CHAPTER 2
Four days later, she’d conducted eleven interviews and hired two new managers. They
were set to start the following day. Between the two people she’d hired, Gary and
Mike, she’d be spending only slightly more than Mitch was being paid. Now all she
had to do was fire Mitch. It was probably the worst part of her job.
She waited until closing, yet another endless night for her. When the last drunk left,
she called him into the office. “We need to talk.”
“About what?”
“I’m letting you go.”
“What?”
“You’re fired. The books don’t add up, and while I believe you’ve been skimming, I
have no proof. I’ll give you two weeks’ severance so you have time to find a new job.”
He stood in the middle of the cramped office with his mouth hanging open. The creases
on his face appeared to deepen. His eyes weren’t quite focused, and she wondered how
much he’d drunk.
“You can’t fire me.”
“I can and I did.”
He wasn’t the first person she’d had to fire, so this conversation was nothing new.
“Keith hired me. I’ll call him and straighten this out.” He pulled a phone from his
dirty jeans.
She hadn’t counted on that. She stood and held up a hand. The last thing she needed
was Keith getting involved. She wasn’t ready for him to know she was prying into his
business. “First, he won’t answer his phone at this hour. Florida is an hour later
than here, and he’s an early-to-bed kind of guy. Second, if you make that call in
an attempt to go over my head, the severance is off the table. I will bring in a forensic
accountant to find out exactly how much money you’ve stolen and I’ll prosecute to
the fullest extent of the law.” She was totally talking out her ass, and she prayed
he wouldn’t call her on it. Given that he didn’t seem too bright, it appeared her
threat might work.
“Three weeks’ pay.”
Maybe he wasn’t as dumb or drunk as he looked; he wanted to negotiate. “Two and a
half and you don’t try to collect unemployment.”
“Fine. I’ll have a job by tomorrow. You have no idea what you’re getting into. My
guess, you’re gone inside a week.”
He had no idea how tenacious she could be. There was no way she was leaving until
she’d accomplished her goals. She pulled out the checkbook and wrote his check.
He snatched it from her hand, turned on his heel, and left.
“Nice doing business with you,” she called after him. She dragged herself to the front
door and locked up. Tomorrow would be a fresh start. Both of the men she had coming
in were experienced bar managers. It had to be an improvement over Mitch.
She looked back over the darkened room and wondered what she was doing. She’d made
employment decisions for other jobs, but this felt different. Doing it on her own
made the difference. She really had no backup here, and preventing Mitch from calling
her brother was the deciding moment. She was going to do this.
Early the next morning, her phone rang. Groggy, her blurry eyes attempted to focus
on the screen. Dad. She’d known this call would come; she’d hoped it would’ve taken
longer, though. She had to make a quick decision about what to tell him. She knew
she wouldn’t be able to disappear without being noticed.
“Hi, Dad.”
“Hey, sweetheart. Where are you? I haven’t seen you for days, and I don’t remember
sending you to a job.”
“I’m in Chicago. I’m visiting with Janie. You remember her, don’t you? I was feeling
burned out from all the work travel, so I decided to take a break.” It was only a
partial lie. She was burned out; she really did want a break. Unfortunately, Dad never
truly heard her desire to take over the company and stay at home. He was always more
focused on her social life.
“Oh. Why didn’t you say something?”
“It was spur-of-the-moment.” She sat up and scrubbed her hand over her face and waited
to be busted for that. Spontaneous wasn’t her style. Dad didn’t seem to notice her
lapse.
“When do you plan to come home?”
“I’m not sure.” She knew what was coming next, and her stomach turned.
“I have a new property I’m considering. If I get it, it’ll be ready for takeover within
two months.”
Two months? Too bad this wasn’t really a vacation. She didn’t want to head to another
job, in another city. “Can’t Keith do this one?”
She heard fumbling on the other end. She’d caught him off guard since she’d never
turned down a job before, but she had a feeling about this bar. This project would
surprise her father. She would prove that she had the ambition and initiative to take
over his spot. She could be him.
