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The weeks had dragged since the last time I’d held her in my arms. When I noted she had a couple of hours before her bar opened for business again, I wanted to spend every minute possible with her before then.
“Would you mind if I put the radio on for traffic updates?” the driver asked as I sat in the back of the car on the way to see Daisy at The Lucky Shamrock, the pub she managed.
“Sure,” I replied.
As the radio burst into life, the sound of one of DistRoyed’s songs filled the car.
“These fellas aren’t bad at all,” he informed me turning the music up a notch. “Did you know they've got a Northern Irish drummer? He makes all the difference to that band, I think,” the driver, who’d introduced himself as Connor, said with an air of someone in the know.
I looked out the window at the gray sky above and smirked that he hadn’t realized who I was.
“Yeah, what’s his name again?” I asked, playing along.
“Paddy,” he replied, as he made eye contact with me in the rear-view mirror.
“That’s it. Yes, I agree, he’s the bomb, but I hear their singer is very fond of your traditional Irish music that's played here in the back-street pubs.”
“Is that right? Well, if I’m lucky enough to pick him up one day, I’ll put that to the test and sing him the Irish Rover… that’s a famous old-style Irish song.”
I bit back a chuckle and nodded, relishing in the anonymity Ireland afforded me. Even with my voice coming out of the radio the driver hadn’t put two and two together.
For the rest of the journey Connor talked nonstop, pointing out places of interest as we winged our way to the pub.
“As you obviously have a lot of historical knowledge about your city, after Christmas is out of the way, would you give my sister and her boys a guided tour for a day or two?” I asked.
Connor agreed, and I paid him as he left my bags on the sidewalk. As I watched him drive away, I picked them up in my hands and took a deep breath to calm my excited heart.
Chapter 4
Standing on the sidewalk outside the entrance doors, I took a moment to enjoy the happy feelings that coursed through my mind and body at the prospect of being able to hug and kiss Daisy again. That feeling was better than the anticipation of running out on stage in front of tens of thousands of fans.
Stepping forward, I pushed open the doors and my eyes immediately fell on her, as she stood with her back to me on my side of the bar. Terry looked past her, and I quickly placed my index finger to my lips to shush him as I snuck toward her.
When I reached her I swiftly turned her around and lifted her up. A sharp yelp of surprise left her lips and I chuckled at the startled look on her face. Dipping my head, I whispered in her ear. “Hello, beautiful.” Drawing my head back to look into her eyes, I smiled at the wide beam on her face and the look of adoration she gave me.
Hugging her tightly in my arms, I took her lips in the most intimate slow kiss I had in me, and when we finally broke the kiss, I chuckled at how breathless she was. She had that certain shine in her eyes I had learned to recognize, it let me know how much our kisses affected her.
When Terry broke into our moment, it was like a needle scratching a vinyl record at a favorite bridge of a song.
“Sorry to burst your bubble Barney, but we’ve got a sit-down lunch for forty in less than fifteen minutes. So, you’re going to have to keep your desire in your pants and pick up a glass cloth if you want to hang around,” he muttered, as he unscrewed an optic measure from an empty gin bottle and attached it to another.
His interjection interrupted the reunion I’d imagined in my mind on the way to the pub that would have rivalled Richard Gere in ’An Officer and a Gentleman.’
“What time are you closing?” I asked.
“8:00 p.m. A lot of pubs continue until normal closing time, but I shut down early on Christmas Eve. It lets the staff get home to spend time with their families. It’s bad enough I have all agency staff and the manager who stepped in at Thanksgiving running the place tomorrow,” she told me, pouting. “You have me all day then,” she said, but it sounded a poor consolation, for the hours I’d have to wait to have her alone.
“Maria and Frances will be here any moment,” Daisy said, turning to Terry. “If the three of you can’t manage forty people between you then I need to be looking at scrapping you three and hiring better staff,” she said, smugly.
“Frances is still around?” I asked, feeling a little betrayed that she hadn’t booted her ass like she’d threatened.
“Only because I need the help, or I’d be working full days for the week you’re here.”
“Then she’s forgiven for holding onto my letter, but I’m going to feel free to hate her again after the New Year,” I replied, not happy about her being around, but accepting the terms of her working that week.
Wandering around the other side of the bar she picked up her cell and nodded for me to go back there with her.
“So, you’re leaving us to it?” Terry challenged with his eyebrows raised in alarm once he’d realized she was taking me upstairs.
