The Summer Garden (17 page)

Luke laughed. “Yes, I imagine it does. Okay, Bree, thanks for the advice. I’ll figure something out.”

“One more suggestion?”

“Sure.”

“There’s a patch of shamrocks in the far back corner of the garden,” she revealed. “A few of those tucked into your bouquet might be a nice touch.”

“Now I really do owe you,” he said. “See you.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks,” he said, hanging up. At least he had a plan, even if his timetable for executing it was a little shaky. Hopefully, if he showed up by nightfall, Moira would be in a receptive mood. Trying to find the perfect spot on the pendulum of her mood swings—somewhere between furious and listening to reason—was probably one of those life skills he was going to need a lot.

Moira’s meeting with Connor had been productive. He’d helped her complete all the necessary paperwork for getting a short-term work visa and promised to do his best to hurry it through the process. He’d encouraged her, though, to use Megan’s offer of a gallery showing as her reason for staying, not a waitressing job at Luke’s pub.

“They’ll be far more likely to grant it when it’s for something unique that only you can do,” he advised.

“But I’m not sure if I’ll pursue that,” she argued.

“It would be crazy not to,” Connor countered. “Mom would never have suggested this if she didn’t believe in you. She’ll vouch for you. It’ll be better than trying to convince them you’re uniquely suited to working in a pub.”

“Well, I am, aren’t I? Who in Chesapeake Shores has more experience working in genuine Irish pubs? You could call me a consultant. That would be closer to the truth than relying on the photography approach.”

In the end, she’d managed to convince Connor to stick more closely to the reality of her plans.

“Luke will need to verify that you have the job,” Connor said. “Does he know?”

Moira grinned. “It’s a surprise,” she admitted. “I suppose if he thinks it’s a terrible one, I could still catch my original flight home and all of this would be for nothing.”

“You’re quite the risk taker, aren’t you?”

“Not until recently,” she said. “I’ve finally discovered that there are some risks worth taking.”

“Okay, then. I’ll be in touch as soon as I know anything,” Connor said. “Meantime, you need to get Luke on board.”

“That’s my next stop,” she assured him.

On the short walk from Connor’s law office to Shore Road, Moira mentally worked on what she was going to say to Luke to convince him that hiring her would be the smartest thing he’d ever done.

She arrived at the pub just as all the deliveries seemed to show up at once. It was chaos, with boxes being shoved into corners and furniture left wherever there was room. Luke was standing with a clipboard and his checklists trying to keep up with the pace of it all. Moira shook her head.

“You,” she said, stopping the UPS deliveryman, who was carrying in yet more boxes of china and glassware. She gave him her sunniest smile. “Do you think it might be possible to put those in the kitchen where they’ll be out of harm’s way and will be nearest to where they belong?”

He looked as if he might argue, but she grinned. “I think I can persuade Mr. O’Brien to give you one of our discount coupons for a free drink and a discounted meal during the first week we’re open.”

The man relented. “Show me the way. I’ll get those other boxes from the corner and get them out of the way as well.”

“And I’ll get your coupon,” she said, relieved that Trace had delivered them a few days ago so most could go to the inn for Jess’s guests. They’d kept a few on hand for situations just like this one. There was nothing like the promise of something free or discounted to gain cooperation.

While the breakables were all moved out of harm’s way, the tables and chairs were shoved to one side of the room to await final placement after the hardwood floors had been given one last polish. She presented coupons to those deliverymen as well.

“Tell your friends there will be lively music when we open,” she told them as they left.

Luke regarded her with appreciation when they were finally alone. “You appeared in the nick of time. Why didn’t I think not only to bribe them, but to point out that we’d welcome them coming back for a meal and a pint?”

“Because you were busy checking things off on that clipboard of yours,” she said, tapping a finger on it. “That’s why we make a good team.”

He blinked at that. “A team?”

“In the professional sense,” she verified.

He seemed to be struggling to catch up. “Have you reconsidered working here, then? After all the fuss the other day, I thought you weren’t interested.”

She shrugged. “I’ve changed my mind. I’ve already spoken to Connor and he’s at work on the visa.” She gave him a saucy grin. “I’m to be your consultant, brought all the way from Ireland to see that this place is authentic.”

“So you’re not longer concerned about being—what was it you said—a bit of Irish fluff?”

“Not with a fancy title like consultant,” she said, as if that were what made the difference.

