Sophie's Path (27 page)

Aiden squeezed out a washcloth over the cleaning fluid pail, hard. If his brother wasn't readmitted, how would Aiden pay for private education, or worse, home school the kid? Money and time. Two things always in short supply.

“Excuse me,” a young woman's voice called from the open door. “Are you still open?”

With a suppressed sigh, Aiden glanced up and spied an unsteady woman bracing herself in his doorway. He tried not to stare, but she looked like she'd face-planted in a puddle then fallen asleep in it. With her eyes at half-mast, her nose and cheeks red, and the ends of her blond hair dripping, she reminded him of his cat, Grinch, when he got caught in the rain: woeful and bedraggled in a way that made Aiden chuckle and then scold himself...and want to make it better.

“Come in.” He strode forward, his pace quickening as she swayed. No one passed out in his bar. Especially not a lady. His hand snaked around her waist and held fast as her exotic scent washed over him.

There was no other way to describe it: she looked and smelled expensive, from the satiny feel of her coat to her leather purse. In fact, noticing the designer plate plastered across the top of the bag, he remembered seeing the same kind in a Fifth Avenue window, a purse his sister had pointed out. Three thousand bucks. Enough to pay for Connor's braces, Ella's much begged for dance classes, or remodeling the bathroom with safety gear for his Alzheimer's-afflicted mother.

Pick a bill, any bill, he'd often thought, after his father had died ten years ago and Aiden started struggling to keep the family and their business afloat as the eldest of seven children. Sometimes it seemed like he was the one drowning; his feverish, crazy work schedule was all that kept him and his family above water.

The woman blinked up at him with wet-spiked lashes and the sudden flash of blue eyes knocked the wind out of him. “I need to dry off.” Or at least he thought that was what she said. She slurred slightly, enough to make him wonder how many bars she'd visited before wandering into his. Uptown girls didn't usually venture into a small operation like the White Horse.

“This is the place for it.” He helped her to a wooden bar stool, the dampness of her coat seeping through his shirt and slacks.

She blew her nose and swiped at the water dripping down her cheeks. “I look like a drowned rat.” Was it his imagination, or were there tears in her eyes? He'd seen plenty of people weep into their cups at his tavern, one of the many reasons he never imbibed himself. Yet her sorrow looked deeper than that.

“Here.” He handed over a bar towel and squinted at her. “And you don't resemble a rat. A cat maybe,” he mumbled to himself, then clamped his lips shut.
What an idiot.
“I'm Aiden.” He flicked his eyes her way, but she seemed lost in her own world, running the cloth over her hair and face. In her state, she'd never remember what he said.

“I'm Rebecca. So how do I look then?” She shoved back her hair and peered at him with questioning eyes.

Under the soft glow of the antique light fixtures, her skin gleamed, her heart-shaped face prettier than he'd first thought. Her small nose flared above a mobile mouth with a generous upper lip. And those eyes. He couldn't look away from them. “Fine,” he blurted, then hustled behind the bar.

“Loose lips sink ships,” his grandmother had always said. And his life was already the
Titanic
. He needed distance from his new customer. She was short-circuiting his brain, one already over-taxed with handling his chaotic family and hectic business.

He had no room in his life, or thoughts, for romance. Letting himself imagine otherwise was a fool's path he'd gotten lost on once before. He'd never risk it again. But a lost girl caught in the rain had a way of making a lonely man dream.

He pulled out two mugs and filled them with coffee, a warm mist washing over him as he poured the black brew. Rebecca needed the wake-up before he settled her in a cab heading for home and out of his complicated life.

“How do you take your coffee?” He passed a mug her way and reached into the mini fridge below for the milk.

“Caramel and whipped cream.”

His chin slammed into the bar edge. “What?”

When she shook her head, a long lock of hair fell across her high forehead. Fetching.

“Something sweet then.”

He pushed a sugar jar her way. “Help yourself.”

“I'm trying.” Her words came out in a half sob, half laugh.

He threw back a gulp of the bitter brew and burned his throat. How long had that pot been sitting? Mary Ann usually came down after tucking in their siblings and changed it before heading home on the weekends. But he hadn't seen her in hours. And he could use her right now. Rebecca looked seconds away from inviting him to her pity party and he had no intentions of RSVP'ing.

