by Unknown
Connor’s lips twitched. “I’m sensing a desperate need to work off some frustration.”
“Bingo.”
“The kind of frustration generally brought on by woman problems,” Connor continued as if Aidan hadn’t spoken.
“I never said that,” Aidan protested.
“You didn’t have to. I’m a guy. I’ve been where you are. I played a lot of basketball.” He grinned. “I imagine I can make a few calls and put a game together for tonight. Seven o’clock?”
“That’ll do,” Aidan said. “I appreciate it.” He glanced out the window and noted that Archie was straining on his leash, trying to get to a window, apparently so he could spot Aidan. The dog probably wasn’t strong enough to pull down that post he’d been tied to, but better not to find out for sure. “I should go.” He gestured toward the window. “Archie seems impatient and that’s probably not good.”
Connor nodded, a grin tugging at his lips. “See you tonight. Prepare to sweat.”
Aidan laughed. “As if you ‘girls’ present any real challenge,” he taunted.
Connor shook his head. “Did you learn nothing last time? Trash talk only gets us all riled up.”
“Not enough to beat us, though. I’m just hoping to make it more interesting this time.”
“I’ll be sure to pass that along,” Connor promised. “When O’Brien pride is on the line, things can get ugly.”
Aidan wasn’t impressed by the implied threat in his tone or the words of warning. “You do whatever you need to do.”
He gave Connor a casual wave on his way out the door, untied his dog, then jogged back to his apartment. All in all, he considered his first day out of school to have been an interesting one. Tonight he’d find out what sort of price he’d pay for his possibly ill-advised taunts. It didn’t much matter, though, as long as it kept his mind off Liz.
*
Liz was going through catalogs looking for new inventory to replace everything that had sold out already when Susie Franklin came in.
“Where were you earlier?”
Liz regarded her with confusion. “I’ve been here all morning. Why? What did I miss?”
A broad grin spread across Susie’s face. “I really got Aidan.”
“Got him how?” Liz asked.
“I told him there was a No Pet clause in his lease. There’s not, of course, and Uncle Mick would have given him an exception if there were, but you should have seen his face. I don’t care what he says to you about not really wanting that dog, he’s totally attached to Archie.”
Liz laughed. “Of course he is. I knew those two were a perfect match from the first moment I saw them together.”
“And so much less complicated than claiming Aidan for yourself,” Susie commented slyly.
Liz frowned at her. “No idea what you mean.”
“Oh, of course you do, but I won’t push. That’s not why I came in. Apparently the guys are having an impromptu basketball game tonight so Aidan can work off some sort of stress.” She looked even more amused by that. “I can’t imagine why, can you? I mean, school is out, so where’s the pressure?”
“Are you heading somewhere with this observation?” Liz asked her, though it would probably have been wiser to let it pass.
“Just saying,” Susie said, her eyes sparkling with barely contained laughter. “Anyway, it gives us the perfect chance to have a book club meeting at my place.”
“Has anyone actually read a book lately?” Liz inquired, amused as always that they still insisted on calling it a book club.
Susie shrugged. “Probably not, but we’re well-intentioned. Shanna’s always reading something. She can give us the condensed version and we can move on to other topics.”
Liz laughed. “I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.”
“Oh, she’ll hate it, but facts are facts. In summer especially, none of us has a second to actually read a book.” She regarded Liz hopefully. “Are you in?”
“I’m in,” Liz said. “But only if you can assure me that Aidan and I won’t become the main topic of conversation.”
“No promises,” Susie said blithely. “The two of you are awfully fascinating, but I’ll do what I can.”
Short of avoiding her friends for the foreseeable future, Liz figured that was the best she could hope for. “What time?”
“Seven. I’m going to make a huge salad and a big bowl of fresh fruit. That’s my contribution to healthy. The rest of you can bring the decadent stuff.”
