Turning, Margaret pasted a smile across her face.
“Let’s just move on, okay?” she said sweetly, not wanting to get into it, especially when she saw Adeline marching across the grass towards them.
“But…” Sean said, confusion crossing his face. He turned when Adeline called his name.
“Sean, call from New York,” Adeline said and Sean popped up, turning to apologize to Margaret.
“I’ve got to take this. A big deal in the works. Adeline, can you keep Margaret company?” Sean asked, already breezing past the two women and heading for his office.
“Anything for you, Sean,” Adeline called sweetly over her shoulder, turning to stare daggers at Margaret.
Lovely, just lovely, Margaret thought as she slammed the rest of the trash in the bin. Her last day in Ireland was shaping up to be a real beauty.
Chapter 32
“You’ll have to sit in my office, I’m busy this afternoon,” Adeline said curtly, swinging her red hair behind her shoulder as she stalked off towards the warehouse. Casting a resigned look back at the park bench, Margaret almost declined to go with Adeline.
Except her curiosity was just too great.
“Have you worked for Sean long?” Margaret said, striding next to Adeline, looking down at the woman’s leather leggings and wondering how they passed for suitable attire for a manager of a large fishing corporation. Deciding to bite her tongue, she kept her eyes trained straight ahead.
“Six months or so,” Adeline said, offering no more.
“What’d you do before then?” Margaret asked and was surprised when the woman whipped around to get in her face.
“My prior work experience is none of your business,” Adeline hissed and Margaret’s eyebrows shot to the top of her forehead.
“My apologies,” Margaret said, holding up her hands and wondering what particular brand of crazy Sean had gotten himself into with this one.
“Sit there,” Adeline ordered, pointing to a chair across from her desk and Margaret slid silently into the chair, wondering just exactly why she was listening to this woman’s orders. Probably because Margaret was fascinated by how Adeline had become a manager and just what she and Sean were to each other. Biting her tongue, she sat back to observe.
An hour later, Margaret’s tongue was almost bloody from the number of times she had been forced to stop herself from speaking.
Sean’s business was in trouble and Adeline was a mess. Margaret found it surprising that Sean hadn’t noticed how horribly his company was currently being run. She cringed as Adeline put another call on hold to search a file cabinet full of over-stuffed folders to look for a purchase order.
If this had been her company, she’d have modernized everything by now and purchase orders would be tracked in the computer. Margaret watched in fascination as Adeline pulled out file after file, stuffing them back in no particular order, before finally finding the file she was looking for. On a little crow of satisfaction she returned to the desk.
“Hello? I’ve got the…” her voice trailed off as she looked in confusion at the phone. “Hmm, must’ve gotten cut off.”
Or they realize that time is money, and messing around with a company that takes ten minutes to locate a purchase order means they won’t be a return customer.
“Can I ask a question?” Margaret asked and Adeline turned to glare at her.
“What?”
“Why aren’t the purchase orders in the computer?”
“Because we don’t have a system to manage that?” Adeline spoke slowly, as though she was talking to someone with the intelligence of a fourth-grader.
“Wouldn’t your job be to find a software that does?” Margaret said, raising an eyebrow at her.
“What the hell do you even know about running a company?” Adeline seethed, tossing her hair over her shoulder again.
“Oh, I don’t know, I only run one of the most successful real estate companies in Boston. You know…annual revenue in the millions,” Margaret said easily, studying her nails as Adeline fumed at her desk.
“This isn’t real estate. This is a large fishing corporation. You have no idea what you are talking about,” Adeline bit out and then narrowed her eyes at Margaret. “What do you want with Sean, then? If you’re not after his money?”
Margaret’s mouth dropped open.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Why are you sniffing around him if you don’t need his money?”
“Is that really an appropriate question to be asking about your boss?” Margaret said, pulling out her “I mean business” look, which usually quieted even the most unruly of her employees.
