The Truest Thing (Hart's Boardwalk 4)

“Uh … yeah.”

She said it like she was forty, forcing me to choke back my laughter.

Poor Jack struggled not to laugh too. “Baby girl, that’s not nice. It’s Ty-Ty. We love Ty.”

“I told him I didn’t want to give him a present for his birfday and he told me”—Tabby turned in her seat to aim the conversation at me too—“he told me that he’s gonna wrap Louis’s dog poop up and give it to me for my birfday.”

Wow. Their mini war was getting colorful.

“I told him,” she said, panting now, her voice getting louder, “I told him, I told him that he’s stupid because I would do the same but wouldn’t tell him! He ruined poop surprise!” She gesticulated her exasperation with a pointed outstretching of her arms.

“As true as that is, we don’t call people stupid.” Jack stood from his haunches and ruffled her hair before he wandered into the kitchen toward me.

He was wearing a sexy, lazy smirk that widened when we heard Tabby mutter, “Then stupid people shouldn’t be stupid if they don’t wanna be called stupid.”

I rolled my eyes as Jack wrapped his arms around me, pulling me away from the pancakes. “She has a point,” he muttered against my mouth before he took it in a very, very nice good-morning kiss.

“Ugh.” Tabby’s voice cut through it.

I laughed against Jack’s mouth and pulled away. “I think it’s safe to say she didn’t inherit my romantic nature.”

My husband chuckled before pressing a sweet kiss to my nose. He released me and then gently nudged me toward the table. “Go, I’ll finish up.” He moved to the pancake that was seconds from burning and flipped it expertly.

I grumbled under my breath because I couldn’t do the flippy thing but made my way over to Tabby to explain what a stalemate was and why she needed to enact one with Tyler today.

“I still think they’ll grow up and fall in love,” Bailey offered.

Jess and I cut her a disbelieving look before returning our attention to our kids.

Tyler’s birthday party was underway in Jess and Cooper’s substantial backyard. They’d hired a magician dressed as Iron Man. Jess and Cooper had spoken to Tyler about being on his best behavior with Tabby, and there had been no fights when the kids congregated around the performer.

They were, however, wearing grumpy faces and shooting each other death stares now and then.

“I’m telling you,” Bailey insisted. “They’re like a kid version of me and Vaughn when we first met.”

“We’ll see,” I muttered uncertainly. I still had that worrying poop-gift story on my mind.

“Where is Vaughn?” Ivy asked, her eyes searching the backyard.

“He and Michael are putting Lily and Jenna down for a nap.” She jerked her head to the house.

Lillian Tremaine, or Lily, was Bailey and Vaughn’s thirteen-month-old daughter. They named her after Vaughn’s beloved mom who died when he was young. Jenna was Dahlia and Michael’s sixteen-month-old daughter. For now, we were surrounded by girls.

The men didn’t seem to mind.

They were all a bunch of doting, protective fathers.

“Mimosa, ladies.” Dahlia crossed the yard to where we huddled in the shade. In her hands was a tray of champagne flutes filled with orange juice and champagne.

Bailey took two, passing one to Jess who waved it off. Her gaze was firmly trained on the kids and the magician. All the kids’ parents were around, so it wasn’t like we didn’t have an eye on things, but that was Jess. And she was excellent at multitasking, which meant she could still enjoy a conversation with us while keeping her eyes on the kids.

Ivy reached for a glass, her simple engagement ring and wedding band flashing in the sunlight.

“Em.” Dahlia held a glass out to me.

I waved it off. “Too early in the day for me.” My eyes moved across the yard, sensing someone’s attention on me.

Jack.