“Gray,” he barked.
She stopped and grasped the door’s frame without turning around, the lowering of her head the only indication that he was crushing her.
He acted monstrously but saw no way to explain his actions or their reason without causing the same outcome.
Losing her.
She never said a word before softly shutting the door behind her.
nineteen
JOSEPHINE
Josephine was havinglunch with Thomas’s sister, Catriona, and his ex-wife, Aileen, at a pretty sidewalk café in Inverness.
Looking at each of her friends, it amused her to no end that the three of them had daughters who were the spitting image of their mothers, while she and Cat’s sons were the image of their fathers.
Her friends ordered hot, herbal tea, of course, while Jo sipped on ice water. She wasn’t a fan of their gross, sweet milky concoction, still preferring, even after all the years she’d lived in Scotland, the good old unsweetened iced tea that she grew up drinking in Oklahoma.
“You’re such a tea prude, Jo,” Catriona smirked, adding a second teaspoon of sugar.
Aileen splashed more heavy cream in hers, saying, “Your tea is so bitter.”
“I don’t think it tastes bitter, but it certainly doesn’t taste like I’ve blended iced doughnuts up and dumped them in my glass.”
Once they ordered, Josephine decided to just come out and ask what was on her mind. “Have Blair or Mags mentioned anything about Gray?” When the women looked at each other before quickly glancing away, Jo felt her pulse rise.
“So, there is something.” She felt deflated because she and Gray were normally very close. “I was planning on calling the Byrne sisters after our lunch to see if the boys had mentioned anything, but they’re thick as thieves with Ciar, and I thought maybe Daniel and Jonathan hadn’t, but maybe Bébhinn mentioned something to Rowan.”
“All the kids are busy, so maybe that’s why we didn’t hear anything before now, but Margaret let slip a few days ago that she was worried about Gray,” Aileen offered. “She didn’t want me to say anything to you yet until she cornered Gray herself, because she didn’t want her to think that everyone was talking behind her back.
“I said she could have a few days before I went to you. She told me that Gray is keeping up with school and work. I hope I haven’t hurt you, Jo, by keeping this to myself.”
Jo grasped one of Aileen’s hands, sitting on the table, and assured her that, “No, if Gray is safe, then I don’t need to know everything. You and Mags were right to wait. It’s just that I’ve felt that something was off with her for a while.
“Even during the employee training for Ciar’s place a few weeks ago, I felt she was hiding from me in particular, not physically, of course, but it was like she was wearing a mask. And you both know, if she’s trying to hide something from me, that means she wants something hidden from her dad.
“I also noticed that all of Gray’s correspondence related to the pub’s schedule has been CCed to me, Cormac, and Ciaran. Never Ciar.
“Gray said it wasn’t a big deal, that Ciar was flying all over for work and had handed over all of the day-to-day responsibility to Gray to do as she saw fit, and to Triskelion for the decorating.
“It would make sense because his father and uncle are going to be smaller partners in the place, except Gray tried way too hard to convince me of how excited she was to have the responsibility of the place. She said she couldn’t wait to surprise him.”
Josephine turned to Catriona, who had yet to join the conversation. “Has Blair mentioned anything? Cat?”
Catriona sighed before clasping her tiny hand around Jo’s. “I asked her last week if she was getting tired of having a man always underfoot at the house, and she said no because unless he snuck in late at night and left before it was light out, she didn’t think Ciar had stayed over for weeks.
“I asked her if everything was okay between them, and I could tell Blair felt terrible that she didn’t know. She said with their schedules, her and Gray’s paths rarely crossed, but that she would ask.”
“Now that I think about it, Jo,” Aileen mused, “Mags did mention in passing, oh, it must have been at least three weeks now, that when she’d asked Gray how the new home renovations were going, Gray said that they were putting that on hold until the pub was finished and running. She said it would be easier to finish one job at a time.
“But I remember you telling Cat and me that Ciar was determined to work the projects simultaneously so they could be moved in by Christmas. Right?”
Josephine felt her stomach plummet. Looking at her friends, she sighed, chewing her bottom lip in unease. Her mom had always told Jo to trust her gut. She said that it was preferable for her instincts to be mistaken and act, rather than be correct and do nothing.
Jo already knew she wasn’t going to do nothing.
“He did say that. Odd to change his mind partway through. My daughter is definitely hiding something, and Lord help Ciar Murphy if it’s his fault. I can only talk Thomas down for so long.
