Beers, Lies and Alibis (Warblers Point Series Book 2) (9 page)

“Okay,” Sophie said, nodding her head, indicating that she was ready to move forward.
 

Murphy scooped up Sophie in his strong arms and twirled her around in her shop.
 

“We are on our way, lass, to bringing down the O’Learys. We are going to seek redemption for you and tonight is step one.”

Even though she was ready to move their plan forward, she still couldn’t help but feel a little guilty about what they were going to do tonight. She had never been a spiteful person, so to put together and follow through with such a hateful act was uncharacteristic of her, but then again, she had always been a kind and caring person and where had that gotten her? …Up a stream with no damn paddles.
 

“You sure this is going to work out?” Sophie asked, still a little unsure.

“Yes, but we have to stick together. Ya hear me? We have to stick together, no matter what.”

Sophie nodded as Murphy started walking her toward the back of her shop. Luckily, she had already cleaned up the shop for the night while Marge and Maggie were bickering, so she was able to leave with Murphy.
 

Butterflies twisted in Sophie’s stomach as she drove off in her car, following Murphy back to her place. The quaint and undisturbed town of Warblers Point passed by her window as she drove the pothole-filled roads towards Murphy’s house, which was just across the lake from The Sleeping Potato.

As Sophie passed the gold and green painted Bed and Breakfast, the pride and joy of the O’Leary family, Sophie sighed. Tonight was the night, they were going to start seeking revenge on those who had disturbed Sophie’s life, who had humiliated her and turned her into the Scarlet Letter-wearer of Warblers Point.

***

“Is Mommy coming home tonight?” Catherine asked as Liam combed her hair, trying to get his daughter ready for bed.
 

Neala had been gone all day. She’d been released from the hospital earlier, but still had yet to return to her parents’ house. Neala’s dad had called earlier and said they wouldn’t return until later, but refused to say what they were doing. The secrecy was grating on Liam’s nerves. All he wanted to know was why Neala had a panic attack and where she was all the damn day.
 

The ideas of what might be wrong with Neala caused Liam to almost cripple over from nausea. Was she sick? Was that why she needed her insurance card and was that why she was taking out cash? Why wouldn’t she talk to him about it? Was she really that mad at him that she wouldn’t share with him her health problems, especially if their daughter was going to be affected?
 

Liam planned on talking to Neala when she got home, even if she wasn’t feeling up to it. He wanted answers; he needed them. He couldn’t go back to his place knowing that there was something wrong with Neala. He wanted to help her, he wanted to be with her and he wanted his family back, under his roof.
 

“She is sweetie, but she might not be home in time to see you to bed. I promise when she does come home, I’ll make sure she kisses you good night, okay?”

“Okay, Daddy.”

Liam kissed Catherine on the head before he finished combing her fine hair.
 

He missed his little girl so much and it killed him that he wasn’t able to be with her every day, watch her grow up, hear the funny things she said, and watch her eyes light up whenever she saw him or Neala. It gutted his soul that he was missing out on his little girl’s life and only being able to watch from afar and on the occasional weekend.
 

Liam looked at the clock and noticed that it was getting late and if Neala did come home and Catherine was still up, she would have a cow. Trying to avoid an unnecessary fight, Liam grabbed his little girl and propelled her toward her bedroom like a rocket taking off to space.
 

Catherine’s laughter filled the air as Liam plopped her down on her bed and tickled her until she yelled uncle.
 

Smiling down at his baby, he said, “Time for bed, granny.”
 

Neala hated the nickname Liam used for their daughter, but the moment Liam laid eyes on his little girl with a smooshed face in the hospital, the name granny came to mind and it stuck.
 

She giggled and placed both of her tiny hands on Liam’s face and said, “I love you, Daddy.”

Trying not to cry at the tender way his daughter looked at him, Liam kissed her forehead and said, “I love you too. Now get some sleep; we’re supposed to get snow tonight and you know that what means, right?”

“Sledding!” Catherine squealed.
 

“That’s right, but grannies need their sleep in order to go sledding, so you better shut those beautiful peepers of yours.”

“I will, Daddy. I promise.”

“Good girl. Good night, granny.”

“Good night.”

Liam placed one last kiss on his daughter’s forehead before tucking her in and retreating to her doorway to turn out her light. Right before he flipped the switch, Catherine broke the silence in her room.
 

“Daddy?”

“Yeah?” Liam asked.
 

“When will we move back in with you? I miss you.”

If Liam’s heart wasn’t already gutted out of his chest, then Catherine’s words just did the trick. The innocence pouring off his little girl was almost excruciating.
 

“I’m working on it, Catherine.”

“Ok, ‘cause Mommy’s sad and I think it’s because we’re not in our house anymore.”

“Did she say that?” Liam asked, almost hoping for some kind of information about his mystery of a wife, even if it came from his four-year-old daughter.
 

“No, I can just tell. She looks at a picture of you that she has under her mattress. She doesn’t think I see her looking at it, but I do.”

Liam pressed his forehead against the doorjamb of her room, trying to ignore the knots that were tying up his intestines that any sailor would be proud of.
 

“Well, I will work on it, okay?”

“Okay, Daddy. Good night.”

“Night, granny.”

Liam clicked Catherine’s door shut as he thought about what his daughter had just divulged to him. Neala had a picture of him that she stared at? Why would she have a picture of him that she hid if she wanted nothing to do with him?