“Well, if that’s what you want. But you know I try not to send him out of town for
too long. The kids miss him. It’s hard on a family.”
She flopped back on her pillow. And there it was, the accusation beneath it all. Didn’t
she know how hard it was on a family to have a dad who traveled? She’d lived it. It
was hard on her nieces when Keith was gone, which was why Dad leaned toward giving
the company to Keith. But she shouldn’t be knocked out of the running because she
didn’t have a family.
“We’ll see how it goes. If you get the property, send me a timeline.” She hesitated
and then pushed forward. What was a little more truth stretching? “I’m actually looking
into some options here myself.”
“You are?” More shock.
“Yeah. I’m pretty tired, Dad. I was out late and I’m an hour earlier than you.”
“Sure, honey, go back to sleep.”
“Give Mom my love. I’ll call you soon.” She turned over with the intention of getting
more sleep, but her mind wouldn’t cooperate. She hated lying to her dad. That wasn’t
the kind of relationship they had. She picked up the phone again and brushed her fingers
over the buttons, but didn’t engage a call.
No, she’d started this and she’d see it through. If she hadn’t made significant progress
within a couple of weeks, she’d tell Dad the truth. All she had to do now was dodge
Keith. He’d see right through her and ruin her plans.
With that settled, she rose and took a shower. Her brain was fuzzy, but she intended
to use the extra time wisely. She needed to make improvements quickly.
Colin strode through the back door of O’Leary’s to grab a cup of coffee before heading
up to shower. He was getting a little old for this.
Mary sat at the bar drinking coffee and reading the Sunday Tribune . She looked over her shoulder as he got closer. “The walk of shame again, Colin?”
He shrugged and smiled. She didn’t need to know that it was a poker game with the
guys and not a woman that had kept him out all night. He enjoyed his reputation as
a ladies’ man. If he got half the action everyone thought he did, he’d be a very happy
man. “What are you doing here so early?”
“I like the quiet here on a Sunday morning. Don’t you have family dinner today?”
He nodded and poured a cup of coffee. O’Leary family Sunday dinner was early afternoon
to accommodate the bar schedules. He checked his watch. “I have time for a nap before
I go. You need anything down here before you open?”
“Nope. I’m good.”
And she was. Ryan had totally lucked out in hiring Mary. She ran the place in Ryan’s
stead, a job Colin should’ve had years ago. He took his mug with him up to his apartment.
This, too, used to be his brother’s. When Ryan moved into his house with Quinn, Colin
decided he’d rather live above the bar than with their mother.
He set his cup on the counter and lay across the couch his brother had left for him.
Hours later, Colin sat on the couch in his childhood home and felt the cushions sink
and curve around his body. The nap hadn’t done him any good. He needed a good night’s
sleep. Liam sat and handed him a beer.
“Mom know you grabbed these?”
“Hell, no. She’s in the kitchen talking babies with the girls.”
That had such a strange ring to it, but it fit. The girls Liam referred to weren’t
their sisters, but were family just the same. Ryan’s wife, Quinn, waddled into the
dining room carrying the basket of silverware. He jumped up to help.
“Go sit down,” he suggested.
“If one more person tells me to take it easy, I’m going to hurt him. I’m fine. I want
to move. I want this baby out of me.”
Colin took a step back. The woman was downright scary. This hormonal version was worse
than anything he’d experienced with his two younger sisters growing up. He didn’t
have a response. “I’ll get the plates.”
“Thank you.”
In the kitchen, Quinn’s sister, Indy, stood with a baby cradled in her arms. He leaned
in and kissed her cheek. “Hey, good to see you. Where’s Griff?”
“He went with Ryan to get dessert. Ryan forgot it was his turn, which pissed off Quinn
because she would’ve made something. Bugged me too, because she probably would’ve
made chocolate cake.” The baby squirmed.
He reached out. “Let me have her.”
Indy’s brow furrowed. “You sure?”
