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“Nope, they’re all tucked away in our pants so it’s safe to show your face,” I replied, drawing some heat to my girl’s sweet cheeks.
“Don’t encourage him,” Daisy admonished, good naturedly.
“Does it ever stop raining here?” Ryan asked as he appeared at the door looking like a drowned rat.
“Thought you were touring in a car?” I asked, taking in how sodden he was. Catrina appeared behind him looking like she’d had a bucket of water thrown over her. Her normally immaculate hairdo completely obliterated by the Irish climate and she looked utterly bedraggled.
“No one warned me about the rain. Does this place ever let up?” she asked, groaning as she grabbed a chunk of her hair in her fist and squeezed as much of the excess water out as she could.
Daisy chuckled, squeezed past her and came back with a fresh towel from a closet in the bathroom. “Why do you think our land is so green and lush?”
Catrina’s eyes looked wide like she’d suddenly remembered that fact. “Yeah, but it literally rained the whole time we were out. Is this how it is?”
“Not all the time, sometimes it snows,” I interjected, reminding everyone again how we had met in the first place.
“I’d take snow every time instead of the threat of being drenched to the point where Irish people should have been born with fins and gills.”
“Jeez, anyone would think you had an adversity to getting wet,” Terry offered when he appeared at the door wearing the stupid cowboy boots and Stetson hat we’d bought him in New York. His appearance made me chuckle. “Personally, I love how wet Ireland makes our women.”
The inuendo in his tone was immediately apparent and although we all chuckled, I coughed the word ‘sister’ at Terry in a warning to him. I’d seen his reaction toward her previously, when he’d found her picture online. I had guessed from how he’d made it his business to come upstairs moments after she’d appeared, he’d taken more than a passing interest in her.
“Terry,” he said, ignoring me and offering her his hand. Catrina slipped her hand in his and he lifted it to his lips. Cat smiled, flattered by his attention.
“Head bartender,” he offered. “If you need anything, I’m here at your service.” Both Daisy and I scoffed at his title.
“There you go, mom,” Ryan offered with a wink.
Catrina’s cheeks flushed red and I shook my head. “Only service you’ll be offering my sister is how she likes her drinks,” I muttered, close to his ear, but loud enough for everyone to hear.
Ignoring me again, he winked. “Like I said, I’m here for all things wet.”
Nick chuckled. “I like this guy. He’s persistent,” he goaded, knocking elbows with his mom.
“All right, Terry, back to work,” Daisy told him as she bit back a grin. “Tell me you at least had a good day out,” she enquired, turning her attention back to my family as she headed out of the room after Terry.
“Actually, rain aside, it turned out pretty well. Did you know Connor’s a history buff? He really knows his stuff,” Catrina called loudly, until Daisy came back and my sister’s voice returned to normal volume. Daisy handed her some jeans and a clean T-shirt.
“We’re about the same size, right?” she suggested.
Catrina took the outfit with a grateful smile and continued talking enthusiastically about their trip out, the state of her wet clothing all but forgotten, as she gushed about where they had been.
“It was a fascinating day learning about your history. Connor told us about the rebellions and the mass emigration to the US. Do you think we can do something else like that together before we go home?” she asked, hopefully.
“Sure, I’ve arranged something for tomorrow,” I replied. “As much as I’d like to stay in bed with my girl here, I think I owe it to her to take her out in the rain before New Year’s Eve.”
“Right then, you all need to get out of here if I’ve got a chance of spending some time out of these four walls. I need to finalize my drinks order to make sure it’ll be on route for New Year’s Eve. I can’t run a ceilidh with no alcohol, and I’d get lynched by the locals if I ran out of their favorite tipples.”
“Damn, Daisy’s hot when she’s all business-like with those eyeglasses on,” Ryan remarked.
“What say you change Catrina, and then you, Jamie and the boys head back to the hotel? Give me, say… an hour to sort things out here and I’ll come and spend some time at the hotel.”
With so little time together I was reluctant to be shoved off on my sister so that Daisy could work. Feeling I was ‘in the way’ was something I was neither used to nor did I appreciate it. Plus, there was no way I was leaving her to think about what had happened earlier, and I’d begun to resent how little time we’d had together since I had arrived.
Usually, she had only ever taken one day off a week, she was only twenty-five, yet she appeared to live to serve others who were out enjoying themselves.
Taking Daisy’s prompt, my sister changed clothes before she and the boys headed back to the hotel without me. I had refused to leave without her for fear another emergency would somehow crop up before she had gotten out of the door. Leaving her to focus, I spent another hour clearing glasses and tidying up the spirits gantry.
When I’d first walked back into the bar, I’d noted the same two guys standing, propping up the counter. They were obviously familiar faces from the conversations they were having with Maria about mutual people they knew. Eventually, I heard one of them make another challenge about my identity in their conversation.
