Chapter 4 Vanessa #2
I’m pretty sure Natalie’s right—humans are more nuanced than Samantha’s making them out to be—but I appreciate that Sam wants to help.
Having brothers gives her a unique perspective, and maybe something she said will help.
Stereotypes exist for a reason, and while assumptions can be dangerous, they can also help us predict behavior in patterns that our brains can recognize.
She’s right about me needing to take my cues from Jack and how he behaves around his friends.
But none of that helps me decide what to wear.
After trying on and then discarding three outfits, I finally settle on a plain navy sheath dress with conservative matching heels that have little buckles to make them a little more fun.
It’s boring, but maybe that’s fine.
I am a little boring, when you get down to it. I have three kids. I run a hotel with my friends. I live with my former mother-in-law. I’m certainly not a hot party girl so acting like one won’t help win anyone over. I snap a photo and text it to Jack.
Sorry.
“For what?” “Looking hotter than anyone else effortlessly?”
Somehow, he always says the right thing.
Yes, that’s what I’m apologizing for.
Then you nailed it.
When he shows up to pick me up five minutes later, he’s wearing dark jeans and a chunky-knit pullover sweater, which here they call a jumper.
“You didn’t wait for my photo to get dressed,” I say as I wave to Bryce and close the door. “You didn’t have enough time.”
Jack doesn’t come around to open the door, but he climbs out and watches as I walk to the car. “I know you well enough that I didn’t have to wait.” He’s ridiculously hot when he shrugs, even if he’s saying I’m so boring that he knew a pair of jeans and a sweater would match without a photo.
We’ve just left our long driveway, turning onto the main road, when Jack slides his hand over mine.
“What?” I snap my head toward his.
“Your hand was going to tap a hole in the console,” he says. “You don’t need to worry. This is going to be fun, and if it’s not, I pick you, not them.”
“What?”
He’s smiling when he says, “I’ll cut them off so fast, I’ll get a speed citation.”
He’s not going to dump his friends for me. That’s ridiculous. I know it is. But somehow, hearing him say that, well, again, it’s just what I needed to hear. “Stop.”
“I mean it. I need to see you every day. These guys? I can barely stand them already.” The way his lip’s twitching tells me that’s a joke, but it’s a kind one.
“Well, I’m the opposite. If my friends hate you, you’re out.”
“Well, that’s just rude.” He drops my hand. “You couldn’t lie to me?”
“I’m too old for lying.” I smile.
“You aren’t close to old.” He sighs. “But I knew that about you the moment we met. You three ladies were clearly thick as thieves, even then. Don’t worry.
I’ve been preparing to wow them.” He clears his throat.
“How’s this? Sam likes horses more than people, and she’s sassy.
She stands up for you, and as long as I’m good to you, she won’t eviscerate me.
Natalie’s the one who runs everything, even though she seems nicer at first. If she doesn’t like me, she’ll just schedule me out of your life, but I can win her over with baked goods and jam, as long as they’re really delicious. ”
“She can eat her own weight in crumpets.”
“We don’t really like those here, but I’ll forgive her British tastes. You can’t all be perfect.” Jack parks the car and kills the engine. “And now, it’s go time.”
I was feeling pretty good, but now my stomach ties in another knot.
When we walk into the restaurant, they usher us through the dining room and into the Blue Garden so fast that there’s no time to fret. Everyone’s already here, crammed around a blue picnic table in the corner.
“Jack.” A tall man stands.
Then everyone else stands, too.
I’m immediately thrown off, because I was told there was one girlfriend, but there are definitely two women smiling at me.
“I’m Caitlin,” a blonde woman with carefully curled hair says. “Rían’s girlfriend.” She giggles, then, and maybe that’s making her seem younger, but I’m guessing she’s all of twenty years old.
“That’s strange to hear, Rían’s girlfriend,” the other girl says. “I may need to hear it a dozen more times.” When she giggles, I realize they both seem to be close to twenty. Good heavens.
“That’s Shannon,” the tall man says. “And I’m Seán.” He smiles. “So glad we finally talked Jack into bringing you out of hiding.”
“We don’t bite,” Shannon says, giggling again.
“Speak for yourself.” Rían tucks Caitlin under his arm and snaps at the air beside her.
