Tied Up with a Bow Read online

  “And they’d be right, sort of,” Maura threw in.

  “But if they have a hot dinner or even a sandwich, they’ll loosen up. It’ll change the feel of the place.”

  “Do I want to change it?” Maura asked.

  “Do yeh have a long-range business plan?” Rose shot back quickly.

  “Only if long-range means past next week. Look, Rose, I know what you’re saying, and I agree with most of it. But I feel like I’m losing control of the place. It’s been easy, so far, getting to know the guys one or a few at a time. Then we added the music, which brought in a different crowd. And, yes, sales of stout and other drinks did go up. But now you’re adding something else, which is going to eat up a lot of your time and energy. Heck, how many of the guys come in just to see your smiling face?”

  “Am I pushin’ yeh too hard, Maura? It’s your place, after all,” Rose said softly.

  “Rose, I admire your energy, and you’ve got good ideas and you’re willing to work to make them happen. Me, I’m still new to all this, and changing things kind of scares me. But I won’t stop you. If we can make fitting out the kitchen affordable, it’ll be good down the road, even if we don’t get things off the ground now.”

  “I’m glad of yer faith in me, Maura. What do yeh say I make up a timeline for our decisions? We’re going to run smack into the holiday soon enough, and it’s hard to get anyone to focus on business then. So we’d better get a plan of sorts set before then.”

  “Makes sense to me. But be prepared for the unexpected, like that creature they’re growing across the road.”

  Chapter Three

  Sometimes Maura felt that she simply didn’t have any time to think. Running a pub with a small staff kept her busy most days, and there was still the cleaning up and the ordering of supplies to be done. And then they’d started up with the music, which was great but meant more work, of a different kind. Now Rose wanted to serve food as well. It might work if she could just clone Rose. Finding staff wasn’t easy, and they didn’t always want to stick around for long. Luckily fall was a slow season, but she remembered from last year that once all the cows were in the barn, people had more time to stop by the pub and chat. And Seamus and his pals came by often as it was, all at once or in ones or twos.

  The weather was still mild, and the few customers in the pub were nursing their half-full pints, so she went out the front door and sat on the bench she’d picked up from a secondhand furniture dealer. She kept meaning to repaint it, but it hadn’t happened yet. At least she’d sanded off the splinters.

  She was surprised to find someone already sitting on the bench. In fact, it was a child, who looked to be maybe eight or ten. She wasn’t good at guessing ages, since she had seen few children back in Boston. She didn’t remember seeing this one before, but she seldom paid attention when school was letting out, and few students walked down this direction anyway—they took buses to their scattered homes. The boy didn’t seem flustered when she sat down, but he didn’t say anything either. He kept his eyes on the workmen across the road.

  Finally Maura broke the silence. “I’m Maura. You live around here?”

  “This is your pub, right? Me mam and I just came here.”

  “Yes, it’s my pub. I’d invite you in, but I’m not sure what age you’d have to be to be allowed inside. If I was a relative of yours it might be okay to let you in, but we’ve only just met.”

  “No worries. Me mam is working at Sheahan’s—Mrs. Sheahan there is some kind of cousin, I think.”

  “You’re in school up the road?” When the boy nodded, Maura pressed on, “What do you usually do when school’s out and your mother’s still at work?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s only been a few days. I don’t like to wait in the hotel there, even if I’m only doin’ my homework, and I don’t think Missus Sheahan wants me there—she thinks having a kid hanging around the hotel is bad for business. But my mam will be lookin’ for me. I only stopped to watch the builders there. What’re they makin’?”

  “I haven’t a clue. I think we may be having a raffle at the pub here, to see who can guess what the thing is, but it hasn’t started yet. What’s your name?”

  “Daniel. Most people call me Danny.”

  “Well, Danny, it’s good to meet you, and welcome to Leap. Do you live nearby?”

  “Too far to walk. You want me to go?”

  “No, that’s not it. You’re fine here for now, but when it’s raining or it gets colder you’re going to have to work something out. Is your ma set with the job in the hotel?”

