Page 15 of Harbor Lights (Inishderry Island Romances #3)

“And I’m a pretty simple chef, so it should work out just fine.” She indicated the oak table that took up half the kitchen. A ridiculous piece of furniture for someone who almost always dined alone. “Sit down and relax.”

Shiv grabbed her backpack from the corner. “Would you mind if I connected to your WiFi for a few minutes, please? I’ve been relying on my phone signal to keep up to speed.”

Con wondered what she needed to keep up to speed with, but nodded. “Of course. Capital CS underscore lowercase surgery, no password.” At least Shiv would be distracted while she tried to make their meal.

She added the onions, garlic, and mushrooms to the hot pan to soften, then retrieved a loaf and the butter dish from the pantry. She set them down in front of Shiv and added plates and cutlery. “Help yourself while you’re waiting. It’s fresh today.”

The ingredients had stuck slightly by the time she returned, and she scraped at them in what she hoped was a professional-looking manner.

She added tomatoes and spinach and then stirred in the egg on top.

The pan was more crowded than she’d planned for, and the eggs floated on top of the vegetables.

She rearranged ingredients until she was confident the egg had started to set.

Then she scooped everything with the spatula and tried to turn it.

The omelet fell apart, uncooked egg mixing with vegetables in an unappetizing mess.

“Fuck it.” She threw the spatula across the hob and squeezed the bridge of her nose. All she’d wanted was to make Shiv a nutritious, hot meal, and she’d screwed it up.

Gentle hands held her shoulders and guided her aside.

“Hey, it’s fine. Scrambled eggs is good too, right?” Shiv retrieved the spatula and began tossing the clumps of food. “Why don’t you pour yourself a glass of something and relax a little? I’ve got this.”

That somehow made it worse. Shiv shouldn’t have needed to rescue her from such a simple task. Con distracted herself from the urge to cry by pulling a cold bottle of white from the refrigerator. She took two glasses from the shelf.

“Not for me, thanks. I’ll stick with water.” Shiv looked over her shoulder from where she stood at the hob.

“Don’t you like white? I can open a red?”

“I don’t really drink. You go ahead.”

Con replaced the wine in the refrigerator and filled a water jug. “Water’s a good idea. I’ll save myself for a whiskey later.”

Shiv approached with two plates. “Here we are. Dinner saved.” She sat and placed a plate before Con.

It wasn’t pretty but it tasted just fine. “Thank you. I’m sorry I lost my shit.”

“Not at all. You’ve had a long day. You didn’t have to cook for me.” Shiv scooped up a forkful and chewed.

If only it was as simple as that, but Con’s inability to cook had just highlighted how static her life had remained since Majella left. Why had she wasted ten years on grief?

“Are you still in the room?” Shiv waved a hand in front of her face. “It tastes okay now, but I wouldn’t take my chances once it cools.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Now she was wasting the mealtime she’d been looking forward to for hours lost in dismal thoughts about her ex. What was wrong with her?

She finished off her meal and wiped her mouth. “Thank you, Shiv. You saved dinner.”

“I love a good cause to rally to.” Shiv’s laugh held a tinge of bitterness.

Con would love to hear more of her background in activism and wondered if she was at ease enough to share. “I’d ask if you wanted to relax in the study, but I know you need to get the ferry soon.”

“Oh, yeah.” Shiv leaned back. “I forgot to say. I saw Joey at the harbor, and they said Marianne is dragging them out to some new restaurant in Galway tonight, so I can have a lift back later if I want it.” There was a hesitation in her voice.

“But if you want to chill out, I’m happy to get the ferry. ”

Con blinked. Shiv wanted to spend an hour or two more with her. She wasn’t going to let that opportunity slip by. “Of course, that would be lovely. Let’s get comfortable.”

In the study, Shiv reclined on the floral chaise lounge facing the fire and Con quickly lit the wood already prepared and watched the flames flicker to life. She resisted the urge to dump herself alongside Shiv and retreated to her leather armchair close to the fire. She turned it toward Shiv.

“I’d offer you a whiskey, but I’m guessing you’ll say no.”

“I’m good thanks, but you go ahead. I’ve got a busy day tomorrow, don’t wanna face it with a hangover.”

Con wanted to say it was just a glass of whiskey, but she let it lie. “Did you catch up with your mail?”

“Yeah, thanks. It’s mainly my mom asking me to come home.”

“And are you going to?” Con hoped not.

“Not at the moment. It’s not that simple, but I can’t explain it to her.” Shiv chewed her thumbnail.

“Can you explain it to me?”

Shiv watched her for a moment, her golden eyes glinting in the firelight.

“I told you before, I got into some trouble. Picked a fight with the wrong guy, I guess. But I always kept in the shadows, used aliases, that kind of thing. Then I stopped someone beating a young woman to death at a demo and went to jail for it. When it hit the news, I wasn’t so anonymous anymore, and I heard that the guy I’d pissed off was looking for me and threatening my family.

” Her voice had got consistently quieter as she spoke, and now her voice cracked.

“I’ve only got my mom, and I’m not letting that bastard anywhere near her. ”

Con went with her instinct and closed the space between them, perching on the edge of the chaise lounge.

“Hey.” She put her arm over Shiv’s narrow shoulders. “I’m sure she’s okay. Do you need to get the police involved? If you think she’s in danger.”

Shiv scrubbed at her eyes with her bare arm. “It’s me he’s after. If I lay low and don’t cause him any more problems he’ll think the threat is working and leave her alone.” She bit her lip. “I hope.”

