“Do you want to come to the bar with me and say hi?”
She did not want to do that in any way, but she knew it would be worse if he saw her later and she hadn’t. Reluctantly, she followed behind. “Yeah, sure.”
The bar was crowded, with just enough room to squeeze through to order. There were two bartenders working, neither of them Seamus. Penny stayed behind Bonnie even so, trying to blend with the crowd. She felt herself breathe a sigh of relief as a female bartender stepped forward to take their order and let her eyes trail back over to Finn.
“Well, hello there.”
Penny felt a hand on her shoulder, and her head swung around to see who was touching her. Instead of a face, she foundherself staring at a large, broad chest. Tilting her head upward, there was Seamus.
“Hey,” she said weakly, wanting to take a step back but with nowhere to go.
“I was beginning to think I’d seen the last of you. I thought you’d be back sooner to plan another night.”
“Oh, right. Sorry. Things got a little busy. We went away for the weekend and… I guess, since I didn’t have your number… You could have stopped by, though.”
He nodded, looking vaguely confused. “How would I do that? I have no idea where you’re staying. Come talk to me later. We can figure something out.”
“Here. Oh,” Bonnie turned, drinks in hand. “Sorry. Didn’t realize you were talking. Look, soda waters,” she said, passing them off to Penny and turning back just long enough to grab the snacks she’d ordered as well. “See, we’re on our best behavior tonight.”
Seamus smiled back playfully. “Very good. But I wouldn’t expect you to act like saints the whole time. I hope you’ll be loosening up as the night goes on.”
Bonnie returned the smile. “As long as you don’t mind.”
Seamus gave Penny a very obvious up and down look and smiled, “Not at all.”
“I can leave you two to talk if you’d like,” Bonnie said, trying to squeeze past.
If Penny’s hands hadn’t been full, she would have physically grabbed her. Luckily, Seamus was too busy to hang around.
“I’d love to. But I better get back to it,” he said, gesturing behind him. “We’re getting busy with all the tourists in. I was only collecting some glasses. Hope we can talk later.” He didn’t even look at Bonnie as he spoke, his focus squarely on Penny.
“Sure,” she said noncommittally, turning to follow Bonnie out of the tight press by the bar.
“Look at that,” Bonnie said, eyes dancing. “He was totally ogling you. I told you that dress looks great on you.”
Unfortunately, he wasn’t the one Penny wanted ogling her. She was almost embarrassed to admit it, but she hadn’t thought about Seamus since they’d headed away. Now, trying to make herself, she was shying away from the idea. Instead, her body moved her towards Finn.
As if he could feel her presence, he glanced up, his look of concentration melting into a smile. Placing his guitar down gently, he approached them.
“Ye’re here?”
Penny felt her fingers tingle with the desire to reach out and touch him.
“Of course, we are. I told you we would be,” Bonnie said.
“I saved ye a spot.” He motioned for them to follow. “It’s kind of frowned upon. I’m glad ye didn’t get here any later.”
He led them over to a small wooden table with two wooden chairs, about as close to where he was playing as you could get. Picking up a pint that was sitting there, he took a quick sip.
“This is perfect,” Bonnie enthused.
“Great, yeah. And let me know if ye have any requests, right?”
“Great,” Bonnie smiled warmly, looking from Finn to Penny, then back again. “Will do.”
This was ridiculous. Penny felt like a child with her mother watching over everything she did. She wanted to move closer to Finn, to speak words of encouragement, and to try to rekindle their connection. With Bonnie watching so closely over everything, she felt herself shutting down. Even smiling was becoming a chore. Hadn’t he already let her know he wasn’t interested in her that way?
“This is going to be fun,” Bonnie said with a wink.
