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No. The spiked heart rate was a bit more like panic. “I… I understood though. You know?” I babbled. “It made sense since I made a mess of the whole thing and in front of your parents no less. And it’s not like I don’t want to get married. Someday. But not now. I mean, not anytime soon. What I mean to say is—”
Darci’s hand came out and squeezed mine gently. “Stop. It’s okay. Let’s just put this conversation away for another time, all right? Maybe you can think about what I said. I didn’t expect an answer right away, and I didn’t mean to spoil our dinner either.”
I swallowed and dove back into my salad, thinking of it as The Greatest Salad That Ever Saved A Man From A Serious Conversation. When we finished up, I cleared our dishes and made quick work of them in the sink before refilling Darci’s wine and moving us both to the sofa.
“You know you’re welcome to stay here, but why don’t you want to tell your family?” I asked gently.
Her answer shocked me.
“My mom will only say ‘I told you so’ since she’d warned me it was a crappy apartment complex, and Dad has too much else on his plate right now with selling the company and everything.”
It took me a minute to process what she’d said, and then my first reaction was to bark out a laugh. “Your dad would never sell his company. That’s ridiculous. What made you think he was selling?”
But then I saw her eyes. “He didn’t tell you? Damn, I shouldn’t have said anything. He wants to retire.”
I scrambled to picture busy, successful Bruce Ames kicking back on the golf course during the week, but it was difficult. The man was a workaholic, and he loved his job. “He asked me to come to Dallas for a meeting this coming week but didn’t say what it was about. I assumed it was simply a routine thing or a new opportunity to assess.”
“I’ll let him tell you then. Please don’t let on that I mentioned it.”
Even though I was sure she knew what she was talking about, I still couldn’t picture Bruce selling Ames. It was impossible.
“Wow. I don’t know what to say,” I told her. “I’m shocked, but I guess I understand. He’s over sixty now and has plenty of money. Your mom’s always mentioned wanting to travel more.”
Darci nodded. “Now do you see why I don’t want to bother them with this? They’ll flip out. The timing is terrible. I’m afraid if my dad found out what that guy in the apartment building did, he’d go after him with a gun.”
She wasn’t wrong. Bruce Ames was a Texas good old boy deep in his heart. The man wouldn’t stand for some asshole to lay a hand on his baby girl.
Darci grabbed my arm. “Now can you see why I just want to lie low?”
“Of course. You can stay here as long as you want,” I promised.
She nodded and leaned her head against my shoulder before letting out a shuddering breath. The poor thing was exhausted, and I’d have to pour her into my bed before long to get some more sleep.
Our conversation had brought up several issues, but I couldn’t help but focus on the one that had the potential to change everything. If Ames International transferred ownership, I wasn’t the only one whose future would be affected. In addition to Ames’s employees, the Fig and Bramble business could wind up a casualty depending on how the new owners felt about Bruce’s side project. What if they decided to sell off the pub to a big restaurant holding company?
If something like that happened, Charlie would never forgive me for bringing his family business into this mess.
24
Charlie
Charlie’s Words To Live By:
Don’t fuck with the Irish. They’re a mad lot.
That week at work, Hudson was different. Distracted maybe, and more serious than usual. I assumed it had something to do with his getting back together with Darci, which only caused me to be even pissier at him than I’d been before.
My anger was irrational. I knew that. But it didn’t mean I was able to hide it any better. Late on Tuesday, it came to a head.
“Fer fuck’s sake,” I hissed. “Can’t you leave me to do anything myself? Back the fuck up.”
I hadn’t meant to snipe at Hudson, but it was like everywhere I went in the pub and everything I tried to do, he was in my blind spot waiting for me to make a deadly mess of it.
Hudson jerked back and began apologizing, which only made me feel more of an arse.
I turned to him with a scowl. “Look, I get that you don’t trust me to know what the hell I’m doing here, but consider for a second I actually do. I’ve been pulling pints and sweeping up after my auld man for twenty years in one of the oldest pubs in Ireland. This shit is in my blood. I was born to do this, yeah?”
