Page 75 of Summer with the Single Dad

“Meet you there.” Jordana picked up her pace and was out the door with everyone else, leaving Brooke and Justine together as the final stragglers in the yurt.

“Booch and Bagels?” Justine asked.

“It’s that little kiosk thing in the square. They sell kombucha and bagels. All homemade. From scratch. Organic. It’s become a bit of a thing now. Jordana and I meet for yoga, then we meet for booch and bagels. You wanna come? Or do you want me to drop you back off at home first?”

Home.

It felt as weird as it did wonderful to have Brooke refer to Bennett’s place as home.

“We have time to kill before we have to be at the funfair, right?”

“Loads,” Brooke said. “It doesn’t start until five. The kids will come home from school before then.” A sly look glinted in her eyes. “Unless you’re itching to get back for sexy-time with Mr. Serious?”

The heat was back in Justine’s cheeks. “Let’s go get some booch and bagels.”

Brooke smiled with her whole face, the morning sun making her green eyes glow like cut emeralds. “You won’t regret it. Their caramelized onion one with avocado and a fried egg, is amazing. It will change your life.”

Justine chuckled as they climbed into Brooke’s SUV. “Change my life, huh?”

“I’ve told Clint that it’s almost better than sex with him. Almost.”

As Justine sat in Brooke’s passenger seat, a new warmth spread through her. A warmth of hope. Of belonging. Although she never felt out of place at the hospital because she knew her role, knew that she belonged there, this was different. This was a different kind of belonging. This was being part of a community. Of a village.

Was this what girlfriends talked and joked about? Would she ever feel comfortable enough to add to the cheeky banter about her sex life? Did she want to?

She glanced over at Brooke, who sung along to the Backstreet Boys playing quietly on the stereo. Brooke grinned at her and reached forward to turn up the volume, a questioning look in her eyes.

Justine nodded, and soon the music was blasting and they were belting out the lyrics to “Everybody” with the sunroof open, the windows down, and the wind in their hair.

Yes, she absolutely did want to feel comfortable enough.

She wanted all of it.

She wanted to belong.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The funfair was just that—fun.

So many kids ran around with long strands of raffle tickets clutched in their sweaty little palms. The green tickets would get them entry to a game, bouncy castle or the cake walk. The pink tickets were what they earned if they won a game. Then they could trade those tickets in at the prize table. Lots of tickets for bigger prizes and a few tickets for smaller prizes.

Vendors from all over the island were there with food trucks and stalls, and anybody who could, contributed to various raffle baskets you could pay and enter to win.

Justine dug into her purse and pulled out a fifty-dollar bill, then wrote her name on fifty slips of paper before stuffing them into the different buckets for the different baskets. Her hand was cramping by the time she was done, and she wasn’t sure her phone number was even legible.

She didn’t actually need anything in any of the baskets, but it was fun and for a good cause.

“You know you can just come back to the winery and have more wine,” came a familiar voice behind her as she shoved two dozen slips of paper into the bucket that corresponded with the wine and charcuterie board basket.

Spinning around, she grinned at Naomi, who once again wore denim overalls, this time over a white tank top. Her thick, brunette hair was in a single Dutch braid down her back and gold-rimmed aviator sunglasses covered her green eyes. “Naomi, how are you?”

Naomi stepped forward and tugged Justine into a hug Justine wasn’t prepared for. So it was a touch awkward. They both knew it too, and Naomi chuckled as she pulled away. “Sorry, should have mentioned that I’m a hugger. I’m good. How are you?”

“Well, after I left the winery, I went back to my cabin to find it flooded.”

Naomi’s mouth dropped open. “No.”

“Yeah.”

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