Dogwood Hill

An odd expression passed over Aidan’s face, just as it had the other day. This time she knew she wasn’t wrong about what she was seeing. She hesitated, then asked, “Do you already know some of the family?”

“No, why?”

“Because you reacted just now when I mentioned Thomas. You did the same thing the other day when the O’Brien name came up. What am I missing?”

“You’re imagining things,” Aidan said, though his tone wasn’t the least bit convincing.

“Aidan, if there’s something you’re not saying, if there’s some history here or bad blood or something, maybe it is the wrong place for you. The town is overrun with O’Briens and they stick together. You need to understand that and be sure of your decision.”

He gave her a long, inscrutable look before answering. “I’m not sure of anything,” he said quietly.

And, just like before, he turned and walked away, leaving her with a whole slew of troubling questions.

* * *

Though she sat next to Aidan at dinner, Liz was all too aware that he carefully avoided making conversation with her. In fact, he was fairly quiet, responding only when asked a direct question. He seemed content to let the nonstop chatter and laughter swirl around him.

She also thought she caught his gaze straying more than once toward Thomas O’Brien, but maybe that was because her imagination had gone into overdrive following their talk outside.

As soon as the meal ended, she went in search of Nell to thank her for another incredible meal, then to say her goodbyes to Megan and Mick. She thought she’d be home free and able to make a quick escape after that, but Mick drew her aside.

“So?” he asked. “How’s Aidan leaning? Is he going to take the job or not?”

Liz regarded him with amusement. “What makes you think I have any inside knowledge?”

“The two of you were outside for a while. Looked to me as if you were talking pretty seriously about something.”

“You were spying on us?” she asked with a scowl, though she wasn’t the least bit surprised. Of course Mick had been keeping a close eye on them. That was who he was, a man who paid close attention to the things that mattered to him.

“I don’t spy,” he objected, then sighed. “You know how much the school needs him, Liz. Did he give you any hint about which way he’s leaning?”

“Not really,” she said, though her gut was telling her Aidan was going to walk away. She didn’t want to be the one to break that news to Mick, not when she wasn’t certain of it. Who knew what sort of pressure he might decide to pour on the poor unsuspecting man?

“Can I give you a bit of advice?” she asked Mick.

“Why not? You’re practically part of the family, and heaven knows, not a one of them keeps a single opinion to themselves.”

Liz laughed, knowing it was a genetic predisposition of the O’Briens to share advice whether it was wanted or not.

“Give the man some space,” she suggested to Mick. “He seems to be weighing this decision. Too much pressure might have the opposite effect of what you’re hoping for.”

“He’ll never find a better opportunity,” Mick said. “He needs to understand that.”

“That may be,” Liz conceded. “And I’m hardly an expert on Aidan Mitchell, but I think overselling the job could backfire.”

She glanced across the room to where Aidan was talking to Mack Franklin. Whatever the conversation, his expression was animated and he looked more relaxed than she’d ever seen him. She had a hunch that while Mack might be talking football, he wasn’t pushing the coaching job. In fact, whatever he was saying had Aidan laughing. That sound made her feel surprisingly good.

Mick followed the direction of her gaze, his own gaze narrowing. “You think Mack’s approach, whatever it is, is the right one, don’t you?”

“Looks that way to me,” she said.

Mick’s focus returned to her. “You seem awfully concerned for a man you barely know. Any particular reason for that?”

Liz scrambled for an answer that wouldn’t give away this odd connection she felt to a man she’d barely met. “I just know how much you want him to stay and what it would mean to the town to have a winning team.”

Mick didn’t look as if he bought the reply, but he didn’t pursue it. Liz thought she was off the hook, until he added, “I imagine it won’t break your heart, though, if he decides to stick around.”

No, she thought with a sigh. It wouldn’t break her heart at all, even if she wasn’t quite sure why.

3

In the end, despite a boatload of reservations, Aidan surprised himself and decided to take the job if he could win one big concession. He wanted a one-year deal, not five. He figured that would be long enough for him to prove himself as a coach and short enough for him to escape if it got too difficult being around Thomas. He’d take an option for another four years, but that was the best he could do.