“I call dibs on bringing ice cream,” Liz said. These days it was a wonder she hadn’t become the sole support of Ben & Jerry’s. She had a hunch that Aidan’s approach to handling stress by playing an energetic game of basketball with the guys was probably a whole lot healthier. Too bad the women didn’t seem similarly inclined.
*
With the cool breeze blowing off the bay a refreshing change from the day’s earlier heat and humidity, Liz and the O’Brien women had gathered on Susie’s porch with its amazing view of the water.
“I swear, I don’t know how you ever get anything done, much less make yourself leave the house with a view like this,” Liz told Susie as she sipped a glass of sweet tea.
Susie glanced up and looked around as if it was all new to her. “It is pretty incredible, isn’t it? I’m afraid there are too many days when I take it for granted. When I was so sick and Mack was having this house built, all I did was pray that I’d live long enough to move into it with him. The day he carried me across the threshold here was one of the happiest of my life. I was so afraid things would go badly with my treatments that I spent every minute I could right here, in this very chair, soaking it all in.”
She looked around, tears in her eyes. “And now I take it for granted. How awful is that?”
“That’s the way life is, sweetie,” Bree said, moving her own chair closer and giving Susie’s hand a squeeze. “We don’t dwell in the past. We keep looking ahead. Sometimes that means we forget all those promises we made to God when times were tough.”
Susie sighed. “It shouldn’t be that way, though. I have so much. I have my health back. I have this beautiful home. I have the man of my dreams, and yet I want more.”
Heather and Shanna immediately exchanged a guilty look. Susie caught it.
“Stop that! Being pregnant is a wonderful thing and I am so, so happy for both of you,” Susie told them, but the sadness in her eyes suggested something else.
Liz understood that dream in a way none of the others could. She’d gone into teaching because of her love for children and their curious minds and clever imaginations. She’d been so sure she and Josh were ready for that step. Learning otherwise on that terrible night of the accident had devastated her.
Sure, unlike Susie, physically she was still able to have children, but since she couldn’t envision a time when she’d allow a man back into her life, it seemed children were off the table, as well. So, to some degree, she could relate to Susie’s longing for something that seemed so far out of reach.
“You and Mack are hoping to adopt, right?” she asked.
Susie nodded. “But it’s a long process, a lot longer than I ever imagined. I was delusional, I guess. I thought we’d fill out all those forms, go through a ton of interviews and a baby would miraculously appear a few weeks or months later.” She made a face. “Not so much.”
“Don’t you dare give up,” Jess told her. The owner of the inn had taken a rare night off to join them. Usually once the summer season was in full gear, she didn’t allow herself many breaks.
“Of course I won’t give up,” Susie said. “But trying not to be discouraged is a little beyond me.” She forced a smile. “Enough of that. Mack’s probably sick of listening to me. I’m sick of listening to me, for that matter. I don’t want to drive you all away, too.”
“You couldn’t do that if you tried,” Heather said. “You’re stuck with us, especially since you have the great view and the excellent snacks. I say we bring o
n the ice cream.”
Liz stood up, as eager as the rest of them for a change in topic. “I brought three kinds, along with enough toppings to stock an old-fashioned ice-cream parlor. I’m thinking sundaes. How about the rest of you?”
Shanna moved with surprising agility for a woman in her eighth month of pregnancy. Heather was up just as quickly.
Five minutes later, the granite countertop of the island in Susie’s kitchen held a spread of everything from hot fudge sauce and peanuts to melted caramel, sprinkles and whipped cream. Double dips of ice cream had been doled out, accompanied by teasing remarks and plenty of laughter.
When they were finally back on the porch with the desserts, sighs of contentment could be heard all around.
“Shouldn’t we be talking about books?” Shanna asked between bites. “When I get home, I need to be able to tell Kevin that we really are a book club and say it with a straight face.”
“So talk,” Heather said.
Shanna shook her head. “I can’t. My mouth is full of ice cream. Anybody else?”
