“Of course not,” Laila said, frowning at Connie, then assuring Heather, “You’re right to want it all. We all do.”
“I’d just settle for a date on a Saturday night,” Connie said wistfully. “It has been way too long.”
“But you still wouldn’t settle for a man who couldn’t commit,” Laila told her. “You know you wouldn’t.”
Eventually Connie nodded. “You’re right. Stick to your guns, Heather, even if it means drinks with Laila and me is the only excitement in your life on a Saturday night.”
“Great idea,” Laila said at once, seizing on the innocent comment. “How about it, Heather? We know you’re free. Let’s go to Brady’s for a couple of hours tonight and have some fun.”
Heather hesitated, then thought of how long it had been since she’d gone out with friends for a drink. “Count me in.”
“Seven o’clock?” Connie suggested.
“Perfect,” Heather said. “I’ll meet you there.”
As she agreed, she knew that she’d made the right choice. Being with Connor might have been more exciting. Meeting Abby’s friend Glenn might have stirred up some interesting complications. But going out with Laila and Connie would be totally uncomplicated fun, something she’d had far too little of in recent months.
* * *
In a serious funk over being turned down by Heather, Connor scrapped the idea of cooking hamburgers on the grill in favor of grabbing a crabcake dinner at Brady’s. He called his sister—the one who hadn’t betrayed him—to see if she could join him.
“Just us?” Jess asked carefully.
“And little Mick,” he said, puzzled by the question until it dawned on him she was referring to Will. “Are you still avoiding Will?”
“I’m not avoiding him. I’d just prefer to spend time with people who don’t try to pick me apart and examine all my flaws.”
Connor chuckled.
“It’s not funny,” she said indignantly.
“It is, because never once in all the years that Will has been hanging around the house have I ever heard him say a negative word about you.”
Jess was silent for a moment. “Really? Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure.”
“He was probably just scared you or Kevin would beat him up,” she suggested.
“I don’t think so, sis. He likes you.”
“Then why does he always pick on me when we’re together?”
“Are you sure that’s what he’s doing? You can be a little sensitive when it comes to certain topics, like your ADD. You get all prickly even when someone makes an offhand comment that isn’t meant to offend you.”
Jess sighed. “You’re right about that. Oh, well, never mind. It doesn’t matter if Will’s not joining us, anyway. What time do you want me to meet you?”
“Seven okay? I don’t want to keep little Mick out too late. He starts getting cranky, and Dillon will kill me if my kid starts wailing in his restaurant.”
“We’ll just get Kate to protect us,” Jess said blithely, referring to Dillon’s wife. “Hand the baby off to her. Her biological clock is ticking, so she’s into babies these days. Dillon’s a little freaked by it.”
“He’s probably more freaked by the thought of what a pregnancy would do to his efficiently run restaurant,” Connor said. “As temperamental as Dillon can be in the kitchen, Kate’s the one who smoothes everyone’s ruffled feathers and keeps the customers happy.”
“You are so right about that,” Jess said with a chuckle. “See you at seven.” She hesitated, then asked, “By the way, was I your second choice for tonight?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why aren’t you with Heather?”
“Not an option,” he said tersely.
Jess gasped. “Don’t tell me she accepted Abby’s invitation to have dinner with that guy!”
Connor wasn’t all that surprised that Jess knew about the plot. “No, she turned her down,” he said. “But she turned me down, too.”
“Sorry, big brother.”
“I don’t know why I was surprised,” he admitted. “It’s not as if she hasn’t made herself perfectly clear. I keep thinking she’ll change her mind, but so far she’s sticking to her guns.”
“Gee, a stubborn woman!” Jess said, feigning astonishment. “Who’d have thought a mule-headed O’Brien could be taken in by one of those?”
“Well, apparently I was,” Connor grumbled. “She’s caught me completely off guard.”
Jess laughed. “Good for her.”
“We’ll discuss your lack of family loyalty when I see you,” he told her, then hung up.
Oddly enough, though the evening wasn’t turning out exactly the way he’d planned, he was still surprisingly content with the prospect of spending it with his sister and his son in a restaurant as good as any of the seafood places in Baltimore. In fact, a relaxing Saturday night in Chesapeake Shores, where he didn’t have to be alert to his public image everywhere he went, especially after the Wilder case, held a certain appeal. He wasn’t quite sure he could handle a steady diet of peace and tranquility, but for now it suited him.
* * *
As always on Saturday night, as the summer season approached Brady’s was packed. Heather inched her way past the line of people waiting for tables and slipped into the bar. She found that Connie and Laila had already claimed a booth in a corner.
“This place is a madhouse,” Heather said. “It’s good to see they’re doing well despite the economy.”
“Dillon’s managed to keep his prices reasonable,” Laila said. “He said he’d rather have a packed restaurant than increase his profit margin on every meal. So far, it’s working for him. Locals know he has the best food around, and he’s not trying to gouge them.”
Connie and Laila exchanged a conspiratorial look. It was Connie who spoke.
“Did you happen to catch a glimpse of who else is here tonight?” she asked Heather, leaning across the table and lowering her voice.
“In the restaurant? I couldn’t see past the hostess station.”
“No, in here,” Laila said. “The booth just across from us.”
Heather turned and spotted Connor, Jess and little Mick. “Oh dear,” she murmured.
“It’s not as if they caught you out on a date,” Laila said, even though Connor was scowling as if he had. “Just because you turned down his invitation doesn’t mean you
