They burst out laughing as her grandmother came in. Despite having moved away from each other, her grandmother seemed to know she had interrupted something. Emily walked over to give her grandmother a hug. She had uprooted the old lady and her nana had hardly complained. Not really.

“I think I might like living here after all. You got more channels on TV, for one thing. And the kitchen is fairly swanky, too. The bathtub is the size of a pool, though. Did you never think of conserving water?”

“I’ve never used it. I prefer to shower.”

Emily tried to concentrate on something other than Conor and their kiss. She walked to the door. “Where is the other guest room?” Turning to her grandmother, she explained quickly, “Nana, Conor has decided not to stay in his friend’s house after all.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised.”

Emily wanted to hit her nana as the old lady looked at her and Conor, with a smug, self-satisfied expression on her face. Instead, she opted to find the guest room following Conor’s instructions. It was smaller than the other two bedrooms but still bigger than her own bedroom. She put her bag on the bed trying to resist the urge to jump on top of it and do cartwheels. It was huge.

“You don’t have as nice a view as we have but it will do, I guess,” Nana said, her eyes glowing with laughter.

“Nana, are you trying to rile me up? Conor doesn’t have to put us up.”

“Sure, he’ll enjoy it. Don’t like living on your own, do you, son?” Nana asked Conor.

Conor colored as Emily stared at her nana. She was calling Conor Dunne, the billionaire, son? Oh, please let the ground open up and swallow her now.

“Now, ladies, where would you like to go for lunch? I am starving.”

“Me, too. I could eat a horse,” her nana said.

“My tastes don’t go that far Gertie, but I can recommend a nice Chinese restaurant or Indian if, you prefer?’

“Do you have that fast food chicken place close by?”

Emily giggled at the look of consternation on Conor’s face before her nana put him out of his misery. “Only joking. Chinese sounds lovely. But first we should get changed. Emily, you need to put some make-up on.”

Make up? What was her nana up to now?

“I think Emily looks beautiful as she is. Unless, of course, she wants to freshen up?” Conor said. Nana gave him an assessing look.

“I’m good,” Emily managed to squeak. He liked her even without make up. She knew she wasn’t ugly, but only super models got away with going out without makeup. Didn’t they? That’s what Jason and every boyfriend she ever had, had thought.

* * *

They walked to the restaurant, which wasn’t far away at all. Conor had introduced her and her grandmother to the security staff on the front desk. He had also ordered two guest keys, one for each of them. Nana had tried to decline, worried she might lose it, but Conor had insisted, telling her he didn’t want her to think she was a prisoner. Emily’s heart swelled watching Conor with her grandmother. He was so thoughtful and caring. It seemed to come naturally to him.

It didn’t take long to reach the restaurant. Not being used to Chinese food, Nana let Conor order for her. The food was sensational, as was the wine Conor selected to go with it. But the company was even better. Emily almost forgot why they were there with Conor. He kept the both of them entertained with stories from Ireland and also from his early days of investing.

“What made you start investing in companies?”

“It was a school project, Gertie. We had to come up with ideas on how to raise a million euros. My classmates were all for getting a loan from the bank, but I don’t like banks. Or at least I didn’t back in those days. So I decided there had to be another way. I worked out that the company could be split and sold in different parts. Each part could be a sustainable business but focus on what it did best, thereby becoming more profitable in the future.”

“I bet your folks are proud of you.”

The look on Conor’s face said otherwise. Emily sucked in her breath, as she glimpsed the pain in his eyes.

“Nana, did you ever try seaweed before? This is just delicious.”

Conor squeezed her hand under the table. She squeezed his back, hoping to show him some comfort.

Conor asked her nana some questions about the retirement home. When Emily wondered why he was being so inquisitive, he explained what he had seen while he was waiting for them to pack.

