father and the ex-girlfriend.
“Dad and I talk a lot,” Ashley said, pride in her voice as she looked at him. “And I’m really trying to work on my attitude, Daddy.”
She was clearly possessed by spirits—or the proper parent. The guilt knife cut a fresh wound.
“The thing is, Mom—and don’t get mad at me for listening—but Dad didn’t try to screw you out of that property and I think he really does want a second chance at love.”
“Don’t say ‘screw,’” David said.
“Don’t say ‘love,’” Lacey shot back.
On the sofa, Lacey’s phone vibrated softly with a text. “That could be Jocelyn,” she said, picking it up.
Clay Walker: I’ll wait at Barefoot Bay.
She couldn’t do anything but close her eyes against the words, feeling a tornado of emotions swirling right down to her toes. A maelstrom of longing and loss, shockingly strong, and remarkably real. Loss? For a man who’d deceived her? Used her?
But had he? His explanation for not telling her made sense, and he hadn’t used her. He’d taken what she offered. And she’d offered it because there was something about him. Something different. Something extraordinary.
“Mom?”
“Lacey?”
Their voices pulled her back, forcing her attention away to the two people who were right here, asking her to be a family. The family she wanted. One of them she loved more than anyone or anything. Unconditionally. The other she didn’t love, but did he deserve a second chance?
And yet there was Clay. And all this unresolved feeling whirling around like one of the mini-tornadoes that had ripped her home to shreds. Was he going to do the same thing to her heart?
Dear God, she had to know.
“What did Jocelyn say, Lacey?” Tessa and Zoe stood in the kitchen door, so close they’d no doubt heard the whole preceding conversation.
“Don’t tell me she got on a plane and went back to L.A.,” Zoe said. “’Cause she is so dead to me if she did.”
“It’s not, she’s not…” She shook the lie out of her head before she said it. “That wasn’t Jocelyn.” She slid her finger over the screen and deleted the text, shifting back to Ashley. “Honey, there’s a lot more to this than you are old enough to understand. But…” She staved off the argument with a flat palm. “But I realize how important it is that David and I are friends. I hope you see that we are.” And that’s all we are.
“Does that mean you guys will stop fighting?”
“We’re not fighting,” David said quickly, unable to keep the appreciative smile off his face as he reached for Lacey’s hand. “It’s called discussing. Do you believe me now?”
“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “Who else would have the money or motivation to step in and buy those parcels out from underneath me?”
“I don’t know about money, but motivation? I’d start with that skinny bitch who should be named Uncharitable.”
Ashley giggled.
“If I find out, will you believe me then?” he asked.
“I suppose.”
That seemed to satisfy him. “All right.” He put a fatherly arm around Ashley. “Who’s up for a game of Monopoly?”
“I am!” Ashley leaped to her feet, sharing a knuckle tap with David.
“Gonna buy me some Boardwalk, baby!” David exclaimed.
Behind them Zoe stuck her finger in her mouth and fake-gagged.
“Listen, Lace. Jocelyn’s not answering her cell,” Tessa said, “and she took our rental car. You think you could give us a lift to the hotel?”
Lacey gave her a grateful smile. “Of course.”
“They can stay here,” David said. “No need for you to go out so late alone.”
“Or they can take Grandpa’s van,” Ashley suggested, suddenly the voice of reason and maturity.
No, Lacey had to get away from this house and talk privately with her friends, even if just for the forty-five minutes it would take to drive to the mainland and back. “Their stuff is at the hotel and, honestly, David, I want to see Jocelyn. I’m worried about her.” None of that was a lie.
Her phone vibrated again and she ignored it, throwing it into her purse without looking at the screen.
“It won’t take long,” she promised, giving Ashley a kiss. In her purse she felt the vibration of another text. She didn’t need to look; she knew it was from Clay Walker, the man who always got what he wanted.
“How long will you be gone?” Ashley asked.
If she went to the beach to talk to Clay one more time? “An hour or two, tops.”
Not that she’d even consider something so mind-numbingly dumb.
“David is relentless,” Tessa said the minute they were