I blink.“She’s a teenager who loves guitars and rock.I don’t think she should be running the music for a work thing.”
Cillian tilts his head.“It’s a Halloween party.”He shrugs.“I say, if you forgot to head this off already, let it happen, and if she’s doing badly, we can intervene then.”
It sounds so reasonable because itisreasonable.“Right, yeah.Right.”
“Hey, did the party help with bookings?Are they up at all?”
“Not atall.”I try not to wail.“It’s cost me more than it’s made, since I think exactly two guests mentioned they had kids who were excited for a Halloween party.”I throw my hands up in the air.“If anything, bookings aredown.”
“Aren’t most of your guests from the United States?”He drops an arm around me and maneuvers me back toward the party.“I think this party will be great for introducing you to some of the local people, like Gabriel, who you might not have known, and helping you find ways to work with them.But I think to get bookings up, you should be catering to Americans and the thingstheycare about.”
My brow furrows.“What does that mean?”
“I’m not American, so I have no idea.American football...stuff?Or, barbecues?”He shrugs and scrunches his nose.“But I bet you’ll think of something.”
“I should’ve advertised for a Thanksgiving feast in Ireland.”I slap my forehead.“No one likes to cook for Thanksgiving, and literallyno onewants to clean up, but you can’t really skip it, either.It’s a big deal.But what if you could travel somewhere, get the whole Thanksgiving experience for one day, and then see sights the other days?”I snap.“Thatmight get me some business I might not otherwise have.”
“But for now...”He tosses his head back toward the main house.“I think we should join the party and see what kind of music your daughter—” His mouth snaps shut.
TheMonster Mashis being played at full volume, and as we turn the corner, there are more than ten kids dancing on the front lawn.I can hardly believe it.
It looks like, in addition to the various professionals Rían, Ronan, Jack, Cillian, and Richard introduced us to, quite a few friends of our kids have turned up.In fact, over the next few minutes, more and more teenagers show up, until the party is cram packed.Adults are mostly inside, chatting and making use of the bar.I try not to cringe at the cost.The kids are mostly on the front lawn, which is blessedly dry after an uncharacteristic day without rain.
Also, Cillian was dead-on.For the dancing happening in the outdoor party, where absolutely no one is bobbing for apples, and very few kids are taking bites out of dangling pastries, Clara’s playlist is exactly what everyone wants.
“I’ll say this,” a man I have never seen in my entire life is saying, as Cillian and I walk around the corner into the sitting room.“These American women sure know how to throw a party.”He’s eating a chocolate and pear puff, thanks Gabriel, and he almost looks like he’s holding court.
“Thank goodnesssomeonearound here knows how to throw a party,” Cillian says, smiling.
The man spins around, and his whole face brightens.“I should’ve known you would be related to this in some way, Cilly.Your aunt owned this place, didn’t she?”
It turns out the loud-mouthed Irish man is the bank manager for the local office, and his team actually signed off on our loan.I can’t imagine he’s a bad person to know, even if he won’t be booking any rooms.Most of the night goes like that, with me meeting new people I didn’t know I wanted to know, and with the teenagers doing slightly stupid but not dangerous things in the front yard.Maybe this party didn’t help our bottom line, but there are some things that are more of a slow-growth of a business in a community, and I think this qualifies.
“I should see whether they need more ice out there,” I say.
Cillian drops a hand on my wrist.“I doubt they do.We’re not big on ice here, remember?”He winks.
I always forget—our guestsdolike ice, usually.Because they’re tourists.“Well, then I’ll just take the candy outside so we can do the trick-or-treating.I did promise to do that.”
Cillian’s pulled away then, by a group of people Jack’s standing with, his arm around Vanessa’s waist, his head leaning against her hair.“You have to settle this for us,” a woman’s saying.“Because we can’t trust Jack’s opinion at all.”
I’m barely through the door when a very questionable rap song starts, and my head whips toward the table where Clara’s curating the music.Only, I’m not able to shake my head or glower to get her to skip it, because she’s not there.
Her chair’s empty.
Hannah squeaks and shoots across the drive, tapping on her sister’s phone to change the music.“Sorry.”She shrug-smiles.
“Where’s Clara?”I mouth from the porch.
Hannah shrugs, and then she practically skips back to the group of kids who were playing with something that looks very close to a hacky sack.Those can’t be in again, right?Surely not.
It does look like it would be a good time to set up the trick-or-treating stations, so I go looking for Vanessa.Sadly, she’s not where I left her.Jack’s still standing in a group with Cillian, but Vanessa’s not by his side.I head for the kitchen, but Mason’s in there, so I make a quick u-turn and head for the billiards room.
That’s where I find Vanessa, standing to the right of Samantha.I should’ve known.Sam’s telling an animated story to a woman who looks vaguely familiar.
“—so we’re practically racing at this point, which was admittedly very stupid on a windy day, and when we whip around the corner of the barn, bam.”
I recognize the story, now.