She leaned over and slurped from her overflowing mug, the quantity of milk and sugar she'd added making it spill on the newly wiped counter. She wasn't kidding about wanting a fancy concoction. Where she came from, they probably served it on a china saucer instead of a soaked cocktail napkin. The light gleamed on her golden hair as she straightened and suppressed a grimace with pressed lips.

“Tastes good. I work in a coffee shop. The Koffee Kat. Have you heard of it?”

“I've seen it. Nice place.” Aiden switched off the coffeepot and grabbed a cleaning rag for the counter.

He stopped wiping the spill when Rebecca's narrow shoulders sagged and she set down her cup. “The owners are moving to Florida. They're like family to me. Now I'll have no one.”

Her lonely expression softened him. Being surrounded by a large family—barraged by them, really—didn't stop him from feeling alone, too. “What about your relatives? Friends?” He cleared his throat. “Boyfriend?”

Her laugh sounded as bitter as the coffee. “A boyfriend. Hah. That'd be the day.”

The weird tightness in Aiden's chest loosened and he released a breath. He needed to get a grip. Her dating status was none of his business.

Rebecca brought her arm up to her mouth and coughed into it. “Laura's gone, so that takes care of my close friends list. And as for my family...well...they're, uh, not around much.”

He hung a mug and looked at the downcast woman, his sympathy about her family turning to guilt. Was this how his relatives viewed him? But to fill his father's big shoes, he had to work sixteen hour days, seven days a week...and even that didn't seem enough. How had his father managed the business and family so effortlessly?

“I'm sure lots of people care.” Aiden began lining up the wineglasses on a mirror-backed shelf, his gaze drifting to the beautiful woman's reflection. “They just might be busy. Not have time to show it.” He peered into her eyes, then looked away, her sun-ray smile piercing his closed-off heart.

“‘How's your day' takes only a minute to ask.” She began sorting the remaining glasses on the counter according to size. “Maybe a couple more to listen to the answer.”

Aiden plucked a few mugs from the drier and stacked them below the bar. She had a point...only where to find those precious minutes when work demanded every second?

“At least
you
care,” she continued. “No one's listened to me since my roommate Laura left.” Her brow furrowed and her smile vanished. “But that's your job, right? To listen? So... I'll take a—a beer.”

She swiped at her nose, then twisted her hands together atop the counter. With her eyelids drooping after drinking half a cup of coffee, she must be more intoxicated than he'd thought. And it looked like she was fighting a whopping cold. “I don't think that's for the best, ma'am.”

Her jaw clenched. “You said you were still open.” She glanced up at the wall clock, then pulled out a twenty.

He leaned forward. “My bar, my rules.” She might be used to giving orders wherever she came from, but this was his world.

“But the customer's always right.” Her unsteady squeak tugged at him.

“When the patron acts appropriately.”

Suddenly her face contorted. “I just need to talk. Please.”

For the love of all—where was Mary Ann? The tear that rolled down the woman's cheek broke through his resistance.

He poured himself another cup of caffeine and forced a weary smile. She was right. This was his job. Would always be, he thought with a pang. If given a choice, would he have picked it? He shoved down the image of the engineering school's acceptance letter he'd received after his father died. “Fine then. Happy to listen, Rebecca. What's the trouble?”

For the next few minutes, she unleashed a torrent of woes that ranged from problematic coworkers trying to make her lose tenure—whatever that was—to her out-of-control canine, her lost coffee shop job, not being able to make this month's rent and, oddly enough, the torture of control-top hosiery. He struggled to keep his expression sympathetic as he nodded along to that one.

“You're laughing at me,” she declared, her face scrunching.

“Only on the inside,” he said solemnly, then gave in and chuckled, pleased when her bell-like laugh rang out. He topped off her coffee and dodged her playful swat. “No, really. I'm listening.”

