The Truest Thing: Hart's Boardwalk #4

by Samantha Young

  “You son of a bitch. Both of you.”

  Yup. No arguments there. He shrugged as if her words didn’t touch him, and then he caught sight of Beckwith making a return.

  Time to go.

  Jack slid off the stool but rounded the table so all Jessica could see and focus on was him. “Cooper’s liquor license,” he warned.

  She frowned in obvious confusion. “What?”

  Frustrated, Jack bit back a curse. “Cooper’s. Liquor. License.”

  Jack watched the understanding dawn on Jessica’s face and relief moved through him.

  He’d leave it up to the doc now to take care of his old friend.

  10

  Emery

  One year ago

  While the rain came down in sheets outside the store, the fire in the grate crackled, giving the space the cozy vibe I’d always hoped for. A few years ago, I’d made the bold decision to repaint the store in a rich teal that made all the white wood stand out in stark relief. I thought it looked great.

  It looked particularly great right now because my friends were sitting around the fire eating the lunch I’d prepared for them.

  My friends.

  Who would have thought it?

  But meeting Jessica Huntington had changed my life.

  The doctor came to Hartwell for vacation, fell in love with Cooper, and stayed, and along the way, we’d connected. From the moment we met, I’d sensed a rare kinship. Her presence was soothing, she was unintimidating, and she didn’t push for details of my past. Maybe that was why I’d let her in. Jess was almost as private as I was, and she explored a friendship with me without treating me like I owed her details about my life in exchange for her companionship.

  My relationship with Jessica wasn’t the biggest surprise. With Jess came Bailey and Dahlia. Bailey was Jess’s best friend and Dahlia was Bailey’s. They were a package deal. But the best thing was, they took their cues from Jess and never pushed me for information about my life before Hartwell.

  Well, not too much.

  I’d spent the last year getting to know all three women better. Bailey stopped by the store every morning to pick up coffee for Jess and Dahlia, and we’d chat. We were at a point now where I was almost as comfortable around Bailey as I was around Jess.

  And it was nice.

  Lovely, in fact, to have friends. Finally.

  I studied Bailey as she moaned around a mouthful of the crabmeat canapé. I’d closed the store for our lunch to give us privacy. I thought perhaps, after everything Bailey was going through, she’d want to talk.

  A few weeks ago, she’d discovered her long-term boyfriend, Tom, with another woman. They’d broken up after ten years together. Of course, that was a big life change, but I was more concerned about the things Bailey wasn’t willing to acknowledge.

  Anyone with eyes and ears knew about the antagonism between Bailey Hartwell and Vaughn Tremaine. He’d bought the Old Boardwalk Hotel four years ago, razed it to the ground, and started over. In its place he’d built a towering, modern building called Paradise Sands Hotel and Conference Center. It looked great. But Bailey had fought him the whole way, thinking he would ruin the aesthetic of the boardwalk.

  They exchanged barbs often. Sometimes it was entertaining. Other times it was hard to watch. Like last year when I’d offered to supplement everyone’s income if we boardwalk owners had to shut down in protest against the corruption amongst our bureaucrats and Ian Devlin. Tremaine hadn’t been happy with me for letting everyone know about my money situation, and I’d felt a little silly for being open to trusting people only to be scolded. The scolding was tempered by Tremaine’s obvious desire to protect me, which was nice. What wasn’t nice—and was in fact upsetting—was watching how hurt Bailey was when Vaughn said, in front of everyone, that he didn’t like her.

  Foolish man.

  Anyone who was paying attention (and I, the constant romantic, was always paying attention) could see the way Vaughn looked at Bailey when she wasn’t aware of it.

  Longing.

  Pure longing.

  And I suspected Bailey was equally attracted to Vaughn.

  I just didn’t know how that would play out and if it should so soon after Bailey’s breakup with Tom. Yet I was eager to find out. But with Ian Devlin turning his evil plotting toward Bailey now that he assumed she was vulnerable, her romantic entanglements were the least of her concerns.