“I read a book on Australian shepherds the other day,” Liz volunteered without thinking.
A hoot of laughter greeted her comment.
“Australian shepherds?” Susie echoed. “Not boxers or cocker spaniels or terriers?”
Liz frowned at her. “What’s your point?” she asked irritably, though she knew perfectly well what they were all thinking.
“We just find your fascination with that particular breed interesting, that’s all,” Bree said, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
“Personally I was thinking she was looking for an excuse to see Aidan so she could pass along information she thought he might need,” Susie said. “You know, since they’ve agreed not to see each other that way anymore.” She drew dramatic quotation marks in the air around that way.
“And why aren’t you seeing each other that way?” Shanna asked. “I don’t get it.”
Liz looked from one expectant face to the next, noted the barely contained laughter, then sighed.
“Okay, I’m pitiful,” she acknowledged. “Aidan’s never had a dog before and I thought the book might be helpful, but that isn’t the reason I ordered it. I wanted an excuse to see him.”
“Why do you need an excuse when the man clearly wants to see you, too?” Bree asked.
“Because we agreed,” Liz said.
Every woman there burst into laughter.
“Idiots,” Shanna murmured.
“Delusional,” Jess added. “And given how long it took me to figure out I was in love with Will, I am very familiar with that tendency.”
“Aren’t we all?” Laila O’Brien murmured. “I was still fighting my feelings for Matthew all the way to the altar on that trip to Dublin.”
“Thank you so much for the support,” Liz griped to the whole unsympathetic lot of them.
Bree patted her hand. “Don’t worry, sweetie. Our amusement really isn’t directed entirely at you. Just like Jess and Laila said, we’ve all been there, every one of us, living in the land of denial.”
Despite her friend’s attempt at reassurance, Liz didn’t feel one bit better. She knew their lives had all turned out okay. Right now, she couldn’t imagine any such outcome for her own, at least not one that included Aidan.
13
The basketball game didn’t work as an effective stress reducer. Aidan was as edgy and off-kilter after the game as he had been before they’d played. Oh, he’d worked up a good sweat and had even scored a few baskets, but his concentration had been shot. He was hoping no one had noticed, but these were O’Brien men. They might not be sensitive, but they were intuitive, especially when it was obvious that some distraction had kept his head out of a game he’d been so anxious to play.
Though he’d probably gotten closer to Connor than any of the other men, it was Kevin who’d apparently been designated to get to the bottom of whatever was on his mind. Aidan supposed he ought to be grateful Will hadn’t been chosen for the assignment. He had a hunch a good shrink could peel back his defenses in less time than it took to say Liz March.
As Aidan sipped from a bottle of lukewarm water, he watched as the other men dispersed. Even their parting catcalls were muted. Kevin stayed dutifully behind.
Aidan studied him warily. He didn’t envy the guy. This was the second time he’d been put in an awkward position. The last time it had been Thomas who’d put him there with questions about Aidan’s interest in the bay preservation project.
Seizing the initiative with the vague hope of getting the cross-examination over with, Aidan looked Kevin in the eye. “Something on your mind?”
Kevin was clearly startled by the question. “Actually I was wondering, we all were,” he began uncomfortably, “if there was something you wanted to get off your chest. Maybe problems with Liz?”
“No problems,” Aidan declared flatly, hoping to put an end to that line of speculation.
Kevin looked perplexed by his adamant response. “The word is that you’re not seeing each other anymore.”
“We were never seeing each other in the first place,” Aidan told him, avoiding any mention of the kiss that might have made a liar of him.
“Not the way I heard it,” Kevin said. “And the grapevine in this town might be annoying, but it’s usually as accurate as it is fast.”
“Not this time,” Aidan insisted. “Liz and I are friends. Period. Mutual agreement.”
“A mutual agreement doesn’t usually drive a man onto a basketball court to get his tail whipped,” Kevin noted. “Now a one-sided agreement, that’s something else entirely.”