Despite Rebecca's erratic rant, he found her charming and entertaining, even if she didn't mean to be. Somehow closing up no longer mattered, and for the first time in a while he heard himself laugh. He enjoyed watching her large, mobile mouth, her expressive eyes, and the way she squeezed his hand for emphasis. It'd been a while since someone outside his family touched him and he was surprised at the feelings she stirred. Dangerous ones.

“Aiden,” Mary Ann called. “Connor won't get off the Xbox, Mom wants to know when Dad is coming upstairs, Ella's wet her bed and Daniel's having those nightmares again. I thought you'd be up by now, and—oh...”

Spotting Rebecca, his sister pulled up short on the staircase from their upstairs apartment.

“Hey.” Rebecca waved, and then, with a clunk, passed out, her head hitting the bar.

Aiden rushed around the counter and Mary Ann flew to the girl's side.

“Ouch. Why didn't you cut her off?” Mary Ann scolded, her expert nurse's hands—from training he'd made sure she received—running over Rebecca's temples and prying open her shut eyes. As the second oldest, Mary Ann had always been one to challenge his authority...and the only one he could turn to when he dared admit to a problem.

“She came here this way.” Aiden held up a mug. “And I've been trying to get her to drink this.” Luckily, she hadn't hit the hot liquid. He should have noticed she was close to passing out. Mary Ann was right; he'd been distracted by Rebecca and had dropped the ball. “I was going to call her a cab.”

“In this condition? You can't let a woman travel alone like that. Remember what happened to Gemma after the family reunion?”

Aiden shook his head. “I didn't go to the reunion.”

Mary Ann's harsh expression softened. “Right. You had to work. Sorry, Aiden.”

He shrugged. “Goes with the territory.” He'd spent so much of his life in the pub, it barely registered anymore. Though he would like to get out. Meet someone like Rebecca...

“Come on. Lock the door and help me.” His sister already had his client's lolling head on her shoulder, her flame-red hair bright against Rebecca's gold. “We'll put her to sleep in the office. She won't be any threat to the family in this state.”

Aiden turned the bolts, then scooped up Rebecca and carried her upstairs. She weighed no more than a crate of Guinness and felt as soft as a down pillow. For a moment he fantasized what it would be like to take her to his room, but swerved into the office and the futon that awaited.

“I'll get some sheets to make it up.” Mary Ann shot him a narrow-eyed look as he sat at his desk chair and held Rebecca tight. He wouldn't risk her slipping and hitting her head again.

“Who's that pretty lady?”

He glanced up, hearing his youngest sister's voice. “A new friend who's not feeling very well. And you should be in bed, Ella. School's tomorrow.”

“I had an accident.” Her thin frame was wrapped in a towel, her hair wet, her mouth trembling.

Aiden mustered a reassuring smile. “Well, you've gone a long time. It's been months...so things are looking up, aren't they?”

Ella's dark hair, similar in wave and thickness to his, slid in a tangle as she bobbed her head. Her long face transformed into a relieved grin. “Not since February.”

Aiden angled his body around an inert Rebecca and held out an arm for the little one. “There you have it. I'm proud of you, Ella.”

She smelled of soap and toothpaste as she nuzzled her head in the crook of his neck. “I love you, Aiden,” she whispered, then took off in a flash, passing their wandering mother in a series of twirls.

“Ellison!”

Aiden flinched, hating it when she mistook him for his look-alike father.

“What are you doing with this woman?”

“Mom. It's me. Aiden. And this is a customer who's had a few too many.”

“Is it Mildred again?” His mother's anger faded to confusion and her hand wandered up to tangle in her white, shoulder-length hair. “For an Irishwoman, she can't hold her liquor. Your father adds water to her whiskey, you know.”

“Oh, there you are, Mother.” Mary Ann entered with linens, dropped them on the futon and put an arm around their parent. “Let's get you off to sleep now. I've got your pill and no spitting it out this time.”

Their voices faded and Aiden shifted Rebecca on his lap, gazing down at her peaceful, angelic face. If only his life was as worry-free as she looked, and that he could get to know a girl like this. But no woman would ever take on his responsibilities, and he'd never give them up. Didn't have time to pay attention to one more person in his life on top of his family. And families stuck together, no matter the sacrifice.