Chapter 26 Bree
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The Honda–my Honda–rolled past the pub’s front windows at half past two. My stomach dropped straight through the floor.
Someone had stolen my car.
I’d left the keys after the parking lot incident, unable to even fathom looking at the car. That didn’t mean I wanted it stolen. How dare someone drive it down the street like nothing ever happened. I ran for the door with my heart in my throat.
Declan caught my arm in one hand, pulling me to a stop. “Easy.” He grinned, which made absolutely no sense given he had to have seen what I did.
I pointed at the window. “That’s my car.” I pulled free and rushed through the door and out onto the sidewalk. Sunlight slammed into my face, blinding me long enough for the driver to pull up and park directly in front of me.
The familiar rumble of the engine cut out, and the driver’s side door swung open.
What was going on? Had the person who’d taken the car decided that it wasn’t worth it and brought it back? I shielded my eyes from the sun.
Ronan unfolded himself from behind the wheel and climbed out, straightening to his full height. He patted the door as he closed it. “What do you think?”
“What?” Ronan filled my vision, and I blinked up at him before swinging my gaze to the car and back to Ronan. It took a few seconds for it to sink in. No marshmallows. The hood didn’t look new. It looked exactly like it had a week ago. “How did you? When did you?”
Ronan held out his hand, then flipped it over so the shamrock keychain dangled in my line of sight. “Drove it to Boston. My brother-in-law runs a body shop and is an expert at paint matching.”
My mouth worked but nothing came out. I walked to the car in slow, measured strides that contrasted my racing heart.
Sunlight glinted off the hood, the same faded, beloved blue I’d grown up with.
No raw paint primer from where I’d peeled off the marshmallows.
No evidence anything at all had happened.
Mom’s car. My throat closed.
I spread my fingers across the hood, needing to touch the paint and ground myself in the reality of the monumental thing he’d done for me. Ronan’s brother-in-law had matched it so perfectly to the surrounding panels I couldn’t tell where the damage had been, couldn’t see any trace whatsoever.
“He blended the front too.”Ronan stood close enough beside me his hip brushed mine. “He said he couldn’t leave the hood without addressing the fade. Whatever that means.”
“All three of us pitched in.” Declan spoke from behind me. “And it’s a gift, so don’t even try to figure out how to pay anyone back.”
I turned to face him. Ronan tucked his hands into his jacket pockets, his gray eyes steady and a wide grin showing his teeth.
Declan wore a matching smile, his eyes dancing as he took in my expression. “What do you think?”
I had no words. Not one. I crossed to Ronan and threw my arms around him, pressing my face against his jacket.
His arms wrapped around me, the solid impact of his forearms around my ribs making it all real.
This was not a dream. They’d really done this for me.
“Thank you.” It came out muffled in his jacket, but his chest rumbled with a response as both hands patted my back. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
He tightened his grip. “It was nothing.”
“Nope. Don’t say that. You’re not allowed to downplay the best gift you’ve ever given me.” I backed up a step and glared at him.
His smile crinkled his eyes. “Fine. You’re welcome.” He brushed a strand of hair away from my face. “Anything for you.”
Wow. For a man who rarely spoke, he sure knew which words to use when it mattered.
I left that alone for now and turned to Declan, flinging my arms around him and almost dancing in place.
I should be more careful considering we stood on the sidewalk in the middle of town, and in the middle of the day, but I was too excited to care.
Declan caught me against his chest and held me close.
“You’re welcome, honey.” His low, sultry voice tickled the back of my neck and put a delicious tingle in my belly.
“Hello, Bree.”
I released Declan and stepped back.
Tammy Whitaker stood ten feet away, her handbag tucked under one arm and her sharp gaze moving between me, Ronan, and Declan in a slow, deliberate sweep.
Her expression and faithful attendance at the pub had become as familiar as the pub’s bar over the last few months.
She warmed the place just by being there, and her mischief often preceded an outrageous conversation that left everyone roaring with laughter.
None of those emotions lived on her face today. She stood stoic, rigid, and wearing a tight frown I’d never seen before.
