“Right now? No. But maybe someday.”
“So you’re just going to give up?”
“Give up?” He snorted. “That man I just met wants no part of me. I can’t force him to accept me. And I will never, not as long as I live and breathe, try to take you away from him.”
“So I’m not worth fighting for?”
His eyes flashed. “Am I worth losing your son?”
She didn’t answer because…she couldn’t. She simply didn’t know the answer because the question was so unfair.
“I didn’t think so.” He put his hands out, as if trying to push her away without actually touching her. “Katie, nothing—nothing in the world—comes before your children. I know you believe that, and you know I do, too. No matter how old we are, they are the priority. Nick is your priority.”
“Nick is a grown man living in Africa who has to accept this card that life has dealt him.”
His eyes narrowed with doubt. “And when he and the French girlfriend have a baby and you are cut out of knowing and loving that child because of me? How would you look at me in a year or two or five?”
She swallowed, not even able to fathom the idea of Nick cutting her out of his life. But that look in his eyes? The depth of his feelings? The agony of this betrayal to his whole being? “I would hate that,” she whispered.
“No. You’d hate me.”
In the distance, she heard a horn honk from the driveway. “There he is,” she said on a dry laugh. “Calling me home.”
“Where you belong,” Daniel said, taking both her hands. “With your family, with your children. God knows, he’s had enough pain in his life. Choosing me over him would be wrong.”
And she knew better than to try to argue with Daniel Kilcannon when he thought something was wrong. And just like that, she gave up, too.
“All right then.” She pushed to a stand, having no desire to sit here and beg for a way to work this out. “I’ll go pick up the pieces of my jigsaw puzzle and put it all back together again.”
He tried to swallow, but managed only a nod.
“And Goldie?” She looked down at the dog. “Rusty needs her.”
“I know Rusty needs her, and I love her,” he added, taking Katie’s hand and urging her back down on the bench. “But I also love…” He touched her cheek tenderly, as if it might be as sore as his. “I also love…”
She held her breath and waited. If he said it, she’d stay. If he loved her, she’d make it work. If he gave her his whole heart, she’d never break it.
But he shook his head. “Rusty needs quiet and rest if he’s got a prayer. It’s better if you take her, really. She’s yours.”
The words sliced her heart right in half.
With a whispered goodbye, she gestured to Goldie, who jumped off the bench and trotted to her, as if she understood every word. As they walked up the path, Katie longed for Daniel to call her back, but she wasn’t the least bit surprised when he didn’t.
“C’mon, Goldilocks,” she whispered. “Let’s leave the men we love and soldier on, girl. You’re a Santorini now.”
Chapter Twenty-six
“Can they not read in Bitter Bark?” Cassie blew out a disgusted breath at the sound of someone knocking on the closed and locked door of Santorini’s. “Does ‘Open for business in one week’ on our snazzy new blackboard mean nothing to these people?”
Alex gave her a light elbow, bending over to peer through the stainless-steel pass that blocked her view to the front. “I think you want to answer this one, Cass.”
“No, I don’t. I want to finish making this list of potential corporate customers I can call on for catering your amazing food when we open and make this place into Butter Bark, home of Alex Santorini’s famous kourabiedes.”
“No one ignores the fire department,” he replied.
“What?” She jerked around to follow his gaze. “You mean, like the fire marshal? Checking on our seating capacity?” But even as she said it, she knew he hadn’t meant that. He’d meant one particularly smokin’-hot firefighter.
Yep. One look through the front glass at a man with spectacular shoulders and a Bitter Bark Fire Department emblem stretched over an equally spectacular chest confirmed that. “Well, what do you know? Einstein’s here.”
“Einstein?”
“There’s a big brain in that big…body.” As she walked through the nearly complete dining area, Cassie took a breath and brushed some hair back that had fallen out of her ponytail. It had been three weeks since that fateful Saint Patrick’s Day party. The worst of the wounds had started to form scars. At least, they had in the Santorini family. She couldn’t speak for the Kilcannons, since none of them had had contact with Cassie or her brothers, and certainly not with Mom.