  Danny just shrugged.

  “What was she doing before you came here?”

  “Same thing, I guess, but in the city. Too expensive to find a place to live there—she was hoping it would be cheaper in the country.”

  “Does she know anyone beyond Anne? Any relatives around here?”

  “Not that I know about. Look, we’ll be fine, okay? We just aren’t settled yet.”

  “Hey, Danny, I’m only trying to help. I got here less than two years ago, and lots of people helped me sort things out.” Of course, she’d had a house and a building waiting for her, though she hadn’t known it at the time. “I’d like to return the favor. Could you tell your ma to come talk to me sometime? I’m always at the pub.”

  Danny nodded once. “I’ll tell her.”

  Maura wondered if he would. But if the mother didn’t show up after a couple of days, she’d go looking for her. She remembered all too well what it was like to find herself in a strange place where she didn’t know a soul, so she thought she should try to help.

  She stood up. “Well, then, I’d better get back to work. Would you like something hot to drink?” How long would the poor kid be sitting there, waiting?

  “I can’t pay,” he said, avoiding looking at her.

  “On the house. My welcome gift to you.”

  “All right, I guess.”

  Maura went back inside. “Who was that you were talkin’ to?” Rose asked.

  “A kid, just out of school. He says his mother is working for Anne at the hotel, but he doesn’t have anywhere to go until she gets off work.”

  “Poor kid,” Rose said. “Can she afford a minder?”

  “How should I know? And maybe he’s too old for one. I haven’t met his mother, but I told Danny to send her over here to introduce herself. Danny said they’d been living in the city, but he didn’t say which one. His mother’s some kind of relative of Anne’s—a cousin, maybe. Seems like everyone around here is a cousin of some sort.”

  “Poor kid’s goin’ to freeze, sittin’ out there. And he’ll never get his homework done.”

  “I know. But I can’t exactly invite him into the pub, can I?”

  “He could use the back room, if there’s no event planned—it’d be only afternoons, right?”

  “Right. But is it legal? I mean, there is a bar back there.”

  “Who’s goin’ to worry about it? If yer troubled, ask Sean. I’ve been workin’ here fer years, you recall.”

  “Well, yes, but you were a relative of Old Mick’s. Weren’t you?”

  “It’d be hard to draw a diagram of how we were related, but there was a connection somewhere. You might ask me da, if it matters.”

  “I’d rather ask Old Billy. Has he been in today?”

  “Earlier, fer a bit. He said he’d be back.”

  “I hope he’s feeling all right. I keep having to remind myself how old he is—mostly I think of him as a fixture here. I don’t think anybody who knows this place will even sit in his chair by the fire. Well, I don’t want to get anybody into trouble, including me. If I see Sean I’ll talk to him. Or maybe Danny and his mother will have moved on by then. Oh, and could you fix a hot chocolate? I promised Danny one. And don’t charge him for it—I told him it was a welcome present.”

  “I’ll take it out to him when it’s ready,” Rose said. “And introduce meself.”

  “That’d be great.”r />
  Mick came back from wherever he’d been in time to overhear the end of Maura’s conversation with Rose. “Goin’ soft, are yeh?” he said, although with a smile.

  “Why? Because I want to be nice to a kid? I know something about how he feels, and I was a lot older and more experienced when I got dumped in Leap. Is it wrong to want to help him?”

  “Of course it’s not. Just tread carefully. Yeh haven’t met the mother yet, have yeh?”

  “No, she’s working. Across the road. Why would she be a problem?”

  “I’m not suggestin’ she would. But she’ll want to protect her son, and you don’t want to get in the way of that.”

  “How on earth would I get in the way, Mick? I introduced myself and offered him a hot chocolate. Period. He looked cold and kind of lost. If Mom comes barreling across the road like a mother bear, I’ll back off. Where’s the problem?”

  “Yeh don’t know her. She may have run into trouble wherever she came from, and she’d rather others didn’t know too many of the details.”

