“Sure is, Jack.” She pulled up her sleeve. “‘Conscientiously and with dignity.’ Part of the vet’s oath.”
“I wish you wouldn’t keep getting tattoos,” Hadley said. “It’s so un—”
“Unladylike? Oh, my Lord, don’t you say that. You sound like Blanche Freakin’ DuBois.”
“Well, for someone who supposedly loves animals so much, you sure didn’t show me much sympathy about Princess Anastasia, did you?” Hadley snapped.
“I sent a card. I called. Was I supposed to declare a national day of mourning? The cat was older than Methuselah, Hadley. And don’t forget how she bit me on my ninth birthday. Still have the scar.”
The sisters bickered and picked at each other with surprising fervor on the short walk across the green, making Jack slightly more grateful for his own sisters (not that they were perfect, God knew, especially with the number of texts and bits of romantic advice they’d been offering lately). But if ever there were two women with less in common, it was Frankie and Hadley.
O’Rourke’s was mobbed. Right. It was Mardi Gras. Colleen wore a low-cut maternity dress, her belly more noticeable these days. That wasn’t the only thing—the girls were on fine display, as usual, enhanced by pregnancy. Jack always thought pregnant women were beautiful, and Colleen had a lot going for her to begin with. Lucas was behind the bar, helping out. Colleen waved, then did a double take. “Oh, hey! Frankie, right?”
“You have a great memory,” Frankie said. “Is that a love bump I see?”
“It most certainly is.” Colleen put her hand on her stomach and beamed. “This Spanish pirate is my husband, Lucas Campbell.”
“I’m actually a contractor,” Lucas said, shaking Frankie’s hand. “Nice to meet you. Hey, Jack. Hadley.”
“I liked pirate better,” Frankie said. “I’m Jack’s ex-sister-in-law.”
“I don’t think Jack considers you an ex-anything,” Hadley chirped.
“Let’s see.” Coll scanned the restaurant, then smiled knowingly. “You want to join Emmaline and her sister? They just sat down, and I bet they won’t mind. Otherwise, it’ll be about forty-five minutes.”
“Oh, no, that’s fine. We’ll wait for a table,” Hadley said.
“Sure, we’ll join them,” Jack said a bit too aggressively. “Sounds perfect.”
EMMALINE AND ANGELA had been having a really nice time—well, Angela was the type who’d have a really nice time with anyone from Kim Jong-un to the Real Housewives of New Jersey, since there wasn’t a mean bone in her body. But it was rare that the sisters ever got to do anything just the two of them...maybe twice, Em thought.
And, she admitted, it was awfully nice to have Angela confiding in her.
Angela had been in a relationship with a woman named Beatrice, but things hadn’t been right for a while. When the chance came to teach astrophysics at Cornell for the rest of the semester, she jumped at it.
“I just couldn’t face Mama and Papa,” she said. “They’re going to be shocked. They’re not the most observant people in the world, for all that they’re such involved parents,” Angela said with a guilty smile.
“I know,” Em murmured. “I think I’ve broken their hearts by being straight.”
Angela laughed, then looked up. “Why, hello, Jack! How wonderful to see you again!”
Jack stood there with Colleen, Hadley and another woman, shorter and also quite pretty, with spiky hair and lots of piercings.
“You guys mind sharing a table?” Colleen asked, giving Em a wink. Good old Colleen. Em smiled back.
“Not at all, not at all,” Angela said. “Please join us. Hello, I’m Angela Neal, Emmaline’s sister.”
“Frankie Boudreau. My sister Hadley here was married to Jack for a brief time.”
Angela didn’t bat an eyelash. “Hello, Hadley. What a pretty name! I’m Angela.”
“Hi,” Hadley said. She looked as if she smelled decaying animal.
“How do y’all know Jack?” Frankie asked.
“Em and I are dating,” he said, claiming the chair next to Emmaline.
“You are?” Angela exclaimed. “Oh, hooray! I knew it was real. I could feel it.” She sat back and beamed.
“Well, tonight just got more interesting, didn’t it?” Frankie smiled and sat down across from Angela.
“So you need a bodyguard?” Em whispered as Jack sat next to her.
“You got that right,” he murmured. “I owe you.”
“Yes, you do,” she said, taking a sip of her wine (apricot and grass with a hint of limestone...or maybe it was just grapey, but she was trying).
Hadley sat down across from Jack, slid her little pink cardigan off her shoulders to reveal a pink sleeveless dress. “This is so nice, being here again,” she said, fluttering her lashes. “I always loved this little place. Jack and I had so many fun times here.”
“Isn’t it lovely?” Angela said. “Frankie, forgive me—I’m not from around here. Do you live in town?”
“I don’t, but before I say another thing, I just gotta tell you how much I love your accent,” Frankie said.
Angela laughed. “And I love yours, as well.”
“Eastern Africa?”
“Oh, my goodness, yes! What an ear you have!”
“I spent a few weeks in Kenya on an animal preserve,” Frankie said. “I’m finishing up my veterinarian degree at Cornell.”
“How wonderful! I start teaching there next week. Relativity and astrophysics for Dr. Bering.”