But she and her brothers had already carried a mortgage on the property and had gone too far on the renovations to back out. So they continued as planned with the Bitter Bark location, getting the restaurant prepared for an April opening as planned.
But there’d been radio silence between the Hatfields and McCoys. Cassie, for one, missed the colorful clan. All of them. Even the one standing outside her door. Especially him.
She flipped the lock and inched it open. “And here I thought you were such a great reader.” She pointed to the sign. “No spanakopita for you.”
He gave her that slow, sweet smile that did stupid things to her insides. “I need a table.”
“We’re open in—”
“A table for about twenty.” He beckoned her with two fingers, which was somehow enough to make her step through the doorway and look to her left at…
“Holy cow.” They were all there. The whole stinking lot of them, including little Gramma Sweetcakes and the teenager who was more mature than most thirty-year-olds.
She squinted around, but no Daniel, the one Cassie really wanted to see storm Santorini’s.
But it was still a crowd, so big and beautiful and Irish, she half expected one of them to hand her a pot of gold. “We’re not serving food, but…” She settled her gaze on Darcy, who really had potential to be a great girlfriend. “Something tells me you’re not here to eat.”
“Cassie.” Braden reached for her with his big, strong, fireman’s hand that made her arm look tiny when he touched her. “We want to sit down with you and your brothers and present an idea.”
“Feels…Mafia-ish.” She lifted a hand and gestured to them. “So no shooting, okay? Well, Nick’s not here at the moment, so I guess we’re safe.”
Her joke made a few of them laugh as they passed her, each and every one giving her a warm greeting. Some hugged, some asking about the restaurant they’d all worked to help complete. Gramma hugged her and whispered, “We miss you, lass.”
And all the Mahoneys were there, even the spiky-haired Ella, whom Cassie had met only a few times, but totally appreciated as a fellow drama queen.
Molly was last, taking Cassie’s hands in hers and holding them tight. “How’s your mom doing?”
“She’s okay, I guess. Nick extended his leave from Africa and is staying with her, and I guess they’re working things out.”
“That’s good.”
“How’s Rusty?” Cassie asked, bracing for bad news.
But Molly gave an encouraging smile. “Better than his master,” she said. “He does have some heart issues, but he’s done with chemo and is cancer-free. We’ve got him on meds, and he’s hanging in there.”
“And Daniel?” She peeked over Molly’s shoulder, hoping against hope he was here, too.
“He’s the reason we’re here.”
“Come on,” Cassie said, bringing her inside. “I’ll get my brothers.”
In a few moments, the dining room was half filled, the entire crew taking a bunch of tables and booths, but all close enough to easily talk. John and Alex had come out and exchanged greetings, but the whole thing was just this side of weird.
“So…” Cassie said when things quieted to an awkward silence. She wa
s sitting at a four-top with her brothers, but looking at the new arrivals. “We meet again.”
At the soft chuckles of the group, Liam stood at his table and cleared his throat, looking very much like the de facto leader of this pack. “We have a proposal for you.”
“A proposal to get a proposal,” Shane cracked.
Cassie and her brothers shared looks, but stayed silent.
“As you no doubt know,” Liam continued, “we call our dad the Dogfather for many reasons, not the least of which is that he, like the Godfather, is a bit of a master manipulator.”
“In a really good way,” Darcy added, reaching to hold her fiancé’s hand. “So people find love.”
“We’ve heard the folklore,” Alex replied.
“Well, we want to return the favor,” Molly interjected. “God knows we’ve tried on our own, but every effort failed until…”
“Until your mother came along,” Shane continued, uncharacteristically serious. “We thought he managed to find his match all on his own, but then…”
“Disaster struck,” John piped in. “We were all there. Have the shrapnel to prove it.”
