I felt him before I saw him. I was carrying a fresh rack of pint glasses from the dishwasher through the Saturday night crowd, full of happily drunk people doing happily drunk things. Someone, a drunker drunk with a nasty streak, had caught sight of me and decided that he needed a piece of that. Ugh. I was still a ways away from the safety of the bar, so instead, I leaned my back against the wall and closed my eyes, willing myself invisible.
Like an inebriated shark, my would-be groper came circling closer. I cracked an eye and saw him swaying there, looking bewildered. I don’t know how this trick of mine always seemed to work, but I wasn’t going to argue with it when it did. He snorted to himself, then wandered back into the crowd. I exhaled a sigh of relief and hauled my wares to the bar.
“Hey, kiddo, I was about to send out a search party. Everything okay?” Kitty McKinnett, the owner and bartender of McKinnett’s Pub, reached for two glasses out of the rack and started filling them from the taps.
I blew a strand of hair out of my face. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
Kitty set the glasses down in front of the waiting patrons and turned to face me, arms crossed. “That’s not an ‘Everything’s peachy and glorious, Kitty dear.’ Who’s misbehaving in my bar?” She cast a fearsome gaze out over the bar crowd. “Billy! Get over here!”
Before I could protest, Billy Carter edged his way to the bar, eyes never leaving the crowd. He grinned at me when he got to us. I smiled back awkwardly. He was not shy about his crush on me. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I didn’t see him as a brother. A six-foot-two, eyes of blue, wall of man brother.
“What’s up, boss? Trouble afoot?” He followed her gaze over the crowd, searching for whoever had piqued her ire.
“Sia, baby, tell Billy who was giving you trouble.” Kitty gave my arm a squeeze. “No one messes with my girls.”
I sighed. “I’m fine, Kitty, really.”
Her eyes narrowed. “No one messes with my girls, and you’re my girl. I don’t want him messing with anyone else, either. Spill.”
She had a fair point. If he was going to try stuff with me, he was probably going to try it with a patron. I stood on my tiptoes and scanned the crowd. At five foot two, it was hard to see past the bar when people were clustered around. “There. Blue t-shirt, five o’clock shadow, douchebro ballcap turned backward. See him?”
Billy gave a terse nod and cracked his neck. For a moment, I almost felt sorry for the guy. Almost. I watched as the crowd parted for him, sensing the brawny bouncer’s businesslike demeanor.
I sighed inwardly. What was wrong with me? Billy was as fine a catch as I was ever likely to land. Muscular, handsome in a boyish, eager sort of way. I blew that annoying strand of hair out of my face again. Maybe I was just destined never to feel that way toward anyone. It’s not like I didn’t like guys. I cried when the princess got her prince at the end of Disney films, I devoured romance novels, and I could have owned stock in a battery company dealing with my personal frustrations. But hand me a perfectly acceptable man, and forget about it. Maybe my upbringing had just left me broken beyond hope.
“Pining?” Missi gave me a nudge as she slipped behind the bar. I nudged her back, shooting her a dirty look. She snickered and handed a slip to Kitty, then leaned on her tray next to me. “Just fucking with ya. But seriously. If you don’t want him, I’ll take him. Boy’s fine.”
“I wish you would. He’s just making it more and more weird.” I straightened my plain black t-shirt and adjusted my long black ponytail, trying and failing to get that stray lock of hair contained. Shaving my head was starting to feel like an option. It worked on Missi. Her hair was shaved halfway up her head, leaving her curly blonde hair to cascade over it like bright bouncing streamers. Kitty often said we were her sunshine and shadow, light and dark. I didn’t mind. I preferred to blend into the background. It was safer there.
“He’s only got eyes for you, I’m afraid.” She patted me on the shoulder.
I groaned. She laughed.
“For that matter, so does that guy. He’s been watching you all night.” She gave a discreet nod to the end of the bar.
I looked, and my heart actually skipped a beat. He was young, probably only a couple years older than me. His sparkling green eyes were watching my every move with interest, but I didn’t feel like a piece of meat from his scrutiny. Pale skin with a dusting of freckles across a small, slightly upturned nose. A mop of tousled copper hair. We got our fair share of Irish laddies in the pub, but this one sent me reeling. He was dressed in a crisp white button-down shirt, open at the neck. It was a nice neck. Nibbleable.
I froze, bar rag in hand. Something tugged at the core of me. Something powerful. I actually wanted to talk to him. That never happened. He startled, realized I’d caught him watching, and averted his eyes to his beer. For the first time in… ever, I didn’t want him to look away.
