Page 30 of The Single Dad Project

As Adam’s words crept back into her head, her humor evaporated, and annoyance and hurt slunk in.

“Oh babe.” Leo frowned. “What happened?”

It’s finesat on her tongue like a heavy stone, but she couldn’t push it out. Couldn’t lie. Because it wasn’t fine. Nothing was fine.

“Adam Reed, the architect on the renovation, told me I only got the job because Cole’s my brother. And that I took the job from someone else who deserves it. Someone with more experience and knowledge than me.”

“Are you serious?” Leo snapped, her bright eyes shooting fire.

“Hey! Leo, did you wait for us?” Sydney, Flo’s sister-in-law, barreled into the kitchen, their good friend Jenna Landon behind her. “I bet you started without us, you hussy.”

Leo winced then reached over and lifted the bottle of wine she’d set to the side.

“I brought wine,” she said in lieu of confessing she began what obviously seemed like a planned ambush without them.

“You’re forgiven.” Jenna crossed over to one of the cabinets and opened it, removing two more wineglasses.

“Really? We didn’t even make her squirm,” Sydney complained, scowling at Jenna.

But it was wasted on the tall redhead. She set the glasses on the island and curled her fingers in a “gimme” gesture toward the wine bottle.

“Yes, really. I just finished breastfeeding. Which means I have gone without a single sip of Riesling in fourteen months. If she committed acts against humanity, I’d probably let her off with a stern warning just as long as she offered up that wine. Now—” Jenna jabbed a finger toward the bowl of her glass “—pour.”

“Yes, ma’am.” With a snicker, Leo tipped the bottle until the alcohol filled half the glass.

“So are you going to tell them, or should I do the honors?” Sydney asked, sliding onto a stool next to Jenna. Nabbing the empty glass, she held it out to Leo, but her gaze remained on the redhead.

Jenna sighed, twirling a hand, gesturing for Sydney to go ahead while she sipped wine.

“On our way here, we received a phone call from Remi,” Sydney said, brushing her thick, natural curls off her shoulder. “Jasper Landon is at it again.”

Flo frowned, flattening her palms on the island, and prepared herself for the bullshit undoubtedly coming her way. Whenever Jasper Landon, Jenna’s father and Rose Bend’s former mayor, was mentioned, bullshit most certainly followed. It had been years since Cole won the mayor’s race that ended Jasper’s long reign as the town’s main politician, and yet, to this day, he remained bitter and tiresome. Like an irritating pebble in a shoe that rubbed the foot raw.

Jenna had a...complicated history with her parents. For the longest time she’d lived under their thumb and in her father’s toxic shadow. That influence had affected not just her, but her relationships. About five years ago Jenna had finally come up from under that suffocating emotional control, found love and reunited with her two childhood best friends, Leo and Sydney. Now Jenna—who they’d also discovered wasNew York Timesbestselling author Beck Dansing—was like family. Forgetlike. Shewasfamily. She, her husband, Isaac, and their six-month-old daughter, Grace—they were a part of the Dennison clan. Which explained her presence in the kitchen as Flo mashed potatoes for dinner.

“What did he do now?” Flo picked up the bottle and tipped just a bit more wine into Jenna’s glass. With talk of her father, she would need it. Hell, they all would. “If you mentioned Remi,” she continued, referring to the librarian at Rose Bend’s public library, “I’m really hoping you’re not about to say what I think you are definitely going to say.”

Sydney’s mouth twisted. “Oh, you know where this is going. He’s started a petition to have certain books in the library banned. Claims they’re not appropriate for children.”

Even though Flo’d suspected the announcement would lead to just this, shock still rippled through her, and she stared at Sydney, then Jenna.

“Oh, it gets better,” Jenna added, arching an eyebrow. “Every book in the Anakim Academy series is on the list.”

“That fucker,” Flo snapped. The Anakim Academy series was Jenna’s, or Beck Dansing’s, very popular paranormal young adult series. “He did that on purpose.”

Jenna lifted a shoulder. “Probably... Okay, very likely. He is him, after all.” A small smile ghosted across her lips, but her nonchalant tone belied the hurt dulling her bright blue eyes. “You’d think he and my mother would be proud of having a bestselling author as a daughter. But all these years later, they’re still embarrassed and angry that I didn’t tell them. As if I could.” She huffed out a humorless chuckle. “They didn’t make it possible for me to share the truth with them.”

“Don’t do that, Jenna.” Leo moved around the island and curled an arm around her friend’s shoulders as Sydney covered the hand not clasped around the wineglass. “You can’t take on their issues. And no one—not here in this kitchen or in this town—will blame you for Jasper’s asinine actions. You’re. Not. Them.”

Jenna’s smile warmed a fraction, and it appeared more real.

“Thank you for that. I know what you’re saying is true. It’s just good to hear it from someone else every now and again.”

“Anytime you need us to remind you, we got you covered,” Sydney assured her.

Jenna smiled, then shook her head. “You know what’s the messed-up part about this? Well, one of them? Because it’s censorship and book banning, there are a ton of messed-up parts,” she wryly said. “The books they’re demanding be removed? Not all of them are children’s or young adult novels. And none of them have sex or gratuitous, graphic violence in them. But all either directly or indirectly touch on the topics of racism, misogyny, sexual identity, reproductive autonomy... In other words, the topics that would nurture free-thinking, tolerant and open-minded individuals.”

“Assholes assholing. What’s new about that?” Flo scoffed. God, if they could jettison all the bigoted idiots to a far-off island and let them Survivor it out among themselves, the world would be a much better place. “What did Remi say? What does the library plan on doing about this?”

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