of woes that ranged from problematic coworkers trying to make her lose tenure—whatever that was—to her out-of-control canine, her lost coffee shop job, not being able to make this month’s rent and, oddly enough, the torture of control-top hosiery. He struggled to keep his expression sympathetic as he nodded along to that one.
“You’re laughing at me,” she declared, her face scrunching.
“Only on the inside,” he said solemnly, then gave in and chuckled, pleased when her bell-like laugh rang out. He topped off her coffee and dodged her playful swat. “No, really. I’m listening.”
Despite Rebecca’s erratic rant, he found her charming and entertaining, even if she didn’t mean to be. Somehow closing up no longer mattered, and for the first time in a while he heard himself laugh. He enjoyed watching her large, mobile mouth, her expressive eyes, and the way she squeezed his hand for emphasis. It’d been a while since someone outside his family touched him and he was surprised at the feelings she stirred. Dangerous ones.
“Aiden,” Mary Ann called. “Connor won’t get off the Xbox, Mom wants to know when Dad is coming upstairs, Ella’s wet her bed and Daniel’s having those nightmares again. I thought you’d be up by now, and—oh...”
Spotting Rebecca, his sister pulled up short on the staircase from their upstairs apartment.
“Hey.” Rebecca waved, and then, with a clunk, passed out, her head hitting the bar.
Aiden rushed around the counter and Mary Ann flew to the girl’s side.
“Ouch. Why didn’t you cut her off?” Mary Ann scolded, her expert nurse’s hands—from training he’d made sure she received—running over Rebecca’s temples and prying open her shut eyes. As the second oldest, Mary Ann had always been one to challenge his authority...and the only one he could turn to when he dared admit to a problem.
“She came here this way.” Aiden held up a mug. “And I’ve been trying to get her to drink this.” Luckily, she hadn’t hit the hot liquid. He should have noticed she was close to passing out. Mary Ann was right; he’d been distracted by Rebecca and had dropped the ball. “I was going to call her a cab.”
“In this condition? You can’t let a woman travel alone like that. Remember what happened to Gemma after the family reunion?”
Aiden shook his head. “I didn’t go to the reunion.”
Mary Ann’s harsh expression softened. “Right. You had to work. Sorry, Aiden.”
He shrugged. “Goes with the territory.” He’d spent so much of his life in the pub, it barely registered anymore. Though he would like to get out. Meet someone like Rebecca...
“Come on. Lock the door and help me.” His sister already had his client’s lolling head on her shoulder, her flame-red hair bright against Rebecca’s gold. “We’ll put her to sleep in the office. She won’t be any threat to the family in this state.”
Aiden turned the bolts, then scooped up Rebecca and carried her upstairs. She weighed no more than a crate of Guinness and felt as soft as a down pillow. For a moment he fantasized what it would be like to take her to his room, but swerved into the office and the futon that awaited.
“I’ll get some sheets to make it up.” Mary Ann shot him a narrow-eyed look as he sat at his desk chair and held Rebecca tight. He wouldn’t risk her slipping and hitting her head again.
“Who’s that pretty lady?”
He glanced up, hearing his youngest sister’s voice. “A new friend who’s not feeling very well. And you should be in bed, Ella. School’s tomorrow.”
“I had an accident.” Her thin frame was wrapped in a towel, her hair wet, her mouth trembling.
Aiden mustered a reassuring smile. “Well, you’ve gone a long time. It’s been months...so things are looking up, aren’t they?”
Ella’s dark hair, similar in wave and thickness to his, slid in a tangle as she bobbed her head. Her long face transformed into a relieved grin. “Not since February.”
Aiden angled his body around an inert Rebecca and held out an arm for the little one. “There you have it. I’m proud of you, Ella.”
She smelled of soap and toothpaste as she nuzzled her head in the crook of his neck. “I love you, Aiden,” she whispered, then took off in a flash, passing their wandering mother in a series of twirls.
“Ellison!”
Aiden flinched, hating it when she mistook him for his look-alike father.
“What are you doing with this woman?”
“Mom. It’s me. Aiden. And this is a customer who’s had a few too many.”
“Is it Mildred again?” His mother’s anger faded to confusion and her hand wandered up to tangle in her white, shoulder-length hair. “For an Irishwoman, she can’t hold her liquor. Your father adds water to her whiskey, you know.”
“Oh, there you are, Mother.” Mary Ann entered with linens, dropped them on the futon and put an arm around their parent. “Let’s get you off to sleep now. I’ve got your pill and no spitting it out this time.”
Their voices faded and Aiden shifted Rebecca on his lap, gazing down at her peaceful, angelic face. If only his life was as worry-free as she looked, and that he could get to know a girl like this. But no woman would ever take on his responsibilities, and he’d never give them up. Didn’t have time to pay attention to one more person in his life on top of his family. And families stuck together, no matter the sacrifice.
A nightmare-induced shriek, Daniel’s by the sound of it, made Rebecca murmur and twine a hand in Aiden’s hair, her body snuggled so tightly against him he couldn’t breathe. He stood and gently laid her on the futon, savoring this quiet moment before dealing with Connor’s Xbox defiance and whatever other family crisis-of-the-moment waited—the worst of which would come tomorrow morning at the hearing.
For this moment at least, he’d be selfish. It felt good to imagine what life with a woman like Rebecca would have been like, before reality’s undertow sucked him under.
“AHHH, THERE’S MY elusive tenant.” Rebecca’s foot froze on the top step to her loft’s landing. Darn. First she’d woken in a stranger’s apartment, realized her cold was replaced with a pounding headache only caffeine could cure, except that she’d boycotted JavaHut, and now this. Her landlord.
She turned and forced a smile. “Good morning, Mr. Trotsky. I’m actually running a bit late. School’s back in session today.” And she hoped to arrive early and speak to her principal about her tenure...
The man peered up at her with eyes as black as the mustache he smoothed. A nervous tick that she and Laura had nicknamed “the groom of doom.” Her heart pinched at the thought of returning to her lonely loft. Would she ever get used to her friend’s absence?
“Have you got rent for me?” His fingers glided over his top lip once more. When a door opened behind him, his comb-over lifted in the stale breeze.
“I
