The Truest Thing (Hart's Boardwalk 4)

“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 t

hing 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.