Page 93 of Summer with the Single Dad

“I need to use the washroom first. You two head down. I’ll follow.”

The sisters shrugged, then left her alone.

She took a couple of deep, fortifying breaths, holding her exhale for a few more counts each time to engage her parasympathetic nervous system and calm her raging brain and heart. Eventually, things settled as best they could. She used the washroom, washed her hands and reluctantly headed downstairs where Aya was trying to convince Bennett that a summer wedding between Justine and him would be perfect, and that she and Emme and Talia could be flower girls.

So much for deep breathing and extended exhales.

Her pulse spiked again, her face was on fire and that spinning, nauseous sensation was back in her gut.

Bennett’s eyes met hers as she entered the kitchen. There was no smirk on his full lips, no glimmer of amusement in his eyes. All she saw was confusion and … was that regret?

Probably.

He probably regretted ever meeting her. Because if she hadn’t come to the island, if they’d never met, his cabin probably wouldn’t have flooded And even if it did, he could easily repair it and hold the wedding for Lucifer and the Witch here without her begging him not to.

No matter where Justine went, bad things happened.

Maybe she needed to just pack up her SUV and leave the island. Leave the McEvoys alone and end her reign of inconvenience over their peaceful little village.

Aya patted the seat beside her. “Sit beside me, Justine.”

Justine glanced again at Bennett.

The look of confusion was still in his eyes.

Confusion and regret.

“Unless you’d rather sit beside your future husband,” Aya said, dragging out the last word then cheekily bobbing her eyebrows up and down.

“Aya, enough,” Bennett said firmly.

His daughter rolled her eyes, then picked up a slice of her quesadilla and took a bite.

Justine’s heart palpitated heavily against her ribs, and she swallowed, unable to look at him.

“I just think you’d make a great husband for Justine,” Aya said with her mouth full, not listening to her father’s order to stop talking about it, whatsoever. “She wants a husband. You need a wife. We need a mom. We all get along. It makes sense.”

“Love doesn’t work that way,” Emme said with impatience of her own. “You need to be in love to get married.”

The awkwardness that hung between Bennett and Justine was more than she could bear. She stood up from the table. “I’m actually not really hungry. I think I’m going to start moving things to the trailer if that’s okay?”

Aya and Emme pouted.

Bennett nodded.

“Sorry, girls.” Then she booked it back upstairs.

“Well, now you’ve done it.” Emme chastised. “Now they’ll never get married.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

He should have offered to help her pack up her stuff and move it to the trailer, but he just couldn’t. Her revelation about what happened in the OR, about Tad and Ashli and everything else was like a sledgehammer to his solar plexus. It winded him. Stole his words.

Time to think was also what he needed.

He needed to process her request and all the information she’d thrown at him in the span of what was probably two minutes. Two minutes and she never took a breath until the very end. Then she gulped in air as if she’d been on the verge of drowning.

Their intense moment was subsequently interrupted by little girls and he both welcomed their distraction and wished his kids would have taken another five minutes in the shower so he could absorb everything in peace a little longer.

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