Violet frowned. “I hadn’t noticed that, although it makes perfect sense.”
“I can’t even tell you what a beer tastes like, only how it smells. I was always too afraid of being like him. I worried one drink would turn into ten and the next thing I knew, I’d be in as deep as he was. I couldn’t do that to myself or to my mother. She’d already been through so much with my dad.”
“The halfway house will help a lot of people.”
“It was my mother’s idea, really. Dad tried rehab twice and it worked fairly well at first, but once he came home and went back to work, he’d settle back into his bad habits. Even if he didn’t work in a bar he would’ve had trouble. She always said that he needed more than twenty-eight days. He needed a transitional place to help him adjust to his sobriety in his old, comfortable situations. She hated not being able to stop my father from destroying himself, and eventually that’s what he did. He died of liver failure about three years ago. That’s why I quit my job at the advertising agency and took over Murphy’s.”
“Wait. You worked at an advertising agency?”
Aidan frowned. Had he not told her that story? He supposed they had barely scratched the surface in their discussions. “Yeah. I was an advertising executive for about five years after graduating from college. I’d worked on a few successful campaigns for some big accounts and was being fast-tracked at the firm. It was certainly a different life than the one I live now.”
“Do you ever miss the work?”
“I hate to disappoint you, but no, I don’t. I was trying to better myself and I realized that it didn’t make me any happier than I was when I was poor. In truth, I was miserable. Successful and miserable. Running my father’s bar isn’t the most important or well-paying job in the world, but I like my employees and my clientele. I enjoy going in most days. I like being there when people need someone to talk to. It’s a completely different kind of experience each day and I like that.”
Violet seemed flabbergasted by their whole discussion. “I don’t know why I thought you’d always worked at the bar. Advertising...” She shook her head. “I guess we have a lot to learn about each other.”
“We do. I guess it just hasn’t come up, but I thought you knew. That’s why I’ve got that nice apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. I used my advertising bonuses as a down payment or I couldn’t afford to live in it now.”
“You own your place? I didn’t realize that, either.” Violet frowned and Aidan understood why.
“We’ve done things a little backward, I have to admit.”
They turned and started walking back down the path through the park. The more Aidan thought about it, the more he wanted to do things right with Violet. Their relationship was all out of order. They’d had a baby first, then lived together, albeit temporarily. They knew very little about each other’s pasts. They might have an emotional connection, but they’d flunk out on The Newlywed Game. It was all backward and he wanted to go back to the beginning and have a relationship reset. “I think there’s something you and I need to do. Something important.”
“What’s that?” she asked with a curious expression on her face.
“A real, honest-to-goodness date with food and conversation and getting to know one another. Violet, would you be interested in going out on a date with me?”
* * *
This was not what Violet had in mind when Aidan said he wanted to go on a date. She was picturing a nice restaurant, candlelight, maybe a walk through Central Park. The usual. She should’ve known that with Aidan their date would be anything but the usual. Instead, it was three in the afternoon and she, along with literally fifty thousand other people, was walking into Yankee Stadium to watch a home game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like baseball. She did. The foundation even had seats in the Delta SKY360 Suites that she made use of from time to time, especially when donors needed to be wooed. But it just wasn’t what she was expecting when she got asked out. She should’ve known something was up when Aidan said to be ready at two and to dress casual.
At the same time, the light of excitement in Aidan’s eyes made it all worth it. Baseball was important to him. She’d seen the trophy from the state championship he’d won in high school at his apartment. The first gift he gave to his son was a Yankees jersey and a baseball mitt no larger than an orange. She didn’t even know they made mitts that small. So coming to see a game was obviously an important experience for him to share with Violet.
She tried to keep that in mind as she stopped at Aidan’s side while he looked down at their tickets. Then she realized she could give him a new way to experience the game. “Would you like to go see if anyone is sitting in the foundation box?”
Aidan looked at the section where their tickets were and shrugged with indifference. “I forgot you had those. It’s up to you.”
Violet tried to hide her disappointment. She thought he would be more excited to get the chance to sit in their swanky private box. “It’s awfully hot right now. At the very least we can sit in the air-conditioning and have a private restroom. I thought you might like it.”
He nodded. “Our seats are in the direct sunlight. If you’re already hot, it might be a good idea to check it out and maybe we can move down closer to the field once the sun sets. Otherwise I will have wasted these thirty-dollar tickets,” he added with a smile.
Violet met his smile, hopeful he wasn’t offended by her suggestion. In truth, she’d never sat in the regular seats. Her father never let her. He was a big baseball fan. That was half the reason they had the box seats. The foundation was just a good excuse for him to get one. It was one thing he and Aidan would actually have in common if she ever introduced them.
Unfortunately it wouldn’t be enough to satisfy her ever-critical father.
So far, as best Violet could tell, nothing he’d acquired on this earth could satisfy her father. Aidan was doomed to failure in that regard, whether he was a crown prince or a Lower East Side bartender.
She didn’t want to worry about that today. Today, her parents were in Istanbul, and she just wanted to enjoy her afternoon with Aidan. She led him around the stadium to the stairs that would take them up to the executive boxes.
“Good afternoon, Eddie,” Violet said with a smile as she approached the security guard who policed the east entrance to the boxed seats. She brought more than her share of donors to games here and recognized the regular guard. “Is anyone using the Niarchos Foundation box today? I wasn’t sure if Daddy had let one of his friends use it or not and I forgot to check before I left.”
The large, muscular man with dark brown skin and kind eyes looked down at his tablet and shook his head. “Not today, Miss Niarchos. Will you and your guest be joining us for the game?”
“For a while, I think, until it cools down.”