“Brendan,” I say, “we’ve never talked.”
He laughs. A big boisterous Irish laugh. “You may be right about that.”
“Last I heard, you’re kind of mooning over Ava Steel.”
He reddens. And on his fair and freckled face, it’s really obvious.
“Where’d you hear that?”
“A little bird told me.”
“You mean Rory.”
“Yeah.” Rory knows all the gossip from Raine, of course.
“There is something about her,” Brendan says, “but she’s way too young for me.”
“She’s twenty-four.”
“And I’m thirty-five.”
“So?”
He laughs. “You make a good point. Where is she tonight?”
I look toward the back. Sure enough, Ava’s nowhere to be found. “Don’t know. I imagine she’s home in bed. I hear she gets up early to make all her bread for the day herself.”
He nods. “Doesn’t surprise me. She’s got one hell of a work ethic.”
“All the Steels seem to, despite the fact not one of them needs to work.”
“That’s not a bad thing, Callie.”
“Did I say it was?” I take another sip, willing myself not to be so defensive. I’m getting used to the strength of the drink.
“Hey,” he says. “I’m sure sorry about law school.”
“Don’t be. It was my decision.”
True enough. Mom and Dad would have backed me if I’d pressed about going. But the money… They need the money, and I’m young. Law school can wait.
“I’m young,” I continue, echoing my thoughts. “Law school can wait.”
“It may not have to,” he says.
My eyes widen. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You seemed pretty friendly with several Steels earlier tonight. Brock, Dave, Donny.”
“That better not mean what I think it means.”
“It only means that your financial struggles will be over if you snag a Steel.” Brendan smiles broadly, and his blue eyes twinkle.
He’s so cute I can’t be angry, even though his comment is way out of line.
“I have no plans to snag a Steel. Those seem to be your plans.” I give him a smug smile of my own.
“Ha!” He throws his head back. “I should be so lucky.”
“You’ve got as good a chance as anyone else.”
“Not when the one I want doesn’t know I’m alive.”
“Brendan, everyone knows you’re alive.”
“Not so.”
“Do I really have to spell it out for you?” I take another sip of my drink, the alcohol lessening my inhibitions. “H. O. T. You’re hot, Brendan. Have you ever thought about wearing a kilt?”
Another uproarious laugh spills out of him. “That’s a Scottish thing, lassie. I’m Irish through and through.”
His fake brogue makes me smile. I pull out my phone and search for Murphy Tartan. Sure enough, a gorgeous dark-green plaid pops up. I shove my phone in his face. “Check this out. Murphy Irish plaid. Get a kilt, Murphy.”
“You seem pretty invested in this idea, Callie.”
“Kilts are hot.”
“They’re skirts, Pike. I don’t wear skirts.”
“You want Ava Steel to take notice of you?” I sip the screwdriver again. “Get a skirt.”
“She’s not the type to get turned on by a guy in a dress.”
“Who said anything about a dress? It’s a kilt.” I tap some words into my phone. “Look. Get one of these Jacobite shirts. Totally sexy.”
He takes my phone from me and stares at the photo of the guy in a kilt and the long-sleeved shirt with a lace-up neck. Yeah, he’s thinking about it.
“Ava likes to look different,” I say. “She colors her hair pink and has a lip ring.”
“She also has the body of a goddess,” Brendan says, “and the face of an angel.”
“Oh my God, do you have it bad! Listen, as a woman, let me tell you a secret.”
He leans in, his eyes mockingly wide. “Okay,” he whispers. “What’s the secret?”
“She probably thinks you’re too old for her. That you’d never notice her. Trust me. She does know you’re alive, Murphy. Every woman in this town knows you’re alive. You’re that good-looking.”
He winks at me. “Want to go to my place?”
“Ha! Nice try.”
“Right. You’ve got your heart set on a Steel.”
We’re smiling and joking, but Brendan doesn’t know how right he is.
Which pisses me off.
I’m not ready to fall in love.
And the realization that I’m halfway there already sticks in my craw like a blade.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Donny
“Mom wouldn’t do anything like that,” I say automatically.
Already, anger is rising in me. I hate it when Dale says anything negative about Mom. He loves her. I don’t doubt it. But their relationship is different.
Still…something in what he says rings true.
Which makes me even angrier.
“I don’t want to believe anything negative about Mom,” Dale says. “And I’m not even sure this is negative. If Mom did hide something, she did it with the best of intentions. But let’s take a look at the facts. They’ve hidden a lot of shit from us. Maybe not us so much as from the rest of the kids. No one knows why we were adopted. What we went through before.”
“They wanted to spare our sisters and cousins that horror,” I say.