The Truest Thing - Hart's Boardwalk

Laughing, I shook my head. “No, that just makes me like you even more.”

Her expression darkened. “Would you still like me if I said I was relieved when Oliver died?”

There it was.

The root.

“You feel guilty,” I surmised. “You feel guilty because his death freed you.”

She nodded, swallowing hard.

“That is a natural response. It does not make you a terrible person.”

She huffed. “I … I don’t know if I’m a terrible person or if I’m stupid or weak … but … who entangles themselves with an honorable man when they’re this fucked up? I should never have let Jeff touch me.”

I thought on this a moment. “Are you surprised that you could? That you wanted him?”

Her eyes flew to mine. “Yes, actually.”

“Maybe you have better instincts than you think. Maybe you’ve honed them since meeting Oliver. You trusted me and I can assure you I am trustworthy.” I smiled. “And you trusted Jeff to be the first man you’ve slept with since Oliver. And you can trust him. I doubt there is a man in the entire state of Delaware who you can trust more than Jeff King. Okay, there’s Cooper, Vaughn, and Michael, but they’re all taken so they don’t count.”

She tilted her head, her gaze wandering curiously over my face. “Jack doesn’t count?”

My heart ached. “I used to think so.”

“Until he slept with Dana?”

I shook my head. “I still trusted him then. I still believed in him.”

“Not now?”

“Not now.”

“You don’t trust easily either, do you?”

I thought of Ivy confiding her secrets to me. “I trust you.”

She smiled gratefully.

“Can I tell you a story? Only Jess knows it. It’s the reason I … well … it’s part of the reason I am the way I am.”

“You can tell me anything.”

So I did. On a warm Monday afternoon, I told Ivy Green my story.

Afterward, we sat in silence for a while.

Until eventually I turned to her and said, “Please tell your parents about what you went through with Oliver.”

She closed her eyes briefly and took in a deep breath. “I will. I promise.”

“And if you care about Jeff, don’t push him away. If you can’t start something with him, I absolutely understand, but tell him why. You won’t regret it.”

“He’ll look at me differently.”

“I doubt it, but if he does, then you’ll know for certain he isn’t the right guy for you.”

“When did you get so wise, Emery Saunders?”

“I have no idea,” I answered honestly, smiling as I settled a hand on my belly. “Maybe my kid is full of wisdom and leaking some of that goodness into me.”

“Your kid,” she muttered. “You’re going to be a mom.”

Fear, excitement, and anticipation caused a swooping sensation in my belly.

“If I stay in Hartwell, do I get to be Aunt Ivy?” she teased.

I didn’t tease when I replied, “You get to be Aunt Ivy no matter where you are.”

Her eyes brightened and her voice sounded a little thick as she said, “I think maybe I’ll stay right where I am. It feels like a good place to be.”

30

Jack

Jack’s patience was wearing thin.

He’d texted Emery Sunday and Monday and hadn’t heard a thing back. Not a single reply.

That shit was not right.

Which was why Tuesday morning, he swung his car into a parking space on Main Street and marched down the boards to Emery’s store. It was morning. It was coffee rush hour, even if it was the end of August and already eighty degrees outside at eight o’clock in the morning. Jack expected he’d have to wait in line and wouldn’t be able to question Em about her ignoring him in front of customers.

What he saw through the door was Em sitting in an empty store with her head in her hands.

“Sunrise, what’s wrong?” he asked as he pushed through the door.

She raised her head at the tinkle of the bell and his accompanying question. The look in her beautiful eyes matched the crease of concern between her brows. Em gestured to her empty store. “No one has come in this morning. No one.”

What the hell?

She shook her head in disgust. “I was closed yesterday. And I overheard Dana, Ellen, and Sadie gossiping about us in Lanson’s.”

“What did they say?” Jack bit out angrily as he strode to the counter. He reached for her hand but she pulled back, which only increased his agitation.

“They’re wondering which of us deliberately trapped the other.”

Fury mowed over his anger. “What?”

Em flinched at his bark. “Was it the shy, virginal bookstore owner who wanted to catch herself a man?” She gestured sarcastically to herself. “Or mercenary Jack Devlin who found out Emery Saunders comes from money?”

“They said that?”

“You can imagine what Dana was saying. How I trapped you but you’d never fall for it, that someone like me couldn’t keep your interest since I’m sexually inexperienced and we’ll be raising the baby separately.”