“Oh, yes, we get some nasty staff. They are people who need the money rather than have a gift for working with people. If I had my way, people like Nurse Kathy would get paid more than football players. She does an amazing job, works all the hours God sends and for what? So she can scrape by? She has two children, and they will never have the benefits my Emily and you have had. She’ll never be able to afford to send them to college. She says they are doing well in school. Poor girl feels guilty about not being able to provide them with a better future, but what else can she do?”

“It isn’t a fair world, that’s for certain,” Conor said.

“No, it isn’t, but today isn’t the day for discussing that. I like hearing about Ireland. Always wanted to go there. But it was never the right time.”

“It’s a beautiful place for sure, but it’s always raining. At least it seems to be always raining. If we could take some of the sunshine from here and put it in Ireland, there wouldn’t be a better place to live in the whole world.”

“Does your family mind you being so far away?”

“Nana, not everyone wants to discuss their private life,” Emily reminded her.

“Sorry, Conor, I didn’t mean to intrude. I was just making conversation. Emily will tell you I am far too direct for my own good.”

“It’s fine. I just don’t like speaking much about my family. My granny, God rest her, was like you, Gertie. Spoke her mind. She wasn’t cruel, not intentionally anyway, but she didn’t believe in the old flannel.”

Emily didn’t understand what he meant.

“It’s a saying in Ireland. You know, when you’re trying to butter someone up or be nice to them because they are important in their eyes or you need something from them. Granny didn’t believe in that. She treated everyone the same, from the road sweeper to the local priest. The priest felt she showed a lack of respect but I think that was what God intended. We should treat everyone equally regardless of where they come from or how much money they have in their wallet. I miss her. She died before I could take her to travel the world. She wanted to see Australia, in particular.”

“She sounds like my type of woman.”

“She was. She was my father’s mother but in their case, they couldn’t have been more different.”

“Is your father dead, too?” Nana asked.

“Yes. He died when I was ten.”

“I am sorry to hear that, Conor. A boy needs his father, especially when they are young. In an ideal world, they would have two parents to love them.”

“Well, in my case I would have settled for Nana. Mam tried her best, I guess. She’s an alcoholic.”

“Oh, Conor, I didn’t know that,” Emily said, feeling horrible her grandmother had brought up all his demons.

“I’m glad you don’t. It’s one thing I try to keep out of the gossip pages. Anyway, Mam is sober now, well at least she says she is. We haven’t met in some time. Granny died when I was twenty-two, just before I made my first million. So there you have it. The Dunne family history in a nutshell.”

Emily took Conor’s hand again and held it tightly. “I am so sorry,” she whispered. He glanced at her but didn’t reply.

Gertie busied herself eating her food. For once she seemed lost for words. Then she shocked Emily.

“It can be a cruel world. Emily’s parents were the best. My son was a wonderful father and husband and his wife was an amazing woman. She brought out the best in everyone. The day they were killed—well, the sun went out in my world. But I had Emily to bring up and so I worked at that. I tried to do the best job I could.”

“You did a wonderful job, Nana. You were always there for me.”

“That’s not true, but I did my best. Although others don’t agree. Emily’s brother wanted custody of her, but I held firm. Marie, Emily’s mother, asked me to look out for her daughter so I did what I felt she wanted. Brian hasn’t spoken to me since.”

Emily stared at her grandmother. She didn’t know that was the reason Brian was so cold. He had wanted custody of her? She shuddered at the thought of her big brother being in charge of her life. She would never had become a gamer, as he would never have allowed her to study that in college. She would have become an accountant or a banker or something solid and dependable. She would have had to live with his wife, Theresa, who was even worse than Brian. The silver lining would be spending more time with Tyler. Her nephew was a cool kid. How, with parents like his, she didn’t know.

“Nana, thank you. I know you did so much for me and I have never been able to repay you.”

“Nonsense, Emily. You repay me every day. You’re a lovely young woman and your parents would be proud of you.”

Tears sprang to Emily’s eyes but she wiped them with a napkin, not wanting to upset either Conor or her grandmother.