“There are worse monikers.”

We shared a grin and I was pleasantly surprised by the feeling of warmth that suffused me. There was no doubt in my mind that I’d made a connection with young Rex, and that life might just have handed me a new friend.

FOURTEEN

Bailey

One Month Later

“We’re supposed to be discussing the bridesmaid dresses. Bailey. Earth to Bailey.”

My head jerked up from my phone at the sound of my name. “What?”

I had a day off because I had a new manager to help take care of things at the inn.

The whole business of finding a manager had been stressful after the Devlin incident. If I’d found it hard to put my trust in someone before the attack, now I was even more wary. Thankfully, Cooper’s sister Cat had come up with a suggestion that surprised me.

Aydan, her best friend, was working two jobs because her cheating scumbag husband had taken off a couple of years ago, leaving her alone to look after their teenage daughter, Angela. Aydan bartended at Germaine’s, a bar off Main Street, at night and she worked as a part-time receptionist for a hair salon. Moreover, her daughter worked weekends at the fun park the Devlins owned a few blocks back from the boardwalk.

Aydan was exhausted and even working the two jobs together, she wasn’t earning what she could be earning as my manager. Cat swore that her friend was hardworking and a quick learner. With her character reference I hired Aydan, despite her lack of qualifications. My father said I was nuts, my mother used other adjectives, but I did it.

I worried about it.

But I did it.

A month later I was happy. Relaxed even. Between the Devlins backing off entirely because of Stu’s stupid stunt and my new manager, I was almost stress-free.

Aydan was an angel sent from heaven. Cat wasn’t lying when she said the single mother was a fast learner. And a people pleaser to boot. My guests loved her.

I loved her.

My life was finding balance again now that she was there to help out.

The faster she learned, the more free time I had, and she was willing to give me that free time because I was so flexible with her when it came to Angela. When Angela broke up with her boyfriend and was a sobbing wreck, I covered Aydan’s shift so she could go be with her kid.

She appreciated that and we soon fell into that kind of give-and-take working relationship.

I felt like she’d been working for me longer than a month.

Jessica frowned at me. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Well . . .” She pointed to my phone, as she petted the top of Louis’s head.

“Oh. Sorry.” We were at her and Cooper’s place with Dahlia and Emery, and there was a whole bunch of wedding stuff scattered across the dining table. I was supposed to be helpful in this rushed wedding extravaganza, not distracted. “Rex just sent me a text.”

“I thought you just had brunch on the beach with him,” Dahlia said before biting into one of the donuts Jessica had laid out for us.

“I did. But it was kind of a hard conversation and, um . . . I think he’s feeling vulnerable. He’s still in Hartwell and wants to have dinner. Would you guys mind if I rain-checked ours tonight?”

While Emery and Jessica said, “Of course not,” Dahlia eyed me in suspicion. “What is going on with you two?”

“Not that.” I read her dirty mind. “He’s nine years younger than me. He doesn’t see me that way.”

“Oh, of course not. He’s just a man with a working penis and you’re just a beautiful woman in your prime.”

Jessica and Emery snorted.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not like that. He’s lonely and he needs someone to talk to. He trusts me.”

“And he wants to get into your pants. Maybe for revenge sex.”

“Dahlia,” I warned. “Not funny.”

She winced. “Sorry. I . . . just . . . I’m worried about you.”

“Why would you be worried about me?”

“Let’s see. Your boyfriend of ten years cheats on you, you’re surprisingly okay with that, you get attacked, you have mind-blowing sex with your enemy, he ups and disappears, and then you end up having this weird, cozy codependent relationship with the ex-boyfriend of the girl who fucked your ex-boyfriend.”

I stared at her, my lips parted, but no words came out.

Silence rang out around the room.

And then I groaned, “Jesus Christ, that does sound insane.”

“Uh-huh.”

“It’s not as insane as that in reality,” I promised. “The Rex thing is just platonic. He needed someone to talk to, to find a way to trust again, and I gave him that.”

“Yes, because you can’t help yourself. You have to rescue people,” Jessica said. “But have you stopped to work out how you’re feeling? For a start: Vaughn. I don’t believe for a second that you are okay with what happened between you two.”

Not wanting to touch that subject, I pushed at a wedding magazine. “Hey, we didn’t come here to psychoanalyze me. We came to talk weddings.”

“Vaughn is back,” Jessica said abruptly. “Cooper and I are meeting with him tomorrow to catch him up on the final preparations for the wedding.”

My heart hammered in my chest at the thought of seeing him again. It felt like forever since we’d spoken. Our night together, although vivid, was like a memory from a long time ago.

It was easier with him gone.