Page 26 of Harbor Lights (Inishderry Island Romances #3)

SEVENTEEN

“It needs some work, I’m not denying that.” Shiv lifted the old door propped in the doorway. She wasn’t kidding. Con had passed this shed a thousand times and had never imagined it as a venue for anything.

But Shiv’s enthusiasm and vision for its transformation was a little catching. She moved through the main room to the small kitchen and ran water into the sink. It started with a groan and a rusty stream, but it soon cleared.

“Power, too.” Shiv leaned past her to flick on a switch, and she breathed in her proximity.

She’d had almost a week to dwell on the truth: she’d been lying to herself as well as Shiv.

She wanted more than friendship. She wanted what she fantasized about every night before going to sleep.

Damn, how had she gotten here? She’d sworn she’d protect her heart after Majella tore it in two.

But Shiv had dug her way in, unintentionally it would seem.

“Con?”

She jumped when Shiv touched her shoulder.

“You okay?”

“Yes, sorry. I was just thinking about the potential of this place.”

Shiv leaned over and closed off the faucet, her gaze on Con. “Good to hear. Does that mean you want me to agree it with my granddad?”

Did she? Standing here in this tiny room with Shiv was a physical representation of her dilemma. She constantly yearned to be around Shiv, then once they were together, she was afraid of her feelings. If they worked together on this project, the whole thing would be magnified.

She put her own considerations aside and remembered why they were doing this. The effect it would have on the kids in the local area. Not just the queer kids, but the geeks and other isolated young people. It wasn’t about her needs.

“Yes, yes. Let’s do it!”

She held up her hand for a high five, but Shiv grasped her hips and pulled her close.

She had no choice but to wrap her arms around Shiv in return, but the sensation of her hard body against her own softer one caused a wave of desire to emanate from her center and spread through her body. Her cheeks heated.

What’s wrong with me? I’m acting like a teenager, not a menopausal woman. But Shiv fired her up, made her forget society dictated she should be past such things.

She’d been holding Shiv close for too long to avoid awkwardness, so she pulled away with a laugh that sounded hollow to her own ears, her cheeks still burning.

“Phew. Sorry if I’ve overheated the room. I’m having one of my moments.”

She staggered out into the main room and rushed for the door, glad to get back out into the chilly evening. There was a drizzle in the air, the type that felt like nothing, but would quickly soak her. She didn’t care. She needed to breathe.

She sensed more than heard Shiv’s presence behind her.

“Are you okay?”

She turned quickly. “Of course, yes. Just the fucking menopause making my life a misery.”

Shiv’s intense amber stare remained, but her lips twitched. “You’re not selling it to me, this menopause business.”

“Ah, you’ve a while to go yet before you have to think about it.”

“Not that long.” Shiv shoved her hands in her pockets and dropped onto a nearby rock, seemingly oblivious to the soaking cloud enveloping them.

Con flipped up her collar and pulled out a tweed cap from the pocket. Standing around in the rain wasn’t her favorite, but now she could breathe again, she didn’t want their conversation to end. “Menopause? You’re barely out of adolescence from my viewpoint.”

Shiv squinted up at her through the rain. It had begun to flatten her hair. “I turned forty a couple of months ago. It felt like a big milestone.”

“Yeah, those big birthdays can really throw you. I thought fifty was bad enough, but now I’m midway to sixty it doesn’t seem so bad.” She stamped her feet, which dislodged the rain from her cap onto her face.

“Look, I’d love to keep talking but it really is fucking vile out here. Coffee in the Waterside? We can sit in the foyer if the restaurant’s busy.”

“Sure, why not.” Shiv stood and shook the rain from her shaggy hair.

They were quickly in the warm and dry of the foyer of the Waterside. Kasia looked up from the reception desk and put her hand over the mouthpiece of her phone. “Shiv, get some towels from that room there,” she indicated. “And dry yourselves off.” She went back to her call.

Shiv returned with two fluffy white towels. “There’s a drying room. Do you want me to take your coat?” She handed over a towel and slipped the coat from Con’s shoulders. It was a simple, thoughtful gesture, but it took Con by surprise.

