Chapter 5
Sophie stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing her head. She hadn’t slept well at all and had a headache. She made her way to the coffeepot, got a mug out from the cupboard, then grabbed hold of the pot only to then realize that it was empty.
Keefe came into the kitchen. “No time for coffee, Soph.”
“What? But why not?” she whined.
Keefe took a good look at his sister or whatever it was standing in the kitchen holding the empty coffeepot. Whatever it was, it looked rough. “Because I’ve got someone coming to the pub in less than an hour. You feel okay?”
“I’ll be fine once I’ve had my coffee and a couple of aspirin. What about breakfast?” She sniffed the yeasty aroma in the air. “Do I smell baking?”
Keefe reached inside the fridge and pulled out an already packed bag. “I made your favorite bagels and I‘ve got cream cheese and smoked salmon and everything else we need in here. I’ll make you a whole pot of coffee and breakfast once we get there, I promise. But we have to get a move on, so hurry up.”
Sophie rolled her eyes and placed the coffeepot down. She was much too tired to argue. If Keefe said they needed to get a move on then so be it. “Who’s coming? Is it about the roof?”
Keefe couldn’t look her in the eye when he said “yes.” If he told her the truth about who was coming, she’d skin him alive.
He’d distracted her and hustled her out the door with the promise of food. Sophie was always starving in the morning, so he knew he was taking a gamble—trading an overly cranky, hungry Sophie for keeping his aunt’s house in one piece.
But more than that, he needed to get her out before she noticed his guilt. Or his fear.
This one was going to hurt.
Really hurt.
* * *
As promised, Keefe brewed a pot of coffee for them while they discussed—argued, more like, but good-naturedly, of course—design decisions for the renovation. Keefe insisted the rustic charm needed to stay, which Sophie wholeheartedly agreed with. However, she did not agree that he needed a fancy, over-the-top, expensive, bougie French stove. “But Soph?—”
“No,” she yawned, “we can’t afford it.”
“We could if?—”
“No.”
“But what about?—”
“No.”
“What if?—”
“No!” Seeing as the coffee was ready, she poured herself and him a cup, added cream and sugar to both, then continued after taking a long whiff and a big drink. Keefe made the best coffee, and it was only made better by the Irish double cream. She didn’t know what made Irish milk better, but it truly was better than anything. “Listen, that stove wouldn’t even arrive in time. This says it needs to be ordered a year in advance. Not to mention we simply cannot afford it. I know you want a great kitchen and I want you to have a great kitchen, but you need to be reasonable.” She picked up the large catalog of restaurant appliances and supplies, ripped out the page with the stove, then slapped it back down on the counter in front of him. “Pick out another.”
Sophie was right, of course. But hey, a guy could try, couldn’t he? He drank some coffee then flipped through the pages, ear- marking possibilities.
Sophie yawned again and took a long sip of hot coffee. “I’ll tell you what we need. We need that oak bar refinished. I can do it myself, but not with all this other work going on around the place.”
“So, we get the dining room sorted first.”
“Yes, but I don’t see how we can do that.” Sophie listed the jobs to be done, and she was right. It just wasn’t feasible. The top of the bar would need to be removed and taken to another location where she could safely refinish it. All the years of spilled beer and elbows rubbing on it had left its mark. So now the big question was, where could the bar be moved to where she could work on it? There wasn’t a space large enough at the house, there wasn’t space enough anywhere they could think of.
When a knock sounded on the front door, Keefe asked Sophie if she would answer it. He was buried in the catalog and couldn’t be bothered.
Before heading to the door, Sophie reminded him that she was promised coffee and breakfast.
Sophie left the kitchen, crossed the dining room to the front door where she unlocked it and swung it open, then froze in place.
“Good morning, Sophie.”
Liam.
Liam Gallagher.
Her childhood sweetheart. No—he’d always been more than that. Her best friend. The boy she’d once been sure she’d grow old with. He was part of almost every first in her life—her first tooth falling out, first kiss, first date, her first everything. And now, after all this time, he was standing on her doorstep like a ghost from a life she’d almost forgotten how to want.
His blue eyes were as frighteningly intelligent and kind as ever. His temples showed the beginning of gray—just a slight hint of age. She’d almost forgotten how beautiful he was. Even more so now than when he was younger.
Stupified, Sophie stood there with her hand against the door.
“Sophie?”
“Hm?”
“Can I come in? It’s fucking Baltic out here this morning.”
“Sorry, yes. Of course.” She stepped aside allowing Liam to pass.
