O’Brien brothers had butted heads repeatedly. Mick won most arguments through an absolute sense of self-confidence that couldn’t be shaken by law or reason. The only time he’d been trumped was when Thomas had used legal means to ensure that Mick adhered to the strictest interpretation of environmental regulations. Mick had never entirely forgiven him, or Jeff for siding with him. He’d labeled Thomas a traitor and told Jeff he had no backbone. Jeff hadn’t bothered trying to contradict him, which had only further infuriated Mick.
Things were easier among the three of them now that they’d wisely decided against working together. Ma insisted that some level of family obligation bring them together on Sundays and holidays and, over time, they’d managed to handle the occasions with a certain amount of grace and goodwill.
Still, Jeff couldn’t deny that it grated when he’d heard about Mick threatening to interfere in Susie’s relationship with Mack Franklin. Now that Mick’s own children were all happily married, apparently he’d decided to take on Jeff’s.
Personally Jeff had never understood the need to meddle in someone else’s life. He and Jo had raised Susie with good values and good sense. Whatever was going on between her and Mack, he trusted her to get what she wanted out of it. Susie had never been some shy little wallflower. She was every bit as stubborn and determined as anyone else in the family.
At least, he’d felt that way until he’d seen her with Mack on Thanksgiving, recognized the sparks flying during that traditional family football game, and then seen his daughter come back from a walk with Mack with tears on her cheeks. For the first time, he’d wanted to throttle a man for making his little girl cry. He’d told Jo about it that night.
“She has a good head on her shoulders,” Jo insisted. “And she’s loved Mack as far back as I can remember. All we can do is be there for her if things don’t work out the way she wants them to.”
“I suppose,” he’d said. “Are you sure I can’t sit him down and knock some sense into him?”
She laughed. “You could, but then you’d be just like Mick. Is that what you want?”
The suggestion had been enough to keep him away from Mack. For now.
He glanced at the list Susie had given him of things he needed to do on Saturday morning. Bringing her into the real estate management company had been the smartest thing he’d ever done. She could organize an army battalion without batting an eye. He could easily see her with a houseful of kids underfoot, handling the chaos with total competence and ease. A part of him longed for the time when she’d do just that. Watching his older brother with his grandkids had made Jeff just a little envious.
“Are you heading over to Shanna’s now, Dad?” Susie called out to him. “I told her you’d be there first thing to check on that plumbing. Dwight’s good, but we don’t want to take any chances that he missed something.”
“On my way,” he assured her, then paused after taking a closer look at her pale complexion. “You okay?”
She looked startled by the question. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You don’t look so hot, and you took off pretty suddenly on Thanksgiving.”
“I…I didn’t feel well,” she said, then hurriedly added, “Then. I didn’t feel well then. I’m perfectly fine now.”
“Something you ate? I haven’t heard about anyone else feeling ill.”
“Maybe nobody else got thrown on the ground as many times as I did right after dinner,” she retorted with a faint grin.
Jeff recognized the perfect opening. “About that,” he began.
“Dad, leave it alone,” she said tersely, her expression forbidding.
“You sure? If you ever want to talk, your mother and I, we’re always on your side. You do know that, don’t you?”
She managed to pull off a reassuring smile that Jeff didn’t entirely buy. “Of course I know that,” she promised. “Now, get started. It’s going to take you all day to get through that list I gave you, and Mitzi Gaylord is coming in at five to sign the contract for the Brighton house.”
“On my way,” he said, still oddly reluctant to leave his daughter.
A few minutes later, though, he was in the bookstore when he overheard someone make a comment about Mack’s column not being in the paper. He realized he’d noticed the same thing this morning at breakfast, but hadn’t seen any reason to be alarmed by it.
“Well, I heard he was fired,” one of the women said. “That’s why he’s been hiding out the past few days. Who can blame him? His whole identity was wrapped up in that job. I think he was convinced it was his ticket to respectability—not that he needed one as far as I’m concerned. Still, after all he went through as a boy, this had to be a blow.”
“Fired? Are you sure?” a second woman asked. “The paper’s been making a big fuss about him for a long time now. Have you been up to Baltimore? Everywhere you look, his picture’s right there. It’s even on the sides of buses. He’s like some kind of sports columnist superstar.”
Jeff stepped out of the back room and looked around to identify the speakers. One of them was Ethel, whose nearby shop specialized in souvenirs and local gossip. He glanced around and caught Shanna’s eye, then beckoned her to the back.
“Did you hear them?” he asked.
She nodded. “But I have no idea if what they’re saying is true. I only know Mack’s been really upset. He wouldn’t tell Susie why. That’s why they fought on Thanksgiving.”
Jeff nodded, absorbing that news. “I see.”
“Please don’t tell her I told you about the fight,” Shanna pleaded. “She’d hate having you worry about her.”
“Yeah, Susie never wants anyone to worry,” he said. “Thanks, though, Shanna.”
After he’d finished checking to make sure the plumbing had been fixed, he was about to leave when he saw Will browsing through the nonfiction section. Jeff confronted him. If anyone would know what was going on, Will would.
“Have you got a minute?” he asked Will.
“Sure. What’s up?”
“Outside,” Jeff commanded, not wanting Ethel to overhear anything she could pass along to her customers.
When he and Will had walked to one of the benches along the bay and sat down, Jeff asked, “Has Mack been fired from his job? That’s the talk going around town this morning.”
Will’s uncomfortable expression was answer enough. Jeff sighed. “Then it’s true?”
Will nodded. “It happened the week before Thanksgiving. It’s really rocked him.”
“I can imagine,” Jeff said, feeling a certain amount of pity for him. Like everyone else in town, he know how much the job had meant to Mack. It had been his dream, and as Ethel had noted, it had given him the respect he’d always craved. Of anyone Jeff knew, no one had been more deserving of finding a little happiness.
“Has