“It wasn’t a disaster,” Garrett said. “It was a setback.”
Cassie leaned forward. “A setback? He let her go.”
“But she left,” Darcy said.
The statement silenced everyone.
“’Tis a bit of a kerfuffle.” Gramma Finnie stood, and even though she didn’t tower over anyone, she had their attention. “And I can tell you this. I haven’t seen my son this miserable in a long time.”
“And our mother is moping,” Alex said. “But does he love her?”
“Because if not,” Cassie added, “we’re not helping you. Because I know my mother, probably better than anyone in this room, and that woman loves that man.”
Molly and Darcy reached their hands together and squeezed them, the silent gesture telling Cassie the answer to Alex’s question. And giving her a ridiculous amount of hope.
“I think he does,” Liam said. “And the reason I can say that is because he let her go so she would be able to keep your family together.”
Because Nick forced his hand. Cassie looked down, still ashamed of what her brother had done, but fully understanding how the news that he wasn’t Nico Santorini’s son had affected him.
“So what do you need?” Alex asked.
“A well-timed meeting, a mutual cause, and…a dog,” Pru said. “That’s kind of his foolproof formula.”
“A dog?” John asked.
“Works for him,” Molly said, smiling at Trace.
“Okay, okay.” Cassie stood, already seeing the possibilities. “But what about Nick?”
“What about me?”
Every head in the room swiveled toward the kitchen door when Nick stepped into the dining room. And no one, not a single person, said a word for what felt like an eternity. He stood leaning against the doorjamb, wearing a washed-out blue button-down with his hair nearly grown out over the collar. He hadn’t shaved much lately, and the shadow of whiskers made his hollow cheeks look rough and sinister, like a man who really didn’t give a hoot about anything anymore. Cassie knew this news had hit him almost as hard as Daddy’s death.
Liam was the first to stand and approach him, slowly, with an outstretched hand.
“Hey, man,” Liam said. “Good to see you.”
For a moment, no one moved. Everyone just stared at Nick and waited to see how he’d respond. Come on, Nicky. Show them what Santorinis are made of.
He lifted his hand and took Liam’s. “How’s it goin’?” he said casually, but both men held the other’s gaze, and there was nothing casual about it.
Cassie almost melted with relief.
“I’ve been listening,” Nick said, glancing at them. “My mother told me…” He gave a dry laugh. “My mother told me a lot in the past month. A little more than I wanted to know, to be honest.”
Everyone in the room either laughed softly or shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
“And I know I was wrong to make her choose, but I…” He closed his eyes. “I don’t know how to undo what I’ve done.”
“We do.” That from at least five Kilcannons, in unison.
“Yeah,” Nick said. “She told me all about this…this matchmaking crap.”
“It’s not crap,” Aidan muttered.
Nick held up a conciliatory hand. “Turn of phrase,” he said quickly. “Everything I heard about your…about him…has been…” He searched for a word, shaking his head. “Flattering? Impressive? Familiar?” He shrugged as if all of the descriptions were true. “But mostly, she’s made me see that I acted like a complete ass that day and I should probably get my act together and do some damage control.”
They all stared, no one quite sure what that meant.
“Can you help us?” Liam asked.
For a long moment, Nick stared at him, the two men face-to-face. A blind man could see the resemblance. Not like Alex and Nick, of course, but…it was there.
Brothers.
Cassie steadied her breath as the realization truly hit home.
“I think I can help you,” Nick said. “I’ve got your mutual cause in the back of the truck John’s been letting me drive. You guys handle the timing of the meeting. And, trust me, we’ve got the dog. Let’s do this.”
For a moment, maybe two, there was dead silence in the room. Then the whole group got up to follow Nick when he waved them back through the kitchen to the parking lot to see what he was talking about.
One look at it, and everyone was high-fiving and talking at the same time. All but Molly, who pulled out a little digital camera and asked Nick, “Do you think I could add one more?”
