On a hunch, she directed the cab driver to the pier where Richie kept his boats moored. After she’d paid and gotten out, she wandered down the wide wooden dock toward Richie’s berths. One was empty, but his second boat was tied up at the dock, and sure enough, there was Dad, moving around on deck.
Gemma paused for a moment, just watching him work. He looked so different here, outside in the sun, the wind whipping his dark hair. He looked younger, infinitely more relaxed. She’d grown so used to the sight of him behind the bar that he only existed that way in her mind. But he had his own life, didn’t he? Things he wanted outside the bar. Maybe this was it.
He was in the middle of folding up a blue tarp when he turned and spotted her.
“Gem... Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine. I came out to talk to you.”
John looked down at the deck briefly, then set the tarp aside and dusted his hands off against his jeans. “Come on up.” He came to the edge of the boat and offered her a hand as she made her way up the rickety little portable wooden steps he’d set on the deck.
She’d been going over what she had to say for the whole of the cab ride, but now that she was here, starting was hard. Stuffing her hands in her back pockets, she looked out across the marina, at all the boats bobbing at the docks, and at the sun dancing on the water of the bay.
“It’s nice here.”
John looked out across the water, too, the corner of his mouth twitching with what might have been a smile. “Yep.”
“You working on the boat?”
“Helping Richie get her into shape for the season.” He motioned to the empty berth next to them. “He’s got the other one out on the water.”
Gemma nodded, but said nothing. Okay, coward, get to it. It’s just Dad. He’s not going to bite your head off.
Taking a deep breath, she forced the words out. “Dad, I’m sorry. I was upset and I said things I didn’t mean. You know I didn’t mean any of that, don’t you?”
“’Course I know that, Gem. I wasn’t mad at you. Not for an instant.” He paused again, looking at his feet. “I owe you an apology, too. The bar might be in my name, but it’s as much yours as mine. I should have talked to you first before I decided anything. I just... I knew how much it was going to hurt you and I wanted to spare you that. Guess I was still trying to take care of my little girl. But you’re not a little girl anymore, are you? You’re all grown up and it was wrong of me not to see that.”
She’d never heard her dad say so many words all at once in her life. Especially not ones about feelings. Her eyes burned. It was impossible to stay mad at him. He was only trying to protect her, even if he’d gone at it all wrong. A little voice in her head told her Brendan had been doing the same thing, but it was one thing for your dad to be overprotective. It was another for your boyfriend to do it. “It’s okay, Dad. I know you did it because you love me.” Her words came out a pinched little whisper because her throat had closed up.
“Come here, sweetheart.” John reached for her, pulling her into a firm hug. Gemma squeezed her burning eyes shut and gripped the warm, worn flannel of his shirt. “I love you, Gem. And I’m sorry. Sorry for everything.”
With a sniff, she pulled back, swiping at her eyes. Dad’s eyes looked suspiciously red, too. “Here, sit down,” he said, motioning to one of the benches alongside the deck railing. “We’ve got some things to talk about.”
“Yes, we do.” She took a seat next to him, leaning forward, knees on her elbows, realizing as she did that her posture mimicked his. Working side by side for so many years really had made them much more than father and daughter. She needed to tell him about Kendra and Carlos, but it felt important to hash out what was between the two of them first. Clear the air and set things right before they decided how to move forward.
“First things first,” he said. “I approached Brendan about buying the building, so any ideas you might have that he was just using you to get at the bar are wrong.”
“I know that.” As soon as she’d had a moment to think clearly, she’d realized that was probably the case. Whatever she thought about Brendan—and right now, that was a complete muddle—he wasn’t that underhanded, that heartless. Her accusation had been made in the heat of the moment, but she’d never really believed that. But one problem at a time. First, she fixed things with Dad. Then she’d think about Brendan.
“The other thing...” Dad trailed off and was silent for a minute. “The legal settlement we got after your mom died...at the time, I did what I thought was right, what would serve you girls best in the future. Buying out Marianne and Richie... I had the money and it seemed like the smart thing to do.”
“I know, Dad. We’ve been over this. You did the right thing. That insurance company put us through hell. If all we got from it was money, then at least we could do something good with it. For our family.”
Dad nodded pensively. “The business was solid back then. Not flush, but dependable. Then the stock market crashed and everything changed.”
“I remember.” She’d just graduated high school and started working full time at the bar. It seemed half their business dried up overnight. Some of it had eventually trickled back, but a lot of it hadn’t. Looking back, that had been the beginning of the end, really.
Dad inhaled and sat up. “Still, I set money aside out of the settlement for each of you girls, and I hung on to it. But then Livie and Jess went to college within a year of each other. And even with financial aid, those Ivy Leagues cost money. It ate up your share, too, and I’m sorry about that.”
“I’d have insisted you spend it on Livie and Jess. No way were they not going to get a shot at the best just because of money.”
“Still thinking of everybody else first.”
