“Don’t talk about the Red Sox. Don’t bring up the Catholic Church. Avoid basically anything about politics. If they ask you to come look at something on the roof, don’t fall for it. They intend to hold you over the side until you either wet yourself or cry.” Junie felt like an octopus, her arms working overtime at too many things. There was the task of trying to clean this place so Hugo wouldn’t judge it as harshly as he should. Then she was trying to make a meal, something her brothers would love. Something that would calm the ragged edges of their nerves. “Mary is coming too. She’s as big as a house but don’t say that to her. Tommy’s wife was a madwoman before she was pregnant, but now with the hormones she’ll stab you.”

“Why would I say that to her?” Hugo laughed, stepping in her path and placing his hands on her hips. A shock of desire roared through her but she tried to ignore it. “I know how to act like a civilized human being. Don’t worry.”

“Don’t act like a civilized human being,” Junie shrieked. “Hell, that would be awful. They’ll definitely hang you off the side of the house if you do that.”

“All right then, how should I act?” Hugo let her go as a pot on the stove started to steam over.

“Act like you don’t give a shit about anything. But that also you care really deeply about the important stuff, but never say what that stuff is. Act like you’re confident, but not like you’re important. There is a difference. Try to be quiet, but not so quiet that it makes them think you’re hiding something. Laugh at the jokes, but if one of them starts really going after the other, stop laughing and stay out of it.” Junie mixed the stew and turned the heat down.

“I thought maybe you’d tell me to be myself.”

She shook her head and pointed a wood spoon at him to show how serious she was. “Do not be yourself. They’d hate that.”

“Is it too late for me to sneak out the back?” He delivered the question with a laugh, but she never even cracked a smile.

“Go,” she said, shooing him away. “If they pull in behind you in the driveway you’ll never get out. Go now if you’re going.”

“Junie,” he reached a hand out and touched hers gently, “I’m not going anywhere. Just relax.”

“I’m almost positive wars have been started over men telling women to relax. It’s not too late for me to poison your stew. Remember that.”

“You’re sure I can’t help you with anything? I can make a great salad.” He rounded the small chopping block island that made the already cramped kitchen seem even smaller.

“Not a chance.” Junie pushed him backward, one hand on each of his shoulders. “They come in here and see you cooking, chopping up some lettuce and they’ll never let it go. You’ll get an even worse nickname than the one they already have for you.”

“They have a nickname for me already? I have to hear this.”

“Captain Do-Good. I’m assuming they think you flew the jet up here because they don’t know anything about private jets. And they also likely think you’re a nice guy.”

“Wouldn’t they want their sister hanging around a nice guy?” Hugo was clearly getting way too much enjoyment out of her frantic explanations.

“No!” she said as though he had suddenly gone half deaf or completely dumb. “There are no nice guys. There are only good actors. So they think you’re a player. They don’t want me around good men. They don’t want me around any men. If it were legal to force women into the convent I’d have been there by now.”

“Is there any way at all when I leave here tonight these guys are actually going to like me?”

“That is not the goal, Hugo. Focus. The goal is not getting hung over the side of the house, or your ass kicked in the driveway, or any bodily harm in general. If you can leave here in one piece with your dignity intact, you’ve done better than most.” Her shoulders snapped together with tension as the front door opened and a clamor of voices filled the air.

“You can go out the back and leave your car. Get a cab. I’ll call you in the morning. I’ll tell them you’re sick.”

“I’m starting to worry you’re sick,” Hugo whispered as he turned, like a good soldier, and faced the brothers.

“Holy shit, he actually came.” Brian cackled loudly as he eyed Hugo and then quickly bumped passed him. Ben and Nicky exchanged devilish little grins as they realized there would be some fun tonight after all.

“Where’s Tommy?” Junie asked, a fog of worry creeping in the edges of her mind. Life had felt so fragile lately. Nothing seemed fair or safe. She always felt better when they were all together, when she had eyes on all of them at once. It wasn’t often, but she had hoped for that tonight.

Brian grabbed a few beers from the fridge and handed them just to his brothers. “He said Mary wasn’t doing so good and he was going to stay home. But send them some leftovers.”

“I will.” Junie stirred the stew and drank in the familiar smell. This was her mother’s recipe and though she never got it exactly right, it was close enough to reminisce over. “Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. You guys go clean up. You stink like a hospital.”

Nicky leaned his back against the counter and crossed his arms, keeping his beer up close to his lips. “You really flew her up on here on a jet?”

“It’s a company jet. I don’t own it. I didn’t pilot it either.” Hugo was damn good under pressure. Or at least he held a solid poker face. Maybe inside he was freaking out.

“What do you do exactly?” Ben the shortest of the brothers and therefore usually the loudest with the most to prove, edged into the kitchen and lifted the lid off the stew. An inspection to go with this interrogation.

“I usually do some consulting. I just took a job at West Oil. I’m reporting directly to the CEO and managing part of their public relations and other various projects that come up.”

