“No, no the juice is fine, thank you.” Booker didn’t want to start any more trouble for Carlin so he accepted the juice the man gave him and kept his mouth shut.
Once the mess was clean Bradon sat next to him and his father as Carlin finally reached over to introduce himself to Booker.
“Carlin O’Leary. You must be Booker, the lad from California me wife has been blabbin’ on about.”
“That would be me. Nice to meet you.”
Bradon chimed in with a mouth full of food. “He’s the Sheila da.”
Mary Margaret slapped Bradon in the back of the head. “Don’t talk with ya mouth full ya muppet.”
“Muppet? Eejit? Bangers? Do you sell an Irish dictionary in your gift shop?” Booker asked.
“Now whose been calling ya an eejit?” Mary Margaret asked, eyeing Bradon suspiciously.
Bradon tried to get Booker’s attention but Booker enjoyed watching him squirm. “Oh I learned it on the way in from Bradon.”
Mary Margaret smacked Bradon on the head again. “You callin’ our guests eejits?”
“Just trying to have some fun ma?” Bradon rubbed the back of his head and gave Booker the your-going-to-pay-for-this glare. Booker wasn’t too shaken up, he could take Bradon, he was a pretty boy. It was the other three O’Leary men Booker didn’t want to cross and Mary Margaret for that matter after seeing her bring her husband and son down a peg or two in a short few minutes.
“Oh its fine Mrs. O’Leary. I just want in on the language so I know what I’m up against.”
Carlin laughed. “Well laddie, eejit means idiot of fool, muppet is used when you are callin someone a uh, dumbarse and bangers, well that’s what ya eatin’ right now. Its sausage. Stick with me boy and ya’ll learn.”
“Sounds like a deal to me. If I pitch in with some work around here will you teach me the Irish way?”
Mary Margaret chimed in before Carlin could get a word in. “Ya’ll not be helpin’ around this here house. Y’are guest, let’s keep it that way.” She spoke her mind while wiping down one of the buffets with her apron.
“Thank you Mrs. O’Leary but I will be here for a while and I would love to help out around the place and learn about your culture.”
“I could use some help on the fence before it gets too cold.” Carlin said to his wife slightly wincing, knowing if he crossed the lady she would blow a gasket. Booker already learned that Mary Margaret was a firecracker and you do what she said. She just rolled her eyes and moved to the another buffet to refill the juice jars.
“I’m free tomorrow. Shall I meet you here for breakfast again and then we can get to work?”
“Sounds perfect.” Booker shook Carlin’s hand and headed to the kitchen with his plate when he heard Carlin say, “Bradon, let your brothers know the plan.”
Booker’s whole body went rigid. All of Fiona’s brothers were going to be there? Building a fence together? Great! Just what he needed, to be surrounded by men who would do anything to protect the girl he was after. He needed to watch himself and make sure none of them found out about what he had planned for his date with Fiona because if they did, he didn’t think they would be using wood for building the fence, he could see his body parts being used as posts instead.
***
Sophie had to run to the general store for some more eggs, she was annoyed she had to stop what she was doing and go to the store because she miscalculated her baking supply needs. Sophie realized, that’s when having a husband was convenient because she could just send him out real quick while she could continue baking. That was probably the only thing she missed about being married.
She made a list in her phone of items she would need to stock up on just in case, she didn’t want to run out again. She still was in shock from seeing Liam at her front door the other day. She could not believe Neala wanted to get a divorce. She had never seen Liam look so distraught and unhappy. She hated seeing him like that, it pulled at her heart strings knowing that such a kind and caring man was going through such a difficult time. Nothing happened between Sophie and Liam and she would never do anything to get in between a marriage and break up a family. She was not that kind of person. Instead, she was the victim of that kind of behavior. Her divorce with Greg was still taking a toll on her. His lawyer practically took everything from her, so she had to make a life for herself which she was slowly getting back to where she wanted her life to be. The only thing missing was love.
People would think that after having her husband cheat on her and spending the last year fighting over a bank account and possessions, she would devoid herself of any kind of love, let alone a relationship. Nope, not her. She was a hopeless romantic. She wanted to find that one person who lit her on fire, who made her melt and devoted themselves, solely to her.
She returned to Warblers Point because that is where she grew up and she wanted to be in a place that was familiar and comforting. She had no clue Liam was still going to be living in Warblers Point as well as own a successful pub with his siblings. She always loved hanging out with the O’Leary’s. She was an only child so having so many people to play with was a dream to her. They took her in and treated her as family. Seeing Liam again brought back all those feelings of comfort and family, as well as deep down feelings of passion and yearning. But she didn’t know if the passion she felt was for Liam or just memories of what a passionate relationship felt like.
She didn’t like to admit it but when Liam showed up at her door with the news of his impending divorce a part of her deep down inside was dancing with glee. She would never admit that because what kind of person is excited when their friend tells them about a divorce? She felt guilty for being happy but then again she couldn’t help herself. She never got over Liam, and maybe that was a reason why her husband cheated on her. No, that was not her fault. She had to keep telling herself that, Greg made his decision.