“Dad, they’re my sisters—”
He reached out and laid a hand over hers. “It’s one of the best things about you, Gem. Still, there’s something I want you to know. A portion of the money from the building is going to you. It’s the share you should have had years ago.”
“Dad—”
“I don’t want to hear it. I’m paying off the debts and your sisters’ student loans; then a piece of that money is coming to you. Your sisters got their shot and now you will, too. That money is yours, for travel, or school, or starting a business, or whatever it is you think you might want to do.”
Oh. And suddenly all those new plans she’d been toying with glowed brighter in her hands. But Dad was right. They were partners. This decision was theirs to make together. “Dad, we need to talk about the bar. Kendra has this plan.”
And so, as briefly as she could, she outlined what Kendra had done, the business plan, Carlos’s investment, the changes that would have to be made. Dad sat back, listening and staring out over the water.
“So,” she said when she finished. “We’d have to change some things. It wouldn’t be the same, but we could keep it going. If you want.”
His jaw worked as he thought. Finally, he looked over at her. “Is that what you want, Gemma?”
And now it all came down to this. It was her choice to make. In the end, when she opened her mouth to respond, she realized she’d already made it, because the answer was right there, bursting to come out. “No. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but no, I don’t want it anymore. I want to go to culinary school.”
“Culinary school?”
“Yeah, I looked at some programs with Jess and Livie. And I’ve been thinking about what I could do afterward...opening a catering business of my own, maybe...and yeah. That’s what I really want to do.” Saying it out loud was terrifying. It was one thing to dream. It was entirely another to plan. She felt like she’d just walked off the edge of a cliff, but oddly, that breathless feeling of falling was just a little bit thrilling, too.
Dad smiled, the first genuine smile she’d seen on his face in a
ges. “That’s fantastic, honey.”
“But if you want to keep the bar,” she hurried to add. “We can figure something out. I can go part-time and still cover shifts. Maybe we could afford to hire more staff. We could—”
His hand came down to cover hers and he squeezed. “Gem, I’m ready to let it go, too.”
“You are?”
Dad nodded his head at the nearby boat. “Richie’s asked me to partner in the business with him.”
“Charter fishing?”
He was smiling again, staring out over the water, the wind ruffling his hair, and Gemma could see it in his eyes. He loved it there. He loved it out there on the water. “I’d captain one and he’ll captain the other. Teresa would run the office and handle the bookings with Sheila.”
“Wow.” The implications of that settled into her brain. “So are you guys are going to move out here?”
“You know our house is always going to feel like home,” he told her. “But yeah. Teresa’s going to sell her mother’s place and we thought we’d look for something out here.”
Her heart was aching, but she smiled through it. How could something be so sad and so great at the same time? “That’s really good, Dad. It’s a fresh start for you.”
“It’s a fresh start for both of us. It’s the start you should have had and never got.”
“Dad, I don’t regret a second I’ve spent behind the bar. Part of me still doesn’t know how I’m going to bear losing it.”
He slipped his arm around her shoulders. “I know, honey. But what you’ve got in store for you...” He paused and shook his head. “I’m so damned proud of you.”
She laughed softly, swiping at her damp eyes. “Well, I haven’t done anything yet. I might suck at it.”
“You won’t,” he said. “Not you. You’re going to be amazing.”
As much as it hurt to end this part of both their lives, it also felt right. Dad was finally, after all these years, getting a chance to be truly happy again, and she was, too. Dad was right. For first time in her life, every path lay open to her.
Dad paused for a moment, clearly considering what he was about to say. “Gem, just so you know, the house is safe. That’s part of why I wanted to sell the bar now. I wanted to make sure the house was secure for you girls. It’ll always be yours.”
“I know.”
“But if that’s not what you want...if you want a clean start, too—”
“No! No, I want the house.” She didn’t know much about what her future looked like, but she knew it was happening in the Romano house. She couldn’t consider anything else.
“Well, since you’ll be the one living there, if you want to fix it up, change anything...just...you don’t need to ask for permission. It’s yours. Yours and your sisters’.”
She laughed, but then that idea settled in and...oh, yeah. Last year, she’d decorated Nick’s new apartment for him for free, just because she was so desperate to fix up somebody’s house, and her own was just a hodge-podge of choices made by long-gone generations of Romanos. Before she knew it, she was imagining ripping up scuffed linoleum and stripping faded wallpaper, updating the kitchen... One thing at a time, Gemma.
“So,” he said. “I’m guessing things blew up with Brendan before you left?”
She let out a humorless chuckle. “Yeah, you could say that.”
He was silent for a moment then inhaled deeply. “The last thing I want to do is stick my nose in your relationship, but maybe think about hearing him out. You cut me some slack, maybe you could cut him some, too.”
“But you’re my dad.”
“He cares about you a hell of a lot, Gem. Maybe he and I were a little pigheaded about how we handled it, but we both did it for the same reason.”
Because you both love me.
“I know,” she murmured. “I’ll think about it.”
“Good enough.” Dad squeezed her shoulders again. “You gonna be okay, kid?”
