The Truest Thing - Hart's Boardwalk

Not that disingenuous, smooth kind of charm like I’d encountered before with Tripp Van Der Byl and only realized was disingenuous after the fact.

Perhaps what fascinated me about Jack had more to do with my own feelings than Jack himself. Until I moved here and met the black sheep of the Devlin family, I’d honestly thought something had broken inside me. That Tripp had broken something. He seemed to have hit the kill switch on my attraction for men. I felt nothing. Zip. Zero. Nada.

Until Jack.

Suddenly, everything was zinging in all the right places again.

No way did I think I’d ever have the courage to agree to a date with him.

But I couldn’t help myself. There was something about Jack that made me want to be brave.

Silly of me, really. I’d confused the town’s love for him as something I could trust over the fact that for four years, I’d watched in painful longing as he made his way through a smorgasbord of female tourists. Jack was not the settling-down type, no matter what he somewhat promised me on the beach ten days ago.

God, I wished I could stop thinking about him.

Someone who stood me up and then didn’t tell me why was not worth wasting thought and energy on.

The bell above my door tinkled and I straightened off the counter, a warm, welcoming smile prodding my lips as Iris Green stepped inside the store.

“Hey.”

“Hey, sweet girl.” Iris came to a stop at the counter. “Ira is in the mood for one of your lattes today. I’ll have one too.”

Noting the crease between her brow and the preoccupied way she avoided my gaze, concern hit me. “Are you okay?”

Her eyes flew to me. She studied me a moment. “Did you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“Jack handed over his company to Ray English. Just handed it over.” She threw her hands in the air, frustration furrowing her brow. “Who does that? And what’s worse … he’s gone to work for his old man. Ian Devlin. Jack hates Ian!”

Despite my lack of friends in town, Iris had filled me in on the social dynamics of everyone as the years passed. And I people watched. A lot. I felt like I knew everyone, even though we rarely talked.

I turned away to make Iris’s and Ira’s coffees.

“And he won’t talk to me about why. He won’t even tell Cooper! And moody! That boy has never been ill-tempered with me in his life and he actually told me to back off. And he used the F-word. I thought Cooper would swing at him for that one. No, something not good is happening with Jack. Something very not good.”

My breath caught.

Was this “something not good” the reason he’d stood me up?

Ugh.

That’s incredibly self-involved, Em.

“What do you think is going on?”

“Don’t know.” Iris sighed heavily. “But I’m worried about him.”

I slid the coffees across the counter and waved off her attempt to pay me. “Free coffee for life, remember?”

She gave me a sad, soft smile. “You’re a good girl.” She shook her head. “You know, I once had hopes for you and Jack. Stupid thought. Even more stupid now that he’s acting like a jackass.”

I blushed at the notion of Iris attempting to match me and Jack and changed the subject. “I’m sure there’s a reason for his behavior.”

“I’m sure you’re right. I’ll just need to keep pushing. Ivy always said, the worst thing about having me as a mom is that I’m like a dog with a bone when I think something’s going on I should know about.”

I laughed. “I don’t think that’s a bad way to parent.”

Iris patted me on the arm. “Thanks, sweetheart. Okay, I’m off. We’re still on for dinner Sunday night, right?”

“I’ll be there,” I promised.

Once Iris left the store, I let my mind reel.

What on earth was going on with Jack? If something was wrong … should I be brave? Perhaps approach him to see if I could be of help?

* * *

By the time I gathered enough courage to approach Jack, it was too late.

One Friday, a month after my talk with Iris, the news was all over town.

Cooper Lawson had caught Jack and Dana having sex on his couch. I couldn’t process how the man who’d come to me for advice could then cheat on his best friend with his wife!

None of it made sense.

Cooper was devastated, and my heart hurt for him.

Everyone shunned Jack and Dana.

Iris was heartbroken and sure that something had happened to Jack to make him do this.

I wanted to believe that. I did.

For a while, both Iris and I did.

She suspected that even Cooper hoped for an explanation. However, more months passed, and more …

And Jack got further away from who he used to be until we all started to forget.

Now he was just another one of the Devlins.