The Truest Thing (Hart's Boardwalk 4)

I couldn’t believe I’d just blurted that out. What on earth was I thinking? I flushed hot and covered my eyes with my hand. “Oh, flea shit on a dog turd.”

“Did she just say what I think she said?” Bailey whispered, shocked laughter in her voice.

“Emery?” Jess rested her hand on my arm.

I peeked at her through my fingers. “I’ve known for a year,” I whispered.

Silence fell over the table.

“Okay. Sisterhood comes first,” Dahlia announced. “Anything said in this room stays in this room.”

“That’s not fair to you,” Ivy said. “Michael is your man. You shouldn’t have to keep things from him.”

“Although to play devil’s advocate, clearly Michael kept this”—Bailey nodded to the paper—“from you. You didn’t know about any of this before the news article, and it says in it that Michael is heading the investigation.”

Dahlia contemplated this. “True. I mean, I knew something was up because he was distracted and told me he had an interesting case at work … but he didn’t give me the details. But if you’d prefer me to leave, I can.”

“You’re not leaving.” Bailey shook her head. “Unless you want to.”

Dahlia’s gaze came to me. “I’ll stay. It’s not like Jack or Emery were involved in the actual murder. And clearly Jack was being blackmailed, so …”

Everyone looked at me.

“I’ll tell you after Jess finishes telling us about Jack and Cooper.”

I wanted to know if Cooper had forgiven him.

“Right.” Jess sighed. “Ian blackmailed Jack. That’s why he gave up his business. And apparently, Cooper kept pushing Jack for the truth. Jack didn’t want Coop to know because he didn’t want him to be burdened with that knowledge. He was in a bad way.” Jess frowned. “A really bad way and obviously not thinking straight. That’s what I reminded Cooper. Anyway, Jack told Cooper that Dana was coming on to Jack before all this went down—”

“It’s true,” I interjected without thinking.

They all gawked at me in confusion.

Dammit. I was just blurting out all my secrets these days!

“I … uh … Jack and I spoke about it back then. He needed reassurance that telling Cooper was the right thing to do.”

“You and Jack talked to each other?” Bailey threw up her hands. “What is going on? Am I in an alternate universe?”

“Okay, okay, clearly Emery is a woman of many mysteries,” Dahlia said. “But let’s allow Jess to finish.”

Jess shook herself out of whatever thoughts she was having as she gaped at me. “Anyway … Before Jack could tell Coop about Dana, this all happened with Rebecca. Cooper was on Jack’s case all the time about it, so Jack decided he needed to push Cooper away.”

“Oh my God!” Bailey gasped loudly. “He set it up. He deliberately set it up so Cooper would walk in on him with Dana. Oh my God!”

“Yes, exactly.”

“That is fucked up.” Ivy shook her head, eyes wide with shock, even as she reached for another canapé.

“He thought he was protecting Cooper,” I defended him.

Bailey’s jaw dropped. “Okay, Jess, hurry up with your story because I am beginning to suspect that Emery Saunders is in love with Jack Devlin and I can barely contain myself.”

I opened my mouth to deny the claim but Jess continued. “Well, Bails, you might not like the next part.”

“Why?”

“Jack did warn me about Cooper’s liquor license. He also did beat the shit out of Stu for hitting you.”