Page 157 of Renewal After Dark

“Everything is great, and that’s the problem.”

“Um, okay…”

“New guy. Sleepless night. Scattered brain.”

“Ah, I see how it is,” she said with a knowing smile. “I’ve got a new guy, too, and am also suffering from sleep deprivation.”

“I’m obviously a red-hot mess without a full night of sleep.”

“You’re fine. I totally get it, and it’s for a good cause.”

McKenzie laughed. “The best kind of cause. How long have you been seeing your guy?”

“A few weeks seriously. Lots of months of subtle flirtation before that.”

“What’s his name?”

“Jack Downing. He’s the state police officer assigned to the island.”

“Oh, I see.”

“How about you?”

“Duke Sullivan, who owns the tattoo studio.”

“I know Duke. He’s a great guy.”

“I think so, too. How do you know him?”

“He hangs out at the Beachcomber across the street. It’s a fun group over there. You should come some night.”

“I have Jax.”

“It’s Gansett. You can bring a baby to a bar here. No one would think a thing of it. In fact, Kevin and Chelsea McCarthy bring their baby girl, Summer, in all the time.”

“Maybe I will some night.”

“Everyone loves Duke. He’d give you the shirt off his back, even if it was the last shirt he owned.”

“That sums him up rather nicely. He’s been so good to me and Jax, and now we’re just… I don’t know what we are, but I’m sleep-deprived and looking forward to being sleep-deprived tomorrow, too.”

“It’s the best feeling, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is, even though I keep telling myself to slow down and not get in over my head, but it’s probably already too late for warnings.”

“I totally get that! My fiancé called off our wedding earlier this year, and I keep thinking I shouldn’t be ready for what’s happening with Jack, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping me from diving in headfirst.”

“I’m sorry about your fiancé.”

Piper shrugged. “I’ve come to realize he did me a favor. I would’ve hated to have missed out on what’s happening with Jack.”

“I’m starting to feel that way about what Jax’s dad did—leading me on for a year and getting me pregnant when he had a whole other wife and kids stashed elsewhere.”

“What? Are you serious?”

“Sadly, I am, and then he made it even better when he told me he couldn’t possibly be Jax’s father because he’d had a vasectomy years earlier. He knew full well I hadn’t been with anyone but him.”

“What an asshole. Damn. Just when I think I’ve heard everything…”

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