Chapter Five #2
“I wasn’t asking you,” I say, and his smile drops as the door to the pub swings open. The woman I saw at the construction site enters with the same guy lugging his camera with him.
Jack brightens immediately. “Ah good, you’re early.
” He waves them in as he turns back to Adam, ignoring me once more.
“We’re putting together some behind-the-scenes footage to show our progress over the next few months.
I thought getting some shots of the lake might be good.
In fact, why don’t we take our little tête-à-tête outside?
You should join us. Be good to get your knowledge on a few things. ”
“Sure,” Adam says, his eyes on me as the others file out the back door. Callum’s the last to go. “I’ll be with you in a minute.”
“I can’t believe you’re letting them get away with this,” I whisper as soon as they’re gone.
He scowls. “I’m not letting them get away with anything.”
“But you’re allowing them to roam around like it’s already set in stone.”
“What am I supposed to do?” he asks, exasperated. “Kick them out? Bar the doors?”
“You could fight it!” I hiss. “You could act like you care.”
“You don’t think I’ve tried?” He’s snapping now, or as much as he can, with our voices still lowered.
“I’ve been looking for a way out of this for weeks.
But I don’t have the kind of money to deal with what they’ve got.
Or the connections. Of course I don’t want to let this place go.
Of course I care. This is my life, Katie. How could you say that?”
The hurt in his tone stops me in my tracks. I’ve never heard him sound so wounded before, so defeated. And I suddenly realize how tired he looks.
Adam’s given his life to this pub, to this village.
He doesn’t have a family of his own, but he always seemed content with what he had.
He might complain about it, he might grumble and side-eye me whenever I announce a quiz night.
But he lets anyone who wants to host everything from birthdays to book clubs to bingo.
He lets me decorate every holiday, lets us all treat this place like a second home as opposed to a professional establishment.
Our population skews older here and not everyone has family nearby.
Sometimes, an hour or two at Kelly’s is the only time they might speak with another human in days.
There would be no Ennisbawn without Kelly’s. And there would be no Kelly’s without Adam.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
“I know.” He runs a hand down his face, glancing at the back door. “Take the day off, okay? I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to snap at you, and this isn’t how I wanted you to find out.”
“I don’t want to go home.” I have the sudden irrational feeling that if I do, this place won’t be here when I return. “Does anyone else know?”
He shakes his head. “I hadn’t gotten that far yet.”
Jack Doyle’s booming laugh sounds from outside, drawing our attention.
“I’d better go out,” Adam says eventually. “They want to discuss timelines.”
Timelines . It all sounds so official. So formal. So not what this is.
When I don’t respond, he pours some glasses of water, and joins the others, leaving me alone.
At least this explains why he was so rude to Callum the other night.
Adam often took on a paternal role in my life and I thought it was just his usual protectiveness, but no.
It was actually because he’d caught his lone employee skulking around in the dark with a man who was about to make her unemployed.
I feel a sudden burst of anger at the thought, and as though my swinging emotions called him, Callum himself opens the door, pausing when he sees me.
“Thought I should…” He holds up three empty water glasses, and when I just stare at him, he leaves them on the bar.
“Did you know this was going to happen?” I ask, when he starts to head outside again.
He turns back to face me, his expression guarded. “Not until a few hours ago, no.”
“And I’m sure you’re devastated for us.” I reach for a packet of Christmas napkins and tear it open.
“I’m just doing my job,” he says evenly.
“Yeah, well, your job is costing me mine.” There’s a lump in my throat as soon as I say it, as though the idea only hits me there and then. They’re going to knock down the pub. They’re going to knock it down and then what?
I’ve never considered my life without this pub.
My parents met here. They had their wedding party here.
I won’t pretend it’s not the reason I gravitated toward this place when I was younger or why I’ve always felt so at home.
Kelly’s is more than just four walls and a roof.
It’s one of my last connections to my parents, and I cherish it. I always have.
“You okay?”
I shake my head, refocusing on the napkins, but something is tugging at the corner of my mind, pulling and prodding and begging me to listen.
“Katie?”
The way he says my name makes me scowl. He says it like he knows me. Like he’s concerned about me. Though, how concerned can the man be if he’s ripping my home apart brick by brick? If he’s just going to step aside and let his boss bulldoze over the pub and the garden and the well and…
“Look,” Callum starts. “I swear I didn’t know this was going to—”
I drop the napkins, ignoring how they scatter to the ground as I rush to the back door, and burst outside. Adam is sitting at the picnic bench with the lawyer and the marketing team while Jack stands at the edge of the patio, his hand shielding his eyes as he peers at the lake.
Callum comes barreling out a second later, obviously not expecting me to still be there. I know this because he bumps straight into me, grabbing my apron strings before I can go sprawling. The commotion draws the group’s attention and I shake him off, striding forward into the sunlight.
Adam takes one look at my expression and rises. “Katie—”
“You can’t tear down the pub,” I say, and this time Jack can barely hide his irritation.
“And why is that?” he asks.
“Because.” The word flies out of me, confident and purposeful and followed by nothing else.
