Things We Never Said (Hart's Boardwalk #3) - Samantha Young Page 0,127
break and grabbed an ice cream together to celebrate my lack of a sling.
“I’m up for it.” I nodded. “Ivy and I share a bond now.”
It was true. In the three months since Freddie Jackson had attacked us, Ivy stopped by my shop every week to chat. There was something still faraway about her, like she was living in her head somewhere elsewhere the rest of us couldn’t reach, but she was much better than she had been. She hated the apartment, of course, and had temporarily moved back in with her parents. She was, however, about to close on a very nice place on Johnson’s Creek. She didn’t want to move back to Hollywood but wouldn’t tell us why, so we could only guess at the reason. But she’d started to write again, which I took as a good sign.
She and Bailey were also hanging out again, and it was pretty darn hard to be miserable around Bailey Hartwell. I knew that firsthand.
Jess shrugged. “Sure. I don’t know if I’ll have anything in common with a stunning Hollywood screenwriter, but I’m game.”
“She’s not like that,” Bailey promised. “Ivy can get along with anyone.”
We wandered in silence—Emery hadn’t given her approval for the idea.
I shared a look with Bailey and then Jess as Emery stared ahead.
I nudged Emery. “Em, you’re awfully quiet about it.”
She pursed her pretty mouth. “We’re not in high school. You don’t need my permission to add someone to our group.”
“But?”
“No buts.”
“There’s a but,” Jess surmised.
“Definitely a but,” Bailey added.
“A big one.”
Emery rolled her eyes. “It’s nothing.”
“Oh, for the love of God, spit it out,” Bailey said.
Flushing, Emery threw her a dirty look. I also saw that as a good sign. Every day she trusted us more and more to be herself. “Stop trying to embarrass me.”
“Then talk.” Bailey bit into her ice cream and then made a face. “Brain freeze.”
Ignoring her antics, I turned to Emery. “Is there something you don’t like about Ivy?”
“It’s not Ivy.” Emery stopped and leaned against the railing, looking out at the ocean. We followed suit, crowding around her. “You guys … you guys feel like my family. I feel comfortable around you. I’m worried that’ll change with someone else around.”
I snuggled into Emery’s side and pressed an affectionate kiss to her bare shoulder. She looked down at me in surprise, and I grinned. “Then we wait.”
“Yeah,” Bailey agreed. “It can just be us for a while.”
“It’s terribly selfish of me,” Emery said. “Ivy probably needs good friends too.”
“Ach, she’s got Bailey. That’s enough for anyone to handle.”
“Hey!” My best friend whacked me on my shoulder.
I pretended to wince. “Gunshot wound!”
Her face paled. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!”
I grinned. “Wrong shoulder.”
“You are such a brat.”
“What was that about high school?” Jess asked Emery.
Em didn’t smile. “We can invite Ivy to our lady gatherings. I’m being selfish.”
“Let’s just see what happens,” Jess offered. “Let things take their natural course.”
Emery relaxed and we stood in comfortable silence, enjoying the way the sun glittered over the water, the waves lapped at the shore, the laughter of kids as they ran circles around their parents on the soft, hot sand.
Gulls cried overhead while the sounds of arcade games played somewhere in the distance.
“I’ve been here almost ten years,” I said. “And I’ve never been happier than I am right now.”
Bailey slid her arm around my waist and gave it a squeeze. “It feels like things are falling into place.”
“Yeah,” Jess said. “About that …”
We turned to her expectantly.
Tears shone in her eyes. Happy tears. “I’m pregnant.”
I was sure our squeals of delight scared the absolute crap out of anyone in our vicinity, but we didn’t care. We crowded Jess, taking turns to hug her and pepper her with questions.
“Yes, of course, Cooper knows.” She laughed at Bailey’s query.
“How, why, when?” I blurted.
“Well, we’ve been trying for a while, and I was starting to worry that I couldn’t. But then it happened.” She looked relieved. “Coop’s hovering because he didn’t know that once a woman hits thirty-five, it’s considered a mature pregnancy, and there are more tests involved.”
“Are you too hot?” Emery asked. “Maybe we should get in the shade.”