  Ian Devlin.

  He really was the devil.

  “I can’t believe Devlin called your parents and brother,” Jessica said. Ian had gone behind Bailey’s back and made overtures to her parents and her brother Charlie who owned shares in the inn. He voiced his concerns that “Bailey wasn’t able to cope with running the inn at this juncture” and might be better off selling it.

  Asshole.

  “It sounds like he’s planning something. This is how it started when he was coming after Cooper.”

  Bailey didn’t appear all that worried. “It’ll be fine. Emery, what are in these?”

  “It’s a secret,” I teased, knowing how much she liked to know everything.

  She reached for another, shooting me a mock glare. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

  I warmed at our teasing.

  It was so nice to be myself and not worry about offending or upsetting or chasing people away with my shyness. It had taken Jess’s influence to show me that I could trust Bailey and Dahlia to accept me just as I was.

  “Hey.” Dahlia playfully pushed Bailey’s hand away. “You’ve had more than your share of those.”

  “But I’m too skinny. I want a bigger ass and boobs.”

  Dahlia rolled her eyes at her friend, and I assumed it was because Bailey didn’t actually mean it. I’d never met anyone as confident or self-assured as Bailey. She seemed to like herself wholly, and I admired that so much about her.

  Not that I had self-image issues. I was content with what I saw in the mirror. I’d been told I was my mother’s spitting image, and she was hailed as the diamond of her debutante ball. But I wished I had Bailey’s sense of self. She liked herself. I didn’t completely dislike who I was. Yet, I knew I could be a better version of myself. Braver. Like Jack once had, Bailey inspired me to be braver.

  “What’s with the sudden scowl?” Dahlia’s voice brought me out of my musings. Her question was directed at Bailey.

  “Just thinking about Devlin and his never-ending need to be a pain in the ass.”

  “You should tell Vaughn,” Jess suggested.

  “What?” Bailey’s eyes widened, and something guilty crossed her expression. Like she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t. “Tell him what?”

  “That Devlin is gearing up to bother you.”

  Relief flickered in her expression.

  Hmm.

  What on earth did she think Jessica had meant?

  “Vaughn told Cooper that he wouldn’t let Devlin cause trouble for us and I believe him. I know you have your issues with him, but this is bigger than that.”

  Issues. Right.

  “I’m not telling Vaughn.” Bailey glanced between me and Dahlia as if looking for backup. However, I agreed with Jessica. Vaughn was our current shield against Devlin. I truly believed he wanted to protect the boardwalk owners from Devlin’s evil plotting.

  “You’re all crazy. Vaughn would rather see my place go under than do anything to help me.”

  I opened my mouth to disagree, but Jess beat me to it, sounding as exasperated by Bailey as I was. “That’s not true at all. I wish you and he would just admit you’re attracted to one another and stop acting like children at recess.”

  It took everything within me not to applaud.

  As I’d said, anyone with eyes and ears could see through Bailey and Vaughn’s antagonism.

  Struggling to suppress my smile, I watched Bailey slump in her seat, shock slackening her pretty features. “That was almost mean. And he’s not attracted to me.”

  “Aha!” Dahlia g
rinned gleefully. “But you’re attracted to him?”

  “What? No. What?”

  Liar, liar, pants on fire.

  “You just said he’s not attracted to me when Jessica said you were attracted to one another. You made no mention of you not being attracted to him, just him not being attracted to you,” Dahlia said.

  “But I meant that. That thing you said. About us both. I am not attracted to Vaughn Tremaine.”

  “Methinks thou dost protest too much.” Dahlia voiced my thoughts. I grinned behind a canapé.

  “Methinks thou no longer deserves the last canapé.” Bailey swiped it off the plate, and I laughed inwardly at Dahlia’s crestfallen expression. Next time, I would make more canapés.

  “I still think you should tell Vaughn,” Jess continued.

  “To have him laugh in my face? No thanks. Subject change!” Bailey clapped her hands as if we were in class. “Where will we start? Jessica and Cooper and wondering when he’s going to get off his ass and get down on one knee, or Emery and man lessons?”