Con stared at her hand rubbing comforting circles across Shiv’s shoulder. The skin was soft and warm. She squeezed her hand into a fist, but kept her arm where it was.

“What did you do? If you want to talk about it.”

“I don’t.” Then Shiv’s shoulders slumped, and Con felt a wave of tension leave her. “Yeah, I do. I’ve kept it all in for far too long.” She turned toward Con. “If you really want to hear the details. It ain’t pretty.”

Con placed her hand on Shiv’s knee. She wanted the contact, and she sensed Shiv did too. “You can tell me anything.”

Shiv sighed. “This guy was a director of a medical supplies company. He had some big government contracts. I investigated him and exposed him as a member of the Iron Sons.”

“The neo-Nazi organization?” Con kept up to speed with world politics, and the rise of the far right across Europe and beyond was something that kept her awake at night.

“Yeah. They’re the worst of them. They want women back in the kitchen, anyone who isn’t a white Christian deported, and queer people six feet under. But the most terrifying part of it was how many members we uncovered who hold real senior positions in industry and politics.”

“Jesus. And have you made all of that public?” The thought of all that evil in the world made Con feel sick and slightly overwhelmed. She wondered what it would feel like to look that kind of hate in the face.

Shiv shuffled back on the couch and made more space for Con. “Most of them hide their identities really well. We’ve done plenty of anonymous whistle-blowing, but it’s not taken seriously without hard evidence and visible accusers. And these people don’t mess around.”

“But you got exposed?” Con was enjoying the physical presence of another person for the first time in years. It didn’t feel awkward that her arm was still around Shiv. If anything, she was leaning into the comforting embrace. It was a shame the conversation topic was a little harrowing.

“I remained off-grid for so long, traveling alone or with other activists. I was self-sufficient, only worked in cash, black bloc when we protested. I was pretty untraceable until I got arrested.”

“Is black bloc when the protesters all wear face coverings and unremarkable clothing?”

“Yeah, usually counter protesting at some rally that’s about taking other people’s rights away.”

“But then you get criticized for looking like a mob.”

“It’s protection to make us less identifiable by those far-right groups. They use technology to trace and doxx us. Or threaten our families.”

“But you’re also less easily identified by law enforcement?” Con had mixed feelings about activists who went to extreme lengths. Surely, extremism in all its forms was dangerous. Shiv seemed a little edgy to mention that right now. Maybe it was a conversation for the future.

Shiv hadn’t responded to her question, so she asked the one she really wanted an answer to. “Why did you go to prison?”

Shiv turned and backed out of her embrace. “I told you the other day.”

“You said you stopped someone getting hurt, but what did you do ?”

Shiv’s eyes narrowed. “What did I do, or what was I convicted of?”

“Both, I guess.”

“I saw a guy corner one of the younger protesters and drag her down an alley. I had to push my way through the crowds and when I got there she was on the ground, and he was stamping on her.”

“What did you do?” Con wondered if she actually wanted to know.

“I rushed him to get him away from her. I hit him hard, and his head bounced off the wall.” Shiv rubbed her face. “He was in a coma for six weeks and he has permanent brain damage.”

“And the woman?”

“Barely a woman. She was an eighteen-year-old student. Couldn’t have been more than a hundred and thirty pounds. Her face was so swollen she couldn’t even open her eyes for a week. She still won’t leave the house alone, a year on.”

Con didn’t think Shiv could be any more than a hundred and thirty pounds, even if a lot of that was muscle. “So, you probably saved her life?”

“That’s not how the judge saw it. He said whatever the mitigating circumstances, the severity of that shithead’s injuries deserved jail time. He gave me the minimum sentence of one year for aggravated battery, and I served it all in jail.”

“But you’ll have a criminal record for life?”

“I’d never been convicted before.”

Con noticed she didn’t say she’d never been in trouble with the law.

“There’s a first offender scheme that meant my case was sealed after I served my sentence.

So, technically, I don’t have a conviction on my record.

Turns out, though, these things follow you across continents.

” When Shiv laughed bitterly, a wave of guilt swamped Con for her interest in the gossip that had been shared before.

“So, you had to run when you got out? To keep your mom safe?” Shiv seemed to be in the mood to share and Con was keen to understand her situation and what had brought her to Inishderry of all places.

Shiv frowned again. “I wasn’t running. I was protecting my mom and her husband.

The guy I injured had links to another far-right group.

His dad is a senior member. They went all out to publicize my trial and expose the ‘extreme left’ and ‘Antifa’.

How my radical beliefs had destroyed the hopes of this clean-living, ex-college football star.

” Her voice dripped with sarcasm and disgust.

“So, you went to your estranged grandfather to lay low. And he sent you here.”

“I jumped at the chance, if I’m honest. My mom told me such wonderful stories of her childhood vacations on Inishderry. Before everything went wrong.”

“And are you glad you came?” Con wanted the answer to be positive.

Shiv’s thin lips twisted into a smile that brightened her face for the first time in a while.

“Yeah, I love it. I hope I’ve built some relationships that will last.” When their gazes locked, Con felt the intensity of Shiv’s words.

Shiv laughed lightly and broke the contact. “And my cousins are pretty okay, too.”

Con chuckled along with her, but she couldn’t help clinging on to that moment of connection.

What did it mean? Did Shiv feel that closeness, too?

The feeling she’d finally found someone who understood her.

She shrugged it off. Siobhán Walsh was an activist with a violent history.

Not to mention Con was so much older. And her GP.

There were so many reasons not to go there, even in her own head. And yet…