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I stare at Jack. “What are you doing?!”
“Getting you those truffle chips, of course.” He grins, then pushes through the kitchen door before I can form a single coherent thought.
Ollie sighs. He shakes his head and wipes down the bar in front of where Jack was sitting.
“Shouldn’t you do something about that?” I ask.
Ollie lifts an eyebrow. “About what?”
I gesture to the still swinging door Jack has just disappeared through. “About him waltzing right into your kitchen like he owns the place!”
Ollie shrugs. “He does.”
“He does... what?”
“Own the place.”
“But you... Jack saidyouown it.”
“We both do. Jack’s my smartass younger brother.”
“Oh.” I watch the kitchen door as it stills. “Oh!” I say again, remembering the less-than-positive things I just said about the pub.I’m not exactly a regular customer here.How did I not realize I wasn’thypotheticallyconsulting the owner of the bar? But Jack is so young. A year younger than me. How can he be responsible for something asbig as this, when I can hardly run a business that consists of just me and my guitar?
Ollie tosses the bar towel over his shoulder. “You all right?”
I shake my head. “I have no idea, Ollie Wollie.”
He gives me another strange look, and I take the biggest swig of beer I can fit into my mouth, hoping it will keep me from sticking my foot in it again.
Three
Jack
“Does Jack happen to be short for Jackass?” Raine asks when I set a plate of truffle chips before her on the bar.
She’s the one.It’s the only thought that’s run through my head for the last five minutes.She’s the one.She’s the one. She’s the one.And I would know, seeing as I spent most of today bored out of my mind interviewing all the wrong people. People who were definitely notthe one.
She’ll make the perfect entertainment coordinator.
I swipe a chip from her plate. “You’re not the first person to ask me that, you know.”She’s the one, I think again, then mentally shush myself. If I’m going to get her to agree to work at this pub, I can’t be distracted. If I’m going to convince her that she should take a chance on me, I need a clear mind.
Easier said than done.
Raine gives me a withering look, but there’s amusement in her eyes. The girl is good craic. She’s also... beautiful. I wasn’t lying when I told her that. Pale green eyes. Wavy red hair. And that mouth... I have no idea what she’ll say next, and I like that. I like that a lot.
Ollie snaps my shoulder with a bar towel. “Quit being such a fecking langer, Jackie. We’ll be lucky to have any customers at all if you keep fucking with them.”
Before I can respond, someone calls to Ollie for another pint, and my brother leaves with a shake of his head. He’s annoyed at me, but he’ll get over it. Half the things I do annoy him. Half the things I do annoyme. I think he likes having something to be annoyed about, to tell you the truth, and I am more than happy to oblige. But I don’t necessarily want to annoy the pretty redhead seated across from me.
Have I annoyed her? She has her bottom lip tucked between her teeth, so perhaps sheisupset, though...shite, I shouldn’t be looking at her mouth. I lift my eyes to hers. “Are you angry?” Better just to ask these sorts of things.
Raine looks away from me. Her hair tumbles from behind one ear, hiding her face from view. “I never would’ve said those things about the pub if I’d knownyouwere the owner. I’d never insult someone. Not on purpose, anyway.”
“You didn’t insult me.”
She tucks her hair back behind her ear and gives me a skeptical look.
“I didn’t tell you I own the pub because I wanted an honest answer. I don’t think there’s a thing you could say about me or this pub that would insult me, so long as you really mean it.”