  Oh no.

  I shrank in my chair, hoping to disappear into it.

  The other day Vaughn and his father had come into the store while Bailey was there, and she’d watched me blush my way through the interaction. Afterward, she offered to teach me how to talk to men. I’d really hoped it was something she’d forgotten about.

  “Man lessons?” Dahlia asked.

  “Yes—teaching Emery how to speak to men without wanting the ground to open up and swallow her whole.”

  “That would be nice, I suppose,” I muttered. Despite how mortifying it was to require man lessons at my age, there was no denying I did require them.

  “So lessons it is.”

  My cheeks flushed hot at the very idea. I wanted to be brave and make a change to my life. I truly did. But I wasn’t sure man lessons was the way to go. And certainly not today. “Maybe some other time.”

  “Bailey,” Jessica’s tone held a note of warning. It was why I loved her. She never pushed me.

  “Oh, come on.” Bailey ignored Jess. “You’re among friends, Em. No one here wants to humiliate you. We just want to help,” she pushed. And as I saw the genuine affection in her expression, I realized maybe I did need to be pushed after all. Somehow eight years had flown by, and I was not where I expected to be in my personal life. “I don’t want you to be alone forever. But if you do, then that’s great, that’s fine. I’ll leave you alone to that decision because I just want you to be happy.”

  Her words rang with sincerity and filled my chest with heat.

  The truth was, I didn’t want to be alone. I wanted to find that special someone I could trust to erase the past. As the years flew by, my loneliness increased and I felt like I … well, I guess, no matter how content I was with my life in Hartwell, I was always a little sad.

  I didn’t want to be sad and alone anymore.

  And I realized that for the longest time, I’d allowed myself to stay frozen in one place because I hadn’t quite let go of hope.

  Hope that one day Jack Devlin would reveal himself to me. That he would change his mind. For months now, after years of avoiding me, he’d come into the store for coffee in the morning. I didn’t know what prompted his return, but with it flared all my hopes again. Every time I saw him, I remembered that kiss on the beach and the words he’d said before he left me alone.

  Yet Jack never said or did anything to give me hope when he came in for his coffee.

  It was all small talk.

  But I read too much into the way he looked at me.

  I knew that.

  And I needed to get over him.

  “I don’t want to be alone,” I admitted. “Man lessons. But … not today. Later, okay?”

  My three friends grinned with excitement. “Later,” Bailey agreed.

  Gratitude swelled inside me.

  For these women. My friends.

  “Well,” Jess said, “if we’re not doing any lessons … we could talk about the fact that Cooper proposed and we’re planning to get married at the end of the summer.”

  Joy for Jessica flooded me as we all burst into a chorus of delighted cries. Although I wasn’t sure of the details, I suspected Jess had been through a lot in her life, and I was absolutely thrilled she’d finally found what she needed here in Hartwell. That knowledge eased my melancholy as we peppered her with questions about Cooper’s proposal.

  JACK

  “You want me to what?” Jack practically growled, not sure he’d heard Stu correctly.

  “You heard me.” His brother sounded smug through the phone.

  “You want me to prostitute myself?”

  “If you consider fucking a prime piece like Vanessa Hartwell prostitution, then that’s your problem. I’d do it. In a heartbeat. But Dana doesn’t want me dipping my wick in anything else while we’re screwing around, and Vanessa Hartwell might be sexy but she’s no Dana Kellerman. And anyway … Vanessa has made it clear she thinks I’m scum.”

  “Probably because you hit her sister in the face.” Jack was still not over that. In fact, a seething rage had lived under his skin since the moment Bailey approached him in Lanson’s Grocery to tell him Stu had attacked her in her inn.

  She couldn’t prove it was Stu.

  But she knew.

  And Jack knew it, too, because Ian had been harassing him and his brothers to come up with a way to get the inn out of Bailey’s hands. He’d alluded to them breaking into her office to find something in her accounts that would help them.

