you'd work hard. Now, it's barely three weeks since that day, and you're already slacking. I'm asking you straight out, and you answer in the same manner. Do you want this job?'
Sinead dabbed at her eyes. The new mascara she'd purchased out of her first week's pay smeared. Some might have found the look pitiful and softened. Darcy only thought the girl needed to practice shedding tears with more grace.
'I do. I need the work.'
'Needing work and doing work are two different matters.' As you're about to discover, Darcy decided. 'I want you back here in two hours for the evening shift.'
Tears dried up quickly with sheer shock. 'But I've the night off.'
'Not anymore, you don't. You'll come back prepared to do the job you're paid to do if you want to keep it. I want you moving smartly from table to table, from table to kitchen and back again. If something confuses you or there's something you don't remember or understand, you can come to me and I'll help you out. But-'
She paused, waiting until Sinead met her eyes again. 'I won't tolerate you leaving your stations. You've got to pee, that's fine, but each time I note you sliding into the back and staying over five minutes at it, I'm docking you a pound.'
'I've- got a bladder problem.'
Darcy would have laughed if it hadn't been so pathetic. 'Now that's bullshit and the both of us know it. If you had any problems with your plumbing I'd've heard, as your mother would have told Brenna's mother and so it would have come to my ears.'
Trapped, Sinead shifted from apologetic to pout. 'But a pound, Darcy!'
'Aye, a pound, so consider before you nip off what it's costing you.' Which, she already decided, would go into her own wish jar, as she'd be the one taking up the slack.
'We've a reputation here at Gallagher's that's generations in the making,' she continued. 'You work for us, you meet the standards we set. If you can't or won't, you get the boot. This is your second chance, Sinead. You won't get a third.'
'Aidan's not so hard as you.'
Darcy lifted a brow as Sinead's bottom lip trembled.
'Well, now, you're not dealing with Aidan, are you? You've two hours. Be on time, or I'll assume you've decided this isn't the job for you.'
'I'll be here.' Obviously irked, Sinead got to her feet. 'I can handle the work. It's nothing but hauling trays about. Doesn't take any brains.'
Darcy sent her the most pleasant of smiles. 'There you are, then.'
'When I save enough money so I can marry Billy, I'm leaving all of this behind me.'
'That's a fine ambition. But this is today. Go on now and walk off your temper before you say something you'll be sorry for later.'
Darcy sat where she was as Sinead strode across the room. Since she'd expected the girl to slam the door, she only rolled her eyes at the bullet crack of it. 'If she used half that energy for the job, we wouldn't have had this pleasant little chat.'
She shrugged her shoulders to relieve some of the tension, curled her toes in her shoes to work out some of the ache, then got to her feet. Gathering the glasses, she turned to carry them to the bar. And Trevor came through the kitchen door.
That, she thought, was a fine example of what God had intended when he'd designed man. He might look a tad rough and dirty from the day's work, but it didn't mar the appeal.
'We're closed at the moment,' she told him.
'The back door was unlocked.'
'We're a friendly sort of place.' She carried the glasses to the bar. 'But I'm afraid I can't sell you a pint right now.'
'I didn't come in for a pint.'
'Didn't you now?' She knew what a man was after when he had his eyes on her that way, but the game required playing. 'What are you looking for, then?'
'I wasn't looking for anything when I got up this morning.' He leaned on the bar. They both knew what they were about, he thought. It made the dance simpler when both people knew the steps. 'Then I saw you.'
'You're a smooth one, aren't you, Mr. New York City?'
'Trev. Since you've got a couple hours free, why don't you spend them with me?'
'And how would you know I have free time?'
'I came in on the end of your employer directive. She's wrong, you know.'
'About what?'
'It does take brains, and knowing how to use them. You do.'
It surprised her. It was a rare man who noticed she had a mind, and a rarer one who commented on it. 'So you're attracted to my brain, are you?'
'No.' At the quick humor in his eyes and a flash of grin a nice little ripple moved up her spine. 'I'm attracted to the package, but I'm interested in your brain.'
'I like an honest man under most circumstances.' She considered him another moment. He wouldn't do, of course, for more than a pleasant flirtation. No, wouldn't do, she thought and was surprised by a very real tug of regret.
But he was right about one thing. Time she had. 'I wouldn't mind a walk on the beach. But aren't you supposed to be working?'
'My hours are flexible.'
'Lucky for you.' She moved down the bar, lifted the pass-through. 'And maybe for me as well.'
He came through the opening, then stopped so they stood close and face-to-face. 'One question.'
'I'll try to give you one answer.'
'Why isn't there someone I have to kill before I do this?' He leaned down and brushed his lips very lightly over hers.
She dropped the pass-through back in place. 'I'm choosy,' she said. She walked to the door, then sent him a level and amused look over her shoulder. 'And I'll let you know if I choose to have you try that again, Trev of New York. With a bit more enthusiasm.'
'Fair enough.' He stepped outside with her, waiting while she locked the front door.
The air smelled of sea and flowers. It was something she loved about Ardmore. The scents and sounds, and the wonderful spread of the water. There were such possibilities in that vast sea. Sooner or later it would bump into land again, another place with new people, different things. There was wonder in that.
And comfort here, she supposed, raising a hand in greeting as Kathy Duffy called out to her from her door- yard.
'Is this your first time in Ireland?' Darcy asked him as they walked toward the beach.
'No, I've been to Dublin several times.'
'One of my favorite cities.' She scanned the beach, noting the pockets of tourists. Automatically she angled away and toward the cliffs. 'The shops and restaurants are wonderful. You can't find that in Ardmore.'
'Why aren't you in Dublin?'
'My family's here-well, part of them. Our parents are settled in Boston now. And I don't have a burning desire to live in Dublin when there are so many places in the world and I haven't seen nearly enough of them yet.'
'What have you seen?'
She looked up at him. A rare one indeed, she thought. Most of the men of her acquaintance wanted to talk about themselves. But they'd play it his way for now. 'Paris, just recently. Dublin, of course, and a great deal of my own country. But the pub hampers traveling.'
She turned, walking backward for a bit with her hand up to shield her eyes. 'I wonder what it'll look like when he's done with it.'
Trevor stopped, studied the pub as she was. 'The theater?'
'Yes. I've looked at the drawings, but I don't have an eye for such things.' She lifted her face to the breeze of salt and sea. 'The family's pleased with it, and they're very particular.'
'So is Magee Enterprise.'
