Things We Never Said (Hart's Boardwalk 3)

Michael turned his head toward me. “You make all these costumes?”

Surprised by the question, I softened my scowl. “Dana’s, and a few others. The rest are rentals.”

He looked at me for a long, intense moment. “You’re so talented, dahlin’. Everyone looks amazing.”

That he had turned how fantastic Dana looked into something I had done was merely proof that Michael Sullivan was the best guy in the world. I couldn’t help my smile. “Thank you.”

He grinned at me.

“Oh.” Dana looked at me, and I saw the flash of catty calculation in her icy eyes. “Yeah, Dahlia is great. So great, I know she won’t mind if I steal you away. I know she’s not exactly the maternal type, but even Dahlia wouldn’t keep you from the kids.”

Bitch.

I gave her a pinched smile. “Of course, I wouldn’t. They’re so very, very, very desperate, after all.”

Michael coughed into his fist, and I grinned harder at him, making his dark eyes dance. He wasn’t interested in Dana Kellerman. He wasn’t interested in anyone but me, and that shouldn’t make me as happy as it did. Was there ever a woman more complicated than me?

“You should go to the kids,” I said. “They really will be excited to meet you. And thicken the accent. They’ll love that.”

His reticence was evident, but he nodded, and I watched as Dana threaded her arm through his and led him away through the crowds.

“What was that?” Bailey barked in my ear.

“Oh my God!” I nearly fell off my stool. I turned around to see her standing behind me with her hands on her slim hips. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“Did you just let Michael walk away with Dana Kellerman?”

“Did you just pretend to be upset with Vaughn to deflect from your devious matchmaking plans?”

We glared at each other.

Then Bailey rolled her eyes and slipped onto the stool next to mine. “It wasn’t totally a pretense. Vaughn has a tendency toward high-handed. I need to remind him who he’s dealing with now and then.”

“He knows you’re up to something.”

“Of course he does. He knows me too well. You didn’t help by almost ratting me out.” She blew a raspberry at me. “He sees everything in black and white when it comes to the people he cares for. He wouldn’t understand Emery and Jack.”

“There is no Emery and Jack.” I grabbed her hand. “Bails, I adore you, you know that, but I don’t get this. You hate Dana and Jack for what they did to Cooper. Why would you push Emery toward Jack Devlin?”

“Because she’s stronger than you all think. You all want to coddle and protect her, but maybe what she needs is to be pushed outside her comfort zone. There are things she’s not telling us. And there are things that Jack is not telling us. You forget I grew up with Jack Devlin. I hero-worshipped the guy. He is not a bad person, Dahlia.” She shook her head. “He punched out Stu when he heard his brother attacked me, and he gave Jess a heads-up about his dad coming after Cooper’s liquor license.”

This was true. When Jess and Cooper first started dating, Ian Devlin had been harassing Cooper about buying his bar for months. Devlin had bribed someone on the city board of licenses so that Cooper’s liquor license wouldn’t be renewed, thus forcing him out of business. Cooper would never have found out until it was too late if Jack hadn’t warned Jessica about it.

It was Jess’s idea to make all of us who owned businesses on the boardwalk sign a petition stating we’d close our doors if Cooper’s license wasn’t renewed. Jess and Cooper took the petition to the city council, and the chairwoman saw it was in her best interest, and in the interest of our tourist economy, to investigate and renew his license.

“You know that I agree with you about Jack. That there’s more to his story.” I leaned toward my friend, hoping my words would sink in. “And I agree that Emery isn’t telling us everything about her past. There’s a reason she’s so introverted and shy. And yes, that does make me want to handle her with care because I have this awful feeling that someone didn’t handle her with care, Bailey.”

Bailey sat back, her eyes darkening with worry.

“Jack is hiding something. That’s a man riddled with issues. I know Emery has a crush on him. Anyone with eyes can see that. But speaking as a woman riddled with issues who has a good person interested in her … I don’t want Emery to go through what Michael is going through. She needs someone gentle, who has his shit together. Don’t push this. Please.”

After a moment’s study, Bailey nodded. “I’ll leave them alone.”

“Good.” I heaved a sigh of relief.

“But I can’t leave what you just said alone. You are not Jack Devlin, Dahlia. And Michael is not Emery. You are a good person. You do deserve Michael. And whatever demon is holding you hostage”—she squeezed my arm tight, her eyes blazing with sincerity and concern—“you have to let it go before you lose Michael forever.”

“Bailey—”