Page 5 of Aidan

I relax. “Thanks, so do you.”

We take a seat and a minute later, Fiona comes out. “Morning, Sorcha. Aidan. The usual?”

“Yes, please.”

Aidan nods. Every once in a while, I’m tempted to surprise her by ordering something different, but not today. I need today to be like any other visit from him. Where my Da isn’t gone, I don’t have to parent three children, and I don’t have to worry about losing everything.

CHAPTER3

Aidan

Sorcha’s been tryingto hide it since I got here, but something is going on that she won’t tell me. Nothing short of force will make her, either. She’s that stubborn. And I don’t want to spend our last day together fighting. Although,togetheris being generous. Since I got here the day before yesterday, we’ve had a grand total of eight hours where it’s been just the two of us. I’m not complaining—I did show up unannounced. I just don’t like the fact that she’s working so hard without anyone to help. Tonight, she’s going to have to deal with a disruption to her “system”.

The pub is mostly empty, with only a couple elderly gentlemen occupying one of the tables, but a few of the fishing boats have already docked. The married men go home, but a large segment of the single ones come into O’Connell’s. In a village this small, their options are limited if they don’t want to cook for themselves. But what crowdisdrawn here, is more than enough to keep Sorcha running around.

Aisling sits at the bar, her dangling legs kicking back and forth, with some paper and markers while she picks at the food in the takeaway container next to her. She doesn’t have the artistic talent of her older sister, but maybe she’ll grow into hers as she gets older and has more practice and instruction.

“Are you going to help Sorcha?”

I turn my attention to the twins seated across from me. Carson, the younger by five minutes, has a mouth full of the shepherd’s pie I brought from The Wagon Wheel Cafe. It might be tacky to bring another restaurant’s food into the pub, but I didn’t want to put any extra strain on the cook by ordering for the five of us. Kellen stares at me expectantly, but also with a trace of pleading.

“Is she in trouble?” Perhaps I’ll get some answers from them.

The twins share a glance and Kellen turns back to me. “I heard her on the phone the other day talking to someone. She didn’t know I was listening. It was something about borrowing money and the pub.”

Borrowing money? And what does the pub have to do with anything?

“Do you remember anything else?”

Kellen shakes his head. “Nothing other than she was crying afterward.”

Fuck.“Thanks for letting me know. I’ll do what I can to help.”

The boys and I finish eating before Sorcha sends them upstairs to do their homework.

“No video games until it’s done or you’ll lose your privileges,” she warns. “Don’t think I’ll forget to check, either.”

The two trudge into the kitchen with a wave over their shoulder. I clean up our mess and take a seat at the bar next to Aisling. More men enter. Not willing to go another night sitting here while she does all the work, I vacate the stool and come around the opposite side of the bar. She glances over at me from where she’s filling a pint glass from the tap.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m helping. And don’t feed me that bullshit line about a system.” I glare at her. “I’m perfectly capable of delivering plates of food or filling a pint of beer.”

“You’re not supposed to curse,” Aisling pipes up before Sorcha can argue with me.

I pull a euro coin out of my pocket and toss it on the bar top. “Penance.”

She snatches it up and deposits it in her bag hanging from the back of her stool. “You can curse again, if you want.”

Her sister groans and then shifts her glare back to me again. I stare back, daring her to contradict me. Finally, Sorcha throws up her hands with a sigh. “Fine.”

The rest of the night goes far smoother than either of us expected after a rough start. More than once we ran into each other and I spilled beer on the floor, but somehow we developed a rhythm that worked for both of us. Finally, the last customer leaves and she locks up. Together, we clean up and I’m back behind the bar washing glasses while Sorcha sits in a stool on the other side.

“Thank you for your help tonight. I’m sorry if I was cranky earlier.”

“You don’t have to be sorry. But, if you want to make it up to me, then how about telling me what’s going on.” I’m not above manipulation to get what I want.

“There’s noth—”

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