Was that really the best he could do? It’s fucking Baltic out here. Not, “Good morning, dear friend. It’s been far too long since I’ve seen your beautiful face.” Nope.
After all this time, he finally stands face-to-face with the love of his life and all he can talk about is the weather. Terrific. Off to a great start. You know the saying—start as you mean to end, right?
Liam walked inside and blew on his cold hands then turned around as she closed the door. “You look surprised to see me, love. Did Keefe not tell you he invited me to breakfast?”
“No. He told me the roofer was coming.” She was kicking herself for getting so busy that she’d forgotten all about Keefe calling him. She should have known he was up to something this morning.
One thing about Sophie: she was swift to anger, but she was also swift to forgive and forget.
“Ah, I see…” Liam tried to not smile, but this was exactly what he had expected to happen. If Sophie hadn’t returned his call from Christmas yet, then she wasn’t going to. Not without a swift, hard kick up the ass, anyway.
When their eyes met, the years between them disappeared. And for a moment, there was nothing but the weight of history and unspoken words.
The years had changed her appearance, but she was still his Sophie. Her thick, dark hair had a few wisps of gray now, and there was a guardedness in her blue eyes that hadn’t been there before. But she was still breathtaking.
Sophie didn’t move, she didn’t so much as blink.
That was a bad sign.
Well, now Liam knew what was coming next. The question was: could he make it behind that bar where he’d be safe, or should he duck for cover under the nearest table? Because things were about to get ugly. Keefe appeared behind Sophie, apparently having finally torn himself away from his appliance hunt.
“Liam, good to see you! Thanks for coming. Come on in.”
Sophie plastered on a smile. “Liam, would you excuse us for a minute? I need to have a word with my brother.” Then she snatched Keefe by the ear and dragged him to the kitchen, where she laid into him.
He felt a little bad for Keefe—just not terrible. He knew well and good that Keefe wouldn’t have told her he’d invited Liam over, just like he knew there was no way Keefe was coming out of that kitchen without either a black eye, a welt, or blood dripping from somewhere on his body.
The fact was, she was going to gut her brother like a fish.
Liam waited behind the bar and listened.
“What the actual fuck! You lied to me? And you tricked me?”
Sophie hadn’t thrown a good tantrum in a long time. Since her divorce, she hadn’t gotten mad. Not once. Not really, anyway. The argument they’d had before when Keefe called Liam was their usual sort of argument.
But if Keefe knew anything about his sister, it was that she needed to get angry.
Furious.
She needed to let go of the pain from her divorce once and for all and move on, and the only way to do that was to confront her feelings head-on. He was sure of it. Just as he was sure that Liam was the one who could help her do that, even if Sophie didn’t want to admit it. He would never risk Sophie’s wrath or her trust if he wasn’t certain that Liam was what she needed—even if she couldn’t see it yet.
Keefe dove right into the argument. The sooner he did, the sooner this would be over and he sure as hell would not apologize. “He’s my friend too! I didn’t know I needed your permission, Your Highness, to talk to my friends! And now he’s here and you’re being rude!”
“Yeah, and now what huh? What’s your big plan, Master Instigator?”
“I don’t know, I just thought—” A bagel slapped him in the chest.
“You thought? Are you fucking serious? You couldn’t form a proper thought if it came with step-by-step instructions and a manual!”
She grabbed a coffee cup and hurled it at him. Keefe dodged it and it hit the wall behind him.
“What did you think I would do? You’ve been moping around like a wet fart long enough!”
“Moping? I was moping?” She hurled another cup, hitting him on the shoulder. “My whole life was torn in two! My husband despised me! He made my life hell! And you have the nerve to say I was moping! I think I could be allowed some time?—”
On second thought, perhaps moping was not the word he should have used. But it got the job done. Now she was good and furious. “You had time! A whole year! More than that! There is a vanity in too much penance, you know?” He really should not have said that. Various items from around the kitchen were now sailing past him in record time. Keefe patted himself on the back for thinking ahead of time to hide the knives. “Sophie, goddammit! You could have hit me with that!”
Crash again. Followed by a groan. She didn’t miss that time!
“You’ve been banging on about Liam for weeks! What did you think? That he’d show up here and I would fall into his arms, we’d fuck on the bar, get married, adopt a herd of kids, and live happily ever after?”
From the dining room, Liam willed for Keefe to just shut up. Shut up Keefe right now! Don’t answer!
“Well, yeah something like that! Sophie, don’t you dare?—”
Bang! Crash! And another groan.
“I would have called him myself!”
