He could hide families all over Boston, and I’d be clueless, until one day a girl with his eyes knocked on the door looking for her father. This was a mafia tale I was concocting in my head—it seemed fitting.
As Delaney went on about Robert, I pushed my glass closer to the whiskey bottle, and she topped me off. I didn’t drink often, but I was being a supportive friend. I was also trying my hardest to drown my own sudden insecurities.
“Keenan…Cian’s uncle?”
“Yes,” I said. “Just without the same blood.”
Delaney nodded. “He’s so good-looking. Is he available? He was being flirty with me, and I thought maybe he might be interested in a date? Robert has been on a few.” She groaned and shook her head. “I feel too old for this shit!”
“I’m not sure about Keenan,” I said. He could be kind of flirty, and he was handsome, especially when he wore his Paddy hat and his peacoat, but I’d never seen him with an actual woman besides Fiona. Then there was what happened on our wedding night, when he’d touched her headband, and she ran like he’d scared her. “Anyone else?”
Delaney laughed. “How about we cook a light lunch and prep for dinner? It’ll give us something to do while your husband works. Maybe we can come up with another eligible bachelor or sign me up for one of those website dating things.”
We laughed some as we started scouring the cabinets for food. Fiona joined us about an hour later, eyeing me with suspicion before she took a seat at the bar. I was glad in that moment that I directed Delaney in a different direction from Keenan. Fiona had a piercing stare and a sharp knife.
“You going to try your hand at cookin’, love?” she asked me.
I held up a massive carrot and waved it like a sword. “Sure? Why not? I did it before I left. How hard can it beeee to cook chowder?”
“She only burned the pan before it had anything in it.” Delaney refilled her glass, some of sloshing over the sides. “Cooking a carrot should be abreeeze.”
Delaney looked at me. I looked at her.
We exploded with laughter.
I couldn’t feel my cheeks.
A slow smile came to Fiona’s face, and she joined us at the stove. We decided on a bottle of wine for something we were cooking, but we drank it all before it went in. Somewhere along the way, someone turned music on, and a computer was pulled out. We signed Delaney up for a dating service, then started picking through the gents, as Fiona called them.
By the time night fell, we had clam chowder simmering on the stove, and fresh baked bread was perfuming the air from the oven. We also had a few contenders on the dating app hearted for later, but we couldn’t stop laughing at a few of the descriptions on some of the profiles. Something Fiona said, something about a crooked carrot commercial, set Delaney off.
She set her head on the counter and screeched with laughter, then suddenly became quiet. Fiona and I started laughing. She’d passed out. She was already snoring.
“All right,” Keenan said, suddenly appearing in the kitchen. “What’s taken a hold of all of you?” Before we could answer, he was already looking in the trash can, shaking his head. He turned to the doorway. “They emptied the place out, lad! Better not get wounded. We won’t have anything to clean the wound with.” He lifted an empty wine bottle, then threw it in with the rest, wiping his hands.
Cian stepped in and sniffed the air. He looked directly at me.
I waved. “Hiya, Honey! How was work?”
His eyes narrowed. Then he caught me when I took a step forward. He picked me up, and the entire room spun.
“Whoa,” I breathed out.
Cian nodded to Delaney, and Keenan sighed before he lifted her up. She still had a grin on her face. Fiona turned the stove off and opened the oven a little, and then we all headed upstairs. Once at the top, Keenan and Fiona headed toward a guest room, while my husband carried me to ours.
“Cian. Cillian. Cian,” I breathed. “You arethefinest man I’ve ever seen.” I lifted my arms in the air in triumph. “And you’re all mine. Or are you?”
He gave me a suspicious look and I started laughing quietly, though the uncertainty in my heart ached like a stub to the little toe. He brought me into the bathroom and set me down on the counter. He took a step back, and for whatever reason, maybe the filter in my mind being numb, I started rambling.
I told him all about my day—how Delaney came to see me, how I gave her the gifts from Ireland, how she confided in me about Robert, and how not even years together could protect them from a cruel fate.
“He’s been ondates.Can you believe that?”
The look on Cian’s face told me he didn’t understand. I repeated my words, trying to enunciate each one.
“I understand,” he said.
“Of course you do!”