“I’m the oldest of six. I spent most of my childhood with babies around.” He scooped
the tiny girl from her mother’s arms. She weighed nothing, but then again, she was
little more than a week old. She had that baby smell no one could resist. While he
held Colleen against his chest, he said, “I need the plates for dinner before Quinn
gets mad at me.”
Indy brushed past him. “Don’t mind her. She’s mad at everyone right now. I’ll get
the plates.”
He followed Indy back through the house and took Colleen into the living room with
him. Holding her like a football, he returned to his spot next to Liam and drank from
his beer.
Liam slapped Colin’s free arm. “You look kind of natural holding a baby.”
“Shut up.” He took a drink from the bottle again. The truth was that he had been thinking
about marriage and babies a lot lately. How could he not? Ryan had gotten married,
then Michael. Griffin and Indy were engaged. He was surrounded by marriage and babies.
Colleen squirmed again, so Colin set his beer on the table and shifted her onto his
shoulder. It did feel natural.
Some old cowboy movie played on TV in front of them. “What’s going on at work?” he
asked Liam.
“Nothing. I guess I don’t have to ask how the bar is going. Ryan would’ve told us
if there was a problem.”
“Let me ask you something.”
Liam shifted to face him. Of all of his brothers, Liam was by far the most serious
and level-headed.
“Do you regret not getting involved in the bar?”
“What do you mean? We all grew up in that place. We all work St. Patty’s Day. I’m
involved.”
“Not in the daily stuff, though. You never wanted to run it?” He smoothed a hand over
Colleen’s back.
“No. It always belonged to you and Ryan. It was your place with Dad. We all kind of
knew it.”
Liam said it with no animosity, but Colin wanted to know. “Did we push you out? Make
you feel like you couldn’t be there?”
“No. We all found our own things. You and Ryan, though, O’Leary’s has always been
yours.” He finished his beer and stood.
Liam’s assessment didn’t fit. Eight years ago, sure. O’Leary’s was his until he fucked
it up. Now, he felt like a foreigner. Maybe not that bad, but he didn’t fit. For a
year now, he was pushing to find that fit, to make it feel like home, and it wasn’t
happening.
Of course, it didn’t help that Ryan kept him at a distance either. He didn’t know
how many other ways to apologize. Maybe it was time to move on again.
Colleen fell asleep in his arms, and he laid her in the cradle his mother had bought
for the grandbabies. She’d turned his old bedroom into a nursery. He watched the baby
sleep and knew he wanted more than what he had.
Ryan and Griffin came into the living room holding a grocery-store coffee cake. “Before
anyone bitches, Blackstone’s was already closed. I did what I could.”
Quinn’s golden-brown eyes shot daggers at her husband, and Colin derived no small
amount of pleasure from witnessing it. He moved to the table and took the seat that
had always been his father’s. When he came back to town last year, Colin had started
sitting in the spot just to irritate Ryan. He’d succeeded, but he never felt right
in the chair.
He was no more head of the family now than he could’ve been when his father died.
Those were shoes he didn’t know how to fill.
Mom and Moira carried the last of the plates of food to the table. Colin was struck
by how much Moira looked like their mother. Red hair and pale blue eyes. His sister
had become a woman when he wasn’t looking. He was suddenly grateful Maggie wasn’t
there to make him feel even older. Ryan said grace. Colin looked around the house
and saw subtle differences. The pictures on the wall had been updated with wedding
photos of Ryan and Quinn and a family portrait with everyone but him.
One photo of him remained on the wall: His father stood with Ryan and Colin at his
side in front of the bar at O’Leary’s. One more piece of evidence that his life hadn’t
moved on but everyone else’s had.
Moira nudged him with a bowl of potatoes. “Something wrong?”
He slid his easy smile into place to be the man everyone expected. “Nope.”
Elizabeth’s first day with the new managers went well. They agreed that the place
needed to be cleaned up and that there was no excuse for the condition it was in.
They both offered suggestions, and they talked about drink prices and schedules. When
she left at six in the evening, she wanted to believe they had a handle on it. Gary
was going to close tonight and Mike would open tomorrow afternoon.