“When? We’ve been back a month now what are you waiting for? You always said he was—OUCH! SHIT!”
Keefe for the love of everything holy stop talking!
“I look like shit, Keefe! I’m a mess! I’m fat and wearing sweat pants, for Christ’s sake!”
“Liam won’t care!”
“That’s not the point! I haven’t seen him in over a decade!” Dinner plates, one right after the next sailed into Keefe’s body like frisbees.
It was definitely the best decision Keefe ever made to have Liam come to the pub instead of the house. Nothing, not even their precious aunt’s house, would have held back the wrath Sophie was raining down. Although she wasn’t quite so angry as he’d thought she’d be. He’d expected to have his spleen pulled out through his nostrils. So, really, this was actually going well.
And then she went for the pot of hot coffee.
Then again perhaps she was exactly as angry as he’d expected.
“Sophie! Don’t you dare throw that or I swear to God—” Keefe jumped up onto the counter.
“Hold still you traitorous coward!”
“I’m not suggesting you bang his brains out or anything! He was your best friend! If you don’t want to date him fine but I just thought?—”
“I know what you thought! Shit!” Another coffee cup then another and another went sailing through the air, the last striking Keefe on the side of the head.
“I don’t care if you become the whore of Babylon! So long as you're happy! You haven’t been happy since I don’t know when! You don’t talk to anyone! You don’t go anywhere! You’re pathetic! When’s the last time you had your hair cut? Went out for a walk? You’re giving up Soph and, as your brother, I can’t let that happen!”
Sophie with her arm high in the air ready to launch hot coffee froze and went dead silent.
Then she blinked a few times. She didn’t bother arguing. There was no point seeing as everything he’d said was more than true.
Keefe remained on top of the counter. This didn’t mean she was through.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
Liam carefully approached the kitchen and slowly pushed open the swinging door. He didn’t peek his head in though—he was crazy, not stupid after all, and Sophie was rabid-mad!—he simply called out through the crack. “Hey guys, could I have a cup of coffee?”
Sophie, who was still holding the hot coffeepot in her hand, ready to hurl it at her brother’s stupid, ugly face, lowered her arm and her voice. “Come on in. I’ll pour you a cup.” Liam cautiously entered the war zone. “Liam, could you examine my brother’s head? There’s been something wrong with him since birth.” She looked around the floor at all the broken mugs and wondered if there was even a cup left to pour coffee into.
Keefe who was standing on top of the counter jumped down and hugged his friend.
“Just like old times,” Liam teased. Keefe smoothed back his hair and winced then exhaled. She’d knobbed him all right, what with Liam didn’t know there were too many broken pieces of crockery on the floor. “Some things never change.”
“Do you still take your coffee black?” Sophie asked from over her shoulder.
“Milk too, if you have it.”
Sophie poured milk into his coffee then crossed the kitchen floor avoiding the broken pieces of, was that a bagel?, scattered everywhere.
“Thanks.” Liam took a sip and waited a beat before speaking again, allowing the tension to cool off. “So, this is your pub? It’s got great bones. You two will have this old place looking top notch before long.” He casually leaned back against the counter and sipped his coffee but in a moment removed a piece of shattered ceramic from between his lips. He snorted then dropped the piece back into his cup and placed the cup down.
Sophie grunted a laugh and shook her head. Only Liam would be so calm in this situation.
On the back of a groan Keefe asked, “Have we got any ice?”
Sophie looked at her brother and in the driest of tones said, “Nope.”
He’d been smart enough to hide the knives but had he made any ice? “In that case, Liam how about a tour?”
“Sure, I’d like to see the place.”
“Soph, why don’t you show him around while I prepare breakfast?” Sophie practically growled at him in reply. The fight may be done, but she wasn’t. He needed to sweeten the pot with more than bagels. “I’ll make a pot of my special coffee and I baked apple strudel this morning—extra cinnamon.”
Sophie knew when she was being bribed, but bagels and strudel were a good bribe. She turned to Liam and with her most sarcastic tour guide voice said, “Here is our lovely soon to be state-of-the-art kitchen. Watch your step as we go. If you head out that door, we’ll head to the dining room next.”
Liam pursed his lips together. This promised to be one entertaining morning.
* * *
After they left and the kitchen door was closed, Keefe bent over supporting his weight on his knees. He needed a minute to catch his breath!
“Don’t worry. I promise not to propose, try to lay you on the bar, or adopt any children.”
Sophie smirked. Liam always knew how to break the ice. “You heard all that?” Of course, he had heard all that. The entire island had heard all that. “Sorry, I was caught off guard.”
