“Good. One of his favorite things now is looking at the pictures from camping on my phone. Over the course of the week, I guess I managed to get almost everybody, even if they were in the background, so I zoom in and he says their names and fun things about them.”
“You’re amazing,” he said, the words slipping out without thought, and he winced. It was true, but it was also a weird thing to say.
Her chuckle sounded tinny through the hands-free on her end. “Thank you. It seemed like an easy way to kind of transition into family. I noticed the younger ones tend to call their grandmothers Grammy and Mary is Gram, so I’ve been sliding that in there. I think it’s easy for him because that’s what Nora calls everybody, so it makes it less overwhelming, I guess.”
“Family Tree of Doom,” he said, and they both laughed.
“Okay, I actually have to run into the market before I get Oliver and I’m here now. But a meal I don’t have to cook or cut into toddler-sized pieces sounds good. We’ll see you Friday.”
“I can’t wait.”
He was smiling when they hung up, already looking forward to spending the weekend with them. Before he left, he’d check off as many things as he could on the campground to-do list because he still didn’t love leaving Rob and Hannah holding down the fort.
And then he was going to have a great weekend with Siobhan and Oliver. Just the three of them—and Stella, of course—and it felt right.
Chapter Nineteen
It was surprisingly easy to leave Oliver with Mike and Lisa for a couple of hours, Siobhan mused as Brian steered his truck out of their neighborhood. He’d been thrilled to see them again and happy to have a new house to explore.
After quick hugs, Lisa had given her a quick tour of the house, which was lovely. The yard was securely fenced, there were toys and puzzles thanks to Nora, and they had dinosaur chicken nuggets in the freezer. “Also some ice cream,” Mike had added with a wink. They were fully in grandparent mode.
They made small talk about the family during the drive, mostly about Steph and Kyle’s trip to Bar Harbor. They’d stayed offline during the honeymoon, but Siobhan and the Kowalski family group chat had gotten photo dumps when they got home. They had a beautiful time, though Steph claimed it would have been even more fun if the entire family had been with them.
“We don’t do Family Honeymoon Trips of Doom,” Brian said when he repeated that, and Siobhan laughed. “It might not look like it, but we do have limits.”
Once he’d found a place to park, they walked a short distance to Jasper’s Bar & Grille, and Siobhan smiled when she walked through the door. Even to a non–sportsfan, it was very obvious this was a haven for New England sports fans. There was memorabilia hung up, much of it autographed. New England Patriots. Boston Bruins. Boston Red Sox. Boston Celtics. Connecticut Sun. The New England Revolution. It was everywhere. Along with, of course, the required television screens. But they had the sound muted and closed-captioning on, and the overall vibe was comfortable, not super aggressive.
A young person waved to Brian, obviously recognizing him. “Kevin set you up in the back corner.”
Siobhan followed Brian in that direction, which led to a small table holding a cardboard sign that declared it reserved. The television closest to it was off, and because the lighting was designed around being supplemented by bright LED screens, it was dim and quiet.
Romantic, she thought. Hopefully his uncle wasn’t trying to play matchmaker. She and Brian didn’t need any help in that department. Their struggle was keeping things platonic.
A server dropped off a pitcher of ice water and two glasses, along with two menus. “Kevin’s dealing with something, but he’ll be over as soon as he can. Do you want a beer while you wait?”
“Sure. Whatever the most popular on tap is right now.” When he looked at Siobhan, she nodded. One beer was okay. “Make it two.”
Siobhan wasn’t usually the sports bar type, but this really was a nice place with a relaxed vibe and not as loud as she’d feared. “How long has your uncle owned this place?”
“I’m not sure, actually. At least since I was a little kid because I don’t remember himnotowning it.”
“Okay. Next question, then—why is it called Jasper’s Bar & Grille?”
“According to my uncle, that’s what it was called when he bought the place and keeping the name was a lot cheaper than buying new signs and napkins.” He shrugged. “And you know how it is. No matter what he changed the name to, the locals were still going to call it Jasper’s, and that would just confuse people who aren’t from around here.”
“That actually makes sense, and it’s pretty funny. It’s a great place.”
Brian nodded and looked around, and she could see the nostalgia in the way he smiled. “It really is. All of us kids did some time working here at some point. It wasn’t for me—I need to be outdoors too much—but it was a good experience.”
“Which one of you was best at it?” she asked, and then she paused while the server dropped off their beer before holding up a hand. “Wait. Either Joey or Rob, I think.”
He chuckled. “Probably a tie between those two, for sure. Danny was good at a lot of it, but he didn’t love the interactions with customers as much. But Steph was definitely the best. Now the younger kids are starting. Lily’s great behind the bar, but it’s the family business for her. She was upstairs in the office with Beth from the time she was born, and Kevin used to bring her down here when it was quiet. Johnny just started bar-backing, so it’s too soon to tell. And Brianna made it through two and a half shifts before a customer said something out of line to her and she said something back he didn’t like, and he said somethingwayout of line and got punched in the face by another customer and then…well, there was some broken furniture and alotof broken glass to clean up.”
“Oh.” She winced. “Did he have to fire his own niece?”
Brian chuckled. “Nope. Kevin always sides with his staff and nobody who works here—family or not—is expected to take any crap from anybody. But when the fight was broken up and the cops were on the way, she stood in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips and told him this was not her vibe and she quit. Just walked out.”
“Good for her.”
