Page 72 of Home Tears

Boone closed his eyes. He ran a weary hand over his jaw. “I don’t want to do this here. Not with my brother here. You’ve got something going on. I can tell. What’s happened, Dani?”

Dani flinched. Of all the people to ask, it was him.

Kate called out Dani’s name at that moment, with Jake right behind her.

He was beaming, and he clasped Boone on the shoulder. “I didn’t know you were out here.” He nodded to Boone’s brother. “You must be Mitch’s older brother?”

Boone gestured toward him. “This is Jake, he invited us to a poker tournament Friday night.”

“Oh, yes!” Drew held his hand out for a handshake. “Jake Cairns, you’re the deputy who’s engaged to Julia O’Hara.” Drew slid a sideways glance underneath his eyelids to Dani. “Susan was impressed with how you carry yourself. She said you were a good man to have on the team.” He seemed to remember. “Oh, sorry. I should explain. Susan’s my fiancée. She and our father are flying in Friday. Mitch and I won’t be able to make the poker tournament.”

Dani tucked that information away. Jonah would probably want to know, if he didn’t already.

Jake nodded, like it made sense, like he had friends flying to Craigstown every day. “Family before pleasure. That’s what I always say.”

Kate’s mouth opened an inch. She gazed dumbfounded at Jake. She turned to Dani, but she shook her head. Dani was giving her a silent command to let it go. Kate got the message, but she gave Jake another incredulous look. Her eyebrows were arched high.

Drew caught the look between Kate and Dani, but held his hand out again to Jake. “Not to cut it short, but we should be heading out. It was a pleasure to meet all of you.”

He shook Jake’s hand, then turned and left. Boone glanced back, looking at Dani briefly before the two got in an SUV.

“Yeah.” Kate held out her hand and pretended to shake an invisible hand. “It was a pleasure to meet you, too, Mr. Drew Billionaire and Gorgeous Quandry. A huge pleasure.” She let out a sigh, her hand resting on her hip. “Man. They’re always taken. That Mitch guy’s taken, too. I’ve seen the red bombshell on his hip around town.” She looked at Jake. “You’re friends with them?”

Jake was studying Dani. “What? Oh, yeah. Uh.” He scratched behind his head. “Julia is. Her and Jenny hit it off yesterday at a tea party.”

Kate snorted. “A tea party? Are you kidding me? You’re going to marry someone who attends high tea at noon?”

“It wasn’t at noon, and, I guess.” He asked Dani, “You okay?”

Kate cursed under her breath, whirling around. “Oh, shit. I’m sorry. That’s why we came out before we were distracted by Mr. Hoity Toity here and his new golfing buddies.” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder at Jake. Then softened her tone. “We heard what you asked Mae. Is that true?”

Dani sighed, accepting the inevitable. It was fresh, but so was her resolve to stop avoiding. She looked right at Jake. “I don’t know about the adoption stuff, but I do have something I need to tell you.”

Jake grew quiet.

She felt a lump forming in her throat again. “You asked me a long time ago why I came back. I was in a relationship, and he asked to marry me. I left him, and that’s why I came back home. I came back to heal.” He needed to know the rest, or most of it. “You warned me about being with Jonah because he’s going against the Quandrys, but they’re not going to hurt me. Mitch was the guy who proposed to me.”

“Whoa,” Kate said under her breath.

Dani was only worried about Jake’s reaction. “Jake. I’m sorry.”

He jerked back a step. Raw emotion etched over his face. His eyes looked strained. His mouth tightened. “No. I mean, good job. You got one over me.”

“Jake.”

But he was gone. He was already halfway to his squad car.

Kate laid a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll talk to him. He’ll get over it. Men are stupid sometimes. They don’t realize that when they break up with a girl, that girl is no longer theirs anymore.” She gave Dani a quick pat. “Honestly. Don’t sweat Jake. If anything, this is good for him. Maybe make him rethink some of his hoity-toity choices in life.” She murmured before following her partner, “And for the record, holy shit, woman! Mitch Quandry.” She whistled. “Blows Julia’s money out of the water.”

Their car’s back lights turned on.

Kate groaned. “I gotta go before he leaves me. And he says I’m the emotional one.” She laughed. “Please tell me your secret. I must learn from your amazingness. You’re like a goddess with men.” She took off, getting in the passenger’s side. Jake reversed the car out of the parking spot, bringing him almost right in front of her.

He wouldn’t look at her.

Jonah came over later, and she filled him in on everything that happened. He was gone when she woke the next day, so she figured he was off to work, and she was just sitting down with her coffee when someone knocked on her front door.

It was Aiden, and she wasted no time. “I need your help.”

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