He’d made the decision during dinner, after he’d had a chance to observe Thomas O’Brien from a distance at the crowded table. He’d concluded that despite his own simmering resentment, the man didn’t seem to be the devil incarnate he’d imagined. He was just a man who seemed crazy about his wife and who adored his little boy. In fact, watching Thomas with Sean had set off a flurry of mixed emotions with envy beating out resentment. He’d had a great life, thanks to his mom, but he couldn’t help wondering how much better it might have been if his dad had been in the picture.

Despite Mick’s suggestion that he speak to Thomas about preserving the Chesapeake Bay, Aidan deliberately steered clear of him. He never exchanged a single word with him beyond a polite hello when introduced. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure what he might say when they inevitably met again.

By taking the job, he knew he’d have to face Thomas eventually. Perhaps getting to know him through his work would pave the way for a different kind of bond. Maybe he’d even come to understand the man his mother had loved and respected enough to release from any obligation to her or their child. Surely as an adult he could grasp such strong emotions and dedication in a way he hadn’t been able to as a young boy longing for a father.

With his mind finally made up, Aidan drew Mick aside as the family began to leave.

“May I speak to you?”

Mick studied him closely. “Good news or bad?”

Aidan smiled. “I hope you’ll think of it as good news. I’ve decided to accept the job, if you’ll agree to a modification of the contract. I’ll call Rob in the morning to talk that over, but I wanted you to know now.”

“What sort of modification?” Mick asked.

“I only want a one-year deal. I think that’s fair to the school, the town and to me. It gives us all time to evaluate how things are working out.”

“And then what?” Mick asked irritably. “You’ll get a little experience under your belt and cut and run? What’s fair about that?”

“I could be a terrible failure and you’ll be rid of me in a year without having to give me some huge payoff to go. Maybe that’s the way you should look at it,” Aidan suggested.

“Son, you can’t go into a job thinking you’re going to fail.”

Aidan smiled. “I’m certainly hoping not to, and I believe I can turn this team around, but nothing in life is a certainty. I’ll be a lot more comfortable if we all take the time to evaluate this carefully.”

Mick sighed. “I suppose I can’t argue with that logic, but people are going to want to know you’re committed to the job, that you’re a part of the community, that you believe wholeheartedly in the team. They won’t be happy you’ll have an out at the end of a year.”

Aidan leveled a look into his eyes. “It’s the best I can do, sir. I would certainly understand if that’s not good enough.”

Mick remained silent, clearly debating with himself. Eventually he said, “I suppose I should be grateful that I didn’t scare you off altogether.”

“No, if anything, meeting your family convinced me of the kind of values I can expect to find in Chesapeake Shores. It made me want to give this a try,” Aidan said. “I was an only child, so today has been a real revelation.”

“You’re close to your parents?”

“It was just my mom and me, and she died last summer.”

Mick’s expression reflected real dismay. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Well, you come here and you can consider us family,” he said generously. “There’s always room for one more. You ask Ma about that. Next thing you know, she’ll be dropping off food every time you turn around to make sure you’re eating properly.”

Aidan chuckled. “I wouldn’t say no to that. The meal was the best I’ve had in a long while.”

“You get a craving, you can get the same thing anytime at O’Brien’s, the pub on Shore Road. My nephew Luke owns that, but Ma has trained his chef. It’s a real friendly place, like a home away from home.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“How soon can you start?” Mick asked, returning to business. “It might be good to get you back here and in place before the end of the school year, so you’ll have time to assess your players.”

“I was thinking the same thing, if that suits you. I know sometimes contracts start in August, though.”

“They do, but don’t you worry about that. I’ll take care of it. We’ll set up something separate for these last couple of months of this school year. Now, let’s talk about getting you settled in town. There’s still some daylight left. How would you like to take a look at those houses I mentioned the other day?” Mick asked eagerly.

“I think an apartment might be better, given the terms of our deal,” Aidan said. “I thought I spotted a for-rent sign on one of those places above the shops on Main Street.”

“Renting is the same as throwing money down the drain,” Mick objected.