She planned on getting some rest and then returning to watch Gary work. She was no
fool. Leaving a new employee unsupervised on the first day could easily spell disaster.
Back in her hotel room, sleep claimed her before she even thought about the list of
things still hanging on her to-do list.
Elizabeth startled awake with the ringing phone. She shot into the air, while clearing
her throat. “Hello?”
“Hey, Elizabeth. It’s Gary. You’d better get back here. There was a fight. I had to
call the cops and it’s a mess.”
“I’m on my way.” She stood and smoothed a hand down her suit, then stopped. Absolutely
no one involved was going to notice a few wrinkles. Of that, she was sure. She couldn’t
believe that there were problems already. She sped to the bar, hoping she wouldn’t
get pulled over. She was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to talk herself out of a
ticket.
Outside the bar, the usual row of motorcycles leaned drunkenly against the building.
That was the first problem. Red and blue flashing lights filled the street in front
of her. Bar fight? It must’ve been an all-out brawl. She parked in front of the bikes
and went inside. Two patrolmen were hauling out a man in cuffs and, from the looks
of it, he hadn’t been the only one.
She strode over to where Gary stood behind the bar, talking to a cop. He looked much
younger than he had when she’d hired him. His inexperience showed as he shifted under
the officer’s questions. When his gaze met hers, he gestured to the cop. “Hi, Elizabeth.
Officer, this is the owner, Elizabeth Brannigan.”
“Ma’am.”
“What happened?”
Gary shrugged. “I’m not sure. Two guys started getting loud, and I told them to take
it outside. They laughed at me and started swinging on each other. Before I knew it,
it was a free-for-all.”
Elizabeth turned in a slow circle to survey the damage. She counted at least two tables
and three chairs as casualties. The look on Gary’s face let her know she was about
to lose more than just furniture.
She tapped the officer on the arm. “This is the first time I’ve been at the bar for
any length of time. My father bought it and let it run itself, so I know very little
about what has been going on. Do you have any idea how often the police are called
to this location?”
He smiled in a you-poor-thing way. “I don’t have exact numbers, but we usually expect
a few calls a month. I have to say, though, that this is the worst I’ve seen in years.
Mitch used to keep it pretty quiet. There’s always someone looking for trouble, and
he was good at keeping it under control.” He pointed at the damage and the few drunks
still sitting around, enjoying the show. “You might want to close up for the night
and think about getting a doorman or bouncer.”
More things she hadn’t thought of. Keith always had staff in place. Bouncers were
never even on her radar.
Gary announced last call and the few men still drinking grumbled, but one look from
the cops quelled that.
“Give us a holler if you need help,” the officer called as he walked out the door.
Elizabeth leaned against the bar. Inside her head, she screamed, “Help,” but nothing
left her lips.
A few minutes later, Mitch strolled through the door.
“We’re closed,” Elizabeth said.
“Yeah, I heard you had some problems. I brought you a gift.” From behind his back
he produced a baseball bat.
Her stomach jumped and her heart beat double time. She took in his disheveled appearance—hair
standing on end, stains on the front of his shirt—and he seemed to sway in place.
Mitch gently swung the bat in his right hand until it landed softly in his left palm.
He neared and Gary said, “Do I need to call the cops back?”
Mitch shook his head. “Not for me. I thought you might want to keep this behind the
bar. The crowd is a little rough sometimes.”
He laid the bat across the bar with a sick little smile. “See ya ’round.”
Gary sighed. “You know, Elizabeth, I really want this job, but I can’t do this. I’m
here all alone, and this could’ve gotten bad.”
“I’m sorry, I had no idea. Mitch didn’t tell me about problems, but I should’ve guessed,
given the clientele.”
“When you get new customers, give me a call, and I’d be more than happy to work for
you. Until then, you’re not paying me enough to risk my life.”
She nodded. She wasn’t even going to try to convince him. Maybe between herself and
Mike, they’d be okay. Mike was a much bigger guy, so maybe he’d be more intimidating
than Gary. When the cop mentioned getting a bouncer, she’d immediately thought of
Mitch. The cops seemed to think he had some magic with this crowd, and being a bouncer
didn’t put him near the register. After his visit, though, her stomach turned again.
