Dogwood Hill

“I loved it, but if I’d just changed cities, it wouldn’t have felt like that much of a change.” She didn’t want to mention that being around young children would have been a stark reminder of the family she’d longed to have, the one she’d anticipated being just around the corner, only to discover that it wasn’t in her husband’s plans at all.

“I grew up with pets and I thought it would be fun to have a store, so I could meet new people all the time. I deliberately chose Chesapeake Shores because it’s a tourist town, yet it’s small enough to get to know your neighbors well.”

“Any regrets?”

She laughed. “At the end of almost every month all winter when I was trying to balance the books,” she admitted. “But I’m eager for summer and the onslaught of customers everyone has been promising me. The other business owners have provided a real support system, so I’m far from discouraged. I came here for a change and a challenge. So far I haven’t been disappointed.”

“Are you always this upbeat and optimistic?”

She frowned at the question. “You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”

“Not at all. I’m a big believer in choosing to look at the bright side, but not everyone can pull that off.”

“It is a choice, isn’t it?” she said quietly, thinking of the weeks after her husband’s death when bright spots had been few and far between. If there had been any at all, she’d chosen not to see them, deliberately wallowing in her pain.

And then a very wise friend had suggested she could decide whether to live her life mired in grief, self-pity and regrets, essentially ending her own life right along with her husband’s, or whether she wanted to live as fully as possible. She’d started making plans for the future the next day, eventually choosing a path that excited her in a way nothing else had for weeks. Perhaps even longer, if she were being entirely honest.

Aidan seemed to be studying her closely. To her shock, he reached out and touched a gentle finger to what she knew were shadows under her eyes.

“What put these there?” he asked.

Shivering a little at the tender touch, she backed away a step and forced her brightest smile. “No idea what you mean.”

He gave her a skeptical look. “Seriously?”

“Hey, don’t you know it’s never polite to point out that a woman looks as if she hasn’t slept in days?” she asked brightly. “I have about a million lists of things to do running through my head. That’s not nearly as effective for getting to sleep as counting sheep.”

“No, I imagine it’s not,” he agreed. “Maybe you need to take a quick break, get your mind off all those details for a little while. How about taking a walk around the corner to O’Brien’s? I hear Nell trained the chef, so the food’s bound to be good. I’m getting sick of my limited culinary skills, which tend to rely too much on frozen entrées. If I’m going to preach to my players about the right nutrition, I should practice what I preach.”

She hesitated. “I really shouldn’t,” she protested, thinking not only of all she had to do, but that spending more time with Aidan was definitely a bad idea. He had a way of sneaking past her defenses when she least expected it. And, the real kicker, he wasn’t planning to stick around all that long.

“An hour at most,” he countered. “And I’ll stay and help you unpack inventory or whatever you need after we eat. I’m a stranger in Chesapeake Shores. It’s probably your civic duty to see that I don’t eat dinner alone.”

She laughed at that, then thought of all the people who’d taken her under their wings when she’d first moved to town. There had been very few nights when she’d had to eat alone unless she’d chosen to do so.

“Okay, fine. An hour, though, and I expect you to haul all the empty boxes to the recycling center for me, so I can get them out of the back room.”

“You’ll just have to point me in the right direction,” he agreed.

“I can certainly do that. Give me a second to wash up and grab my purse.”

As they left the shop, she couldn’t help saying a little prayer that Bree and Shanna were both long gone from their own businesses, because if either of them caught a glimpse of her with Aidan, she was going to face an onslaught of questions at tomorrow morning’s gathering at Sally’s.

* * *

Aidan thought he heard Liz groan when they walked into O’Brien’s on Shore Road.

“Something wrong?” he asked, glancing around at the packed room. He noted then that Liz’s gaze was locked on the bar, where several O’Briens were seated and gesturing for the two of them to come over. He grinned. “Ah, another center for town gossip, I presume?”

She sighed. “You have no idea. I should have thought of that before I agreed to come here with you.”

“Liz, we’re two friends and neighbors having dinner. What’s the big deal?”

She gave him an incredulous look. “Two single friends,” she pointed out. “In a pub filled with O’Briens, who have taken matchmaking to new extremes.”

“Well, it seems we have no choice but to join them or cause a major stir by taking off. What’s your preference?”

“We’ll have to go over there,” she said, clearly resigned.

When she looked as if she was bracing to face a firing squad, he put a hand on her arm to hold her back. “First, remind me of who’s there.”

“That’s Luke behind the bar. This is his pub. He’s Jeff’s son, Mick’s nephew. That’s Susie, his sister, on the stool at the end.”

“That’s right. She drew up my lease, though I didn’t meet her when I signed it. She’s also the one who’s married to Mack Franklin,” Aidan recalled, then recognized the man on the neighboring stool. “And he’s right next to her.”

“And Megan O’Brien is next to him, which means Mick is bound to be here shortly.”

Aidan chuckled. “I’m beginning to see the problem.”

“I doubt it,” Liz responded direly, then led the way to the bar, where Mack had vacated his stool so she could sit next to Susie.

“Interesting,” Susie murmured to Liz, regarding her with a grin.

Aidan noted that Liz’s cheeks flushed bright pink, but before he could mention that to her, Mack started questioning him about his meeting with the team earlier. Knowing that the ex-player had a real interest in the game and his prognosis for the team’s next season, he filled him in.

A moment later, Mick appeared and slapped him enthusiastically on the back. “You surprised me today,” Mick said.

“How so?”

“Making Henry captain of the team till the end of the year,” Mick said.

Apparently this was the first some of the others had heard about it. Megan regarded Aidan approvingly. “I don’t know a thing about football, much to the dismay of my husband and my sons, but I do know Henry. That boy was born to be a leader. I’m so glad someone had the sense to see that.”

“Agreed,” Mick said. His gaze narrowed. “You did see that in him, right? It didn’t have anything to do with who he is, did it?”

“I honestly had no idea who he was when I appointed him captain,” Aidan said for the second time that afternoon. “He stepped in, showed some initiative and spirit, and I decided on the spot to recognize that. I wanted to send a message to all the boys that they’ll be rewarded for their actions on and off the field.” He shrugged. “Punished, too, for that matter, but we didn’t get into that.”

Mick nodded. “I like that. I know Kevin and Shanna appreciate it, too. Kevin called me right before I came over here to tell me how excited Henry is. Do you know anything about how he came to live with them?”

Aidan shook his head.

“Shanna was married to the boy’s dad. Henry adored her, but when she and his father divorced, she was forbidden from having any contact with Henry. It about broke that woman’s heart and left a little boy with no one he could count on except a couple of strict grandparents who didn’t know what to do with him.”

Aidan frowned. “What about his father?”

“He had a serious problem with alcohol. It tore up his liver. After Shanna moved here and got together with Kevin, Henry’s grandparents saw that Henry’s best chance for a normal life was with Shanna and Kevin. They kept him in touch with his biological daddy, but when he was gone, they adopted Henry. He’s blossomed since he’s been with them. We’re all real proud of him and glad to count him as an O’Brien.”

The story reaffirmed what Aidan had already guessed, that the O’Briens were good people whose lives centered around family, no matter how that family might have been cobbled together. Once more he had to wonder if there would have been room in their hearts for him if only his mother had paved the way years ago by telling Thomas O’Brien he had a son.