“Tammy.” I stepped further away from Declan, making sure we stood out of arms reach.
“We were just celebrating. Ronan had my car fixed after it was vandalized.” I gestured at the hood, talking too fast but unable to stop.
“Doesn’t it look incredible? I mean, it was never incredible, but you’d never know anything happened to it. ”
Tammy glanced at the hood. “It’s lovely.” It came out flat and careful. She adjusted the handbag on her arm. “I heard about your car. Terrible business.”
So someone knew about the vandalism. I doubted Ronan, Declan, or Finn had mentioned it to anyone. “It really was. I was devastated when I found it. It’s Mom’s car, you know?” I shrugged. “I thought I’d never see it like this again.”
“Bree.” Tammy cut through my monologue as swift as a knife.
I stopped talking.
She gave me another long look, then turned her attention to Ronan and then Declan. Every second was an examination, and I couldn’t help feeling like I was the only one found wanting.
“Do yourself a favor.” She shook her head. “Pick one and stick with him instead of stringing them all along. That might work in Boston, but this is Clover Hill. People notice, and it’s not becoming.”
The air went out of me in a whooshing breath. Stars danced in my vision, followed by a darkening at the edges. Yep. I’d been found lacking. As always.
Tammy didn’t wait for a response. She turned on her heel and walked back the way she must have came, her sensible shoes making small, even sounds that matched the handbag smacking her hip with every stride. She didn’t look back.
The lump in my throat choked me. In all the ways I’d thought I would disappoint someone, getting what Nana Maeve called a dressing down by Tammy hurt more than I thought possible.
She was right, though. This wasn’t Boston.
People here judged based on family name and whatever gossip happened to crop up.
Declan stepped in front of me, cutting off the sight of Tammy walking away. “She’s worried about you, that’s all.”
“Worried about me?” I shook my head with a derisive snort. “No. She thinks I’m stringing you along, and she won’t ever understand the truth.” I focused on a button on Declan’s shirt, the top one closest to this throat. “She looked at me like–” A sob cut me off.
Ronan held my shoulder in one hand, the grip firm. “Tammy’s protective of people she cares about. Sometimes it comes out wrong, but she means well.”
“She was Nana’s best friend.” I sniffed back tears.
I was better than this, better than the tears clogging my throat and the urge to run away.
“She used to bring me sweets when I was little, and she sat in the front row at Nana’s celebration of life and told me Nana talked about me all the time.
She has never, ever looked at me like I am a disappointment. ”
Neither of them said a word.
The shamrock keychain warmed in my palm when I tightened my grip on the metal. “I need to go upstairs.”
Declan reached for me. “Talk to us for a bit.”
“I’m fine.” I stepped back before he touched me, moving from beneath Ronan’s touch at the same time.
Not because I didn’t want them to hold me and comfort me, but because if they did, I’d fall apart right here on the sidewalk with everyone watching.
“Thank you. The car means more to me than I can say, and I know it took a lot of effort to make this happen.” I shoved the keys into my pocket.
“I’ll never forget that.” The effort it took to look them in the eye almost broke me. “I need a few minutes alone.”
I walked into the pub before either of them answered.
The lunch crowd in the back corner were still working on their meal, and none of them even looked my way when I walked past them on my way to the stairs.
I kept one hand on the banister for balance and pretended I was a queen as I took each step with my chin up and eyes focused on the landing where I’d be safe.
Up the stairs. Into the apartment with a closed door protecting me.
I made it to the couch before the tears erupted.
Stupid. Letting one comment from one woman reduce me to tears was so stupid. Tammy based her opinion on incomplete information, and she’d been wrong about plenty of things. She’d questioned Ronan about every paint color I’d chosen for the renovations and been skeptical about the menu changes.
She’d told me the light behind the bar looked like it belonged in a hotel.
I’d been fine with all those things because I knew she was an opinionated old woman without much to do with her time and thought she was being helpful.
But she’d looked me specifically with such disappointment.
Pick one and stick with him.
I pressed my face into the couch cushion and screamed out my anger and sorrow.