“So, I gathered…” Liam strode across the floor and looked out the window that faced the parking lot. It would look nice in the Spring if she planted a small flower bed out front. “So… it’s a real treat being invited to see the place before it’s all polished and shiny.”
“Don’t let Keefe hear you call the place an ‘it.’ It’s a ‘she.’”
“My apologies. She is going to look great. Needs a lot of work though.”
“Tell me about it. But you know Keefe, he prefers a challenge only this time he brought me along with him.”
There was a somewhat awkward silence hanging in the air between them.
He came toward her and reached out, “You have,” she ducked away from his hand. “Just hold still.”
“Why, what are you going to do?”
“You know, you used to trust me.”
“I still do!” she insisted.
“Then just hold still!” He reached over, fingers brushing through her dark hair as he plucked out a stark white shard of broken plate tangled in the strands. Holding it up for her to see, he arched a brow.
“Oh, thanks.” She took the shard out of his hand and threw it away in a large trash bin in the corner of the room. “Come this way and I’ll show you the upstairs.”
He followed Sophie up the dusty staircase and into each upstairs room. “Are you going to open a Bed and Breakfast too?”
“Funny you say that. That’s what Keefe wants to do. We’ll see.”
Liam peeked his head inside each barren room. There wasn’t much to see except old dingy wallpaper, one room was decorated with pink poodles, another with pea green tea pots. Who the hell decorated this place? “So, how do your parents feel about you and Keefe opening your own place?”
“They’re happy for us. Our dad took it kind of hard. But really, Keefe has wanted his own place for a while now so they weren’t surprised.”
“And where Keefe goes you go.”
“I couldn’t say no to him. How could I let my brother do all this alone? Although, I think maybe he brought me with him out of pity.”
“Pity? Why?”
“Things haven’t been too good for me the last few years and by the end I was just… tired. It was like after you’ve worked a long hard day and at night your whole body aches from head to toe, inside out it hurts and you’re exhausted and all you want is sleep. That’s how I felt for a long time. Too long if I’m honest.”
“But you’re not tired anymore?”
“No, I’m not. Not anymore.” With no resistance, she had told him the truth. She had to admit, it was nice talking with Liam again. As they headed back downstairs, Sophie asked, “Do you remember Simon’s parents, Caitronia and Rowan?” Sophie asked, shifting the conversation slightly.
“I do, a little. They moved away, didn’t they?”
“They did. A few years back, they decided to emigrate, and invested in the pub with my parents. With them on board, Keefe and I aren’t really needed there anymore.”
“I think you and Keefe will do well. The locals will love you because you’re one of us and the tourists will love you because they’ll see you as one of them.”
“I hope we don’t get too much tourist traffic. That was my biggest complaint about working at the pub—the tourists. Keefe swears it?—”
“You mean she.”
Sophie gasped in mock horror. “My mistake, she is out of the way enough that we shouldn’t be overrun with tourists. He’d better be right or there will be hell to pay.”
Liam knew that definitely was not an empty threat. “You know, it’s funny. I haven’t seen you two fight in years but it’s like no time has passed.”
She chuckled a little. “Sure, it has. My aim’s gotten better.”
Liam barked a small laugh not just because of what she had said but because the room he had just stepped into had the ghastliest wallpaper of them all: circus clowns. “Emma must be happy you’ve moved here?”
Sophie nodded. “She is except she’s living in London.”
“What? When did that happen?”
“She moved there about a year ago. Her mother’s trying to get her to move back though. Emma hates it there so I expect her back home soon. Her mom stopped by yesterday and told me the house Emma’s always admired is on the market. I bet that will do the trick.”
“You two were practically inseparable.”
“Except for when I was with you.”
“Well, you and I were friends first anyway which means I got dibs.”
“Funny, every summer I would leave you guys and I was so sad. Part of me expected that one year I’d return and you two would be a couple.”
“I couldn’t be with Emma. You were the only girl for me.” Sophie blushed at the compliment and looked away. “I saw in the papers that she divorced that rugby player.”
“Yeah, the lying, cheating bastard. I’m one to talk though. I didn’t do any better.”
“I’m sorry about your divorce.”
“Don’t be. He was an even bigger lying cheating bastard. That divorce was a long time coming. But it’s done now and I’m starting over. Keefe hasn’t come out and said it but I think the real reason he wanted this place was because he’s trying to help me, you know move on and all that.”
“That sounds like Keefe. He’s thoughtful like that.”
