Things We Never Said (Hart's Boardwalk 3)

The councilman’s eyes were alight with this newfound knowledge, but I stared at him stone-faced. He was getting no gossip from me!

“I see.” He stood. “Well then, that’ll make the fittings less awkward.”

“Kell—”

“You’re doing this, Dahlia. If you need help, all you have to do is ask.”

“He won’t do it.” I shrugged. “There’s no way he’ll do this.”

“Well,” Kell gave me a mischievous smirk, “Dana Kellerman is playing Elastigirl.”

The mention of Dana, Cooper’s ex-wife, killed my friends’ quiet amusement. Not only had Dana cheated on Cooper when they were married, she’d cheated on him with his best friend. Jack Devlin. Yes, the second youngest Devlin son. Once upon a time, Jack had been a good guy. A construction foreman who wanted nothing to do with his father or the family business. Jack and Cooper had been best friends their whole lives, more like brothers, until Jack mysteriously quit construction to work for his dad, and then committed the ultimate betrayal by sleeping with Dana. Both Jack and Dana became persona non grata with us all.

Unfortunately, in an effort to win back the hearts of Hartwell, the once-popular town beauty had started forcing her presence into events. First the Punkin’ Chunkin’ Festival last November. Dana held a charity raffle for a children’s hospital. Now the parade. Her choosing to be Elastigirl over any of the other characters that would have allowed her to dress up as a princess had seemed weird at first. Then I realized she got to show off her rockin’ body in a Lycra superhero suit. Plus, she would herd and look after three little Incredibles, and I suspected she thought the imagery of “playing mom” was good PR.

Fitting her had not been fun. She complained and whined constantly.

And I did not like Kell’s insinuation that Michael would be tempted to play her cartoon husband.

I glowered.

Kell was smug. “Dana has promised to persuade Detective Sullivan to take part.”

My heart lodged itself in my throat.

“Why?” Bailey snapped.

“Oh, surely you’ve heard she pounced on the man his first day on the job?”

“No, we have not heard that.” Bailey leaned forward, her face pinched. “What is she doing?”

“My guess? Actively pursuing the only good-looking man left in town who doesn’t have firsthand knowledge of her traitorous little ways.” Kell looked directly at me. “I haven’t seen such a gleam of determination in her admittedly beautiful eyes since she first decided to go after Cooper.”

Jess gave a sharp intake of breath behind me, and her hand came to a rest on my arm.

“Not that it’s anyone’s concern here.” He smirked knowingly at me. “Mind you, if you’re friends with him, Dahlia, maybe you ought to warn him.” With a wink and a “ta ta,” he skipped out of the bookstore as if he hadn’t just detonated a social bomb.

Dana Kellerman was pursuing Michael?

Oh, hell no!

Michael would never fall for her crap, right?

Then again, he and Cooper weren’t that dissimilar, and Cooper had fallen for her crap before he knew better.

Dana was beautiful.

Like, on another planet level of beautiful.

I felt sick.

“Dahlia, Michael loves you,” Bailey said, her voice soft, reassuring.

I lifted my eyes to meet hers. “And when he realizes he’s made a mistake coming here for me, who will he turn to then?”

Her sigh was sad, almost weary. “If you’re so determined not to be with Michael, then why do you care?”

“Because he deserves better.” I snapped to my feet. “If I think he deserves better than me, then for sure he deserves better than the selfish, nasty cow that is Dana Kellerman.”