No, she wouldn’t go back to him. He’d had a decade to prove his worthiness.
Elizabeth locked the door behind the last customer. It was just after ten o’clock,
but it felt like three in the morning. Gary helped her close and clean up the broken
furniture. She pulled cash from the register for his one night of work. “If you know
anyone who would make a good bouncer, please send them my way.”
“I will. Thanks for the chance. I hate to leave you like this, but I have a family.”
“I understand. I’ll figure something out. Thanks.”
Gary walked out the door, and Elizabeth sat in the silence, too wound up to go back
to sleep, too defeated to attempt to tackle the problem at hand. She grabbed her purse
and locked the door behind her.
Not wanting to be alone, she drove to O’Leary’s. She probably wouldn’t find any answers
there, but she was sure to see a friendly face.
Colin poured another beer and checked the time. Still two hours until closing. It
had been a quiet evening, which suited him, so he’d sent most of the staff home. He
and Jenna could close by themselves. Someone kept playing some sad, sappy music on
the jukebox, which didn’t help his mood.
He wiped down the bar, thinking about his options if he left O’Leary’s. The money
he’d socked away wasn’t enough for a business of his own. The few offers he’d made
went nowhere. Ryan had made it abundantly clear that he would be no help. Colin would
have to figure it out on his own.
He didn’t get far with his tired brain when a soft scent tickled his nose. He looked
over to see Legs. Of course, the woman had yet to introduce herself, but she had a
great pair of legs, so in his imaginings of her, he called her Legs.
Even at midnight, she wore her usual power suit, albeit a little on the wrinkled side.
Her dark hair was pinned tightly in place except for a few locks around her face.
She sat on a bar stool and waited. Dark smudges marked under her eyes. She looked
beat. “Hi there.”
“Hi.” The smile she offered stayed a little on the stiff side, neither genuine nor
friendly.
“It’s late. Are you still drinking Irish coffee?”
“Sure, why not. It’s not like I’m going to be getting much sleep tonight.” She shifted
and propped her elbows on the bar.
“You know, when I think about staying up all night, it’s usually because I’m having
fun.”
She shook her head. “No fun here.”
“That’s too bad. You look like you could use some.” He turned to make her drink.
She wasn’t the only one. He needed to find a spark, something interesting before this
life swallowed him up.
He’d thought that coming home would fix things, that he’d find what he was looking
for. It felt good to be home, around his family, but he still needed more. He just
had no idea where to find the more.
Turning back to give Legs her drink, he thought he might like to have a night of something
more with her. He put on his best fuck-me smile and leaned against the bar. “What
do you say we get out of here?”
The drink in her hand bobbled and some whipped cream slipped down the side. Her face,
however, showed no sign of nervousness.
“That’s a tempting offer. More tempting than you can know, but I have too much work
to deal with.”
“What work needs to happen after midnight on a Sunday?”
“Everything that didn’t happen earlier today and everything that did.” She sighed
and drank her coffee, leaving a mustache of cream on her upper lip.
He hoped to watch her lick the cream off, but she swiped at it with a napkin instead.
“A couple of hours off could work miracles for both of us.”
She stared at her cup and he thought he had her.
“I have proven methods to get rid of that stress you’re carrying.” Her cheeks grew
pink, and he wanted to stroke them to see if they were as warm as they looked.
“Thanks for the offer, but I have too much going on right now.”
“No one can work twenty-four-seven. A little break, a little relaxation. Could be
fun.” He leaned forward and watched her throat work as she gulped her coffee. Then
he made a rare suggestion. “I live really close. Like, within minutes.”
She stirred the quickly melting whipped cream in her cup. “I really shouldn’t. But
thanks for the offer.”
Shouldn’t, not won’t, not can’t. Colin left her with her thoughts as he continued to clean up.
She didn’t run after he’d made his proposition, so maybe he had some hope yet.