He set down his clipboard and took a step in her direction, his expression hopeful. “Are we done fighting, then?”

“Oh, I’m quite sure we’ll fight again and again,” she said. “It’s the nature of who I am.” She held his gaze. “Are you up for the challenge of it?”

His lips quirked. “You know I am.”

She stepped closer, meeting him halfway. “I’m sorry about trying to force a commitment from you before you were ready, then getting insulted when you wouldn’t go along with it.”

“And I’m sorry for offending you by not understanding what you really wanted.” He pulled her close and rested his chin atop her head. “You’ve saved me by coming here, you know.”

“How’s that?”

“I had every intention of sneaking into Gram’s garden to cut a fancy bouquet for you by way of an apology.”

Moira regarded him with dismay. If she understood little else, she knew what that brilliant summer garden meant to Nell. “She’d have killed you,” she said, shocked.

“A risk I was willing to take,” he assured her.

“You wanted to make amends that badly?”

He nodded. “Moira, I’m not really ready to make a lot of promises, but I will make you this one. I will try not to be obtuse or careless with your feelings ever again.”

“And I will try not losing my temper when I don’t immediately get my way,” she said.

He studied her with a little too much amusement. “Can you do that?”

She laughed at his skepticism. “I can try.”

“That’ll be progress, then, for both of us, won’t it?”

“And peace will reign over all the land,” she declared.

Now it was his turn to laugh. “Now there’s an unexpected bit of optimism it’s a pleasure to hear.” He reached up to stroke a finger along the curve of her cheek. “I’ve missed you.”

“We’ve barely been apart. It’s not like it was with you here and me in Ireland.”

“Somehow it felt as if there was even more distance between us,” he said. “Let’s not let that happen again.”

“Never again,” she said, then tilted her face up for his kiss.

She understood, then, the power of a kiss. Not only could it stir the sort of intense passion that carried people away. It could heal. And that’s exactly what this one did.

15

J
eff had been steering clear of the pub for a couple of weeks now. He knew that he tended to ask too many questions, express too many doubts. Jo had been all over him tonight, trying to make him see that he needed to offer their youngest unconditional support.

“That’s what Luke needs from you now,” she said, pressing her point yet again. “You’ve expressed all your concerns, and if I know you, you’ve done it repeatedly. Either he’s heard you or he hasn’t, but it’s time to move on and let him know you’ll be proud of him, no matter how this turns out.”

He’d frowned at her choice of words. “That sounds as if you have doubts, too.”

“Not doubts, concerns,” she corrected. “I know how important this is to Luke. He wants so badly to accomplish something of his own. There’s a lot of pressure in this family to succeed. It can be daunting. Thankfully, Susie was always immune to it, at least in the sense of establishing some high-flying career, but look at Matthew. He risked your wrath to follow in Mick’s footsteps. And the way I hear it, everyone thinks the student will surpass the teacher. Have you told him how proud of him you are, or does it still stick in your craw that he’s an architect, rather than a Realtor like you?”

“Of course I’ve told Matthew I’m proud of him,” Jeff said, indignant that she could think he’d put his own feelings ahead of what was best for their son. Sure, he and Mick had their issues, but he’d vowed not to let them spill over into Matthew’s relationship with Mick. “I saw those plans for that community he designed in Florida. They’re truly astonishing, Jo. How could I not be proud of that?”

She smiled. “Glad to hear it. Now, rise above your concerns—whatever they are—and be there for Luke. I’m sure he has enough fears of his own without your doubts weighing him down. You see, the thing about all the kids in the entire O’Brien clan is that they’re determined to succeed on their own, but they also desperately need the approval of everyone else—parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins and, of course, Nell.”

“I only want the best for all three of our kids,” he said. “I want them to follow whatever path will make them happy. I’m not setting the standard. They are.”

“I believe you mean that,” Jo said with absolute confidence. “They may not. For a family as outspoken as ours, sometimes we fail to say the words that will be the most meaningful.”

Jeff knew she was right. Jo was always right about things like this. She understood their kids in ways he never had. She understood
him,
too. Often lost in the shadow of his outspoken, dynamic, powerful older brothers, he’d sometimes felt left behind. She’d seen a value in the quieter traits
he
possessed and made him see it as well.

“You’re very smart,” he told her.

She grinned. “Isn’t that why you married me?”