“He’s not just my boss,” Adeline seethed, coming around to lean against the desk, her arms crossed against her chest, her gaze focused on Margaret.
“Is that so?” Margaret asked, feeling her heart clench and the beginnings of an “I told you so” from her subconscious trickling through her mind.
“We’re dating. So I’d appreciate it if you’d back off,” Adeline said.
“Dating? You’re dating your boss? Isn’t that unethical?” Margaret knew she should just drop it, but it infuriated her to think Sean had led her on.
“Listen, honey, I didn’t come to this job for the title. I came for the man. Sean’s one of the most eligible bachelors in the city. And I’m his perfect catch,” Adeline said, running her eyes over Margaret, who suddenly felt frumpy in what, just this morning, she had thought were her cute jeans. Not used to direct competition from women over a man, Margaret decided to play it easy.
“Well, it’s obvious you’re not here for the job,” she said sweetly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Adeline said, straightening up from the desk.
Margaret swooped her arm around to the messy desk and overflowing file cabinets.
“It’s a hot mess in here,” she said.
“Well, I should be taken care of, not forced to work. Sean will see that soon enough,” Adeline said, sniffing as she checked her nails.
“Ah, well, it looks like you’ve got it all figured out then,” Margaret said, biting back the bitterness that welled up in her throat. She’d known it had been a risk to come to Dublin to see Sean. She’d been stupid to think he wouldn’t be involved with someone at this point in his life.
Even if that someone was a tramp like Adeline, Margaret thought on a sniff as she stood.
“Well, now that you’ve made yourself clear, you can tell Sean I’ll be by the water when he’s ready to take me to dinner.”
“What do you mean, he’s taking you to dinner?” Adeline blurted, worry crossing her face.
“Oh, didn’t he tell you? I’m staying with him,” Margaret said sweetly, slamming the office door on Adeline's curses.
Maybe it was small of her, but she couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face as she strolled away from the office to the water.
Yeah, that had felt good.
Chapter 33
An hour later, Margaret found herself uselessly obsessing about Sean and Adeline. She wondered why she even cared – the whole point of her coming here was to prove that she and Sean didn’t have a connection anymore. Or was that just what she was telling herself now that Sean had let her down?
Again.
Sighing, Margaret stood up as she saw Sean leave his building and wave to her. Pasting a smile on her face, she sauntered over to where he stood.
“I’m cutting out early so we can have a nice dinner,” Sean explained, smiling as she approached.
Not wanting to bring anything up when she was sure that Adeline would be watching their interaction from her office window, Margaret smiled up at him.
“That’d be great. Where are we going? I’ll probably need to change,” she said, looking ruefully down at her jeans.
“Nah, you’re fine. Just have to make one stop on the way,” Sean said with a smile, this time opening the door of his truck for her. Margaret wondered if he had forgotten about
his earlier hint of anger or if he had just tamped it down for now.
Staring out the window as they pulled out of the lot, Margaret felt a rush of sadness go through her about all of the anger and past hurts they had caused each other. For such a short relationship, they’d certainly managed to explode a karmic boom into each other’s lives. Margaret thought back to his use of the word 'tizzy' earlier and how it had enraged her. It seemed like they were just destined to circle each other and continue to cause hurt feelings. And now with another woman in the picture?
She’d been right all along to stay in Boston.
Margaret took a deep breath and began building her walls up again, knowing that she had been silly to drop them for a moment and think that she and Sean might have had a chance. Maybe she could just begin to look at him as an old friend instead.
Looking over at him fondly, she reached out and patted his thigh.
“Thanks for today. It was nice to see what you’ve built up,” Margaret said, holding back her thoughts on Adeline and just what she thought that woman was doing to the business. It wasn’t her place, after all. If Sean couldn’t see the problems in his business, who was she to do anything about it? Margaret knew that she had a tendency to be controlling – as Keelin liked to point out often – and the last thing Sean needed after so proudly showing her his business was for her to tell him all the things wrong with it.