Still, Liam always held a piece of her heart, no matter who she dated…or married. Now that he was going to be single…hopefully, she would have her chance to maybe re-kindle what they lost years ago. Maybe she could finally have the happily ever after she always wanted.
She found herself practically skipping and humming through the aisles of the general store with her basket. She was looking down at the list on her phone when she ran smack into someone in the dairy section, thank God she didn’t have her eggs yet because the impact with the other human made her drop her basket, scattering her grocery contents all over the floor.
She looked up and started to apologize until she realized she ran smack into Neala. Fire was blazing in Neala’s eyes and a slight vein was popping in her neck. Sophie noticed that Neala was holding a cup of coffee that was now taking up residence all over her silk shirt. Sophie felt her mouth drop open in shock.
“Oh my God, Neala, I’m so sorry…”
“Don’t touch me you bitch.” Sophie was grabbing for napkins to help wipe Neala off but stilled mid-air when Neala’s words slipped out of her mouth.
“Pardon me?” Sophie always prided herself in not swearing, some may say she was a goody two shoes but she just considered herself a true lady.
“I said, don’t touch me bitch.”
Shocked by Neala’s animosity towards her, especially since Sophie did nothing to deserve it she said, “You don’t have to be so rude.”
“Rude? I’m the rude one? Oh I’m sorry, I’m not the whore breaking up marriages and families. You know we have a little girl, right? She is going to have to split time between her parents and holidays now. I hope you’re happy.”
Sophie couldn’t believe the words coming out of Neala’s mouth. What kind of crazy fantasy world was she living in?
“I’m sorry Neala that you and Liam are having some problems but by no means am I to blame for them and I resent the fact that you think that low of me.”
“Don’t bullshit me you little tart. I know you’ve been seeing my husband and fucking him when I’m not around.” Neala’s voice was slowly
starting to escalate in volume and Sophie could feel herself blushing from embarrassment especially since every word dripping from Neala’s mouth was a bold faced lie.
“I have not been f…I have not been doing anything with your husband. I don’t know where you’ve been getting the idea that I have but I would never break up a family because that is what happened to me. I would never subject another woman to that pain so I would appreciate it if you would lower your voice and stop spreading lies about me and your husband.”
Apparently Neala didn’t care what Sophie said because Neala did the exact opposite and escalated her voice to a higher decimal and said, “Lies? Lies? The only lie around here is your denial in sharing your sexual slip and slide with my husband.” Neala pushed Sophie against the little snack shelves, sending metal into her shoulder blades. “You are nothing more than a little two faced home wrecker.” Neala pushed her again, sending snacks scattering all over the aisle. “You act like you are some little innocent bug eyed prim and proper girl but you really go around fucking people’s husbands and destroying their family life.” Neala went to go shove her again when she was stopped by very large hands.
“Neala, what the fuck are you doing?”
Sophie hadn’t seen him in a while but she would recognize Finn anywhere. His looks were always so classic. He looked like Liam but younger with beautiful light brown eyes that were always covered by his trendy thick rimmed black glasses. He filled his body out with pure muscle and grew up to be a man. She was shocked by how instantly attracted she was to him, especially since he was currently standing so close to her she could smell his intoxicating male scent. She couldn’t help but admire him, he was attractive, beyond what she ever remembered.
He grabbed Sophie’s hand and helped her out of the shelving that she was sucked into. Thank God he came in at the last minute because one more push and she would have been shelf life for sure. Sophie looked at Neala who was crying now holding her head in her hands. Sophie should be pissed and wanting to pummel the girl but that was not her type of personality. Instead, Sophie wrapped her arms around Neala and tried to comfort her. Wrong move.
Neala took her hands and slammed them into Sophie’s chest once again sending her flying into the shelf knocking them all down and causing a piece of metal to whip into her head. Sophie’s brain went instantly dizzy. She touched her head to assess the damage and felt a warm liquid up by her hair line when she looked at her hand there was blood trickling down her fingers. Great!
Finn grabbed Neala and shook her. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Let go of me, Finn. She deserves everything she gets.”
Finn looked at Sophie in confusion and before he could ask what Neala meant, Neala beat him to it. “She has been fucking your older brother behind my back. She will deny it, but I know what I’m talking about.” She shook herself from Finn’s grip. “I’m getting out of here, tell your brother my lawyer will be contacting him about the divorce papers and don’t worry I won’t go after your precious little pub even though I have all the right to. I just want out of this Podunk town and away from you Irish assholes.”
She stormed off kicking Sophie’s groceries that were on the floor across the aisle making one of her packages of flour explode from her pointy shoes. Sophie just held her head where it was bleeding, trying to apply pressure, trying to ignore the fact that Neala was in fact a raving lunatic.
She looked up at Finn who seemed to be fuming, instead of helping her up this time he just stared at her with disgust.
“You going to explain yourself?” He asked.