  And fucking Stu had broken into her inn when he was high on coke.

  “How many times do I have to apologize for that shit? I was off my fucking face. You know I never meant to do it. She startled me. I wasn’t thinking. And anyway, I took your beating for it. Fair is fair.”

  “Unless you want me to tear out your throat with my bare hands, I’d shut up now, Stu.”

  “So sensitive, bro. Anyway, you’re up with Vanessa. She’ll sign over her inn shares if you grease those wheels, if you catch my drift.”

  Jack hung up and launched his cell phone into the ocean.

  He heaved an angry inhalation and then cursed himself.

  Now he’d have to buy a new goddamn phone.

  Turning away from the water, he made his way back up to the boards, the moonlight and lights from the boardwalk leading the way.

  When Vanessa Hartwell had approached Ian about selling her Hart’s Inn shares, Jack couldn’t believe it. He knew Vanessa and Bailey weren’t close, but to snake her sister like that? And the greedy, conniving witch was playing with the Devlins. She was dangling the inn over his father like bait, all the while coming on to Jack whenever they met to discuss business.

  So now he was to prostitute himself?

  Fuck that.

  He wouldn’t touch Vanessa Hartwell with a barge pole.

  Anger burned in Jack’s gut as he moved up onto the boards. He was used to the anger. It was a constant part of him now and growing steadily worse. He was becoming someone he didn’t even recognize.

  The boardwalk was busy this time of night. Jack shoved his hands in his pockets and tried not to look at Emery’s as he passed. Her store was closed. A familiar ache flared in his chest at the sight of her name on the signage and he glanced away. For some stupid reason, he’d started coming back into her place for his morning coffee.

  When he was around her, Jack didn’t feel so angry. It soothed him for the few minutes he got to see her. And she still blushed when he came in. God, he was addicted to seeing that blush. There was no denying it.

  Shaking his head at himself, he didn’t look at Cooper’s at all.

  His best friend was getting married at the end of summer, to the right woman this time.

  And Jack wouldn’t be the best man.

  He wouldn’t even get an invite.

  The loss cut deep.

  Too deep to contemplate.

  Right at that second, when he needed it most, a blo
nd-haired angel came in the form of distraction.

  Emery.

  Jack’s steps slowed as he watched her walk out of Antonio’s with an ice-cream cone in her hand. She wore a dress like the one he first saw her in. Spaghetti straps, long, all the way down to her feet, made of a clingy material that left nothing to the imagination.

  Emery Saunders really had the sweetest ass he’d ever seen.

  Obviously, she had no idea what she did to a man looking the way she did in a dress like that.

  Need, hot and heavy, flooded his groin, and Jack swallowed a grunt of irritation.

  She still made him feel like a teenager.

  Blissfully unaware of her effect, Emery leaned against the boardwalk railing and licked at her cone as she gazed out at the water.

  “Fuck me,” he muttered, his footsteps taking him to her without his permission.

  Then suddenly, there was a guy beside her, and Jack slowed to a stop.

  Was Emery seeing someone?

  A knifelike pain cut through his chest at the thought.

  Until he realized Emery had jolted away in surprise. And the guy was now holding out his hand for her to shake.

  Who the fuck was this guy?

  Jack walked faster now.

  His eyes narrowed as Emery used her free hand to tentatively shake the man’s.

  As he grew closer, he saw her cheeks were flushed but she wasn’t smiling, and she was holding her body away from this stranger. Her body language screamed “back off,” and this guy wasn’t getting it.

  Jack’s pounding heart leapt when Emery caught sight of him and her eyes widened.

  “You okay?” he demanded, coming to a stop beside her. He faced the guy.

  He was a little shorter than Jack. Definitely younger. Way younger, in fact. He looked like he might still be in college. And he had that good-looking, preppy thing going on that made Jack curl his lip in annoyance.

  The young guy shoved his hands in his shorts pockets and stared unintimidated at Jack.

  “This guy bothering you?” Jack asked Emery.