“That smelly old dog? I took his Searching the Solar System class just for fun, or so I thought. Well, I tell you, his students are in for a real treat when you walk through the door.”
“Should I make her stop flirting?” Jack asked Em.
Em looked at her sister, who certainly didn’t seem to be suffering. “Nah. Ange can handle herself.”
Hadley had a pinched look on her face. “Looks like our sisters are getting on like a house on fire,” Emmaline said to her. “Sweet, isn’t it?”
“Mmm,” Hadley said, opening the menu.
Jack had his arm around the back of Em’s chair. He gave the back of her arm a small caress, and her side broke out in goose bumps. When his eyes met hers, a hint of a smile warmed his eyes from January blue to Caribbean sky.
God. Listen to her. So much for warning herself not to get carried away.
But he shouldn’t be looking at her like that in front of his ex-wife, no matter how much of a pain in the ass the woman was.
And Em knew what it was like to watch your ex with another woman.
“How are things with you, Hadley?” she surprised herself by asking.
Before Hadley could answer, Hannah O’Rourke swung by with a bottle of red and another of white. “For the hero of the Midwinter Miracle and his friends,” she stated grandly. “Sent by Barb Nelson, who wouldn’t mind interviewing you for the paper. She guessed the answer would be no but wants you to have the wine anyway.”
Jack’s eyes went flat. “She’s right,” he said. But he turned around, spotted Barb and waved. When he turned back, Em could feel him locking up. His arm was no longer around her chair.
As the evening unfolded, Frankie and Angela did most of the talking, each of them gifted at the art of conversation. Hadley said very little, though she laughed loudly whenever anything remotely funny was said. There was a “Look at me—I’m so much fun!” desperation to her, and while it was irritating, Em couldn’t help feeling sorry for her. In this little circle of five, she was the odd man out.
“Have you had any decorating jobs lately, Hadley?” she asked as their dinners were brought out.
“No. As a matter of fact, I haven’t,” Hadley said tightly.
“Are you an interior decorator?” Angela asked. “How interesting!”
“Not according to my family,” Hadley snapped. “Frankie’ll be a vet before long—”
“You’ll never guess where this hand was today, by the by,” Frankie said. “In a cow’s vajayjay. Mother and calf are both doing just fine.”
“And as I was saying before my sister interrupted me, my sister Ruthie is a doctor, and Rachel’s a state representative, and, as my daddy puts it, I like pretty things. No one understands or appreciates what I do.”
Frankie rolled her eyes, and Jack sighed. Em concurred. Hadley was hard to take.
“I think it’s a wonderful field,” Angela said. “What would life be like if we didn’t all have our little refuges to come back to?”
“Emmaline and I went curling today with her high school kids,” Jack began, and a storm flashed across Hadley’s face at the change of subject.
“What’s curling?” Frankie asked.
“Excuse me,” came a rather slurred male voice. “I just had to tell you how beautiful you are.”
“Oh, thank you!” said Hadley, looking up with a bright smile. “That’s so sweet of you to say!”
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
Hadley’s mouth dropped open in shock. And please, Em thought. Hadley was beautiful, yes, but Angela was breathtaking and otherworldly and dazzling. Em smiled at her sister, who lifted a flawless eyebrow. “He’s talking to you, Emmaline,” she said.
Em looked up. “You are?” Goofy-looking guy, that dorky, sculpted hair flip in the front. He was maybe twenty-five years old.
“Yeah.” He smiled. “You’re really...wow.” He swayed a little.
“You driving tonight?” Em asked.
“Not if you’ll take me home,” he said, bracing his hands on the end of their table.
“Have I mentioned I’m a cop?” she said.
“Have I mentioned how hot that is?” he countered.
“She’s with me, pal,” Jack said. Hadley’s lips disappeared.
“Oh, I love that,” Frankie said. “I mean, I may like girls, Jack, but that was delicious, buddy.”
“S’okay, dude,” the guy said. “I getcha. But you, lady, are hot.” He glanced at Frankie. “And you’re not so bad, either.”
“No driving, bub,” Em said.
“Yes, Officer. Though I wouldn’t object if you handcuffed me.”
“Wow. I’ve never heard that one before,” Em said.
Jack started to rise, but the guy grinned—he was pretty cute—and wove away.
Angela clapped in delight. “Oh, Emmaline, does that happen to you all the time?”
“Uh, no,” she said with a grin. Only Angela could ask that with a straight face. “Excuse me, I just want to make sure he’s really not driving.”
“Yes, please do,” Hadley said. “The poor man was so drunk he could barely see straight.” She drained her wine and held her glass out for more.
Em paused. A talent was a talent, and Hadley had certainly mastered the art of the razor-sharp put-down.
She went over to the guy’s table in the corner, where he was sitting with some friends about the same age. “Do we have a designated driver here?” she asked.
“That’d be me,” one of the guys said, holding up his glass. “Seltzer water.”
“Great. Just wanted to check and make sure the Boy Wonder here wasn’t driving. I’m a cop,” she added, just in case.
“You followed me! I knew it!” Drunk Boy said. “You wanna step in the bathroom, have a good time?”
“No,” Emmaline said. Drunk people. Sigh.
“Shut up, idiot,” one of his friends said.