Page 4 of Only You
“What the hell?”
Again, both women looked at him before his sister asked, “Youdoknow that Eileen dates, right?”
“Of course, I know that.”
He didn’t like it, but he knew she did. Or he assumed. Thankfully, he had never had to deal with her bringing a date into his restaurant. Declan understood a woman as stunning and interesting as Eileen would probably get asked out a lot. He just didn’t want to think about it.”
“He’s coming because he and Ma get along so well. He has a bookstore in that little town just west of Warrenton.”
“Why would Eileen care about a guy who lives in Virginia?”
He spat the state name like it was poison. It garnered another look from both of the women.
“She’s young, gorgeous, and you should see her with kids.” She looked at Wendy. “He has a little boy.”
“I thought Santinis married for life,” Wendy said.
It was true. Most people who knew the Santinis, which seemed to be at least half of the Marine Corps since they all served, knew that once a Santini fell in love, they did not walk away. It was one thing he loved about Brando.
“He’s a widower.”
Declan wanted to demand that he be uninvited. He didn’t need some damned Santini strutting around his restaurant, flaunting his stupid Santini genes in front of Eileen.
Jesus.What the fuck, Fitzpatrick?He needed to get his emotions under control, or both his sister and Wendy would pick up on it.
“I need to double-check on the produce for tonight.”
Then he rushed out of the room, heading to the kitchen. The staff wouldn’t arrive for another couple of hours since the entire restaurant was closed for the party. The room was quiet, and that was what he needed. He had seemed to be losing his control whenever Eileen was mentioned.
He leaned against the counter and did not even look at the produce. He knew, without a doubt, they had enough. Everything had been double and triple-checked.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out. It was texts from his mother. He shook his head but ended up grinning. She had sent the kid’s pics of Little Mike with Big Mike—his father.
His heart warmed as he scrolled through the images. His parents had been involved in their lives as they grew up. Even his father’s job as a fireman and later Firehouse Captain hadn’t gotten in the way. He had missed a few games here and there, but Mike always knew when one of his kids had something important going on. It might have been his mother making sure he knew, but he went that extra mile and reached out to them. Hell, he had kept up with what was going on with Declan while he was away at culinary school.
He slipped his phone back into his pocket and decided to push his thoughts about Eileen back and concentrate on the party.
“He is so obvious,”Kaitlin said the moment her brother was out of earshot.
“Joey is not trying to set up Brennan. That was mean,” Wendy said, but she was smiling when she said it. She carrieda box of centerpieces over to one of the tables. After she set it down, she pulled one out.
Kaitlin waved that away, then grabbed two centerpieces. “How many months has he been mooning over her? You would think he didn’t know how to handle a woman. He hasn’t been on a date in forever.”
Wendy frowned. “How do you know that he hasn’t been dating?”
“The bros told me. They all find it hilarious. Didn’t Aedan say anything about it?”
“No.” She already had her phone out and was probably texting Aedan.
Sorry, bro.
“Interesting.” And she understood. The truth was that Wendy seemed to have lost her train of thought lately and just blurted things out. She was usually better at keeping secrets, but pregnancy hormones were doing a number on her brain cells. She told Kaitlin she used all her good brain cells at work. She was a nurse in the trauma ward, so that seemed more important than keeping secrets. Hence why Aedan probably didn’t tell her.
“Still, you should be nicer to him. Especially after all the work he did for this.”
Kaitlin looked around and felt a little guilty. She knew he had not only planned the whole menu but also donated the restaurant and his staff as part of the party. They were getting paid, but it was coming out of Declan’s pocket. Whenever one of the siblings tried to pay him for that part of it, he refused. He said he would put it towards the food, liquor, or DJ.
“Okay, I will be nicer, but he needs to get out of his funk.”