Gemma thought about that for a minute. Everything was changing. Things that had seemed set in stone for the entirety of her life were crumbling into dust all around her. And at first, that had been terrifying. But now that the dust was settling, so to speak, she could see so much farther than she could before. There were possibilities on the horizon that had been out of sight before. And that was good.
“Dad, I’m going to be great,” she told him, and she absolutely meant it.
Chapter Forty-Two
Spudge was just making his slow way out to the front door to greet her when she let herself into the house later that afternoon. Spudge, who’d been her faithful friend since high school. Brendan had brought him to her and then disappeared. Spudge had sat by her side through all the years since. Brendan had come back, saved Spudge’s life, and now he was gone again. And still, Spudge was here.
Crouching down, she scratched behind his ears, earning a long, throaty groan. “You’re the only man I can depend on, aren’t you, buddy?”
Spudge lumbered behind her as she made her way back to the kitchen in search of her sisters. She found Livie and Jess sitting at the kitchen table, heads bent together as they talked, like they’d been doing since they were toddlers. They both looked up as she came in.
“Well?” Jess asked. One little word asking such a huge question.
“The bar is staying closed,” she said. “Dad and I decided together.”
A long beat of silence met her pronouncement.
“I’m going to miss it,” Livie finally said.
“So much,” Jess said. “But Gemma, this is good.”
“I know,” she replied. Amazingly, she wasn’t crying. Any time she’d ever imagined closing the bar in the past, it was enough to strike terror in her heart. Now it felt—well, right was maybe the wrong word. It was happening as it should happen. “Part of me is going to miss the bar for the rest of my life.”
“But the rest of you?” Livie asked.
“The rest of me is excited to see what comes next.”
Jess and Livie broke into wide smiles. “There you go,” Jess murmured.
“So,” Livie said, sitting back in her chair. “What about Problem Number Two?”
“What’s that?”
“Brendan?” she said. “What are you going to do about him?”
“Oh, I don’t know. It’s complicated, Liv.” Brendan was still a big black hole of conflicting emotions, confusion, and pain, and she didn’t have a clue how to begin untangling it.
“Didn’t seem so complicated to me,” Jess said. “He’s clearly crazy about you.”
“But what he did...”
“He made a mistake,” Livie interjected quietly.
“And then he called Kendra and did his dead level best to undo it,” Jess said.
Livie leaned forward, wide dark eyes imploring. “Maybe you should just talk to him.”
“After all. You love him.” Jess looked up at her questioningly. “Don’t you?”
Gemma’s heart gave one fierce thud and she bit her lip at the emotions welling up in her throat. “Yeah, I do.”
“And you’ve been in love with him since you were sixteen. Haven’t you?”
There was no use in denying it. She’d loved Brendan at sixteen. She’d never really stopped loving him, even though he’d given her plenty of reasons not to. The truth was, she would probably always love him. So she probably owed it to herself to see what he had to say for himself.
“Guys, I know we said we’d hang out tonight before Livie has to leave—”
Abruptly both of her sisters pushed themselves to their feet. “Livie wants to go get subs at Sal’s before she has to head back to the wilds of Colorado. So we’ll be gone for—” She looked at Livie, who shrugged and looked back.
“A while.”
“A while,” Jess confirmed. “So if you need to
go...take care of stuff, you should go do that.”
“Um, I need to make a phone call.”
* * *
Turned out, she didn’t have the guts to call him, so she texted.
Meet me at the bar?
His reply came in under a minute.
Be right there.
Chapter Forty-Three
The thought of going to the bar sent a shaft of pain straight through her heart, but she’d never been one to shy away from the tough stuff. Sooner or later, all traces of Romano’s would be gone. The sooner she faced that head-on, the better.
So she made the familiar walk one more time. Her feet could probably find the way to the bar in her sleep. Once there, she got out her well-worn key ring to unlock the padlocks on the metal roll gates. Then she cursed and sweated as she forced the Court Street one open. Well, at least she didn’t need to bother with getting it replaced now. Uncooperative piece of shit. Grabbing hold of the age-worn brass handle, she opened the front door, and it let out an ear-splitting screech. She never had gotten around to dealing with those hinges.
Inside, Romano’s already felt like an artifact. The flat-screen TV was dark and the stools were all empty. Dust motes floated in the shaft of late afternoon sunlight pouring in through the front window. Already it looked more like a memory than someplace in the here and now.
She ran her fingertips down the brass rail, marveling at the light coating of dust that had settled after just a few days. Near the cash register, where Dad had been standing on that last day, when they’d had their awful fight, a stack of papers was left abandoned. The papers he and Brendan had been looking at together when she’d come in. Curious, she shifted through them.
The top one was a drawing of a building. Nothing so polished or official as architectural renderings. These were very rough sketches for an idea of a building—three stories high, with big, arched windows and wrought iron balconies. She flipped through the rest of the pages. Some were whole buildings, some just a window, or a bit of cornice, or a doorway.
Love Around the Corner Page 27