“Thank you.” She shook the rain from her cap and placed it on the hat stand, then used the towel to dry her face and wipe her glasses.

Shiv had shrugged off her coat and hung it alongside Con’s in the drying room. She was wearing a thin sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off, and her jeans were dark from the wet. Her skin was covered in goosebumps.

“You should change out of those clothes and get something warm on.” Con wanted to take off the sweater she was wearing, but she knew Shiv would refuse it.

“I’m good.” Shiv rubbed her bare arms. “I’ll soon warm up in here.”

Kasia ended her call and looked up. “Run upstairs to Tierney, Siobhán. She’ll lend you a sweater.”

It was less of a suggestion than a command, and Con grinned at Shiv and held up her hands. Shiv rolled her eyes.

“Okay, but we’re only here for coffee.” Shiv tramped toward the stairs, making a squishy noise as she went.

When she’d disappeared upstairs, Kasia turned. “She doesn’t look after herself properly. Bigger things on her mind, I guess.”

“She’s okay.” Con felt uncomfortable talking about Shiv when she wasn’t there. “Can we get coffee in the lobby, please? We only came in to get out of the rain.”

Kasia grabbed a mop from the corner and started to clean up the puddle Shiv had left behind. “I think you left it a little late. Sit down, and I’ll ask the kitchen to bring some coffee.”

Con took the mop from her hands. “How about I clean up the mess we made?”

Kasia smiled gratefully and returned to her desk. She picked up the phone and asked for a pot of coffee for three.

“Mind if I join you?” She regarded Con from over the desk.

“Not at all.” Con returned the mop to its corner and flopped onto one of the comfortable fabric sofas in the lobby. She did mind a little. Time alone with Shiv felt precious. But she couldn’t keep her all to herself. Shiv needed other friendships, too.

Colette, the head chef, appeared a few minutes later with a jug of coffee. Kasia smiled as she passed her en route for the main staircase. “Thanks, Colette. Doc, I’ll be two minutes. Problem in room three.” She took the stairs two at a time.

“The head chef serving coffee?” Con winked at Colette.

Colette laughed, perched on the back of the chair, and tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear. She wasn’t in her chef’s whites yet. “I just arrived for work and heard Kasia calling for coffee. I thought I’d pop out and see who was visiting.”

“It’s only me and...”

Footsteps sounded on the stairs above.

“This is Tierney’s cousin, Shiv. Have you met?”

“No, not yet.” Colette straightened as Shiv arrived at the foot of the stairs. She was dressed in an oversized purple Walsh Watersports hoodie and some borrowed sweatpants rolled up at the bottom. She looked adorable, apart from the scowl on her face.

“Tierney made me change everything and then insisted on washing—” She blinked at Colette. “Hi.”

“Siobhán Walsh, meet Colette O’Leary, the Waterside’s head chef.”

Colette’s smile was dazzling as she approached Shiv, and Con could see her defensiveness melt under its glare. Shiv grasped her outstretched hand and nodded with a shy smile.

“Sorry we’ve not met. Kasia keeps me chained up in the kitchen.”

“I heard that.” Kasia’s voice sounded from the top of the main staircase as she quickly descended. “You’re early. Stay and have coffee with us. I’ll get another cup.” She left again in the direction of the dining room.

“Sometimes, just watching Kasia is enough to tire me out.” Con moved up as Shiv settled on the couch next to her.

“Imagine working for her.” Colette poured a mug for each of them, then straightened as Kasia returned. She took the extra mug and filled that, too. Kasia added a jug of cream and a bowl of sugar to the table.

“Help yourselves.”

Con watched Shiv add a splash of cream and two sugar lumps to her coffee. She was caught out on her observation when Shiv turned, jug in hand. “Cream?”

“I take mine black, thanks.”

She tried to remember if she’d offered Shiv sugar when she’d been at the house. She wasn’t sure there was any sugar in the larder. She would make sure she had some for next time.

“Doc?”

She blinked and turned to Kasia. “Sorry?”

“Shiv is telling us you have secret plans for the shed on the lane.”