Aidan studied him incredulously. He’d spent enough years in a locker room to know there were few boundaries among guys, but he’d never before had his love life dissected with quite this much fascination or seemingly genuine concern. There’d been a few bawdy remarks when he’d gone out with a model a couple of times, more when he’d been linked to an actress, but that was it. He didn’t know how to handle the real worry that seemed responsible for Kevin’s probing. His solution was to try, yet again, to deflect it.
“What is it with the men around here, or at least the O’Brien men?” Aidan asked, trying to sound curious, rather than impatient. “I’ve never known men to want to dissect relationships the way you all do.”
Kevin laughed, looking relaxed for the first time since the conversation had begun. “It comes from having Mick in the family. My father meddles, as you’ve been warned. We’ve all been the victims of that meddling, so we like to pass along the favor whenever we get the chance.”
“Is there any way to get you to back off?” Aidan asked in frustration. “Short of coercing Liz to walk down the aisle, that is?”
“Truthfully? Probably not,” Kevin said with a shrug that suggested many things had been tried and that all had failed. “You could try giving us another focus for all our energy. Do you have one of those?”
How about his relationship with Thomas, Aidan thought. That would surely do the trick. Of course that was not a topic he intended to share with anyone except the man in question. And he had no particular timetable for doing that, yet another worry that was weighing on him these days. He seemed to be putting off contact with his father, even with that self-imposed one-year clock already ticking.
With school out and no answers yet about whether he could call any unofficial practices, he had too few distractions himself. Maybe that was the cause of his restlessness and not Liz at all. Wouldn’t that be a relief?
“Sorry, nothing,” he told Kevin, then grasped for the first straw that came to mind. “How’s Shanna feeling?”
“Huge,” Kevin said, then quickly amended, “Not that I think she’s huge. That’s her perception and I will call you a stinking, flat-out liar if you ever say otherwise.”
“Wise man.”
“You have no idea,” Kevin said. “The last pregnancy—her first actually—went pretty smoothly. It sort of caught us off guard. This tim
e, though, she’s been sicker. She’s gained more weight. And there are days when she’s mad at the whole world, but especially at me for thinking another baby would be a great idea. There was about a minute there when the doctor thought we might be having twins. You should have seen the look on Shanna’s face. I swear if she’d had a weapon, I’d be dead.”
Aidan laughed, even though he knew he probably shouldn’t. “Sorry, man.”
“No, you’re not. No one is,” Kevin said, sounding resigned. “Every single person in my family is taking great delight in this. All I know is that Shanna’s due date can’t get here fast enough. I want my cheerful, contented wife back.”
“She’s seemed cheerful enough every time I’ve seen her,” Aidan said.
“Sure. You’re not the enemy. That’s reserved for me. All I did was suggest one night that we have one more. I guess I did it long enough after the baby had started sleeping through the night that it seemed like a good idea to her, too. I might have mentioned something about Henry being old enough to babysit, not that he’s around the house much these days. The only thing he cares about is football.” He gave Aidan a hard look. “Thanks for that, by the way.”
Aidan couldn’t help it. He laughed again. “You might be the only person in this entire town whose life is as crazy as mine is right now. Thanks for reminding me that things could be worse.”
Of course, Kevin O’Brien had one very important thing that Aidan didn’t. He knew exactly who his father was and there was nothing complicated about acknowledging it. In fact, it was a source of pride, rather than a potential scandal.
*
With the Thomas situation, as Aidan was starting to think of it, very much on his mind, he was thrown completely the morning after his conversation with Kevin when he walked into Sally’s and found Thomas there with Connie and Sean. Thomas waved him over.
“If you’re not meeting anyone, join us,” he suggested. “We’re celebrating the end of the school year.”
“It’s a tradition,” Sean said, then beamed. “I get all the pancakes I want.”