  “Good grief, Mick! I’m not about to ask for a police report on the poor woman just because I want to say hello to her son now and then. Isn’t everybody supposed to be friendly around here? I wasn’t about to invite Danny in and offer him a glass of stout.”

  Mick held up his hands. “No offense intended. I know yeh mean well. And I’m sure the woman can use a friend. That is, if she doesn’t have sixteen cousins in the local townlands.”

  “Thank you. Can we get back to work now? Oh, and I asked Rose to work up a timeline for fixing up the kitchen.”

  “Yeh’re still goin’ ahead with it?”

  “If the timing and the numbers work. Why, you think it’s a bad idea?”

  “I’m on the fence, I’d say. I just don’t want to see you get in over yer head with it.”

  “Hey, this is on Rose’s shoulders. I don’t cook, remember? I’m the front of the house, and she’s the kitchen. And before you say it, yes, it will take more staff to manage it. That’s why I want her to set the plan down on paper, so it’s easier to see. Maybe it won’t work, but she’s got to understand why.”

  Mick smiled. “I keep fergettin’ how young she is. But she’s smart. It’s going to be an interesting couple of months.”

  Chapter Four

  It was past five when Old Billy came in from his rooms at the end of the building and made his slow way to his favorite corner by the fire. Maura watched him and felt a pang of fear: he seemed to be moving more slowly than usual. Was he sick? Or just showing his age? Old she couldn’t do anything about, but as for sick, she had no idea how the health system worked in Ireland and she wouldn’t know who to call if he needed help. Or would she have to take him directly to the hospital to be cared for? More things she should know, before a crisis fell into her lap.

  She crossed the room to where he was sitting. “We missed you earlier today, Billy. Are you feeling all right?”

  He summoned up a smile for her. “Me bones feel winter comin’ on, no matter what the thermometer says. My spirit is willin’, but it tends to forget how old me body is.”

  “Would a pint help?”

  “Sure and it would. Can yeh come sit by me and talk? It’s been a quiet day, and I could use a friendly voice.”

  “Of course I can. I’ll tell Rose to get your pint started.” She signaled to Rose behind the bar, then she took a chair across from Billy.

  Maura was surprised when Billy mentioned Danny immediately. “That young lad hangin’ about out front—I haven’t seen him before.”

  “I said hello to him. He says he and his mother have just arrived in Leap. The mother is some sort of cousin to Anne Sheahan, and she’s working for Anne, at least for now. But Danny’s on his own for a couple of hours after school until she’s done working. No mention of a father, though.”

  “The Sheahans have lived in these parts for a very long time, and no doubt they’ve plenty of cousins scattered about. I wouldn’t try to guess where this lad fits, but it’s good that Anne’s lookin’ out fer him and his mother.”

  “Sounds like the mother may need the money—Danny said they couldn’t afford a place to live in the city, and I think he meant Dublin. I haven’t met her yet. According to Danny they’ve got a place to live for now, but it’s too far for him to walk home. He seems at kind of loose ends. You know I don’t see many kids, since I’m working here all the time, so I don’t know what to tell him to do. He said he was in school, but he’s got time to kill after that lets out for the day. I’m guessing he’s too old for a babysitter, but a bit too young to be left on his own, especially in a place he doesn’t know well. And from what little he said, I’m not sure Anne wants him hanging around the hotel every day. Maybe I’m making too much of this, because they’ve just arrived so nothing’s settled yet.”

  “Or yeh’re reminded of how you felt when you arrived?” Billy asked quietly.

  Billy might be old, but he saw a lot. And he was right. “I guess. I was kind of in the same position as Danny when I was his age. My gran had to work to keep food on the table, so I was on my own after school. I knew a lot of other kids who had the same problem, and some of them got into trouble. Me, I just went straight home.” Those had not been happy days, in Maura’s memory. Her father was dead, her mother was missing, and while she knew Gran had loved her, she couldn’t be around all the time. But she’d survived.