“Earth to Sia. Come in, Sia.” Missi gave me a nudge. I gave a start and looked back at her. Her eyes were saucers, her grin wicked. “GIRL! You! Are scoping out a BOY! It really IS a special day.”
A blush flooded my cheeks. “I was not. He was looking at me first. I was just…”
“Keep protesting, lovey. Maybe you’ll convince yourself.” She picked up her tray of drinks. “Or maybe you’ll go, I dunno, talk to him?”
The blush abruptly reversed itself. A wave of nausea hit me. I don’t do talking to strangers. I glanced back at him. He was watching me again. I hid back against the wall. He looked back at his beer. Maybe he didn’t do talking to strangers either.
“LAST CALL FOR ALCOHOL!” Kitty’s voice rang out over the bedlam of the late-night crowd. A collective groan went up. A few groups filtered out. The rest hit the bar like a tidal wave of inebriates. I lost sight of Slim, Red, and Entrancing in the crowd and felt a pang of…what? Relief? Regret? A bit of both? Whatever. I had to start cleaning up glasses from the tables.
Slowly but surely, the crowd became a cluster of regulars, sitting at the bar and chatting. Kiernan Donovan and his boys moseyed out of the back room to settle up.
“Sia, m’girl. I hear today’s a very special day.” He favored me with a warm smile on his weathered face. If Kitty had become like a mom to me in my years at McKinnett’s, Kiernan was fast becoming a charming Irish uncle, with his warm brogue and the merry glint in his eyes.
I shrugged. “It’s a day, sir.”
“Nonsense. It’s not every day a young lass turns of age.” He took my hand and tucked something into it. “Take it and be merry, young Arysia. You deserve it.”
“Mr. Donovan, I…”
He gave me a mock frown., “Now, ya know no one says no to Kiernan. You have yourself some fun.”
I laughed. “Yes, sir.” I gave a little salute.
He nodded, satisfied. “That’s a good girl. C’mon, lads. We’ve got business elsewhere.” He winked, then waved his friends toward the door. They all nodded their good nights to me and Kitty behind the bar, then headed off to whatever business called to them at two in the morning. I suspected diner food. When they were gone, I looked in the palm of my hand and gasped aloud.
Kitty sidled up to me. “Found out it was your birthday, did he?” She followed my stunned stare and snorted. “Yeah, that’s Kiernan. Enjoy it, kiddo, and be sure to thank him tomorrow night.”
“Yeah, I’ll… do that.” There was at least three hundred dollars in that roll of bills. He must have taken a collection from the boys. Or, judging from his collection of sharp suits and expensive taste in whiskey, just funded it himself. Either way, it was more money than anyone had ever given me for no reason. I tucked it carefully into my pocket. Kiernan might have just given me the gift of a real apartment someday very soon.
Billy barred the door and turned to lean on it. “That’s the last of them, boss. I cleared the restrooms and everything.” He had a conspiratorial smile on his face that put me immediately on edge. He hit the light switch, and the pub went dim, with only the lights over the bar remaining.
Missi emerged from the back room with Kitty. The old familiar strains of “Happy Birthday” assaulted me from the three of them, and I ducked behind the bar, embarrassed but happy as Missi carried out a cake glowing with candles.
“Did you really think we were going to let your twenty-first slip by without a little something?” Kitty beamed as she slapped me on the back. “I’m getting you a present now. Something Irish, I think.” She reached behind the bar to her private stash and pulled out a bottle of something expensive and amber. She poured four glasses and raised hers high. Her eyes were sparkling, her face somber. “Since the first time I laid eyes on you, when you snuck in at the tender age of fifteen to hear the band play and didn’t once try to sneak a drink, I knew you were a special kid. I’m so glad you’ve become a part of our family here. A part of my family.”
A hard lump formed in my throat. If there was one thing I hated more than talking to strangers, it was crying in front of people. But, there I was, bawling.
“I love you, kid.” Kitty clinked my glass, then reached over and gave me a hug. I froze for a moment, then relaxed and returned it. Hugs were still a new thing for me, but Kitty gave good ones.
“I love you too,” I whispered.
Kitty cleared her throat and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Now drink up! Your first legal should be something special.”
“To Sia!” Missi and Billy raised their glasses as I took a good long sip of some truly delicious fiery burning death liquid. Missi pounded me on the back as I coughed.
“We’ll get you there yet, girl,” Missi assured me.
“I don’t doubt it for a second,” I laughed between coughs.