Beers, Lies and Alibis (Warblers Point Series Book 2) (32 page)

“Oh Liam, ya’re such a good boy.”

Finn rolled his eyes and turned back to the doctor with the most apologetic look he could muster.
 

The doctor finished up their conversation, giving them a couple more tips for what to expect and what to do in the upcoming days to make sure Carlin had the best recovery possible.
 

After they settled Mary Margaret back into their dad’s room, they all gathered outside of the hospital where both Blaire and Neala met them to talk about what they were going to do about their mom and the upcoming week with their dad slowly coming out of a coma.
 

“That woman is certifiably insane,” Bradon said, as he typed a text into his phone. “I think she has seriously lost her mind.”

“She’s just a little dramatic,” Liam replied.
 

“Dramatic?” Bradon said. “She had the doctor nearly shitting his pants in there with the mood swings she was displaying. I swear, he didn’t know if she was going to stab him with his pen or cry into his lap. I think we need to get Ma checked out.”

“Was it that bad?” Neala asked, as her arm was wrapped around Liam’s waist.

There was something comforting about seeing his older brother back with his wife. It was going to be a hard road for them, full of bumps along the way, but Finn knew they were going to make it. They were strong and Liam loved Neala so much; there was no way he was going to let Neala slip through his fingers again.
 

“She was a bit crazy.”

They all stood there for a second and then started busting out in laughter as they imitated Mary Margaret.
 

Bradon threw himself into Liam’s arms and said in a high pitched, Irish accent, “Oh Liam, me boy, ya’re so good to me, ya’re me favorite boy of all time.” Bradon then proceeded to kiss Liam all over his face.
 

“Get the hell off of me,” Liam laughed, as he pushed Bradon away.

Blaire shivered in Finn’s arms and said, “How about we all head over to the pub to talk about the next week or so. Neala, do you want to go to the store with me to grab some fixings for lunch? Last I checked, there wasn’t much in the pub besides fish and chips and I could take a break.”

Finn poked Blaire in the side. “What’s wrong with O’Leary fish and chips? They’re a fine delicacy.”

Blaire rolled her eyes and grabbed Neala’s hand as they walked off to her rental car. It was nice to see Neala and Blaire get along. Normally, they would have invited Fiona to go with them, make it a little girl outing but Blaire knew Finn wanted to talk to Fiona, so she did them a favor and took off with Neala to give them their privacy.
 

It was time to figure out what was going on with Fiona.
 

Chapter 15

Fiona wanted to dig herself a hole and bury herself in it rather than face the three pairs of O’Leary eyes that were staring at her, waiting for answers. They all had their arms crossed across their chests as they stood in front of her, silently waiting for her to explain herself.
 

“Well…” Finn asked.
 

“I would rather not talk to you three idiots about this. I can handle my own business.”

“Oh really,” Liam cut in. “Because it seems like Booker spends all his time over at The Sleeping Potato and the fact that you look like pure shit tells me you can’t handle your own business.”

“He shouldn’t even be at The Sleeping Potato. He was supposed to be going on home.”

“And why’s that?” Finn asked, the ever-prying brother who wasn’t happy unless he had his nose in someone else’s life.
 

“Jesus, we broke up, okay? Is that what you three wanted to hear? We broke up; it’s over, so let’s just move on, alright?”

“No,” All three of her brothers said at the same time, even Bradon who never really took interest in anyone else’s life, let alone her life.
 

“Like you care,” Fiona lashed out at Bradon.
 

She would have felt bad about the shocked look on Bradon’s face, but he was a dick most of the time, so she didn’t care.
 

“I do care, Fiona. I’ve spent a lot of time with Booker the last couple of days and I like the guy. It’s hard not to like a guy when he speaks so highly of my sister and acts as if she is the best thing that has ever happened to him.”

Fiona sardonically laughed at Bradon. “Then why the hell did he break up with me? Why did he say he was doing me a favor by letting me go? You guys know nothing about my relationship with Booker so, once again, mind your own damn business for once in your sorry-ass lives.”
 

Not wanting to be near her brothers anymore, Fiona started to walk away, but was quickly yanked back by her arm by Finn who got right in her face.
 

“Maybe he let you go because the entire time you were out in California you acted like a depressed little priss and the minute you get out here, you’re hanging all over Murphy. How do you think he’s going to take that? Of course he’s going to let you go because that’s what he thinks you want. He thinks he’s doing you a favor. He loves you Fiona, his dedication to our family shows that and, if you only pulled your head out of your ass for two seconds, you would realize that.”

“I do know that,” Fiona shouted, as they all stood in front of the hospital putting on a classic O’Leary scene for all onlookers. “I begged him to stay with me, but he still left.”

“I don’t blame him,” Liam said, as he still held his arms across his chest. “You haven’t given him a reason to stay around; you haven’t reassured him. As a man, you need that reassurance, you need to know that your girl needs you and that you’re the only one in her life.”

“Yeah, you spent the other day with Murphy after you stormed off from hearing about Keara and Booker. You ran into another man’s arms instead of talking to him, letting him fully explain,” Finn added.
 

“And Keara is a whore,” Bradon said. “She practically tried to suck me off the other day…and Raff at the same time. I wouldn’t put it past her that she didn’t do everything in her power to get Booker to touch her.”

Instead of taking in everything her brothers were saying, she decided to ignore the complete sense they were making and walked off without a word. She was done listening to them and, apparently, they were done chasing after her because they let her walk away this time.
 