Well, they’re not secret now, are they?

She was being silly. She couldn’t keep it under wraps forever. And now with Shiv involved, she felt much more confident they could make it happen.

“That’s right. We’re hoping to turn it into a youth club.”

“Oh, that would be a wonderful thing for the island.” Kasia clapped her hands.

“It would, but there are a few hoops to jump yet, so I’d appreciate if you kept it to yourselves for now.”

“I gotta convince my granddad to let us have the shed, for one.” Shiv had her mug cupped in her hands and Con worried she was still cold.

“So very much not a done deal.” Kasia’s enthusiasm faded.

“I have full confidence in Shiv’s negotiating skills.” Con squeezed Shiv’s knee.

“It’s not worth anything to him, and my labor is.” Shiv shrugged.

“I see you have a good understanding of your grandfather’s priorities.” Kasia stood and drained her mug. “I need to get on, but stay as long as you want.” She pressed Colette back into the chair. “Stay and finish your coffee. The kitchen will cope without you.”

She paused at the door. “Good luck with your plans. Keep me posted.”

“She’s a whirlwind, isn’t she?” Shiv murmured.

“Yeah, but such a good boss. She pulls everyone along in her wake.” Colette’s smile was full of admiration. “And she leaves me to run my kitchen without any interference.”

“It must be killing her inside.” Con laughed, knowing Kasia’s need for control.

“Anyway, enough of my work.” Colette pulled her chair closer. “Tell me more about your involvement in the youth club. Are you planning to stick around?”

Her questions were aimed solely at Shiv, so Con sat back in her seat and watched Shiv answer the interrogation.

Con couldn’t see her expression since Shiv was turned toward Colette.

She still had her hands clasped around her mug, but she appeared relaxed while she explained to Colette she hadn’t made any long-term plans, and how keen she was to see this project get off the ground.

“And what did you do before you came here?”

Shiv’s leg tensed where it rested against Con’s. She bit back the impulse to answer for Shiv and shield her from the inquisition.

“I was—am—a political activist, working against fascists and neo-Nazi organizations. But I ended up in jail for a spell.”

“Oh, what worthwhile work. I admire people like you who give up everything for the greater good.”

Con thought Colette was gushing a little, but Shiv’s shoulders relaxed a little more. “I don’t know about that, but anyway, I made a powerful enemy, and I came here to lie low.”

Con hadn’t heard Shiv talk so freely to anyone other than herself.

She observed the young chef a bit more closely.

Her jet-black hair framed a triangular face with sharp cheekbones.

She had pale blue eyes made more startling by the dark lashes that surrounded them.

Damn. Why had Con never noticed how stunning she was?

She sat forward now, her hands clasped on her crossed legs, the picture of a receptive audience, all ears for Shiv’s quiet honesty about her life, without a sign of insincerity. Con was beginning to feel like a third wheel. She drained her mug and stood. “I’d better be heading for the ferry.”

She had half an hour, but she’d rather stand, getting soaked on the quay, than watch this interaction a moment longer.

Shiv blinked up at her and got to her feet. “I’ll walk you down.”

“You don’t need to do that. You just got dry and warm.”

Shiv’s eyes held her own and Con’s insecurity about losing her attention was gone in a moment. “I want to. And Kasia says I have to borrow a waterproof coat.”

“I need to get to work, anyway.” Colette gathered their mugs.

Shiv turned to her. “It was good to meet you.”

Colette clasped her hand with her free one. “You, too. Will I see you again soon?”

“Probably.” Shiv laughed. “Kasia and Tierney insist on feeding me, and now they’re holding my best jeans hostage.”

“Well, be sure to look me up.” Colette turned. “Bye, Doc.” She left by the kitchen door.

“Let’s get you to the ferry nice and early.” Shiv turned her smile on her, and Con’s legs trembled. “It would be terrible if you were stranded and had to stay the night in my shitty little cabin.”

Con couldn’t think of anything she wanted more, but she laughed along and followed Shiv out into the near dusk. The days were short now it was mid-December. Nearly Christmas time. When she would head to England to spend the holidays with the family that wasn’t hers.