“Kendall is getting the sleepover for the kids all set up here, if Anya is still okay to have them overnight by herself.” I showed them a mockup of the sleeping tents. “We’re doing a camp theme. I brought samples of the stuff so you can see it.”
“Cute,” Molly breathed. “Anya is insane for offering.”
“She loves Isabel so much,” Paige said. “If anyone can handle that many kids, it’s her.”
“How old was Anya when Isabel married her dad again?”
Paige made a considering noise. “Eight or nine? I’m old. I don’t remember things.”
Molly laughed. “You’re not old.”
We talked for a bit longer, finalizing all the details for Isabel’s birthday weekend. In two days, I’d head up to the family beach house—about a day and a half before Molly would arrive with Isabel. Paige and the other two sisters—Claire and Lia—would arrive about an hour before them, as long as everything stayed on schedule and no flights were delayed. Once they were settled, I’d take my leave, and they’d have a fridge full of prepared meals and quality time that they never got anymore, given the ages of their kids.
Paige gave me a warm smile. “You’re so good at this, Adaline.”
My face felt pink at her genuine praise. “Thank you. And thank you for trusting me with Isabel’s birthday weekend.”
“Are you kidding? We wouldn’t trust anyone else with it.” She got up, leaning down to wrap her arm around my shoulders. “Can we just keep you here until Emmett is ready to settle down? I always thought you two would be good together.”
“Paige,” Molly warned. “Leave it alone.”
I was just … gonna hide under the table. I gave her a tight, uncomfortable smile. She used to make comments like that, before Emmett got drafted. When there was easy flirtation between us, painfully obvious for his entire family. But nothing came from it, and eventually she stopped.
Maybe Paige was part psychic. Or maybe she could smell her son’s sex pheromones on me.
Because if any man could’ve left them behind four months after screwing me senseless, it was him.
Sometimes, when my thoughts got really dark about the future and my absolute lack of love life, I wondered if Emmett ruined me. If he ruined sex with anyone else. Ever. For the rest of my days on the earth.
“Sorry,” Paige sighed, holding her hands up as she walked away. “I can’t help it. I just want all my babies happy and loved.”
“She means you too,” Molly whispered dramatically.
I laughed. “I had no idea what I was getting into when I accepted your job offer all those years ago.”
My former boss smiled. “I’m glad you said yes. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
“You’ll never have to,” I assured her.
Molly licked her lips, and I could tell she wanted to say something. She’d never asked me about my crush on Emmett even though anyone with working eyes had seen it all those years ago.
I gestured with a wave of my hand. “Out with it.”
“You seem … sad.”
“Do I?” Gawd, I was bad at pretending. Even to my own ears, it sounded weak.
She smiled. “The last couple of times I’ve seen you, I knew something was off. I can see it in your eyes.”
I swallowed, motioning for the bottles of wine on the table between us. “Maybe we should open one of these.”
“That bad?”
With a shake of my head, I took the wine opener and started on the chardonnay. “No. But you’re not wrong either. I just … I thought I could handle something.” My throat felt tight with emotion, with the memory of his face when he said goodbye to me the morning he left. “I don’t think I can do casual, though. Now I’m just living with the reality of that.”