Jack raises a brow, and I swallow, almost hearing Nush’s voice in my ear as I straighten my shoulders. Chin up, Katie. Chin up, gaze straight, boobs out .
“Because of the wishing well.”
“The…” He falters in a way that tells me he definitely wasn’t expecting me to come out with that , and glances at his team. “What?”
I gesture to the structure beside him, the one so small, so unimportant that none of them seem to realize it’s there until I point it out to them.
“The well?” he repeats.
“ Wishing well. You make wishes.”
“I’m familiar with the concept.” His eyes flick over my head and, a second later, Callum moves past me to stand by him.
“That well has been there since before this village was even founded,” I continue. “It’s a historic structure. A famed structure. My parents met at that well.”
“How nice for them.”
“They’re dead now.”
Adam gives me a you did not look as Jack’s eyes narrow.
“Did you know we hold a matchmaking festival here?” I continue as my boss sighs. “Every summer. People come, and they make a wish—”
“Katie—”
“And they find their match,” I finish. “Their soulmates. They find them here. In Kelly’s.”
“How magical,” Jack says flatly, and I pin him with a stare.
“You don’t believe in magic, Mr. Doyle?”
“Do you?” he counters. He’s getting annoyed now. A vein has appeared on his forehead, like a little blue worm. It gives me all the confidence I need.
“You try and tear down this pub, and I will make sure everyone in the country knows exactly what you’re doing.
They might not care about some fields in the middle of nowhere, but they’ll care about their heritage.
About their folklore. I know people who still avoid fairy bushes,” I add, thinking of Granny.
“Do you think they’ll be happy once they hear what you want to do?
Destroy a part of our culture just so you can have a nice view of the lake?
A few dozen people protesting might not bother you, but what about a few thousand?
How’s that going to look in every Google search of your company? ”
“I…” He turns to his lawyer, who gives him a blank look before scrambling for his phone. “Look, Kerry—”
“Katie,” I correct. “Katie Collins.”
“Miss Collins,” he begins. “I understand that this has come as a surprise, but as your boss here has no doubt explained, this land is as good as ours. So, unless you have another card up your sleeve, which I must admit, I’d be fascinated to hear, none of this is exactly going to hold up in court.”
“Not a legal one, but what about the court of public opinion? This pub is of huge cultural significance to this town and to tear it down would mean trouble. You think we don’t know how to spin a story around here? You think we won’t try?”
“I think you’ll find we…” He trails off as he looks over my shoulder and I turn to see the marketing people filming our every word. “What are you doing?”
The woman shrugs. “B-roll.”
“I’m sure you have enough.”
“Sunlight’s better now.”
“The sunlight’s—” He breaks off with a little laugh, like we’re all testing him.
I grow nervous when he doesn’t say anything more, but the fact that Jack hasn’t immediately dismissed me keeps me standing there until Peter clears his throat, his gaze darting between his boss and his phone.
“They moved a road.”
“What?”
“They moved a road around a fairy bush,” he continues, his thumb scrolling down his phone. “In 1999. And in the 1960s too. Preservation of local culture. Pretty big protests, actually. They even—”
“Yes, thank you, Peter,” Jack snaps, eyeing me like I’m a stone caught in his shoe, and I open my mouth, about to argue again, when his expression suddenly wipes clean.
Uh-oh.
The back of my knees start to feel a little funny. Like I’m standing at a great height, looking down at my doom. I think I prefer it when he glares at me. At least then I know what to expect.
I start to lose my nerve, hyperaware of everyone looking at me. Time to beg. “Look, you can’t just—”
“You make an important point,” he interrupts, and Adam and I share a shocked glance. We’re not the only ones.
“She does?” Callum asks, sounding wary as hell.
“Yes,” Jack says. “And that’s twice she’s accused me of not caring about the community here. It sounds like I have a bit of work to do to earn back some trust. I think I’ll start by giving her the chance to prove herself.”
“ Prove myself?” That does not sound good. Why does that not sound good? “What do you mean?”
“You can’t just expect me to take your word for it,” he says, looking surprised. “Especially seeing as how I’ve never heard of this festival before. But if it’s the cultural event you say it is, of course we’ll have to ask the Board to reconsider their plans.”
“The festival?”
He latches onto the doubt in my voice. “That’s what you said, isn’t it? You hold it every summer.”
“I…yes, but—” The triumphant look on his face stops me dead. “Yes,” I say again, though the word comes out a little scratchy.
“Then I look forward to seeing it myself.”
Bluff called . That’s what he’s really saying. That’s what he’s telling me with that smirky little smirk.
“Okay,” Adam begins. “Let’s just—”
“And we look forward to having you,” I say over him, ignoring the pained look on his face. “You’re not taking this pub without a fight.”
I actually thought the last bit sounded pretty good, but Jack looks bored now, like he’s already won.
“Uh-huh.” He gestures for the camera people to resume filming the lake, clearly finished with the conversation. In fact, the only people still paying any attention to me are Callum, who keeps trying to catch my eye, and Adam, who looks like he wants to have a strong word with me.
I decide a tactical retreat is best, and so I make my way stiffly back inside, trying to ignore the sickly feeling in the pit of my stomach as I wonder just what the hell I’ve gotten myself into.