If It's Only Love (Boys of Jackson Harbor 6)

I find my daughter in her room, sprawled on her bed looking at pictures of her friends on her iPad. “Hey, squirt. How’s it going?”

Frowning at me, she sits up and curls against the headboard. “I don’t have any friends here.”

“Not yet.” I try to keep my voice upbeat, but the tears in her eyes slay me. “But you will with time.”

“How do you know? What if I never make any friends? What if no one here likes me?”

“You met Lilly a couple of days ago, and she likes you.”

She shrugs. “I guess.”

I look at my watch. It’s a school night, but it’s only five. “Maybe Lilly could come over for dinner, then you two could play a little after. Would you like me to ask?”

She nods eagerly, so I give her my best reassuring smile and pull out my phone to text Ethan. He replies quickly.

Ethan: Shay is taking Lilly to gymnastics at 6. You should take Abi. All the kids get a trial class before you have to sign a contract.

I turn the phone so my daughter can read it, and she smiles for the first time since I walked into her room. “Can we please?”

Spend our night with Shay? Twist my arm.

The girls giggle excitedly as they put their flip-flops back on after practice.

“What did you think, Abi?” I ask my daughter. “Did you like it?”

“I loved it!” She’s practically vibrating with excitement as she grabs Lilly’s hand. “I want to be in Lilly’s class, though.”

“I’ll talk to the girls at the desk and see what I can do.”

“It’s the intro-level class,” Shay says. “Since she’s just getting started, this would be a good spot for her, and we could carpool.”

“Carpool?”

“Well, I don’t take Lilly every week, but she likes me to watch her, so I do a lot of the time. When I’m the one driving, I wouldn’t mind swinging by to get Abi.”

I arch a brow. “You think I’m going to miss out on spending an hour every week with my new friend?” I shake my head. “No, we’re friends now, and I’m going to enjoy this hour.”

Shay’s cheeks turn pink.

“Is Abi’s dad your boyfriend, Aunt Shay?” Lilly asks.

Abi spins around and stares at me. “Is she?” She doesn’t sound upset about the possibility, which is a relief, to be honest.

“Not yet,” I say, winking at Shay. Her cheeks bloom to a darker shade of pink. “Right now we’re just friends, but you never know what surprises life has in store.”

Shay licks her lips. “We’re good friends. We don’t need to be more.” I think it’s even obvious to the eight- and nine-year-old girls watching us that Shay is trying to convince herself.

“Would you be okay with me inviting Lilly out for ice cream?” I ask.

Shay nods. “I think that would be fine.”

“What do you think, girls? Ice cream?”

The girls’ cheers fill the corridor, and half a dozen parents turn disapproving frowns toward us. I pull my keys from my pocket. “Come on. We’ll all ride together, and I’ll bring Lilly and Shay back to get their car after. It’s my treat.”

The girls both want banana splits, which Shay and I agree is way too much ice cream and sugar. The girls argue that’s unfair, since it’s “practically half fruit.” We compromise when they agree that they can share one.

I get a hot fudge sundae, and Shay has a small cone of vanilla ice cream. I know she didn’t choose it to sexually frustrate me, so I try not to stare, but I can’t deny that seeing her tongue and mouth at work puts serious ideas in my head. I’m hopeless.

The ice cream place has a tiny playground in the back, and after the girls finish maybe half their banana split, they’re begging to play. It’s warm enough today that they don’t want to wear their jackets and cool enough that Shay and I insist they do. We watch them play and talk.

Lilly asks Abi about school, and Abi tells her she’s going to go to a Jackson Harbor school next fall. Lilly tells her all about her teacher and the kids in her class and begs her to go to her school. I watch them, hoping that Abi has a friend in Lilly who she can count on, the way I always did in Carter.

“When will she see her mom?” Shay asks quietly beside me. “Or does Scarlett not . . .?”

“Oh, no, Scarlett’s involved. She’ll see her.” I scrape a bit of ice cream off the side of the dish. “That’s actually why I was in Chicago before. I was trying to help her find a place so she can split her time between L.A. and there. That way, when Abi wants to visit her mom for a weekend, she doesn’t have to take a four-hour flight. And anyway, it’ll be good for Scarlett to get away from that scene.”