“Or into your pocket,” his brother Jeff commented dryly as he joined them. He turned to Aidan and explained, “Mick and I split the income on those rentals.”

“Which is why I’m telling him he should buy,” Mick argued. “You and I are doing just fine. We don’t need his rent money. He’ll have something to show for those monthly payments, if he makes them on a nice house.”

Aidan had a hunch the bickering was as much of a habit as these Sunday dinners. He knew it when Nell marched over and stood between her two towering sons.

“Enough!” she said sternly, winking at Aidan. “I’m sure the man knows what’s best for him. If you’re so sure he’s wrong, give him a month-to-month lease in case he decides later he wants to buy a home. Come to think of it, you could put that rent money in escrow toward his down payment.”

Aidan regarded her with astonishment. “That’s a very generous idea, but it’s not necessary.”

Mick’s expression, though, turned thoughtful. “Ma’s right. We could do that. It would give you this year you’re so dead set on to look around for a house and have money in the bank when you’re ready to buy. No need to make a snap decision. Jeff, you okay with that?”

Jeff laughed. “If Ma’s starting to make our business deals, it’s going to cost us money, but I’m not going to be the one to argue with her.”

“Then it’s settled,” Mick said happily, shaking Aidan’s hand. “I’ll meet you in Rob’s office first thing tomorrow and we’ll hammer out all the details, then we can go by the real estate office and sign that rental agreement.” He glanced at his brother. “You’ll have Susie make the appropriate changes about that escrow business?”

“Of course,” Jeff said. He turned to Aidan. “And just so you know, my wife teaches PE at the school and coaches women’s soccer. Jo couldn’t be here today, but she wanted you to know how excited the staff is that you might be coming.”

“I’ll look forward to meeting her,” Aidan told him, reminded yet again of how integral the O’Briens were to this town. Liz had definitely been right about that. “I’ll see you in the morning, Mick.”

“Did you have a chance to speak to Thomas?” Mick asked.

“Not yet.”

“Well, there’s plenty of time for that,” Mick said. “He’s going to be eager to put you to work, too.”

Aidan bit back a sigh. That was the mixed blessing in all of this, but the die was cast now. One of the lessons his mom had taught him was never to look back.

Make your choice and live with it the best way you know how, she’d said.

He recognized now that was exactly what she had done. She’d let Thomas O’Brien off the hook all those years ago and learned to live with it. If she’d had regrets, she’d never once let on to him. Now he had to do the same.

* * *

It had taken less than an hour in Rob’s office to nail down the details of Aidan’s contract. Though Mick had made one last pitch for a five-year commitment, Aidan had held out and Rob had backed him.

On the drive back to New York, he returned a slew of unanswered calls from his former teammate Frankie Losada, who’d been leaving messages for the past couple of days.

“What’s up?” Aidan asked when the call connected.

“Well, when I first called, it was to talk you into going to the big opening-night party at a new club in SoHo. A-list all the way. I figured we’d meet some very sexy ladies. When I called again, it was to tell you that model you used to date, Donatella, was asking about you. The last five times were to try to figure out why you weren’t taking my calls. It’s not like you to fall off the radar.”

Aidan smiled at the evidence of Frankie’s never-ending quest for pretty women and a front-of-the-tabloids social life. Aidan had rarely been interested in that scene. When he had shown up, it was usually because Frankie, who protected his blind side on the field, had twisted his arm.

“I told you I was going down to Maryland to look into a coaching job.”

“At some backwoods school that hasn’t won a game in how long? Five years or something?” Frankie scoffed. “I thought you had to be joking.”

“Not joking, Frankie. I took the job.”

His friend fell silent, then said, “Man, I think you need to take Coach up on that offer to get you counseling. That knee injury did something to your head.”

“I do not need counseling,” Aidan said. “I need to work. I need to feel as if I’m doing something worthwhile.”

“New York is chock-full of worthwhile causes,” Frankie argued. “Why do you think we’re up to our eyeballs in appearances when we aren’t at practice or playing games? Coach is all about good deeds.”

