Lilac Lane

“Have you never made a mistake, Kiera?”

“A lifetime of them,” she replied tartly. “But never one that might chase off the patrons of the very place that provides my livelihood.”

“Not what I’ve heard,” Bryan muttered, turning away from the woman who was rapidly becoming the bane of his existence. For a while now Kiera had made him seriously question why he’d ever left that deli in Baltimore where he’d been a master of matzo ball soup and pastrami on rye. Even with waitresses yelling their demands and the lunchtime flurry of impatient customers in a rush, it had been a lot less nerve-racking than O’Brien’s since Kiera had arrived.

“Should I be telling my customers that fish and chips are off the menu tonight?” she inquired sweetly.

“No, you should not,” Bryan retorted tightly. “You should tell them they’re being cooked to perfection by the chef. Now go away and let me do just that.”

“If you can,” she said tartly, then added far more sweetly, “Would you perhaps like me to take over with your Irish stew, since I’ve been told it tastes a bit saltier than usual tonight? It’s been one of my family specialties for years now.”

“Go away, Kiera.”

Bryan gritted his teeth as she left, changed the oil in the deep fryer and started over. He winced when he realized that Luke had replaced Kiera in the doorway.

“Bad night?” Luke inquired, a barely contained smile on his lips.

“A bad few weeks,” Bryan replied, not feeling any need to censor himself. Luke knew as well as he did that Kiera had created chaos since her arrival. She’d taken her role as consultant a little too seriously, questioning everything that went on in O’Brien’s. He’d heard her cross-examining the waitstaff and seen for himself the changes she’d made with the location of table setups. In his opinion, the old arrangements of supplies had worked just fine. When he’d caught her in his pantry about to rearrange things, he’d tossed her out. Luke might be willing to overlook her criticism for the sake of family harmony, but Bryan didn’t have to do the same.

“Bryan, we’ve talked about this. She’s trying to find her place here,” Luke reminded him. “She’s a proud woman who wants to earn what little she’s being paid. It’s not easy being in a new country with few people she knows. And she didn’t leave Ireland under the best circumstances. She’d just lost the man she loved.”

Bryan heaved a sigh. “Moira has repeated that more times than I can count, and while I appreciate the position both of you are in, I’m just not sure how much more I can take.” He leveled a look at his boss. “And before you ask, I have no idea why the woman bugs me. I should let her comments roll off my back. I always intend to do just that. Just this morning I would have sworn we’d reached a truce of some kind, but then she says or does something and before I know it, the battle lines are drawn once more.”

“I know it can’t be that you simply don’t like being told what to do,” Luke said. “You took my grandmother’s cooking lessons well enough when she was teaching you all of her old Irish recipes. How many times did she ask you to make the same thing over and over before she was satisfied? When she did the same to me, I came close to saying words that no grandmother should ever hear a grandson utter, but I never once heard you complain or say a sharp word. Give that same patience a try for Kiera’s sake.”

“Nell may have been a tough taskmaster, but she’s practically a saint by comparison to Kiera Malone,” Bryan said. “And before you say it, the same could be said of Moira.”

Luke’s eyes widened in surprise. “You think Kiera is more maddening than Moira?”

“At least a thousand percent,” Bryan confirmed.

“Really?” Luke asked skeptically. “Then, again, you didn’t know Moira back when we first met. Let’s just say I found her to be a challenge.” He regarded Bryan intently. “Much the same way you look upon Kiera.” He grinned suddenly, looking oddly satisfied, as if something he’d been theorizing about had just been confirmed. “This should be interesting to watch.”

Bryan regarded him suspiciously. “You’re not going to tell her to back off?”

Luke laughed. “I’ve told her the kitchen is your domain. What more can I do?” he inquired a little too innocently.

“Remind her that this is your pub and that she is most definitely not in charge, at least when it comes to me.”

“I’ll mention it,” Luke agreed. “But she’s a strong-willed woman.”

Bryan regarded him with confusion, but then understanding dawned. “You’re actually enjoying this test of wills that’s developing between us, aren’t you?”