Oh, boy.
Jack glances my way, clearly bemused, and we both start laughing.
“I’m nothing like those idiots,” a short man with a blue scarf says. “I’m Daniel, and when I bring a girl to dinner, she’ll be classy, like you.” He smiles like he’s serious.
“When?” Jack asks. “Don’t you mean if?” That gets quite a few laughs.
“It’s not bloody likely.” Seán shoves Daniel then, and everyone laughs at that. Boys always think shoving and poking is funny.
Another man stands, interrupting the merriment.
“I’m Oliver, and I work with Jack at TQS.
” He pushes his glasses up his nose, and I can’t help wondering whether Samantha might be right.
It sure looks like Seán’s the bully or the jock, and I bet Daniel’s the joker.
I think that makes Oliver the nerd. There’s no punching bag though, thank goodness.
“Is Lorcán coming?” Jack asks. “Or did he beg off?”
“Lorcán’s right behind ye,” a man’s voice says.
Jack and I spin around, and there’s a very good-looking man behind us.
He’s not dressed the best—there’s a hole in the shoulder of his sweater—but his smile’s broad and his teeth are shockingly white and straight for Ireland.
Jack claps a hand on his shoulder, not seeming to care about his ripped sweater. “How goes saving the world?”
“World’s a shambles.” Lorcán shrugs. “Same as ever.”
“Ever since he was a wee lad, Lorcán’s been obsessed with saving every little critter he meets,” Seán says. “He likes dogs more than people.”
“Dogs don’t hurt others for no reason, whereas humans do that for fun,” Lorcán says. “Sorry I’m late.”
“Yer always late,” Shannon says. “And we can’t ever be raw about it, because you’re saving all them wee little pitiful critters.”
But Jack circles the table, pulls a chair up to the end, and squeezes onto the bench himself. He pats the chair. “Looks like someone already ordered a round.” He hands me a Guinness. “We better catch up.”
I don’t intend to keep up with all these young people, but I sip my beer slowly and obviously so hopefully no one will notice that I’m barely drinking. The others all settle in, with Lorcán taking a chair at the other end. That puts Shannon right next to me on the bench across from Jack.
“So how did you get our sad-sack Jack to finally cheer up?” Shannon winks at him. “You’ll have to spill your secret. All the ladies of Lismore have been trying, but none have had a bit of luck until now.”
“Sad sack? Jack?” I lift one eyebrow. “I never met him.”
“It’s effortless for her.” Jack’s smiling. “She’s just always happy, and seeing it makes me happy, too.”
“That’s definitely not true,” I say. “In fact, if you ask my boys, they might say just the opposite.”
“You have kids.” Shannon sits back, her eyebrows shooting upward. “So that’s it, then?”
“That’s what?” I can’t help my frown.
“You must’ve bonded over the kids?” Shannon asks. “Is that how you met?”
“Jack’s been working with both her boys at hurling,” Rián says, “and they’re actually pretty good at it, especially for Americans.”
“Ah.” Caitlin nods. “That makes sense. You met with his coaching, and that’s why you’re older. Yer boys are in secondary school.”
I wait for Jack to clarify that we met before I ever came with my boys, but he doesn’t seem to care what they think, so I leave it alone. “Do any of you have kids?” I glance around.
Jack drops his hand over mine. “I have two, as you know.”
“None of the rest of us,” Seàn says. “Jack’s the only one who got married.”
“You know, you can actually have children without being married.” I nod slowly. “That shocked my boys as well.”
It takes them a moment, but his friends burst out laughing.
“She’s funny,” Daniel says. “I like that.”
He would—definitely the joker.
“I hear you ride horses,” Lorcán says.
I nod. “Well, I ride sometimes. I had a bad experience, and I’ve been a little nervous ever since.”
“You do have a big property, though, right?” Daniel asks.
“Jack told us you bought the Fortwilliam estate,” Seán says.
“And you’re Rián’s boss.” Lorcán’s lip is twitching.
“I suppose that’s all true,” I say. “But I bought it with two of my best friends, so I don’t own it all myself.”
“Rich,” Shannon says, “but not rich rich.” She winks.