Her head was full of so many emotions; there was only one place she could go to think through everything.
 

She got in her car and headed to her favorite spot in the world so she could think about what a giant screw-up she was and how she was going to rectify her situation with Booker. As much as she hated to admit it, her stupid brothers were right. She gave absolutely no reassurance to Booker that she needed him. Once again, she was the one who screwed up their relationship and she was the one who was going to have to go after him, begging for forgiveness. She just hoped he had the heart to forgive her…again.
 

***

Sophie pulled into a parking spot at the general store so she could pick up some more flour. Because of the snowstorm that hit Warblers Point, her stock delivery was delayed, leaving her flourless for a couple of days.
 

She was grabbing her purse when her door was pulled open, making her scream bloody murder.
 

“Lass, calm down. It’s just me,” Murphy said, as he crouched down in front of her.
 

Sophie steadied her heart as she tried to catch her breath from being startled out of her wits.
 

“What do you want, Murphy?”

He ran his hand through his hair as he tried to think of what to say.
 

“Forget it, alright. You are a week too short in trying to talk to me.”

Sophie tried to get out of her car, but he stopped her.
 

“We need to talk. I heard a wee bit of story from Marge and Maggie about Neala. I thought we were done, Sophie.”

“Easy for you to say. Booker and Fiona are done; you got what you wanted.”

Murphy shook his head as he looked down at the ground. “She wants nothin’ to do with me.”

“Hurts, doesn’t it, when no one wants you?”
 

“Soph, I was scared about the other night. I didn’t know what to do.”

“I don’t want to hear it Murph. Unless you have anything else to say, we’re done here.”

He let her get out of her car and lock up. She felt his breath on her shoulder as she tried to get out of his presence as quickly as possible. She hated that she had such strong feelings for the man after one single night of passion. She didn’t want to care for him, or feel giddy when he was around, but she did.
 

“Let’s just end this Sophie. We’ve done enough damage.”

Sophie walked off, not wanting to hear what he had to say. She was nowhere near done. She still had one last couple to mess with. If Murphy already heard from Marge and Maggie about Neala, then her perfectly planted seed was well on its way through the gossip vine; it wouldn’t be long until Neala heard about the lie of Liam not really wanting to be with her.
 

Smiling to herself, she stepped into the general store, grabbed a cart and headed for the baking aisle. As she was walking through the store, she saw the long blonde strands of Blaire’s hair floating around in the produce aisle. At that moment, a brilliant idea clicked in Sophie’s head.
 

She went over to the produce section and pulled out her cell phone, placing it to her ear as if she was talking to someone. She made sure to turn her phone off before she put it to her ear, in case someone called her while she was acting like she was on the phone. Positioning herself properly, so she wasn’t quite looking at Blaire, but knew she was near enough to hear, she started having a one-ended conversation.

“Oh, I know. I can’t wait. He said he would meet up with me later if he can get away from her for a while. I don’t know. I think he feels bad that she came all the way out here. I believe he said he will get rid of her in a week.” Sophie laughed into the phone. “I know, right? Yeah, I got some lingerie for when she leaves that I know Finn is going to love. He loved the red ones from the other night. Yeah, okay, well I got to go. Thanks for the chat girl, talk to you later.”

Sophie hung up and then whipped her head around to make eye contact with a mouth-gaping Blaire. Sophie quickly smiled, but then took off, but not before she almost ran straight into Neala who was crying and running out of the General Store.
 

“Mission accomplished,” Sophie said to herself, as she headed down the baking aisle to grab her much-needed flour.
 

***

“You’re so pussy whipped,” Bradon said to Finn as they started getting out condiments for sandwiches and setting the table.
 

“I would rather be pussy whipped than yearning for a girl I’m too scared to admit I like.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Oh come on,” stepped in Liam. “It’s so obvious that you’re in love with Tipper.”

“You want to daaaaate her and kiiiiisssss her,” Finn sing-songed.
 

“Fuck off, both of you. There is no way in hell I would ever touch that blonde bitch.”

“You might as well start pulling her pigtails. You are so in love with her,” Liam joked.
 

Finn and Liam both made kissing noises toward Bradon, who then proceeded to try to tackle them both, but had no chance in hell since Finn and Liam were both bigger than their pretty-boy brother.
 

Both Finn and Liam pinned Bradon to the floor as he tried to squirm away.
 

“Don’t even try…” Finn was interrupted when Blaire threw open the door to the pub without any groceries and a look of total fear on her face.
 

Instantly, Finn got up from the ground and ran to her. “What’s wrong?”

Blaire pulled away and searched his eyes. Finn had no clue what was going on, but he didn’t like what he was seeing. The look Blaire was giving him was the same look she got when she was going to run, run away from him.
 

“Blaire, babe, what’s wrong?” Finn looked around, “Where’s Neala?”

“I don’t know.”

Liam was now right by Finn’s side when he said, “What do you mean you don’t know? You two went to the grocery store together.”

“Like I don’t know that?” Blaire snapped. “Someone at the grocery store told me there was some gossip flying around that you weren’t actually looking to get back together with her, that you were just stringing her along until you asked for full custody of Catherine.”

“What?!” Liam screamed, as he headed back to the bar to grab his keys. “Who the fuck would say that?”

Blaire looked up at Finn and gently said, “Sophie.”

“Sophie? For fuck’s sake!” Liam took off out of the pub leaving Blaire, Finn and Bradon to themselves.