“Nope. I married you because you were the only kid in high school who could outrun me. You were a challenge.” He hesitated, suddenly struck by another insight. “Is that the attraction between Luke and Moira? She’s a challenge?”

“I think that’s certainly part of it,” Jo said. “I also think there’s a streak of vulnerability that hides beneath that rebellious, tough facade of hers. Luke, like all the O’Brien men, has a soft spot for a vulnerable woman. All of you like to be our knights in shining armor.”

“I wasn’t much of one when Susie was sick,” he reminded her. “I was scared out of my wits that we were going to lose our daughter.”

“We all were, and you handled it just fine. You were right there whenever she needed you.”

“But you were the rock,” he said candidly. “No question about it.”

“It’s teamwork, love. Don’t you know that by now? I’ll always have your back, and I know with every fiber of my being that you have mine.”

“I do,” he promised. “Always.”

“And you’ll see Luke first thing in the morning so he knows you have his back as well?”

“I will if you’ll put down that book you were reading and come to bed with me.”

She grinned at the invitation, responding as she always had with an eagerness that made him feel as if he was the luckiest man on earth. Just as Susie had with her Mack, Jo had needed to slow down a bit to let Jeff catch her, but from that moment on, the balance of power between them had been perfectly even, dipping and swaying from one to the other depending on who needed the other the most, but always coming back into perfect alignment. It was the kind of harmony a lot of marriages never achieved.

As they headed upstairs, hand in hand, he smiled. Mick might have more in dollars and cents. He might have a larger, more exuberant family. But Jeff had found everything he’d ever needed in this woman and their children. He
was
the luckiest man alive.

The floor in the main part of the pub had just been polished for a final time. Luke had been advised to avoid dragging the furniture across it and, if possible, not even to walk on it for the next few hours. That meant he was confined to his office for the time being with nothing but his lists for company.

He’d just settled down to make phone calls to the people he’d decided to hire for his waitstaff when someone started banging on the front door. Then he heard a key turn in the lock.

“Wait!” he shouted. “Dad, is that you?” His father was the only one with a key likely to turn up without an invitation. Even Mick and Matthew had agreed to stay away between now and the official opening—on Thursday for the family, on Friday for everyone else. And his sister, though she had access to the keys, was unlikely to barge right in.

“I just stopped by to check on you,” his father responded, as he opened the door.

“Dad, come around to the back,” he pleaded, trying to halt him. “The floor’s just been finished.”

One foot in midair, his father glanced down at the gleaming wood, then stepped back. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. You had no way of knowing. I’ll open the back door for you.”

A couple of minutes later, Jeff came in bearing coffee and, if the aroma coming from the bag was telling, some of Sally’s raspberry croissants fresh from the oven.

“What’s this?” Luke asked, diving eagerly into the bag. “Ah, just the treat I needed.”

His father shook his head. “The whole family has an addiction to those things, but I think yours is the worst. Will I get so much as a sniff?”

Luke sighed heavily and held out the bag. “I suppose I can share.”

“And done so graciously, too,” Jeff said, laughing.

“What brings you by, Dad?” Luke asked, unable to hide his wariness.

“I just wanted to check with you and see how things are progressing. The opening’s getting close.”

“Thursday night for the family and the town bigwigs,” Luke confirmed.

“You’re ready for it? You have everything you need?”

“I’ll have my staff hired by the end of the day. Moira’s going to train them. Gram’s working with a cook to make sure the food’s up to her standards. I think she gladly gave up on turning me into a chef. I could see the despair in her eyes every time I tried something and failed to meet her expectations.”

“She is a perfectionist,” Jeff agreed. “But isn’t that what you needed?”

“Absolutely,” Luke said. “She’s been a godsend, as has Moira.”

“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned Moira in just a few minutes. How does she fit in exactly?”

Luke grinned. “She’s declared herself my consultant. Connor’s making it legal. Hopefully, she’ll have her paperwork in place by the opening.”

Jeff looked surprised. “I thought Megan was all set to turn her into a photography star. Is she willing to settle for working here with you?”

“To my astonishment, she doesn’t seem to consider it settling. And there will be time for her to take pictures, if that’s what she wants to do. I won’t stand in her way.”

“And beyond that? Have you made plans?”

Luke shook his head. “The pub’s my focus now. Once it’s proven itself, then I can think about the rest of my life.”

His father frowned at his response. “Moira strikes me as impatient. Is she willing to sit on the sidelines while you think?”