I can’t help laughing. “I mean, recently I sold my husband’s company—which is a long story—and I needed to invest the money somewhere. When you’re all as old as me, you’ll probably be just as rich.”
“Except for Jack.” Caitlin giggles.
“Why not Jack?” I squeeze his hand. “Does he spend all his money on his kids?” I chuckle. “Or on hurling trips?”
All of them frown and glance at each other with strange expressions.
“What am I missing?”
“Oh, nothing,” Jack says.
“What?” I catch Shannon’s eye.
“I just meant because he’s rich already.” Shannon arches an eyebrow. “Did you really not know?”
Rich? I look at Jack.
He rolls his eyes. “Stop, you guys.”
“But really, his dad owns TQS, and his mom’s family owns every building on the entire street of downtown Lismore, so his dad’s giving him TQS, and his sister gets the little businesses. Everyone here knows. You really didn’t?” Shannon sounds annoyed now.
“Leave off,” Seán says. “It’s not our business.”
Shannon blinks, but they all hush.
“Ah, the food’s here,” Daniel says, pointing.
Blessedly, it is, and as usual, it’s quite good.
I’m not as shocked, though, when Jack picks up the tab.
. .and his friends let him. He may very well be the jock, if there really are characters like Sam said, but he’s also the financier, apparently.
Everyone knew he was rich except his new girlfriend, and they all let him pay like it’s expected.
Other than discovering that my new boyfriend’s loaded, I thought dinner went pretty well. I breathe a big sigh of relief when I reach the car. The air’s brisk, but the night’s relatively young, and we’re done with the meet and greet.
“See, that wasn’t so bad,” Jack says.
“It went a lot better than I thought.” And Sam’s advice wasn’t too bad, either. “I liked them.”
“They loved you.” He lifts his phone. “Group chat’s blowing up with photos they snapped, and they’re singing your praises.”
I should text Sam and Natalie. I rummage around in my purse, but I can’t find my phone. “Shoot. I think I left my phone back there in my chair.”
“Oh?” Jack was climbing in the car, but he straightens. “Let’s head back.”
I wave him off. “No, no, I’ll just run and grab it.” I toss my purse into the car and stand up again. “I’ll be right back. Get the car heater running.” I shiver.
He rolls his eyes. “It’s not even cold.”
“Agree to disagree.”
He’s laughing as I jog away. I’ve barely gone through the dining room when the waiter waves me down. “I thought you might want this.” He hands me my phone.
“How’d you know it was mine?”
“There’s a sparkly bald eagle on the back?” He shrugs. “Kind of screams American. That, and it was in your chair.”
It’s not actually a sparkly bald eagle—it’s a sparkly owl, but I suppose when your kid orders a bedazzled phone cover off Etsy, you get what you get. “Thanks.”
I’m almost back out the door when I hear my name.
“Vanessa?”
I spin around.
There’s an older woman—maybe mid-fifties—wearing a wide-belted maxi dress that flows around her cute boots. “You are Vanessa, aren’t you?” She smiles, revealing tiny crows’ feet at the corner of her deep-set blue eyes.
She reminds me of someone, but I can’t quite. . .
“I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Jack’s mother.”
My brain hits pause. His mother? Did he tell her we were coming here? Oh, no. This is definitely more than I expected to deal with in one night.
“I’ve been waiting for him to introduce us, but so far. . .” She shrugs. “I saw you out with his friends earlier, and I wondered.” She steps closer, her head tilting.
“Oh.” Great. One word. I’ve managed to say a single word.
“I wish I could say it was nice to meet you,” she whispers, now standing quite close to me in the entry area of Foley’s.
“But one glance at you tells me what Jack was hiding. You’re much, much older than he is, aren’t you?
That’s why he hasn’t introduced us yet. If you know anything about his past, you know he’s already dealt with more than his share of women who aren’t right for him. ”
My knees shake.
My palms are sweating.
I still can’t manage to say a single thing.
“Why don’t you do us both a big favor and end this mess before it ruins his life all over again.
” She looks me over from my feet to my head, then she shakes her head and tsks.
“Why such a smart, sensible man can’t choose a good woman to save his life, I will never know.
” She pivots on her lovely boot heel, and she disappears back into the dining room, dismissing me.
For the second time in ten seconds.