Busted (Promise Harbor Wedding) - By Sydney Somers Page 0,99
the front door.
She should probably be grateful that Jackson hadn’t let himself in. A locked door hadn’t stopped him before. She flipped the lock and hauled the door open. And stared.
“Gavin?”
Hayley launched herself into her best friend’s arms. “What are you doing here?” She drew back. “Where’s Allie?”
The woman standing just behind Gavin was definitely not Allie. With chin-length dark hair streaked through with red and a nose ring, the woman couldn’t be much more than twenty years old.
“This is Lydia. My housekeeper.”
“Nice to finally meet you.” She arched a brow at Gavin. He’d never been the type to travel with an entourage. “What’s going on?”
Gavin gave her one of his it’s-a-long-story looks and picked up his suitcase. Lydia did the same, both of them walking past when Hayley held the door open.
“Did your flight just get in?”
Lydia yawned, nodding.
Although Gavin didn’t look like he’d spent a couple weeks lost in the wilderness like he had the last time she saw him, the lines of tension bracketing his mouth were deeper and his eyes weren’t nearly as bright as the moment he’d carried Allie out of the church.
“We could use a place to stay for a night or two until I get things sorted out, if you have room.”
“I always have room for you.” She resisted the urge to glance around at the barely put together house that Lydia openly gawked at. “We’ll make it work.”
Lydia masked her skepticism with another yawn.
“You can take the bedroom at the top of the stairs on the right. It was my grandparents’ room.”
“I’m so sorry, Hayls.”
Her throat instantly closed up, but she managed a nod, holding herself in check until Gavin’s housekeeper climbed the stairs and disappeared from view.
Tears burned, and she wiped at her eyes before they spilled over the edge and ran down her cheeks. “I still can’t believe he’s really gone.”
Gavin didn’t wait for her to reach out again and pulled her in for another hug. “I wish I could have been here.”
She gave herself a minute to lean on her best friend, then straightened. “Judging by the fact that you’ve been in Promise Harbor more in the last two weeks than you have the last ten years, I’m guessing you’ve had your hands full with Allie.”
“Something like that.” He poked the bruise on her face, and she winced. “Rough night?”
Playfully slapping his hand away, she led the way to the kitchen. “Something like that.” Eager for a change in subject, she filled him in on the robberies and that one of her hockey kids had been responsible. “Which leads us to what you’re doing here. Where’s Allie?”
“At her place.”
“And you’re not with her because…”
“It’s complicated.” He slumped in one of the chairs at the kitchen table. “Bottom line, she needs me. So here I am.”
She slipped into the seat opposite him. “You may want to stand in front of the mirror and practice saying that last part without sounding like you’d rather be anywhere else.”
He forced a smile. “That bad, is it?”
“Let’s just chalk it up to you being tired.” She rubbed her eyes.
“You look like you could sleep for another day yourself.”
More sleep didn’t sound like a bad idea at all really. Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she fished it out. She wasn’t surprised to see Jackson’s number on the screen. Without answering, she stuffed it back in her pocket.
Gavin gestured to her phone. “Does that have anything to do with what else I heard in your voice when you called the other night?”
Hayley fiddled with a pencil lying on top of the table, unsure where to start.
“How are you and Jackson doing?”
Her gaze flew to his. “How do you—”
Gavin laughed. “Lydia. She’s been spending a lot of time Skyping with Allie’s brother Charlie. Plus I came across an older copy of the Harbor Gazette on the way through the airport. Interesting headlines. You actually arrested him?”
She nodded. “There’s a lot more to it than that though.”
“I can’t imagine you risked your reformed rebel image without a good reason.”
Laughing, Hayley punched him in the arm. “You’re one to talk.”
Gavin shrugged, then stood up. “How about we pick this up in a few hours when I’m not so jet-lagged? I want to make sure I don’t miss a single detail of how you escaped persecution for arresting Jackson Knight. Or what possessed you to date him.” He tacked on the latter like it was the least important part when they both knew otherwise.