Sophie smirked and raised an eyebrow. “Is that what you call it? He’s an instigator.”
Liam chuckled, shaking his head. Yes, Keefe was most surely an instigator if ever there was one. “Well, I’m glad he called me, regardless. It’s been too long.”
Sophie looked him in the eye and smiled softly. The sound of Liam’s laughter brought back a thousand memories all at once. Yes, yes it had been too long.
Before heading back downstairs, she took the opportunity to apologize while they were still alone. “Liam, I’m sorry I didn’t call you back.”
He studied her for a moment before offering a small smile. “It’s all right, Soph. I understand.”
Once Sophie finished the grand tour, which wasn’t really all that grand because not everywhere was safe, they returned to the dining room where Keefe was seated at a fully laid table of food and a fresh pot of his special coffee, thumbing through a catalogue and marking pages.
Sophie invited Liam to sit down, and she poured them all a cup of coffee. She mused to herself that it was a miracle Keefe had found three coffee cups that weren’t shattered. Then she sat down.
“Keefe, want to put that catalogue away now or do I need to bash you with that too?”
Keefe didn’t close it but he got up from the table and laid it on the bar for safekeeping. “Did you tell Liam about refinishing the bar top?” he asked, returning to the table and slicing the strudel to serve.
“Is that what you do in your spare time? You restore furniture?” Liam asked before taking a sip of Keefe’s delicious coffee. He didn’t know what was in it but it really was the most delicious cup of coffee he’d ever had.
Sophie shook her head and a shadow passed across crossed her face. She looked away for a moment, remembering the reason she’d taken up this hobby before looking back and meeting his eyes. The dresser she had refinished for a nursery that was never used. “It’s just a hobby.” She held her coffee cup in front of her mouth for a minute, giving herself a moment to gain her composure. “That bar could be gorgeous if refinished, but I need to find a place where I can take it to work on.”
Keefe offered a slice of strudel to Sophie, then to Liam, before sitting down. “Dig in, guys. Soph, want me to make you a bagel?”
It wasn’t really a question. Keefe knew exactly how his sister liked hers. He went ahead, slathering an extra-thick layer of cream cheese on the bagel, then topping it with two delicate slices of smoked salmon and a sprinkle of fresh dill.
Sophie was nearly finished with a slice of strudel, but put down her fork when Keefe handed her the perfectly prepared bagel—one she didn’t wait to take a large bite of.
Liam took a bite of a bagel dressed simply with cream cheese. Unlike Sophie, he didn’t care for smoked salmon, but Keefe’s homemade bagels were the best. In between bites, he said, “I have a place you could use.” That got Sophie’s attention away from her bagel. “It’s at my house, well, it’s my studio actually, but you’re welcome to use it. It’s empty right now, and it’s big enough.”
Sophie finished chewing then spoke. “Liam, it will take me weeks to refinish it. You don’t want me taking up your studio for that long.”
“Sure, I do.” Liam took a bite of the delicious strudel before continuing. “I have another studio anyway, one that’s smaller that I’ve been using that’s inside the house. This one is a separate building. You wouldn’t be putting me out at all.”
Sophie had been on the phone with a half-dozen people inquiring about work space, but she’d come up empty-handed. She couldn’t say no. “Thanks. I’ll take you up on that if that’s a real offer.”
“It is.” Liam reached into his pocket and pulled out his keychain. He selected a key then wound it off the ring and placed it on the table. “Here. Take this. You can come and go whenever you like. You don’t need to clear it with me.”
“Thank you. Really.”
Liam thoughtfully nodded. He’d struck a nerve when he’d asked about restoring furniture. He could see it in her eyes and he didn’t want to overstay his welcome. “I’m sure it will turn out great.” Looking at his watch, he stood up from his chair. “Listen, I’ve got to get going but I mean it, my studio is yours if you want it. You can start whenever you like.”
Sophie and Keefe both got up to walk their guest to the door.
She had managed to avoid any physical contact with Liam—until now. But he wasn’t leaving without it.
She stood there, hands stuffed into her pockets. She never used to do that. But no matter how hard she tried, she would not avoid this. Liam leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek.
“It was great seeing you, Soph.”
“You too.”
“Keefe, thanks for breakfast.”
“You’re welcome anytime.”
Liam held her gaze for a few lingering moments before turning and walking out the door. As soon as it clicked shut, Sophie pulled her hands free and ran them over her hair.
“See? Was that really so bad?” Keefe asked as he returned to the table.
No. No, it wasn’t so bad.