Then they put their collective heads together and made a plan.
* * *
Rusty was moving slowly that morning, but Daniel refused to give up on the croissant run. Yes, they were later than usual. But Linda May would have saved him at least one pastry, and it was better to go in the store when it was less crowded.
Just as he reached the bakery, he looked up, sensing movement in the windows above the store, where Andi’s office was. Inching back, he frowned into the reflection of the windows, certain he’d seen her where she often stood while she was on the phone. But he must have been mistaken.
He pulled the door open and inhaled the buttery goodness, seeing Linda May’s warm smile the minute he walked in.
“Hey, stranger,” she called. “Don’t worry. I have two left.”
He smiled back as he headed to the counter, letting Rusty sniff his way over and waiting while Linda May packed the pastries in paper and poured his coffee.
“How’s our old boy doing today?” she asked.
“He’s holding steady.”
“And your dog?” she added, making him laugh.
He waited for the croissants, taking his coffee to the side counter for sugar, and just as he was putting a lid on the cup, Rusty started to bark. Hard. He tore across the little bakery, bounding to the window, practically plowing into the person sitting at the table next to it.
“Whoa, bud, whoa!” Daniel launched after him. “I’m so sorry,” he said to the man who’d narrowly escaped a coffee spill.
But Rusty’s face was smashed up against the window, his bark bellowing louder than Daniel could remember hearing for a month. “What is it, boy?”
And then he saw—well, heard—the other dog barking. And his heart definitely skipped a beat, which meant poor Rusty’s was probably doing dangerous things.
He bent down to calm him, face-to-face with Goldie on a leash, lapping at the windowpane as if she could lick her way to Rusty.
The moment he looked up from the dogs, he saw Katie. And everything in him, every cell that made him human, every chemical that made him alive, every ounce of blood that pumped through his fractured heart, suddenly felt alive again.
She struggled with the leash, and next to her, her son Alex helped by easily getti
ng Goldie by the collar.
For one split second, they all looked at each other, and Daniel knew it was wrong to keep these two dogs apart. And even more wrong to go one more day in misery when fate had just handed him everything he wanted.
“Linda May, I’ll be right back,” he called, heading to the door, a hand around Rusty’s collar.
“I’m not holding my breath, Daniel,” she replied with a knowing laugh.
Because everyone knew what he was going through. Everyone except the one person who had to know.
Rusty rushed outside, and instantly the two dogs collided, pawing each other’s necks, biting playfully, and barking hysterically, until Goldie dropped to the ground, rolled over, and let Rusty poke his nose in her belly.
The display of affection made them—and a few bystanders—laugh, easing what could otherwise have been an awkward moment.
“I think we’ve kept them apart too long,” Daniel said, reaching for Katie’s hands to bring her in for what he hoped was a casual hug. Even though imitating Rusty would be a better way to show his true feelings. “Hey there,” he whispered into her ear.
“Hi.” She added a little squeeze as if she just couldn’t help it.
“And, Alex, good to see you.” Daniel extended his hand for a shake. “How’s the restaurant going?”
“We open in a week.” He sounded a little surprised Daniel didn’t know that, but then, Daniel had gone well out of his way to avoid that section of Ambrose Avenue, even rounding the square the long way so he wouldn’t bump into a Santorini.
“Oh yes, I heard that at the Economic Development Committee meeting,” he said. “That’s good. I know things will go well for you here. And…” He looked down at Katie, hating that his heart was slamming against his chest. “How’s everything?” Why not ask what was important? “How’s Nick?”
“He’s still here,” she said. “He’s been staying with me and we’ve been talking.”
“Oh, that’s great.” If only he were talking to Daniel. Maybe someday…if he got things right today.
“It looks like Rusty’s doing well,” she said, smiling at the two dogs as they finally settled down to happily pant in each other’s faces.
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