In Too Deep

“You got it.”

“But Cecelia is the real reason you would never flirt with me.”

“I do all I can to stay on my wife’s good side. How’re things with you? How’s the family?”

“They’re good. We all went to church together yesterday. Garrett was giving Mass.”

“He’s a good boy.”

Chloe just nodded. What could she say? Her brother was a priest. But to her, he was like any other big brother, vows notwithstanding.

Her phone rang in her pocket and she said her goodbyes before answering. “Hi, Erin. What’s up?”

“Please tell me you apologized to Mom for yesterday.”

“What did I have to apologize for?” It didn’t matter that she had. Erin was asking for a reason.

“She wants me to come over after dinner and I don’t want to spend my whole night hearing about what an awful daughter you are.”

“I talked to her earlier. We’re good. At least as good as normal.”

“Why do you insist on pushing her buttons?”

“Because sometimes it’s necessary. Like I told her, the way she reacts to Ronan is wrong. He’s a good guy.”

“Oh my God. Are you dating him?”

She hesitated for a second too long. “No.”

“The block party wasn’t everything, was it?”

“We’ve bumped into each other a few times over the last couple of weeks. That’s all. Chatted over drinks.” It wasn’t a lie. If this conversation happened tomorrow instead of today, she’d have to lie.

“Hm-mm. Methinks you protest too much.”

“Not quite how the quote goes, but what do you want me to say?”

“You were almost rabid in your defense of him yesterday.”

“Mom needs to let go of what happened back then. I explained to Mom a little more in-depth about how Ronan had protected me from myself that night.”

“One good deed doesn’t make him a good guy. He’s done a lot of bad stuff. Assault. Or battery. Whichever one means he beat the crap outta some guy. I’m sure there was more.”

Everyone knew Ronan had always been quick with his fists, but it was typically in defense of himself or someone else. He didn’t go around starting fights. “Which is also all in the past.”

“And you’re still going to say nothing is going on between the two of you?”

“We’re friends.” It was sort of true. Just then, Danny Cahill came through the door. “Look, I’m at work, so I have to go. Have fun with Mom.”

She disconnected and met Danny at his table. Maybe she’d be able to bring some more information to Ronan tonight. “Hi, Mr. Cahill. What can I get for you?”

“Coffee. And a scotch, neat.”

“I’ll be right back.”

Danny always had company when he was here. She watched the door as she went to the bar to get the drinks.

She returned and asked, “Need a menu?” It was a silly offer since he probably had the menu memorized.

“Can you bring two? I have a couple of men from my crews stopping by.”

“Dinner with the big boss, huh?” She wondered if one would be Ronan. The thought of his heavy stare on her while she worked, knowing they planned to spend the night together, made her thighs twitch.

She greeted and seated a few more customers before making her way back to Cahill’s table with the menus. By the time she got there, two guys were already sitting, neither Ronan. They were much smaller than him. Placing the menus on the table, she asked, “Can I get you gentlemen anything?”

When she met their eyes, she realized that they were the guys Ronan had working on his mother’s porch. Leroy. She never got the other guy’s name.

“Hey, again. You work here?” Leroy asked.

“Yep.”

“You know each other?” Cahill asked.

Turning her attention to him, she said, “I was getting my hair cut while they were working on Mrs. Doyle’s porch.”

Oh, shit. Was it bad that she said that? He probably knew that Ronan had done that as part of the off-book job, but was she supposed to know? Of course, she would know. The whole neighborhood saw the new porch. But she hadn’t said she knew it was off-book. Thoughts skittered through her head.

“Seems like everyone knows everyone in that neighborhood.”

She nodded. “It’s pretty tight-knit.”

Leroy and the other guy ordered beers, which allowed her to escape. She hadn’t planned for something like this. While pulling the beer, she took a deep breath. Just treat them like any other customers.

She delivered their drinks and took their order. Once she put the ticket in at the kitchen, she hovered in the area, cleaning tables, trying to listen to why Cahill would be having dinner with these two guys. They weren’t management level and Cahill wasn’t the kind of man who spent time with the nobodies. Chloe had been around long enough to know that Danny hadn’t come up through the ranks of the company. He wasn’t one of the boys.

This had to be about Ronan.

Cahill was asking about how things were going on various jobs. The guys were pretty quiet. Maybe they were intimidated by being with the owner of the company. This man signed their checks, so they wouldn’t want to say the wrong thing. Plus, they had to know this was weird.

Just as she was about to step away to check on their food, Cahill asked, “What do you think about Ronan as a supervisor?”

“He’s good,” Leroy said.