“My celebrity ended the day my career ended,” Aidan reminded him. “When I’m not throwing winning touchdowns, I’m just some normal guy who used to play ball.”

“Are you having some kind of pity party? Do I need to get you back out on the town, set you up with a new woman to prove you’re still the man here in the city?”

“Look, I’m on my way back to the city to pick up my stuff. How about dinner tonight? You can see for yourself I’m perfectly rational.”

“Dinner’s good. Want me to give Donatella a call, invite her along?”

“Only if you want to date her,” Aidan said adamantly. “I’m not interested in going down that road again.”

“Up to you, man, but she is h-o-t, if you know what I mean.”

“I always know what you mean,” Aidan said, his own thoughts going to a little blonde chatterbox, who was hotter without trying than Donatella ever dreamed of being. “See you tonight. I’ll call for a reservation at Luca’s.”

“Hot damn!” Frankie said. “I love that place. You can’t move without bumping into a real babe.”

“I like the food,” Aidan said.

“You keep telling yourself that,” Frankie said. “You might talk all noble, but you like the women just as much as I do.”

There had been a time, Aidan thought, when that had been true, right up until he’d realized how shallow many of them were. Not a one could hold a candle to Liz. Her presence in Chesapeake Shores was like a huge signing bonus, though he had a hunch he’d have to work awfully hard to earn her affection. And with his plan to stick around for only a year, maybe it would be best if he didn’t even try.

* * *

Two weeks later, Aidan had moved his belongings into a one-bedroom apartment overlooking Main Street. It had not escaped his notice that Pet Style was just downstairs, assuring routine encounters with Liz, who’d proven to be as disconcerting and intuitive as she was beautiful.

Now, on his second morning after settling in, he was standing by the open sliding glass doors in his living room enjoying the view across the town green and breathing in the clean fresh air. The green’s open space was surrounded by blooming beds of red tulips. He glanced into the distance and spotted Liz heading his way, juggling a purse and a couple of huge boxes. As she neared, the boxes tumbled from her arms, spilling out an assortment of pet toys. She dropped her purse in a misguided attempt to grab the boxes and, when everything scattered, a mild curse crossed her lips, immediately followed by a guilty expression and a quick look around.

Aidan grinned, set down his cup of coffee, jogged down the steps out back and around the side of the building. He reached the green before she’d picked up even half the toys. He found her cell phone several feet away in the dew-dampened grass, along with a lipstick and several brightly colored pens. He gathered them up and joined her.

She gave him a startled look. “Where’d you come from?”

“Up there,” he told her, gesturing toward his apartment and the open sliding doors that led to a tiny balcony.

“Oh, dear. You didn’t...” A blush tinted her cheeks bright pink.

“Hear you?” he said innocently.

“You did, didn’t you? I normally don’t use that kind of language. Really. I was just exasperated with myself for trying to haul all of this on foot. I should have driven to work, but it was such a nice morning, I decided to walk. I love this time of year when the air is soft and scented with spring flowers.”

Aidan continued gathering up the packages of squeaky toys and put them into the second box. “If this is store inventory, why didn’t you have it delivered to the store?”

“I did, but I ran out of time to price it yesterday. This coming weekend is the first of the season. I need to have everything on display today. Chesapeake Shores is always swamped for the long Memorial Day holiday weekend. The other store owners have told me that most of their income comes in between Memorial Day and Labor Day, when we’re crawling with tourists. This will be my first summer season, so I want to be sure I start off right.”

“Didn’t you mention that you’d opened just before Christmas?”

She nodded, then sighed. “Big mistake. I did okay over the holidays, but the winter was deadly. I should have guessed it would be, but once I made the decision to move here and open the store, I was anxious to get started. Plus, spaces on Main Street don’t come along that often. When I spotted one for sale, I grabbed it.” She shrugged. “No point in looking back, though. I just have to make this summer season count.”

“Or?”

She regarded him blankly. “Or what?”

“Will you quit? Do something else? Move away?”

She looked taken aback by the alternatives he’d mentioned. “I can’t let myself think like that. This has to work, and that’s that.”

“So failure’s not an option?”