“I’m glad you came up. It was nice having you here,” Sean said as he pulled into the parking lot of a small market. “Back in a moment.”
Margaret watched as he jumped out and ran into the grocer, and wondered if he was picking up some wine or dog food for Baron. The market was charming, with fruit loaded into its front windows and a striped awning above. Quaint groceries were something that she often missed, living in Boston where goliath supermarkets ran the show.
Sean exited the market carrying a box in his arms, his face split wide in a smile. Margaret couldn’t help but smile back at him, though she reminded herself it was just because he was a good friend.
That’s all he really could be. Their lives were just too far apart.
“Baron sure eats a lot,” Margaret commented when they were back on the road.
“Why do you say that?”
“Box of food?” Margaret asked, pointing her thumb at the back seat.
“Ah, sure,” Sean said, grinning as he hit the remote for the gate to his house. Margaret glanced at the street to make sure her rental car was still intact and did a mental calculation of the amount of time she would need before her flight to Boston in the morning. She’d need to be in bed by ten at the latest if she wanted any semblance of good sleep.
Following Sean into the house, Margaret smiled as Baron trailed after him to the kitchen, his tail wagging, obviously ready for whatever was in the box.
“What should I wear for dinner?” Margaret called, waiting in the hallway. Sean glanced up, his eyes trailing over her body, igniting heat low in Margaret’s stomach.
“What you’ve got on is fine. Though I’d prefer less,” Sean winked, and Margaret’s eyebrow shot up.
“The restaurant is okay with jeans?” she asked, breezing past Sean’s suggestive comment.
“Seeing as how I’m the chef, I can say that I approve of the jeans,” Sean said, digging into the box and pulling out two bottles of wine.
“You’re cooking?” Margaret said, surprise lacing her voice.
“Sure and you don’t think I can’t cook for you, do you?”
Margaret didn’t want to offend Sean, but it was clear from the lack of cooking utensils in his kitchen that he didn't have much cooking experience.
“I’m sure it will be lovely,” Margaret said tactfully, causing Sean to chuckle.
“Have no fear. I’ve got two shipyard’s pies ready to heat. Ma O’Sullivan makes the best in the city. I’d be offending her if I tried to make it on my own,” Sean said as he pulled two covered dishes from the box.
Margaret felt relief wash through her, then found herself laughing at Sean again when he looked up at her.
“You don’t have to look so relieved.”
“Well, I was going to point out your serious lack of anything to cook with in this kitchen, but I decided against it,” she said as she slid onto a stool across from him.
“Right kind of you, then,” Sean said, popping the cork on a bottle of red and dashing some of the liquid into a glass for Margaret. Sliding it across the counter, he waited while she sampled.
“Yum, this is a nice full-bodied wine. What is it?” Margaret asked, turning to peer at the label.
“A Grenache. One of my new favorites,” Sean said.
“You’re a wine guy? I always figured you as a Guinness man,” Margaret mused, taking another sip of the wine.
“Sure and nothing can get between me and my pint, but a nice bottle of wine with a pretty lady isn’t beneath me now and then,” Sean said, sticking his nose in the air and pretending his pint was classier than the wine. Margaret laughed again, though she was unhappy to feel a little stab of jealousy shoot through her at the thought of Sean wining and dining other women.
Margaret really needed to stop. Sean was a friend. She’d certainly dated in the past twenty-eight years, and it wasn’t like he was supposed to be celibate either.
“What’s wrong?” Sean asked, having turned from setting the stove to heat.
“Hm? Nothing,” Margaret waved it away.
“If you’re sure?”
“I just need to get a few things organized before my flight tomorrow, is all,” Margaret shrugged.
“Why don’t you go do that now? We’ve got time. I’ll get some cheese and fruit out for a snack with the wine.”
“That’d be nice,” Margaret said, sliding off her stool, taking the wine glass with her.
