All Fired Up by Kristen Painter Page B

not smelled anything so wonderful since the Cinnabons at the mall,” Alrik said, moving closer to look into the pot.
    “Wait ‘til you taste it, lad. This dish was one of the main reasons I landed Calleigh’s uncle.” Moreen grinned at her husband.
    “Woman, you know that isn’t true.” Corrigan slipped his arms around her waist. “I married you for yer childbearing hips and fiery disposition. Yer cookin’ was just a fringe benefit.”
    As her aunt cuffed her uncle’s shoulder for the third time, Calleigh changed the subject. “I guess the twins couldn’t make it home for the weekend but I expected to see Bridget.”
    “She’s at dance, but she should be home any minute. You know she’s got a feis coming up at the end of the month.” Done stirring, Moreen put the lid back on the pot and wiped her hands on a towel.
    Calleigh nodded. She knew about the feis and had already agreed to attend Bridget’s next dance competition, even though it wouldn’t be easy. Before her mother died, she’d looked forward to each feis. Of course, she’d had her own students entered in them back then, too. “Bridget’s getting pretty good now, isn’t she?”
    “This is her first feis at the Open level,” Moreen said.
    Not a minute later, they heard the muffled slam of a car door, followed shortly by a red-cheeked girl in ringlets bursting through the kitchen door.
    “Thank you, Mrs. Malaley,” she called out before closing the door. “Happy Birthday, Uncle Seamus. Cousin Calleigh!”
    “Hi, Bridget,” Calleigh answered with a smile. Had she looked that way at thirteen?
    The young girl embraced Calleigh before launching into a stream of chatter. “I’m so nervous about the feis. But excited, too! For my Set dance, I’m doing “ The King of the Fairies” . You are coming, aren’t you? You promised you know.” Bridget bobbed up and down on her toes.
    Calleigh laughed. “I promised I’d be there and I will.”
    “Here now, show us a bit, Bridget. I don’t think my lovely friend Badu has ever seen real dancing.” Seamus grinned at his youngest niece.
    Bridget looked at her parents. “I’m not supposed to dance on the wood floors in my hard shoes.”
    Corrigan crossed his arms.
    “As a wee present to me, on me birthday, forget about yer blasted floors.” Seamus deliberately heightened his Irish accent, causing Bridget to giggle.
    Moreen grinned and jabbed her husband in the ribs. He winced. “This once and only this once.” He pointed at Seamus. “And I’m sending you the refinishing bill.”
    “Grab an end, lad.” With a victorious smile, Seamus directed Alrik to help him move the kitchen table.
    Bridget handed her mother a music CD as she came back in from fetching a portable stereo from another room.
    With a glance at Alrik, Bridget kicked off her sneakers before slipping one foot into her hard dancing shoe and lacing it over her poodle sock. “Where’s Brad?”
    Calleigh didn’t want to lie to her cousin, but she didn’t want to share the gory details, either. She knelt at Bridget’s feet and started lacing her other shoe. Quietly, in a voice she hoped only Bridget could hear, she explained. “Brad broke a promise to me. After that, I knew he wasn’t the right man. Better to know the kind of man he is now, than after we were married. Understand?”
    “So is that guy your new boyfriend?” Bridget’s whisper was full of curiosity.
    Calleigh smiled. “No, he’s just a friend.”
    “Too bad, ‘cause he’s way cuter than Brad.” She snuck another admiring glance at Alrik.
    “Don’t you have a jig to do?”
    “I guess so.” Bridget stood up, smoothing the legs of her practice shorts.
    Calleigh glanced at the small group who, except for her aunt and uncle’s twin sons away at college, represented the remainder of her family. Had any of them liked Brad?
    With the kitchen table back against the wall and chairs pushed out of the way, Seamus stood waiting, Badu at his side. Moreen waited