Page 88 of Summer with the Single Dad

“Finding yourself. I get it.”

She nodded. “But … this feels real to me too.”

His smile warmed her, and he reached for her hand. “If you ever want to talk.”

She forced out a small smile of her own and nodded. “Thank you.” Glancing at the door, she took a step away from him. “I better get down there. I made a promise and this is one I don’t intend on breaking.”

Then she left him, standing there with pain in his eyes and a smile on his face.

And the only thing she wanted to do at that moment was kiss him more and take that pain away … and make that smile real.

She wanted both their smiles to be real.

Forever.

She just needed to figure out how to vanquish her own demons so they could get there.

But how?

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

A day at the beach with six squealing, giggling, merry children was the morphine to her crippling pain. Justine couldn’t keep the smile from her face even for a minute.

Emme’s mood shifted exponentially, and she still seemed to “lead” the other children, but she did so with a steadfast grace and so much patience, Justine knew without a doubt that this child was going places in life. She just needed the adults around her to cut her some slack. And now that Bennett knew how his daughter felt, maybe she would get that slack.

Even though she told the kids she was staying behind to get a water bottle, they were all quick to call her out and ask where the bottle was.

Crap.

“No worries,” Jake said. “I can grab one from the pub kitchen.” Then he beelined it for the back of the house, using the supplier door, only to return a minute later with a nice, cool recyclable bottle for her. He was pleased as punch with himself too, which only made his gallantry all the more adorable.

They set up on a flat, sandy part of the beach with a big blanket, and umbrella that Dom came down and erected for them. Then the kids got busy with some serious castle and river building. Apparently, it was absolutely essential that your castle have a moat that was fed by the ocean. So a river needed to be dug for the water to flow in and protect the King and Queen.

Justine dove in with vigor. She got down in the sand with the kids on her hands and knees, groaning and growling when a side wall caved in, then high-fiving with the rest when they finally reached the sea with their river. Thankfully, the tide was on its way in, and nearly in all the way, which was perfect for river building.

She was busy working on filling up some buckets with sand so they could flip them over for the castle when people moving toward the beach caught her eye. One of the three was Bennett. The other two were a couple. And judging by the way the woman kept a protective hand on her belly, she was most likely pregnant.

Envy shot through Justine in a startling way and she leaned back on her heels to collect herself.

The man’s figure was also really familiar. His height, the wave of his hair. Even the way he stood. Fresh fear collided with the envy inside her, creating a dangerous froth.

Tad stood like that. Tad was about that height. Tad had a natural wave to his hair just like that man did.

It couldn’t be though. No way. Anywhere but here.

“You okay?” Emme asked, tilting her head at Justine and narrowing her brown eyes beneath her pineapple-covered beach hat.

Justine nodded. “Just got a little lightheaded.”

Working at a hospital, she saw pregnant women all the time and maybe felt a small pang of envy, but nothing this alarming. She also felt anger. Anger that Ashli was pregnant with Tad’s baby. Tad said he was fine with the fact that Justine couldn’t have children. He said he never really wanted them anyway. But deep down, she knew he was just saying that. That he wanted kids. She’d overheard him talking to his mother about it once and how disappointed he was that he’d never have a natural child. One to call his, and only his. That if they had children, they would likely have to adopt.

That was all false. They could easily use a donor egg and his sperm. Heck, one of Justine’s super fertile sisters would probably donate an egg, then lord that over Justine’s head for life.

It was like an extra stab to her hostile uterus hearing those words out of his mouth.

Well, now he was getting what he always wanted. A natural child. One to call his, and only his.

“Now, we’d have to time it with the tides, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem,” Bennett’s voice echoed over from where he and the couple stood beneath the pub patio on stilts. “But I think we could position fifty chairs here on the flat spot, put the arch where the kids are, and you’d have a spectacular backdrop.”

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