“Absolutely not.”

He admired her determination. In an odd way, it reflected the lecture he’d given himself when he’d decided to take the coaching job. He picked up the last of the toys, then grabbed the two boxes.

“I can carry them,” she protested.

“So can I. Lead the way.”

After a momentary hesitation, she crossed the street and opened the door of her shop. Aidan took a quick glance around at the colorful array of everything from pet accessories to toys and some organic pet food. There was even a fancy Victorian-style doghouse, large enough for the adult Archie would become, in one corner.

“That is for a dog, right? It’s not a playhouse?”

Liz tilted her head slightly and studied it with a smile on her lips. “I suppose it would work okay for a toddler, but no, it’s meant for a dog. Believe it or not, it’s another one of those outrageously expensive items that seem to be selling. It’s a custom design by Mick’s nephew Matthew. I’m sure you must have met him at Sunday dinner. He’s an architect like Mick, but he started this as a fun sideline. I’m taking them on commission or he’ll custom design them for people if they want one that looks just like their home or something like that.”

“Good grief.”

She laughed. “I know. Crazy, isn’t it?”

Aidan glanced at his watch. It wasn’t yet seven-thirty, surely too early for the store to be opening.

“Do you have time for a cup of coffee at Sally’s?” he asked impulsively.

She seemed flustered by the question. “No,” she said a little too quickly. “I mean, I do, but I usually meet Bree there around eight-thirty.”

Something told him there was more to her refusal than a prior-standing commitment, but he shrugged it off. “No problem. Another time.”

She seemed to be struggling with herself before finally saying, “If you’re right upstairs and don’t have other plans, you could join us.”

“That’s okay. I don’t want to intrude.”

“You wouldn’t be intruding. Half the people who own shops around here stop in. Of course a lot of those people are O’Briens, so you’ll already know them from dinner at Mick’s. You’d be welcome.”

“I need to get over to the high school before nine,” he said. “I’m meeting with Coach Gentry and Rob Larkin to make some plans for next season. I want to do some unofficial spring training to assess the players before school’s out and assign their workouts for the summer. Maybe another day. See you, Liz.”

He was almost to the door when she called out. “Aidan, is it true what I heard, that you only signed on to coach for a year?”

He nodded.

“That doesn’t seem to give the team much of a chance to get its act together.”

So, Mick had been right. People were going to be upset by what they viewed as a lack of commitment.

“I think it’s long enough for both the school and me to see if we’re a good match,” he replied.

“Or is it a way to hold the town up for a lot of money if they want you to stay?”

Aidan frowned at the suggestion it had anything to do with money. “Any idea what a successful pro football player makes, Liz?”

She blinked at the question. “Not really.”

“Then let me reassure you, I don’t need to take advantage of the town. My career may have been cut short, but I did okay and most of what I made is doing just fine in investments. I took this job because I’ve always wanted to coach at this level. This seemed like a great place to start.”

“Then why not commit?”

He studied her closely. He sensed there was a lot more behind the question than the obvious. “Is commitment a particularly touchy subject for you, Liz?”

The direct question seemed to take her aback. “Isn’t it for everyone?”

“I suppose, but this seems to matter an awful lot to you.”

“I just think people should keep their promises.”

“No question about it, which is why I made a commitment for the amount of time I thought made sense for me and for the school. At the end of the year, we’ll both decide how it’s working out.” He gave her a knowing look. “Sort of like dating for a year before committing to marriage.”

The blush on her cheeks told him he’d hit the nail on the head. Somebody had run out on her, leaving her particularly sensitive to the whole commitment thing.

“You’re right,” she said tightly. “Sorry if it seemed like I was judging you. I’ll see you around. Thanks for the help just now.”

For the first time since he’d met Liz, Aidan realized that she wasn’t just a perpetually cheerful advocate for the joy of living in Chesapeake Shores. He recognized that there were things she was hiding, a skittishness he couldn’t explain. He couldn’t help wondering if her life was every bit as complicated as his. She might make his pulse race and his imagination take off in some steamy directions, but his life was unsettled enough right now without taking on her secrets, too.