Page 43 of Trusting You
“Shut up. You two are dicks, you know that? Let me have this one good thing in my life.”
They stared at me, clearly not connecting the dots.
“And she’s not coming on the boat. The last thing this poor girl needs is to be in the middle of the ocean with our crazy family. We are not serious. She’s not staying.”
“You say that, but the way you look at each other indicates otherwise.” Callum said.
Declan nodded sagely. “Hey, this way you know if she’s for real. If she really likes you.”
Callum patted Declan on back. “Yes. And you know Mom will be nice. She’s a Leary. Trust me, she is thrilled that you are dating the daughter of her best friend.”
“Casually dating,” I remind them.
“Sure thing, bro.”
“It’s not serious,” I insist.
“Then what are you doing?” Declan snapped. And just like that, they turned on me.
“Yeah,” Callum piled on, “the Learys are good people. You can’t mess around with Cece. Especially after what happened with her dad.”
Declan piped in, “Yeah. She is pretty and nice and smart. Don’t fuck with her, dude.”
“I don’t plan to. I like her a lot. We just haven’t discussed anything, and she’s planning on leaving in a few months.”
“Well, find your balls and ask her to stay.”
I sighed and shook my head. I couldn’t win with these two.
“Obviously you’re not me. You don’t have my skills. You also don’t have Cal’s looks. But you’re okay, you’re a good guy, and your beard is very full.”
Callum hit him and took over Declan’s misguided pep talk. “She’s clearly way out of your league, but she’s here with you in public, right? So that’s a victory.”
I glowered. “You guys need to leave. And for the record, you should not be giving out love advice. Cal, you’re divorced.”
“But at least someone wanted to marry me.”
“And Dec, you can’t keep a woman around for more than one night.”
“Don’t need to. There are always more out there.” Declan nodded in the direction of the line, where at least three different women, ages eighteen to eighty, were staring at him with blatant lust. I clearly had to change tactics.
“Please just go home. I promise my intentions are honorable. I like her so much, and I’ve never felt this way before. Please, please, please, don’t fuck this up for me.”
They looked at each other and then got up to leave. “Okay, okay, bro. We love you. And you are probably going to fuck it up for yourself. You won’t need our help.”
23
Cecelia
“Ooh.I’m so glad you’re here. I hope you don’t mind I invited Emily. She was in the store yesterday asking about you, so I told her about our Monday breakfasts.”
Nora gestured to Emily who was standing at the counter. She smiled and waved. “I just dropped my kids off at camp and I am dying for some adult time.” Emily looked casually beautiful in some kind of expensive looking sweatpants that may have actually been pajamas, a T-shirt that said “Wine Mom,” and a messy bun on the top of her head. Regardless, she made slouchy mom chic work for her.
Since Nora worked crazy hours in her shop, and my schedule at the brewery tied me up during nights and weekends, we decided to make Monday morning breakfast at the diner our weekly catch-up time. Nora’s store was closed on Mondays, as were most businesses in downtown Havenport, so it was a great time to get our fix of caffeine and girl talk.
We found a booth and flagged Jackie over. Jackie was a helmet-haired septuagenarian who took no shit and suffered no fools. She had owned Wheeler’s Newsstand and Luncheonette with her husband, Joe, since the 1970s, and knew everyone and everything that happened in Havenport.
She arrived wearing a frilly powder-blue apron and clutching a coffee pot. “Hello, girls. I am so happy to see you again. And Emily. You look lovely. When are you going to bring those beautiful kids here to see us?”
