Lizzie moved closer to him, resting her head on his chest.
“Try not to worry,” he whispered as he ran his hand over her back. “We’re going to figure this out, and no matter what happens, we’ll always have each other, okay?”
She nodded, but he felt her tears land on his chest, every one of them gutting him.
“Don’t cry, sweet Lizzie. Please don’t cry.”
“Trying not to.”
He held her tighter, wishing love was enough to solve every problem, because if it was, they wouldn’t have a problem in the world.
Chapter 17
Cindy Lawry wasn’t much for the bar scene, but with nothing else to do that evening, she’d found herself seated at the bar at the Beachcomber, listening to Niall Fitzgerald play his guitar and sing. Live music was a big thing on Gansett Island, and Cindy had loved the various bands and performers who’d come through the island that summer.
She’d enjoyed everything about spending time on the island that summer, especially having her mom, brothers Owen, John and Jeff and sisters Katie and Julia around. It’d been years since she’d lived close to that many of her family members, and she’d never lived near them without the specter of their violent, unpredictable father hanging over them.
Mark Lawry was in prison, where he belonged, and his family was finally free to enjoy their lives without him around to ruin everything.
John had apparently left his job as a police officer in Tennessee, although he wasn’t talking about why. He and Jeff, a recent college graduate, were staying at the spacious new home their mom shared with her new husband, Charlie Grandchamp, while they figured out their next moves.
Cindy was filling in for Chloe Dennis as the stylist at the Curl Up and Dye salon while Chloe supervised the building of a day spa at the McCarthy’s Gansett Island Hotel in North Harbor. Cindy wasn’t sure what the off-season on Gansett would be like, but she was looking forward to finding out. The job at the salon was fun and busy, and she’d socked away some money this summer to help pay the rent in the winter when things slowed down.
With Julia basically living with her fiancé, Deacon Taylor, Cindy was going to need another roommate to help swing the rent. She hoped she could find someone, but feared that would be a difficult task with the summer ending and the seasonal jobs drying up for the winter.
“You need a refill?” Jace, the new bartender, asked. He had sleeve tattoos over bulging arm muscles and a gruff way about him. He was handsome in a bad-boy sort of way that had appealed to Cindy in the past. At this point in her life, however, she’d had enough of bad boys to last her a lifetime. All she wanted was to find a nice, boring guy who would never break her heart to settle down with and have some babies. Was that too much to ask?
Apparently so, because she hadn’t found him yet.
Cindy realized she hadn’t answered his question. “Sure, I’ll take some more ice water. Thank you.” She’d had a salad and a cup of chowder for dinner earlier, and thankfully, Jace didn’t mind keeping her in ice water while she took up a seat at his bar and listened to Niall’s music.
“He’s great, huh?” Jace asked, nodding to Niall.
“He is. I could listen to him all night.”
“You don’t want anything stronger to drink?”
“Wish I could. Alcohol and migraines don’t play nicely together.”
“Ah, gotcha. That sucks.”
“It really does.”
“You get a lot of them?”
“Two or three a month, which is much less than the bad old days when it was one or two a week. My new meds help.”
“Still, two or three a month is too many.”
“True.” She took a sip of her ice water and noted the lemon he’d added to give it some flavor. “I haven’t seen you here before. Are you new?”
“Just started yesterday.”
Providence, RI, was listed as his hometown under his name on his name tag. “It’s late in the season to be starting a new job around here.”
“So I hear, but the Beachcomber stays open year-round, and they were looking for someone who wanted to be here for the off-season. I guess that’s not easy to find.”
“What brings you to Gansett?”
“My sons live here.”
“Oh, wow. How old are they?”
“Jackson is seven, and Kyle is six.”
“Those are great ages. Do they live with your ex?”
“They did until she passed away last year, and their next-door neighbors stepped up to take them in.”
“That was nice of them.”
He nodded even as his cheek pulsed with tension. “Truth is, I wasn’t around for a lot of years, so my ex did what she thought was best, you know?”
“Yeah,” Cindy said, curious to know the rest of the story, but not willing to ask questions that were none of her business.
“What about you?” he asked, seeming eager to change the subject. “What brings you to Gansett?”
“My entire family seems to have ended up here in recent years. I came for a sibling’s wedding and decided to stay for the summer.”
“You got a big family?” As they talked, he wiped the bar and washed glasses.
“I’m one of seven.”
“Whoa. That’s a lot of siblings. Fun growing up that way?”
“At times.” When their father had been around, it was a freaking nightmare, not that this handsome stranger needed to know that. “Do you have siblings?”
“Just a sister. She’s older than me, has three kids and a nice husband. She did everything right.”
Did that mean he’d done everything wrong?
Jace moved on to tend to other customers while Cindy contemplated the things he’d told her. He had kids he’d been out of touch with for quite some time, who were now living with friends, and a sister who’d done everything right. He’d seemed pained telling her his kids had gone to someone other than him when their mother died.
It was none of her business, of course, but she still wanted to know. Cindy possessed an innate curiosity about people and their stories. Sometimes she thought about writing, but work and life always seemed to get in the way of that lofty dream.
Over the next hour, Jace kept her in ice water while she listened Niall’s music, and Jace tended to other customers.
Cindy hadn’t intended to stick around all night, but she found herself still there at last call. “I should settle my tab,” she said.
Jace produced her check and ran her credit card.
She added a ten-dollar tip and signed the slip. “Thanks for keeping me hydrated.”
“My pleasure. Hope you’ll come back to see me again.”
“I’ll do that.” She got up from her stool and started to walk away.
“Hey, you never told me your name.”
She turned back, smiling. “It’s Cindy. Cindy Lawry.”
“Nice to meet you, Cindy Lawry.”
“You, too.” She walked the short distance home with a smile on her face, feeling as if she’d made a new friend.
* * *
“What do you mean he’s living here now?” Seamus O’Grady felt like his head was going to explode at any second.