  “Were you thinking about when I showed up in Leap? I didn’t know a soul and I didn’t have a clue about what I was going to do. But I was older and I could take care of myself. I guess it was kind of the same—I was alone and pretty clueless. At least Danny has his mother. I wonder what his story is? Coming here seems to have happened pretty suddenly.”

  “I’d wager his mother could use a friend about now, bein’ a stranger here. But let her tell you her story in her own time.”

  “Of course I will, Billy. I don’t mean to pry. I just want to help.”

  “And that’s kind of yeh, Maura. I think yeh’re learnin’ our Irish ways.”

  “I hope that’s a compliment!” Maura said as Rose delivered Billy’s pint and set it in front of him. “Listen, can I ask you about something else?”

  Billy took a long swallow of his pint before answering. “And what would that be?”

  “About whatever they’re building across the road out there. Actually, I’ve got a lot of questions. Whose idea was it? Who’s paying for it? Who’s putting it together? And what the heck is it, or will it be, whenever they finish it?”

  “I’ve no answers to yer questions, Maura, although I’ve a few ideas of me own. Why are yeh so interested?”

  “Well, curiosity, for one. And when people come in, they’re going to wonder what it is, and I’ll feel stupid if I can’t tell them, when it’s right in front of me. Seamus brought up the idea of having a raffle, maybe this weekend, and letting people make guesses about what it is. Maybe I could charge a euro a guess? We can offer a prize, like a round of drinks, and maybe give the money to some group that needs it. What do you think?”

  “It would get people talkin’ fer sure. But you’d have to act fast, because it’s already takin’ shape, and if the fellas over there get to work on it, it’ll be done in good time.”

  “So maybe Saturday night only? Any rules against doing something like this?”

  “Ah, who’d worry about that? Yer not goin’ to get rich, but yeh might have some fun. Maybe Rose could put something on that Internet thing she’s got goin’.”

  Maura smiled. “Why, Billy, you know what the Internet is!”

  Billy returned her smile. “I know of it, but I don’t know it, if yeh get my drift. But it seems to bring people in, which is what yeh’re after, isn’t it?”

  “It is. I guess I’ll give Rose the go-ahead so she can get the word out. Maybe put up a sign in the window. Seamus said it’s supposed to be finished by Sunday, so maybe we can announce the winner then, if that won’t upset the church too much.�
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  “Ah, don’t worry yerself. Go on, now—yeh’ve got customers comin’ in.”

  Maura went back behind the bar and began setting up pints. She noticed that Danny was still sitting on the bench, his arms wrapped around himself. As she watched, a woman emerged from the inn across the street and crossed over. She looked to be in her thirties, and her coat wasn’t warm enough even for the fairly mild weather. Danny stood up when he saw her, and when she reached him she hugged him and said something to him. Maura checked the time: just past six, and already dark. She must have just gotten off her shift, most likely at the bar, but it seemed wrong to leave her son sitting out in the cold after dark. Maura wavered between staying out of the discussion they were having and marching out and sticking her nose in. The second choice won.

  “Rose, can you finish the pints? I’m guessing that’s Danny’s mother out there and I want to introduce myself.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Rose told her.

  As she went toward the front door of the pub, Maura wondered just what she was doing. Back in Boston she’d made it a point to keep herself to herself, to avoid interfering with anything she saw on the street or in one of the places she had worked. But this was different. Boston was a big city, with all the good and bad that came with that. Leap had a population of about two hundred fifty people, spread all over the place, so there really was no way to be anonymous. Danny and his mother were now part of the town, if only for a short while, so Maura didn’t feel right ignoring them. Maybe Billy was right: Ireland was changing her.

  She shut the door behind her. “Hi,” she called out. “I’m Maura Donovan—I own this place. I introduced myself to Danny earlier this afternoon. Why don’t you come in and we can talk?”

  “I should be getting home . . . Maura, is it? I’ve still supper to make.”

  “I wish I could offer you food, but we’re a long way from being ready for that. Maybe after the New Year. But I could give you a cup of coffee?”