Wanting to know more about what was going on in Neala’s head, Liam took off toward her room, but was stopped immediately when he heard the front door open and voices echo through the silent house.
 

Liam took off toward the front door so he could finally talk to Neala, but stopped short when he saw only Neala’s parents.
 

“Where’s Neala?” Liam asked.

“Thank you for taking care of Catherine while we were gone,” said her mother, completely ignoring his question.
 

“What do you think I would do, leave my daughter here all alone while her mother was in the hospital?” Anger spilled from Liam’s mouth.
 

“That’s not what she meant, son. She was just thanking you for coming over on such short notice.
 

Trying not to blow a gasket at the condescending tones Neala’s parents were using and the fact that Neala was nowhere to be found, Liam calmly asked again, “Where’s Neala?”

They were both silent and avoided all eye contact with Liam. What the hell was going on? Where the hell was Neala and why the hell were her parents being so evasive?

“I’m about to blow up in two seconds if you don’t tell me what the hell is going on.”

Liam had to tell himself to breathe because the rage and anxiety that was rolling through his body was causing him to nervously shake like a lunatic.
 

“Calm down, Liam,” Neala’s dad said in a calming voice, trying to diffuse the bomb that was about to explode in Liam’s body. “Neala is fine. She is getting some help that she desperately needs. We can’t tell you much because she doesn’t want you to know, but she’s getting help.”

What the hell was that supposed to mean? She was getting help? For what? He never noticed Neala ever having any problems while they were married. Sometimes she could fly off the deep end when something wasn’t right, but that was because she was a bit of a control freak, but it was nothing that would require someone actually helping her with a problem.
 

A steady, pounding beat took up residence in the front of Liam’s head as he tried to figure out why his ex-wife wasn’t, first of all, with their daughter and, second of all, was withholding secrets from him. Didn’t she know that he loved her, that he would do anything for her and, no matter what, she would always own his heart?
 

Liam felt like screaming at the top of his lungs, but not only would that wake up his beautiful baby girl, it would also scare the living daylights out of his former in-laws and he didn’t want to do that, especially since he was skating on thin ice where they were concerned.
 

Neala most likely didn’t paint a very pretty picture of him during their divorce, especially since she thought Liam was cheating on her with Sophie, which was a complete and utter lie.
 

Not wanting to start a fight, Liam just shook his head and showed himself out of the house. He couldn’t deal with Neala’s parents at the moment. He needed to gather himself and find out where Neala was because hell if he was going to let her go through whatever she was going through alone. He loved her and he wanted nothing but to be there for his wife and his daughter.
 

***

There was an incessant buzzing that kept going off in Fiona’s head, but she had no clue what it was. She rolled to the side, but was stopped by a pair of strong arms. Once again, she had gone to bed alone only to find Booker in their bed later on in the night.
 

They were going on a little mini-vacation in two days and Fiona couldn’t wait. Booker refused to reveal anything about their little trip, but honestly, Fiona could care less where they went, as long as she had Booker all to herself, that was all that mattered. He had some important affairs to attend to before they left, but she didn’t care because she knew he was going to be all hers for the weekend. She needed some quality Booker time because she almost felt like they were drifting apart and that scared her, practically terrify her. She had moved her entire life to be with him and didn’t know what she would do if things didn’t work out between them. Not only would she be humiliated because her parents weren’t the happiest about her move and would tell her, “I told you so,” but also because she would be absolutely heartbroken. She hadn’t really know what love was until she met Booker.
 

The buzzing noise started up again, but Fiona ignored it because her eyes were too heavy to even think about making an appearance during the dark of the night.
 

Booker rolled over and nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck as he pulled her into his warm and bare-chested body. Completely overjoyed with the fact that she had the sexiest man ever wrapped around her, she scooted her body back so he was completely engulfing her.
 

Fiona’s thoughts started drifting off when an ear-piercing sound filled the silence of the night.
 

Booker jack-knifed his entire body at the startling sound, sending the blankets in all different kinds of directions.
 

“Fucking hell!” Booker screamed, while scrambling to find the noise that had disturbed their peace.

“Your phone, Booker,” Fiona croaked, not quite coherent enough to help him find it.
 

“Who the fuck is calling me right now? I swear to God if this is Bill…” Booker mumbled, talking about his publicist.
 

“What?!” Booker yelled into the phone as he dangled half of his body off the bed, with his spare hand that was not holding the phone propping him up from the floor.
 

Fiona’s arm was placed over her face, trying to block the light from Booker’s night stand light that he had turned on in order to find his phone. He must have knocked it over while he was flailing about in bed.
 

Silence met the evening air as Booker listened to whoever was on the other end of the line. Fiona was less than interested in what was going on; she only hoped it didn’t take Booker away from her because she was awfully comfortable a couple of minutes ago and planned on revisiting their previous snuggle positions once Booker was off the phone.
 

“How much was destroyed?” Booker asked in the phone.

Destroyed? Fear started to take place in Fiona’s stomach as she thought about what of Booker’s could have been destroyed. Did someone break into the studio and mess up his movie? She didn’t really know if that was possible, but that would be terrible if that was what happened.
 

“What? Is he okay?” Booker asked, concern dripping from his voice. “Jesus, yeah, I’ll take care of it.”

Fiona sat up in bed now, fully alert since Booker had asked about someone being hurt. She leaned over to grab her phone to see what time it was when she saw there were five missed calls from Finn.