Junie reached in the fridge and grabbed Hugo a beer, waiting to pounce if one of these jerks had anything to say about it. Luckily, they were far too deep into their line of questioning to notice.

“Then how the hell can you help Junie?” Ben had placed the cover back on the stew, apparently satisfied, not that Junie gave a damn. He could order a pizza if he didn’t like it.

“Yeah,” Brian took a long swig, nearly half the bottle down in a sip, and then wiped his mouth. “Public relations, that’s some bullshit role. And you’re new there. I wouldn’t believe anything he has to say, Junie. He’s probably a no one there.”

“I don’t think they let people use the jet if they’re a ‘no one’.” Hugo was bordering on arrogance, one of the seven deadly sins of trying to date the sister of Irish men.

She thought about warning him but it would be no use. He was out in the ocean alone now. It would be up to him to avoid the sharks and the storms.

Nicky laughed, choking on his beer. “Then if you are so important there, what’s the deal with Junie and helping her?”

“She’s brilliant and she has a solid idea that could really get some legs. All I’m going to get her is some face time with the CEO. It’s an opportunity, and she’ll be ready to capitalize on it.”

“Because you know her so well.” Nicky turned his chin up and scoffed. “I’m not buying this.”

“It’s not like Junie is some kind of mystery.” Hugo puffed out his chest and Junie knew he likely would have said enigma or paradox, but he knew his audience here would see that as pretentious. But he was wading out into dangerous territory now. “She cares about three things.”

Brian, looking completely insulted by the presumptions, slammed his beer down on the cluttered countertop. “Oh please tell us what our sister cares about. Like we don’t already know. This guy is a piece of work.”

“Junie cares about her family and her future.”

“You said three things.” Nicky looked thoroughly unimpressed, but Junie knew her brothers enough to see they were at least intrigued. “That was only two.”

“I don’t know the third one yet. There is something else in there. Something special. That’s what I’m waiting around to see.” Hugo looked at Junie as if she was the only one in the room. As if he wasn’t on the verge of being physically tossed to the curb.

Nicky chuckled and slapped Ben’s shoulder. “Put your boots on boys, the bullshit is going to get high in here.”

“Hey, there is one thing I know about her that you guys don’t seem to. She’s not going to fall for some guy’s lines and get herself mixed up in something that’s no good for her. She’s not an idiot and she’s not weak. If you want to be worried about someone, worry about me. She’s threatened my life multiple times. She looked pretty damn serious.”

A glimmer of pride flashed in the eyes of all of her brothers. They knew she was an adult. A smart, capable woman. But admitting that was hard. It was essentially admitting the job they’d been training for their entire lives had become obsolete.

“Dinner’s ready.” Junie started vigorously slopping bowls full of stew and handing them out. Maybe if their mouths and hands were full Hugo would last a little longer.

“We don’t have a table.” Ben stated this as though he was sure Hugo had never had to stand around the kitchen or pull up a TV tray in his life.

“When food is this good who wants to sit?” Hugo gave Junie a quick wink, a little gesture between the two of them.

“What is this guy, a politician?” Ben scoffed as Junie slammed a bowl into his hands.

“Eat.” She grabbed a bowl for herself and went from having a ball of stress in her stomach to hunger pangs. The day had been a whirlwind and she was always good at turning off her own needs to deal with other people’s problems. There had to be a way to get through this meal. Something they could talk about that wouldn’t cause a problem. “How was Loch when you left?”

Nicky grabbed a second beer and again handed them out to everyone but Hugo. “He was sleeping. They were slow as hell getting him pain meds and you could see it was really starting to hurt. The bone doctor guy said he wouldn’t need any surgery. That’s good because that shit costs a fortune.”

Brian looked somber as he rested his bowl on the counter and spun the top off his beer. “He’s worried about work. They’re not going to keep him on at the bar. It’s not like they’ll hold a spot for him.”

Junie already knew that would be the case. This wasn’t corporate America. There were no employee protections in a small family-run business. How could they? Making a profit wasn’t easy, and having someone out of work meant lost money. “I’m going to talk to Tanya. She has a lot of turnover at her place. Once we have a timeline for his recovery we can try to see if she can hold a waiter position or something for him. I’ll go see her on Friday.”

Ben shook his head and looked at his brothers as if they had a secret they weren’t sharing with her. “We don’t know if Fancy Pants there has access to the jet or not, but if you need money for a ticket, we have enough. You need to get back to Texas. We’ll take care of Loch. He’ll be fine. You should go in the morning.”

Nicky cut in quickly, slamming a hand to Hugo’s chest. “But he is not sleeping over tonight. There’s no room for him and he’s not crashing in your room. Dad would roll over in his grave.”

“He doesn’t want to sleep here, trust me. Hugo is used to much nicer places than this dump.” She moved the spoon around what was left of her stew and felt her heart thudding. She’d always had pride in her family. In their lives. That was until she’d left the bubble they grew up in and realized how the world really worked.

“Where does Loch sleep?” Hugo asked as he walked casually to the stove and filled his bowl again. “I can crash there.”

