I couldn’t resist going inside. There was gleaming wood, plenty of black and white photos and some Irish memorabilia on the walls. It had the look of a real pub in the UK. I found a table; glad it was early because the place was already filling up and the bar itself was packed. When the waitress brought me a menu, I asked her about the place.
“It’s like this or worse every night. By seven there’s a line out the door there.”
“Is this run by the same guy who does the hiking business?” I asked, curious.
She laughed, “No. The pub is owned by his oldest brother Conner. There’s five O’Shea’s in all. Every one of them owns a business here on the island, and every one of them a former Navy SEAL. Is that wild or what?”
“That’s crazy,” I said, grinning.
Five Navy SEALS in one family was unusual enough. Five Navy SEALs who relocated to a little island and took the business scene by storm together was enough to focus a travel article on. I felt the ping of excitement when a good idea hit me. I would visit their businesses and interview each of them, write a feature on the intriguing concept of a Caribbean retirement for some badasses who spent their early adulthood on covert missions in the desert. I had to admit, it made the hot-voiced hiking guy that much more fascinating to me. I ordered some food and took a couple of photos of the interior.
While I waited for my food, I scrolled through their Instagram feed. Plenty of posts tagged this place as a check-in, and several celebrities I followed had been here. It was less of a hidden gem than an open secret, apparently. My research hadn’t included Insta and I almost missed out on the place. I was glad I stumbled upon it, intrigued by the ubiquitous Irish name in a Caribbean tourist destination. It was a refreshing change of pace, totally free of tacky fake parrots and rum signs. No one was playing Jimmy Buffet either—it was more of rousing folk music that made me tap my toes. I started putting notes in my phone for the story, but I kept glancing toward the bar. I sneaked more than a couple of peeks at a stupidly hot guy at the bar and felt my cheeks grow warm.
This was not like me at all.
Chapter 4
Billy
My last hikers were safely on their way to their hotel, and I was ready for a cold beer and a sandwich. I went in the back way as usual to avoid the crowd. There was a line starting to form out front like it did just about every night. I sat at the end of the bar and took my pint gratefully from Connor. It had been a long, hot day, and I was ready to relax. Looking around, I noticed that business was booming even earlier in the evening than usual. It was shepherd’s pie night, and that always attracted locals.
At one of the booths, a woman sat alone. She wasn’t taking photos or chatting anyone up. She was tapping at her phone screen, then seemed to grow frustrated and dig in her purse until she pulled out a small laptop. Flipping it open, she started to type furiously, pausing occasionally to sip her drink. She was easily the most stunning woman I’d ever seen. She had a rich, golden blonde hue to her hair that was swept up carelessly in a topknot. When she glanced up, I was startled by her dark eyes. It was rare to find brown eyes with blonde hair, but here she was with her uncanny chocolate eyes, rich and alluring. Her skin had a golden cast to it from the sunshine. There was something honeyed and warm about her appearance that attracted me fiercely.
Thank goodness she was busy typing and didn’t notice me staring. I directed my attention to my sandwich and talked with a couple of the guys at the bar I knew. My brothers were busy filling drink orders, so I talked to Ramon and Jet who ran a boating operation.
“You guys ever decide if you want to expand into sailing?” Ramon asked. “It’s about the only thing on the island you all haven’t got a hand in.”
“Nah, I leave the catamarans to you two. Maybe one of the pedal boats one of these days,” I joked. “Although Tommy put a bid in on a high-speed hover boat a few months ago. He got outbid, but I thought for a minute there you might have competition.”
“I don’t think a hoverboat is gonna be in the same market as renting boats to tourists and taking them on sailing trips. It is mostly young couples, those women that watch the Bachelor and want to dive off the boat and then come back and snuggle and drink wine while one of us takes pictures,” Jet sighed.
“So you help make them Instagram famous?”
“No, I help them look like they are living a Hollywood fairy tale. If I had a dollar for every chick that squeals ‘this is so romantic!’ as soon as she steps on the boat, I could retire tomorrow.”
“Bro, if you don’t have a dollar for every one of those, you don’t understand how to run a business,” I said, laughing.
“He’s got the dollars, he just wants to bitch about it. You wanna have customers that complain all the time instead?” Ramon asked.
“No, I don’t guess. How’s the hiking business?”
“Not as relaxing as life on a boat, but I like it. I’m still running all the hikes myself, but Mickey tells me I need to hire some help.”
“Do you have enough bookings to take on another guide?”
“Easily. I turn down bookings every week, four or five of them. I could double my business. I just know I need to train someone to do it the way I want it done, and that takes time,” I shrugged. “And I like being on my own.”
“Your brothers are always looking to expand. Are you the one without ambition?” Jet joked, knowing how hard I worked at building my business.
“Yeah, that’s me. The lazy O’Shea,” I chuckled. We gave each other shit all the time, and I could take it as well as I dished it out, “Just like you’re the fat Ramirez.” I said, eyeing the two lean brothers humorously.
“If he’s the fat one, maybe I should take some of those chips off your hands. I don’t want my little brother being able to beat me up,” Ramon said, snatching a chip off my plate.
“Go after my pickle and you won’t have fingers left,” I said, picking up my dill spear and biting into it.
The pub was the only place on this island to get a decent kosher dill. I’d been pushing them to special order these for years, but it wasn’t until Karin got pregnancy cravings for crisp, garlicky pickles that the O’Shea clan sprang into action and got some. Now they were a permanent fixture on the menu. I sighed and took a drink of my Guinness, then I glanced over at Honey Blonde. She was dazzling. I let my eyes rest on her for a minute as she continued to work.
My brother Tommy came over and nudged me, “Why not go over there and introduce yourself instead of peeping on her like a creeper, Billy?” he asked.
“Shut up,” I muttered and went back to my sandwich. It was surprisingly hard to tear my eyes away from her.
No matter how much I enjoyed my sandwich and beer or how much bullshitting I did with Ramon and Jet, I couldn’t keep my eyes off her for long. I felt drawn to her. Tommy was giving me hell about the fact that I kept glancing her way, trying to be nonchalant about it but being obvious enough that my youngest brother noticed it. Maybe I’d lost some subtlety since I left the service. Or maybe my attraction for Honey Blonde was so strong that I couldn’t seem to resist drinking in the sight of her.