“A tiny bit,” Luke conceded. “As long as it doesn’t interfere with the pub running smoothly, I intend to enjoy this in much the way my family enjoyed watching Moira tie me up in knots.”

“Not the same,” Bryan said fiercely. “They thought you needed someone to shake up your life. I’m not looking for a challenge in mine.”

“Neither was I,” Luke replied. “Lo and behold, though, there was Moira. As my grandmother took great pleasure in reminding me, we don’t necessarily get to choose when love comes along.”

Bryan gave him a horrified look. “Love? If you think that has anything at all to do with what’s going on between Kiera Malone and me, then you need a bit of counseling about relationships.”

Luke laughed. “My wife would probably say the same, but I think I’m right about this. All that chemistry will explode one of these days.”

“Just pray it doesn’t take your pub down with it,” Bryan retorted.

As his boss walked away, Bryan got the distinct impression he might be doomed. That deli in Baltimore was looking better and better.

Chapter 6 (#u759c93d3-b3bd-5062-b4f9-8f1055888241)

For the better part of a week following their last confrontation, Kiera managed to steer clear of Bryan. Obviously she had to speak to him when placing orders or relaying special requests from their customers, but there was a deliberate civility between them these days. She should have been grateful, but it was starting to get on her nerves almost as badly as their previous exchanges of quick-tempered words. She knew exactly how to deal with a mercurial temper. Stiff politeness was something else entirely.

“You and Bryan seem to have made peace,” Moira said one evening as the crowd was thinning. “I’m not hearing the tart comments and testy tones this week. How did that come about?”

Kiera shrugged. “We’re both trying a bit harder, I suppose. Luke has repeatedly told me he wants peace and harmony among the staff. I’m trying to do my part to achieve that. Bryan must be as well, though it doesn’t seem to suit him. He cuts himself off midsentence, when we both know perfectly well he wants to lash out and put me in my place.”

Moira regarded her curiously. “You don’t sound pleased about him making the effort.”

Kiera hesitated then admitted, “It doesn’t seem quite natural, if you know what I mean. Has Luke gone a step beyond and ordered him to be on his best behavior around me just because I’m your mother?”

“I seriously doubt it,” Moira said. “Has he given you instructions to go easy on Bryan?”

“He’s stressed again and again that Bryan’s invaluable as his chef and that we need to find a way to get along. I’ve taken that to heart, but I thought Bryan was too stubborn to listen.”

Moira smiled. “Well, however it came about, you’re doing as Luke wanted.”

“Not really. What we’re doing is being exceedingly polite whenever we can’t possibly avoid each other. That’s not the same as real teamwork.”

Her daughter carefully banked a smile. “And that’s now driving you crazy? Do you have any idea why?”

“I told you before. It’s not natural.”

“And the bickering felt right?”

“Well, of course not,” Kiera said impatiently, knowing that she was making little sense. “Who wants to argue with someone day and night over the slightest thing?”

Moira laughed. “Do you know what my brothers told me about the early days when Dad was still around?”

Kiera stared at her, startled by the change of topic, especially the shift to Sean Malone. Moira knew perfectly well that she didn’t like talking about the past in general or Sean in particular. “The three of you talked about that?”

“Of course we did. I was curious about the man I never got to meet. You never wanted to answer my questions. It always made you either sad or angry, so I stopped asking you and coaxed things out of the two of them. Not that they could be credited with much insight, but their memories were clear enough.”

Kiera should have realized that her daughter would naturally be curious about the father who’d abandoned her. And, given Moira’s stubborn streak, Kiera also should have known her daughter wouldn’t have given up without answers from someone. Just because she’d stopped asking Kiera, Kiera shouldn’t have assumed she’d stopped asking at all.

“And what did your brothers tell you?” Kiera inquired. “Not that they could be trusted. They were practically babies themselves.”

“They were old enough to remember that before the drinking got so bad, the two of you would argue night and day. Bickering is what they called it.”

“And they recalled that as being a happy time?” Kiera asked incredulously.