Every Little Thing (Hart's Boardwalk 2)

Aydan was an angel sent from heaven. Cat wasn’t lying when she said the single mother was a fast learner. And a people pleaser to boot. My guests loved her.

I loved her.

My life was finding balance again now that she was there to help out.

The faster she learned, the more free time I had, and she was willing to give me that free time because I was so flexible with her when it came to Angela. When Angela broke up with her boyfriend and was a sobbing wreck, I covered Aydan’s shift so she could go be with her kid.

She appreciated that and we soon fell into that kind of give-and-take working relationship.

I felt like she’d been working for me longer than a month.

Jessica frowned at me. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Well . . .” She pointed to my phone, as she petted the top of Louis’s head.

“Oh. Sorry.” We were at her and Cooper’s place with Dahlia and Emery, and there was a whole bunch of wedding stuff scattered across

the dining table. I was supposed to be helpful in this rushed wedding extravaganza, not distracted. “Rex just sent me a text.”

“I thought you just had brunch on the beach with him,” Dahlia said before biting into one of the donuts Jessica had laid out for us.

“I did. But it was kind of a hard conversation and, um . . . I think he’s feeling vulnerable. He’s still in Hartwell and wants to have dinner. Would you guys mind if I rain-checked ours tonight?”

While Emery and Jessica said, “Of course not,” Dahlia eyed me in suspicion. “What is going on with you two?”

“Not that.” I read her dirty mind. “He’s nine years younger than me. He doesn’t see me that way.”

“Oh, of course not. He’s just a man with a working penis and you’re just a beautiful woman in your prime.”

Jessica and Emery snorted.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not like that. He’s lonely and he needs someone to talk to. He trusts me.”

“And he wants to get into your pants. Maybe for revenge sex.”

“Dahlia,” I warned. “Not funny.”

She winced. “Sorry. I . . . just . . . I’m worried about you.”

“Why would you be worried about me?”

“Let’s see. Your boyfriend of ten years cheats on you, you’re surprisingly okay with that, you get attacked, you have mind-blowing sex with your enemy, he ups and disappears, and then you end up having this weird, cozy codependent relationship with the ex-boyfriend of the girl who fucked your ex-boyfriend.”

I stared at her, my lips parted, but no words came out.

Silence rang out around the room.

And then I groaned, “Jesus Christ, that does sound insane.”

“Uh-huh.”

“It’s not as insane as that in reality,” I promised. “The Rex thing is just platonic. He needed someone to talk to, to find a way to trust again, and I gave him that.”

“Yes, because you can’t help yourself. You have to rescue people,” Jessica said. “But have you stopped to work out how you’re feeling? For a start: Vaughn. I don’t believe for a second that you are okay with what happened between you two.”

Not wanting to touch that subject, I pushed at a wedding magazine. “Hey, we didn’t come here to psychoanalyze me. We came to talk weddings.”