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It’s absolutely fascinating.
“It’s a liar you are, O’Malley,” a man says with a loud laugh.
A woman has a fiddle pressed to her neck, and she’s playing with her eyes closed as if she can see the music in her mind. Her hair is long and dark, and she’s dressed in a simple black T-shirt with jeans. A man plays what looks like an accordion next to her, singing about war and grief.
“Well, my brother left his solitude to grace us with his company.”
I glance up at another woman’s voice and only catch a flash of red hair and a slim frame before I’m folded in her arms for a firm hug. “I’m Maggie, the youngest and smartest of the family. I’m also the only one born in America. But I know all of this one’s secrets, so you just let me know if you need help with him.”
“That’s about enough of that, Mary Margaret.”
She scowls up at her brother and then smiles at me again. “You must be Anastasia.”
“I am.” I glance up at Kane, surprised that he’s talked about me to his sister. Then again, I told both of my siblings about him, so I guess it shouldn’t surprise me at all. “It’s nice to meet you, Maggie.”
“You’ll eat those words,” Kane mutters, but Maggie just laughs and wraps her arm around my shoulders, guiding me to the bar. She frowns at a young man and his friend until they get up and move to a table in the middle of the pub.
“There now,” Maggie says, gesturing for me to take a stool. “Keegan, our brother has brought in Anastasia.”
A man down at the other end of the bar stops mid-conversation and hustles over to us.
“Well, hello there. It’s fine to meet you.” He holds his hand out for mine, and I reach across the bar to shake it. Keegan is tall and lean like his older brother, with the same dark hair and green eyes.
In fact, Maggie also has the green eyes. They must run in the family the same way blue does with the Montgomerys.
Keegan also shares his brother’s accent, where Maggie hardly has one at all. Maybe because she was born and raised here in America?
“Pleasure,” I say with a nod. Kane sits next to me and slips his hand onto my thigh, giving me a little squeeze.
“What will you be drinking tonight?” Keegan asks.
“What do you recommend?”
Keegan grins. “Well, now that’s a personal preference, isn’t it? Kane here always prefers a Guinness.”
“And I’ll be having a pint now.” Kane’s voice is mild.
“I’ll have one, too,” I decide. I’ve never had the beer in my life, but I’m in an Irish pub, and it’s an Irish stout, so I’m game.
“It’s a process, building a Guinness,” Keegan says as he fetches two tall glasses and slips them under the taps. I watch in fascination as he fusses and fiddles, filling the glasses just so, and then slides them across the bar to us. “Slainte.”
“It’s Gaelic for cheers,” Maggie says and winks as she loads a tray up with drinks to deliver across the room. She stops by the small stage and sings with the young man, completely oblivious to the heart eyes he sends her way as she lifts her voice with the melody.
“Slainte,” I repeat and take my first sip. “Oh, I like it.”
“Aye, and you should, or you’d be breaking me heart.” Keegan winks and then works his way down the bar again, taking orders.
“My brother has a way with flirting,” Kane says with a scowl.
“He’s a bartender,” I say and laugh. “Of course, he does. He has to sell drinks and run a business. Working well with people is part of it.”
“True enough,” Kane says and takes a sip of his beer. “It’s not a job I’d want to do.”
“So, you don’t come in when he’s short-handed to help out?” I’m grinning at Kane, enjoying him immensely. I can’t picture him with a white apron tied around his waist to save my life.
“He’d throw the drinks in the customers’ faces with the first complaint,” Maggie says as she returns with her tray full of empty glasses. “So, we encourage him to just come in and drink now and again.”
“Good idea.” I laugh when Kane narrows his eyes at his sister. “Oh, I hardly know you, yet I can see she’s right. So, you’re a family of artists?”
Keegan hears my comment and blinks at me. “I’m a pub owner, lass.”
“Oh, but you build beers like this one, and as you said, it’s a process. Not everyone can do it. It’s an art. And Maggie has a gorgeous voice.”
“I like you,” Keegan says with a grin. “If this idiot screws up, I’ll swoop in to claim you for my own.”
“I’ll break your legs,” Kane says calmly and sips his beer as if he’s talking about the weather.