Out of all Liam’s siblings, she was closest with Finn, maybe because of their ages but whenever Liam and her were fighting Finn was always there to talk to her and help her through her problems. He was like the brother she never had and even when she left for college and got married, she still wrote to Finn occasionally to catch up. He was the only O’Leary she stayed in contact with, even though he wasn’t the one she was in love with, well used to be in love with. Now looking at Finn, being in his adult presence confused her. She erased the thoughts of her and Finn, blaming it on the shelf whipping her in the head.
“Are you even going to believe me when I talk or are you going to just listen to what she has to say?” Sophie said with a nod toward Neala’s direction.
Finn waved his hand in front of him gesturing for her to proceed with her story. “By all means, enlighten me.” Sophie wanted to throw eggs at Finn for accusing her of the worst already, before even listening to her side of the story.
“I’m not having an affair with Liam. I’ve seen him a handful of times since I’ve come back and most of those time Neala was present. I would never do anything to break up a family and you know that because of what I went through myself. I would never be that woman.” She started crying, damn it. “You know I would never do that Finn, don’t you?”
Finn ran his hand through his hair and pulled her into his chest for a hug. He placed a kiss on the top of her head and said, “I believe you Soph.”
His confidence in her made her break down and cry even more. Being wrapped up in his embrace also confused her, she didn’t think she could enjoy being this close to Finn, ever. “I have no clue what she is talking about Finn and I don’t want her going around town spreading lies about me when I’m trying to run a business here. I don’t want to be known as the uh…town…you know…” She practically whispered, “…skank.”
Finn chuckled slightly at her embarrassment of using a filthy word. “Anyone who has been in this town long enough, which is mostly everyone, will know that you are not the town skank. Everything will be ok don’t worry.”
Finn pulled her in even closer and held her tight until she felt him go stiff. He was instantly shoved out of the way and she was flung to the side, landing next to her good friend, the snack shelf.
“What the fuck are you doing Finn?”
Liam.
He continued, “I heard something was happening down here with Neala but instead I find you groping Sophie.”
Finn being the smart ass and Instigator he was said, “What’s it to you? You shouldn’t care since you’re married, unless marriage means nothing to you and you are sleeping around like Neala says.”
Sophie winced at Finn’s word. That did it. Liam flew at Finn and tackled him to the ground. They were both throwing shots at each other, wrestling around, grunting and trying to gain the upper hand in their dairy aisle brawl. They were both a match in size and muscle mass the only thing really different was Finn was slightly younger. Sophie tried to pull them apart but that was a loss cause since she was barely tall enough to reach their shoulders when she stood next to them. Instead she gathered her items on the floor and called for a manager in the dairy section.
This was not how she wanted to kick off her new start in Warblers Point.
Chapter 6
Fiona had about thirty minutes left of her shift at the pub. Her night flew by which was annoying because it was the only time she actually wanted her shift to drag on. What was she thinking agreeing to going out with Booker tonight? She made a fool of herself at the grocery store, spilling apples, staring at Booker’s package and then running into a crate of pumpkins causing her to fall flat on her ass. But he still wanted to take her out. Maybe that was why she said yes, if he was willing to still go out with a mess like her maybe she should humor him.
Liam was cleaning up the kitchen early tonight, something happened between him and Neala but she wasn’t quite sure exactly what, no one was divulging information. Something went down in the general store earlier though between Liam and Finn because Liam had a black eye and Bradon was working the bar for Finn. Apparently he didn’t want to be anywhere near Liam at the current moment and since Neala and Liam were having problems that left Liam shacking up at Fiona’s place for the night rather than Finns. Lucky her. She didn’t mind having her brother stay over, but not when she was supposed to go out with a man tonight. Lord knows Liam wo
uld be waiting up for her, sticking his nose in her business where it didn’t belong.
She was wiping down a table when Booker entered the bar. Her hand stilled on the surface she was cleaning and took in the beautiful sight of the native Californian. God he was gorgeous, men like him didn’t hang around in places like Warblers Point. There were a lot of good looking men in Warblers Point, like Murphy but they were all the rugged type. Booker was different; he stepped straight out of GQ, muscles and all. She didn’t realize she was staring until he was sitting at the bar just waving at her. Embarrassed she shook her head and finished wiping up the table.
She went over to the bar where he was and leaned over the top. “You shouldn’t be here, I will meet you outside.”
Booker gave her a confused and somewhat hurt look. She felt bad so she added, “My brother’s won’t think too kindly of me going out with a Sheila.” She tacked on a smile at the end of her sentence.
He matched her smile but his could melt her socks and shoes off if she let it. “Alright, meet me outside, where something warm, we will be outside tonight.”
Intrigued about what the night would bring she swatted him with the towel she was holding as she ushered him out. He faked a hurt look from her towel swipe and flashed another heart devouring grin at her before the door closed behind him. Damn him!
Fiona thought about their date, they were going to be outside? What did he have planned? Whatever it was, she knew it was going to be interesting. Booker seemed like a very creative kind of guy. A very creative and very sexy kind of guy. Alright she needed to get a hold of herself before she got in his car. If she kept letting her hormones rage like they have been lately they wouldn’t get past the pubs parking lot before she viciously attacked him with her lips and tongue.
Beers, Hens, and Irishmen (Warbler's Point Series) Page 7