“I’ve really given her no choice,” Luke admitted, well aware by now of just how risky his posture was. “I’m assuming because she decided to stay on that she’s giving me at least a few months to figure out where we go from here.”

Jeff regarded him with amusement. “You sound very analytical, not at all like the impetuous son I recall who plunged headfirst into a relationship with Kristen Lewis in a gesture meant to save his sister’s marriage.”

Luke shrugged. “What can I say? I’m growing up. There are some, including you, who think I haven’t done that fast enough.”

His father gestured toward the front. “I can have no complaints about that now, can I? I’m proud of you for having the vision to create a place like this.”

“Seriously? All you’ve done since I first mentioned it is tell me the drawbacks.”

Jeff gave him a chagrined look. “Yes, your mother pointed out to me that I have a bad habit of focusing on the negative. I only meant to give you things to consider, not to imply that I thought you weren’t capable of figuring out whatever needed to be done. In fact, I think it’s going to be a roaring success. I imagine I’ll find myself here most nights for a pint of ale at the end of the day.”

“Just to do your part to make it a success?” Luke asked with a frown. He could imagine all the O’Briens assigning each other time slots to ensure that there were customers in the place and money flowing in.

“Absolutely not,” his father said. “I’ll be here because it will remind me of Ireland, because I can expect friends and family to be stopping in and because I’ll get a taste of Ma’s food on a few days other than Sunday. Jo will be here because it will keep her out of the kitchen.”

Luke relaxed at the response. “I hope everyone views it that way,” he said. “Not just the O’Briens.”

“Oh, I think you can count on it. And the Irish music you’re planning will be a huge draw for the community and the surrounding area. If St. Patrick’s Day is any indication, the world is populated with people who are either Irish or wish they were. They’ll be your regular customers.”

Luke smiled at him. “I know Mum put you up to it, but thank you for coming over here and saying all this. It’s just the boost I needed to calm my nerves.”

“Would you like me to repeat it on opening day?” Jeff offered.

Laughing, Luke shook his head. “Now that’s a day I think it will take more than kind words to calm me down. I can’t wait, though. I still have a long to-do list, but Moira swears we’ll be ready. I’m trusting her judgment on that.”

His father gave him an awkward hug. “You need anything at all, give me a call. The same with the rest of the family. We can pitch in on anything, large or small, okay?”

“I know that, Dad. It’s the best part of being an O’Brien.”

Moira had heard Jeff’s voice when she arrived at the pub in the morning, so she went around the corner to Sally’s for a cup of coffee to give Luke some privacy with his father. She knew things were often contentious between them. She also understood from living with her grandfather that the best way to solve that was through spending time together.

She’d been seated for barely a minute when Bree appeared and slid into the booth opposite her.

“Did Luke apologize?” she asked Moira at once.

Moira stared at her. “How did you know about Luke needing to apologize? Was it the infamous O’Brien grapevine?”

“No, I got this straight from the horse’s mouth,” Bree said with a grin. “Luke called asking for my help with flowers.”

Understanding dawned. “And you’re the one who told him to sneak into Nell’s garden?”

“I did,” Bree said proudly. “I thought it was inspired. Did it work?”

“Actually, I forgave him before he had to risk Nell’s wrath.”

Bree immediately looked disappointed. “Now what fun is that?”

Moira regarded her with amazement. “You
wanted
him to get caught?”

“Well, sure,” Bree said unrepentantly. “When we were kids, all the others were constantly getting into mischief. I was usually hidden away in my room reading or daydreaming. I made a great target for their pranks. Now it’s my turn to get even, because I know Jake won’t let them hurt me.”

Moira laughed. “This family is just a little nuts.”

“More than likely,” Bree agreed. “So you and Luke are okay now?”

“I hear she’s going on the payroll as his Irish consultant,” Heather said, joining them with an amused expression.

“I know where you heard that,” Moira said. “Isn’t Connor supposed to keep his clients’ business to himself?”

“Oh, he was quiet as a church mouse when I tried to find out why you were at his office yesterday. It was my mother-in-law who filled me in.”

Moira winced. “Megan already knows about this?”

“And before you ask,” Heather said, “I have no idea who spilled the beans to her, but she is married to Mick, who finds out everything.”

“Is she upset because I’m going to be working at the pub, rather than taking pictures for my portfolio?” Moira asked.