Baron followed her down the hallway and Margaret couldn’t help but feel a rush of love for the little mutt. He’d grown on her in such a short time and Margaret could understand why Sean kept a dog in the house.
Margaret took her time laying out her outfit for travel, checking her flight times, pulling out her passport. Debating briefly whether she should call Fiona, she found herself standing in front of the mirror in the guest room bathroom.
And wondering if she was really ready to leave.
Chapter 34
Sean pulled a few hunks of cheese, wrapped in brown wax paper, from the box and let his thoughts drift to where Margaret was packing in the guest room. It felt nice to have company in his house, even nicer that it was Margaret. He hadn’t known what to expect from seeing her again.
Which certainly hadn’t stopped him from getting a haircut and buying a brand new suit, he reminded himself.
And if he was being totally honest, once he’d seen the writing on the wall with Keelin and Flynn, Sean had started a weight loss program to get in better shape for Margaret's eventual visit. He’d known that there was no way she’d stay away from Keelin for long.
He hadn’t been prepared for just how much of an impact she’d have on him when he saw her again. All of a sudden – she was just there. All beauty and light and buttoned up. Sean had wanted to walk across the rehearsal dinner and rip her primly buttoned blouse open to see if she was just as soft and warm as he remembered.
Having her show up at his door had been a blessing in disguise, and if Sean had anything do with it? She wouldn’t be leaving either.
“Baron. What do you think about sharing your house, hey boy?” Sean asked down to the little dog that had wandered back to the kitchen when he’d heard food being prepared.
Baron wagged his tail, which Sean took for a yes.
Now he just needed to convince Margaret to stay.
Chapter 35
“All set?” Sean asked when Margaret came down the hallway a few moments later. She’d changed her top, a silky maroon blouse that clung to her curves.
And her underwear too. But Sean didn’t need to know that.
“Yes, all pac
ked and ready to go,” Margaret said, holding up her empty wine glass.
“Ah, I’ll get that,” Sean said, smiling at her as he filled her glass.
“I’ve got us set up outside if you’d like to sit out there,” Sean said, gesturing to his patio where a small table and two chairs sat. A fat candle sputtered in the middle next to a vase of flowers and Margaret found herself charmed.
“Flowers, huh?”
“Flowers for a pretty girl,” Sean said, holding the door open with one hand and a tray of cheese in the other hand. Though the comment had been simple, Margaret found herself blushing like a schoolgirl.
“This is lovely,” Margaret decided, as she sat on the chair and surveyed Sean’s yard. Fairy lights were strung up along the fence, and Baron sauntered over to a rose bush standing in the corner and promptly lifted his leg, causing Margaret to snort out a giggle.
“Ah, yes, his favorite spot,” Sean sighed, shaking his head as he sat across from Margaret, placing the board of food between them. “Try some.”
Margaret took a sliver of cheese on a small cracker and groaned as it melted in her mouth.
“This is excellent.”
“I let Ma O’Sullivan do all the pairings. She’s excellent.”
“So do you order dinner like this often?”
“Well, perhaps not this grandiose, but a few times a week I pick up meals from there.”
Margaret sipped her wine and nodded. It wasn’t far off from her life.
“A few nights a week I go to my favorite sushi place. Half the time I’m eating over my desk anyway,” she said.
“Don’t I know that,” Sean agreed, clinking his glass lightly against hers.
“We’re workaholics,” Margaret said.
“We just might be at that.”
“Do you ever see yourself hanging it up?” Margaret was genuinely curious. She wondered if Sean ever ached to travel. She certainly did.
“Sure, at some point. Colin’s working on his MBA and he’s expressed an interest in running the business. I’ll most likely start grooming him to step into a role beneath me over the next few years,” Sean shrugged and reached down to pick up a small ball at his feet. Margaret watched as Baron went on full alert, his eyes trained on the ball.
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