Nicky was waiting impatiently for his turn at the ladle as he straightened Hugo out. “Sorry dude, this isn’t summer camp. We don’t just bunk up. Get yourself a hotel then get back to Texas and get my sister what she deserves.”

“He can crash on the couch,” Ben suggested, seeming to soften to Hugo. Shocking. “It’s already late. But dude, we know every creak in every board on the way to Junie’s room.”

“Wouldn’t even consider it.” Hugo never looked up from his bowl as he made his promise. “I don’t have the jet by the way. It was a one-way deal. But I’ll fly Junie back on my dime. I’m the one who needs her back there to make the pitch to James West; I should have to pay for it.”

They looked back and forth at each other, silently trying to decide if their pride was worth more to them than the money they’d have to scrape up to get Junie’s airfare sorted out. She knew the math of the family. It was all about scraping by. That meant they’d have to fall short on something, or more than one thing, just to get her back to Texas.

“Thank you,” Junie rushed out, before any of those idiots could turn him down. “Are you guys sure you can take care of all this stuff without me? What about when Loch is on crutches? He’s not going to be able to get upstairs. And the car. The insurance. You’ll have to make sure all of that is sorted out.”

“We’ve got it.” Brian waved her off as though she was being dramatic. And that was the problem. No one she’d ever met could procrastinate themselves into trouble the way her brothers could. “Maybe we’ll even make big money off the accident.”

“Not likely,” Nicky reported with a sigh. “The guy who hit him wasn’t insured. His shitbox car wasn’t worth the dirt that was holding it together. We’ll be lucky if we can get our own car put back together.”

“But it’s fine.” Ben stressed the words and gave Nicky an annoyed look. “We’ve still got it all taken care of. Right?”

“Right,” they all called back in unison.

“We must be off our game. We haven’t even screwed with Hugo.” The fact that Nicky was using Hugo’s name was really saying something.

“Maybe next time,” Hugo said, plugging the sink and adding some soap. “I’m about to do the dishes if you guys want to think up some nicknames for that.”

“Hell no,” Nicky said, handing over his empty bowl. “As long as I don’t have to do them I don’t care who does.”

Ben dumped his bowl in the now half-full sink and eyed Hugo skeptically for a long moment. “You’re a strange rich guy. You sure he’s rich?”

“I haven’t seen a bank statement or anything,” Junie teased. “He doesn’t keep them on the jet.”

Brian thudded his bowl to the counter and closed in on Hugo who was diving into his chore. “You know how in movies the brother always pulls the guy aside and threatens him? It’s something along the lines of if you hurt her I’ll kill you.”

“I’m familiar with that,” Hugo admitted, clearly trying to stay focused on the dishes and not give in to the bait Brian was laying out.

“Well that’s a bunch of bullshit. They never mean it. We don’t bother saying we’ll kill you. I’m not catching a life sentence over your ass. It’s a lot of big talk. But here is what I will tell you.” He leaned over to a drawer and pulled out a handwritten list. “These are the guys who have crossed my family. The cheaters. The liars. The jerks that thought they could treat Junie like garbage. Their phone numbers are on there. You call any of them and say the name O’Malley brothers and see what they say. We don’t make threats we can’t keep. So believe me when I tell you that no matter how rich you are, no matter how many private jets you can fly on, we’ll find you and hurt you. Ruin you. We mean it. You believe that?”

“I do.” Hugo nodded, clearing his throat. “You seem like a man of your word. All of you. I am too. I believe your threats. That’s not what will keep me from messing with your sister though. I wouldn’t do it anyway. I’m a better man than that.”

“Fine.” Brian slid his bowl into the sink, water splashing up on Hugo’s shirt. The slap to his back was way too hard to be construed as a friendly pat. But again, Hugo didn’t flinch. “I don’t want to have to hunt you down. So let’s hope you’re right.”

Brian and Nicky tossed their beer bottles into the recycling bin in the corner of the kitchen and disappeared from the room. They were already arguing about what was wrong with the Bruins last night and whose fault it was. Ben lingered an extra minute and Junie could sense something was up.

“Thanks for getting her up here so fast. I was worried she’d rent a car or something.”

“No problem,” Hugo replied casually as though this exchange was no big deal. But Junie knew it was.

“Doesn’t change anything Brian just told you. But I figured you should know we’re not complete dicks. So thanks.” Ben was out of the kitchen in a hurry, not wanting this display of gratitude to turn into anything bigger. Just like her brothers were the kings of procrastination, they were also royalty when it came to smashing down any emotions that weren’t related to a New England sports team.

When the kitchen was theirs again Junie sidled up to Hugo at the sink. “You don’t have to do the dishes. You’ve done more than enough tonight.”

“Dinner was delicious,” Hugo replied with a smile as he gestured over at the drying towel. She picked it up and started working next to him. They made a good team. An unconventional one. Improbable even. But somehow, against all odds, this was working. In Junie’s life that only meant one thing.

---

Something was about to go terribly wrong.