” Neither was Sophie. He would make sure to keep her hair as dry as possible.

“Brady and Declan are going to laugh until they’re blue,” Liam said, chuckling himself. “But not in front of their wives. Kills the bedroom fun, you know.”

He hoped he would know soon. Having Sophie in that way was something he could only imagine—and, indeed,hadimagined—but he knew the reality would be a million times better. “I’ll just be quiet and let you meditate.”

“You can do whatever you want.” Liam closed his eyes. “There’s nothing that can bother me after today.”

Jamie narrowed his eyes. He didn’t want to interrupt Liam, but how could he resist? “What happened?”

Liam only smiled.

When he didn’t respond, Jamie busied himself with checking his dress shirt for wrinkles and other silly things to pass the time. He was grateful Liam’s watch face was visible in the position his hands rested in that mantra thing he did. When it grew close to time for his date, he excused himself into an unfinished closet and changed.

When he emerged, Liam was waiting for him, his entire being as calm as the sea after a storm. Jamie gestured to himself. “Will I do?”

“You look fine as fine can be.” Liam started toward the stairs. “I can’t guarantee they won’t be waiting for you, but I’ll draw their fire as best I can.”

At the top of the steps, Jamie scanned the large hall. There wasn’t a sound. The parlor was dark, the perfect hiding place. Jamie looked at Liam.

“I’d best run for it.”

Liam nodded and together they took off. At the line of the parlor, he saw an orange flash and the line of a woman’s body. He sprinted for the door as the first slap of high-powered water struck his back. He shrieked. Liam grunted. His friend turned around and held out his hands as Jamie opened the door, taking a steady spray to the chest.

“Have fun,” Liam called as Jamie disappeared through the door and ran for his car.

He had his car keys out and was inside before the two women emerged from the house, pummeling his car with their water guns. Backing up, he found himself laughing all the way to his house.

By the time Greta opened the door, he was feeling downright exuberant. “Hello there, young Greta. Would you mind if I picked you up and swung you around?”

“If you want to, Mr. Fitzgerald,” she said, holding up her arms.

He carefully swept her up and around, making her laugh as Sandrine smiled and Eoghan clapped his hands. “Have the fairies taken you over, man?”

Setting her carefully back on her feet, he turned to see Sophie covering her mouth with her hand, amusement in her green eyes. How it enlivened him to see her.

“After today, I might believe in fairies,” she said. “You look…wet, Jamie.”

“On your front and back side but not that mop of curls you call hair,” Eoghan said, circling him. “A strange rain it was then?”

He laughed. “From a water gun, courtesy of the Yanks after I played a little prank and drenched them to the skin.”

Eoghan hooted with laughter as the other women started chuckling.

Greta snuck behind him and exclaimed, “They really got you, didn’t they, Mr. Fitzgerald?”

“You could change into something else.” Sophie’s mouth danced with humor. “I mean, you live here, after all.”

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