Chloe wokethe following morning and Ronan was gone. He hadn’t said anything about having to go early. She’d been so knocked out that she hadn’t even felt him leave. She went to the kitchen to make some coffee and call the Byrnes to give them an update about last night. She picked up her phone to call Ronan first and then the Byrnes, but she saw she had a couple of missed calls from her mom and a voicemail from Ronan. Why would he call in the middle of the night? Was that when he left?
She put the phone on speaker and hit the button to listen to the voicemail while she readied coffee.
“Hey, Chloe. I couldn’t sleep, and I didn’t want to disturb you. I’m spinning out right now. All the work. All the digging. It all led to Alan and now he’s gone. I need to keep searching for answers. I need a little space. Not a lot, and I’m not walking away from us or what we could have. I want all of it with you, but I need to finish this first. I hope you understand.”
She stood there with a scoop of coffee in one hand and stared at her phone. What the hell was that? Last night they’d talked about wanting to be together. A real relationship and he couldn’t even make it through the night? She dumped the grounds into the coffeemaker and replayed the message. Without caffeine in her system, maybe she misunderstood the message.
The second time was only a little better. This time she focused on the positives of what he’d said. He wanted to be with her. Last night she’d thought he was being a little callous about Alan’s death, but now she was seeing it differently. He and Brendan had been holding on to the hope of getting their answers from Alan. What would they do now?
She picked up her phone again to call the Byrnes, but a knock on her front door stopped her. She opened the door, hoping it was Ronan, but her mother pushed her way in.
“Are you okay? You’re awake but didn’t answer the phone or return my call. I heard about Alan Cahill. You were there? It must’ve been awful.”
Chloe barely had the door closed before her mother had gripped her shoulders and stared into her face.
“Are you in shock? Should I call the doctor?”
Chloe blinked. “I’m fine, Mom. It was a lot to handle last night, but I handled it. The ambulance arrived and took Alan to the hospital.”
Her mom pulled her into a hug. “Oh, honey. You don’t know. Alan died last night.”
She wasn’t sure why her mother was hugging her, as if Alan had been a friend or something other than a regular customer. She pulled out of her mother’s embrace. “I’m okay, Mom.”
“You look awful.”
Chloe turned so her mom wouldn’t see her eyeroll. “It was a rough night and I just woke up. Do you want some coffee?”
“That would be lovely. But let me get it. Go sit down.”
Chloe sat and waited until her mom returned with two cups. “How did you find out that Alan died? What happened?”
“Mrs. Byrne called me first thing. She’d gone to the hospital last night to be with the family. Alan had another massive heart attack in the middle of the night. Danny is so distraught. Everything rests on his shoulders now.”
“Why? He’s not an only child.”
“His mother will lean on him. He’s already running the construction company. Now he’ll have to handle everything. I don’t know how he’ll be able to continue his campaign.”
“What about the rest of the family?”
“I don’t know what his older brother is doing, His sister died a few years ago. Cancer. She did have children though. Two daughters, I think.” Her mom shook her head. “I’m sure they have nothing to do with Alan’s businesses. They must be about your age. Probably have their own lives and careers. Families.”
Chloe filed that tidbit away to relay to Ronan and Brendan. Her mom laid a hand on Chloe’s wrist.
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Yeah, Mom. Thanks for checking on me.”
“I told you you should get a new job.”
Chloe closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Where I work has nothing to do with what happened. If I worked in an office, one of my co-workers could drop dead in the cubicle next to me. Stuff happens. No one can control that.”
Her mother didn’t respond. Chloe knew there was no convincing her. They sat in silence, drinking their coffee. Chloe considered how to tell her mom about her and Ronan. Maybe blurting it out would be best. Inhaling deeply, she braced herself.
Then her phone rang. Part of her hoped it was Ronan. It would give her a way to bring it up, but it was Mr. Byrne.
“Excuse me, Mom. This is Mr. Byrne.” She stood and walked into the kitchen. “Hello, Mr. Byrne.”
“Hi, Chloe. Sorry to bother you so early, especially after last night. I’m calling because the Cahills are planning Alan’s funeral. They want the funeral to be a small family affair, but since he was so well known, there needs to be a public event. I offered to host a wake at the Rose. We’ll be open regular hours today and tomorrow, but Tuesday we’ll be closed to regular business after three. Word will go out immediately, so we need to have all hands available for the mourners. We won’t be serving a full menu. Drinks and appetizers for the guests. I expect hundreds of people to stop by.”
Chloe leaned against her counter and pulled a pad of paper in front of her. “Okay. Do you have a list of appetizers? I’m sure you don’t want to offer everything on the menu. And are we just keeping food out for guests, or are we allowing them to order?”
“I haven’t had a chance to go over the details with the Cahills, but I prefer to just have a buffet set up with appetizers. I’ll leave the selection up to you. Soft drinks will be no charge, but everything else is a cash bar. The Cahills have enough to deal with without having to worry about a bar tab, and I know this neighborhood. If they think they drink for free, they’ll break the bank.”
Chloe smiled as she took notes. “I’ll develop a menu and send it to you for approval. Then I’ll create signs to keep on the tables and one for the door to let people know we’re closed for regular business. Is there anything else I can do?”
“Not that I can think of right now.”
“I’m sorry for your loss, Mr. Byrne. I know Mr. Cahill was a good friend.”
“Thank you for everything, Chloe. You’re a godsend.”
They disconnected and Chloe took her pad back to where her mother sat waiting. “Sorry about that. Mr. Byrne wants to have a wake for Alan Cahill at the Rose. I have a lot of planning to do today to get ready.”
“I guess that’s my cue to head home.” She rinsed her cup in the kitchen sink and then hugged Chloe. “You’re a good girl.”
Yeah, when I’m not being a disappointment.“Thanks, Mom. I’ll talk to you later.”
After taking a shower and getting dressed, Chloe sent a quick text to both Ronan and Brendan about the wake for Alan. She didn’t know if it would matter, but in her experience, drunk people liked to reminisce and talk about the dead. Someone might spill and talk about things they shouldn’t.
Neither of the Doyle men responded. Of course. She didn’t have time to stress. Mr. Byrne was counting on her to pull off a wake, so she had a lot to do. Even as she made her to-do list, though, she added a mental item to talk to Ronan about his cryptic message.