The Truest Thing - Hart's Boardwalk

Her goodness shone out of her.

She was an angel.

She was a beautiful sunrise dawning on a hope-filled new day.

Christ, this woman was turning him into a fucking poet. And a bad one at that. He smirked inwardly to himself.

Jack squeezed her hand and gently released it. “Friday night. I’ll pick you up from your beach house at 7:00 p.m. There’s this great seafood place about twenty minutes down the coast. We’ll have more privacy there. That work for you?”

She bit her bottom lip, looking so shy and adorable he wanted to kiss the shyness right out of her. She nodded, seemingly trying not to smile too hard.

Jack smiled hard enough for the two of them. “Good. Great. It’s a date.”

Emery nodded again.

“Have I stolen your ability to speak?” he teased.

She nodded.

Jack laughed, disbelieving she could make him feel this good when his gut was in turmoil.

Emery smiled.

They studied one another for a tension-filled time.

Jack regretfully took a step back. “I better go. I need to go talk to Cooper.”

“Good luck, Jack. And remember …” She started walking backward in the direction of her house. “Trust in him.”

“I will, sunrise.” The endearment slipped out before he could think on the wisdom of being so familiar with her.

“Sorry?” she squinted at him in confusion.

“Sunrise,” he repeated. “That’s what you remind me of.”

To his relief, Emery seemed to understand his sentiment without explanation. The surprised but soft expression on her face suggested she liked it. As did the way she ducked her head bashfully before giving him a little wave. Jack watched her turn on her heel to walk home.

He watched her for a while.

Then, with a shuddering sigh, he made his way up the beach to the boardwalk. At least he knew he had something to look forward to beyond the gut-wrenching task of telling Cooper about Dana.

Feeling more nauseated the closer he grew to the bar, Jack’s irritation increased as his cell rang in the back pocket of his jeans. He took it out and saw it was Rebecca.

It was late for a call from his little sister.

“Becs, what’s up?” he asked, coming to a stop outside the bar.

“It’s not your sister. It’s your father.” Ian’s brittle voice sent an icy shiver down Jack’s spine.

“Where’s Becs?”

“Something’s happened. Your sister is in serious trouble. I need you at the house.”

Trepidation filled him. “Is she okay?”

“Just get to the house.” Ian hung up.

Jack threw the bar a regretful look and jogged down the boards to Main Street where he’d parked his car.

The truth about Dana would have to wait.

6

Emery

Five years ago

Not for the first time in my life, I felt like a naive fool.

Jack Devlin hadn’t shown up to take me on that date he’d promised. I’d sat on my porch swing overlooking the water, waiting. And waiting.

At fifteen minutes past seven, I wondered if he was late because of work.

At seven thirty, I wondered if we shouldn’t have exchanged phone numbers.

But by eight o’clock, I knew I’d been stood up.

Maybe I was wrong about Jack.

Maybe his kind eyes were a trap.

Maybe it had been like that time at Daltry Prep when Lucinda Weymouth told me she’d set me up on a date with her brother, Logan, who was a beautiful senior boy I’d crushed on forever. When I’d risked my grandmother’s wrath and snuck out of the estate to go meet him, Logan, Lucinda, and their friends did an egging drive-by on me. They literally threw eggs at me as they drove by in their expensive SUV. Apparently, they’d gotten the idea from some teen movie.

It was not only humiliating but I was covered in bruises from those goddamn eggs. Getting hit with an egg when the thrower was on the rowing team hurt like a mother. In more ways than one.

The prank had been the talk of the school for weeks.

Plus, I’d had to return home covered in egg yolk and my grandmother officially grounded me for a month. It seemed pointless to ground me. My entire life was one big grounding.

Was Jack playing a cruel joke on me by asking me out and then standing me up?

That didn’t seem like him.

There was a possibility he’d changed his mind. But it had been almost a week since he stood me up, and I hadn’t seen or heard from him. He usually came in for his coffee every morning.

Jack was definitely avoiding me.

I cursed the flush of heat that crawled across my skin at the thought and said goodbye to a customer who’d bought an entire pile of beach reads.

Sighing as the bell tinkled above the door announcing her departure, I rested my elbows on the counter and stared unseeingly at the stacks of books opposite my coffee counter.

For four years, I’d watched Jack Devlin from afar, and my stupid crush had only intensified. I’d often wondered what it was that I found so attractive about him. I mean, of course, Jack was handsome, but it was more than that. When I talked to him, he went from handsome to the sexiest man I’d ever met. He just had that thing. That je ne sais quoi. He brimmed over with charisma and a genuine charm.