Page 68 of Summer Holiday Lifeline

Myles nodded. “Okay.”

For a long minute, Jet studied him. “Okay?” he said at last.

Myles nodded again, with more conviction this time. “Okay.”

“You’re not mad about it?”

“Honestly, I don’t know how I feel.” Because they were being honest, right? And he didn’t know how he felt. Grateful he wasn’t the only one looking out for Jet, because he had no idea what the kid really needed. But hurt because it was Ozzy. And angry with himself, because why be hurt if the situation was helping Jet? Wasn’t that what he should want above all else?

He sighed. None of that mess was Jet’s problem. “If it helps, talking to him, then it doesn’t matter.”

Jet narrowed his eyes. “You’d let me talk to your ex? About all of this?”

“Ozzy is an excellent listener. Just because he and I have issues doesn’t change that.”

“Even if some of it is about you?”

Myles shrugged, because whether he liked it or not, nothing he said would stop Jet doing what he was going to do. In this case, at least what he was doing might actually be good for him. Ozzy might not have been objective enough to be helpful for Myles, and that was… well, it was whatever it was. If he was helping Jet, Myles didn’t think he had the right to an opinion. “You need to talk about me to someone, you should. If Ozzy has a problem with it, he’ll tell you. We can deal with that if it happens.”

Jet almost smiled. “What if I decide I like him more than you?”

Another sigh he couldn’t hold back, because yeah. That was Ozzy all over. “Most people do, in the end,” he conceded.

Jet snorted. “You’re not that bad, you know.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Jet patted his knee. “You’d best get going if you want some quality time with what’s-his-name. We’re learning to cook pasta today, and I expect that’ll take you some time.”

“Funny.”

“Someday we will look back on your cooking and laugh.” He levelled a serious look at Myles. “But today is not that day.”

“Okay Lord of the Rings nerd.”

“What can I say? Viggo’s my man crush.”

“File that under things I didn’t need to know.” He practically ran for the door as Jet snickered.

On some level, he knew that talk would require some processing, but for now, he had a date. Another one. And Steven’s was a nice, neutral place to relax and just, for a moment, not think of all the adulting things going on in the background. Escapism? Maybe. But didn’t everyone need that once in a while?

He did stop in the front room of the B and B to collect Shelly, but at the moment, she was sitting in the front window petting Emma and chatting with Tiffany, another regular guest, who looked up when he approached and smiled.

“Do you need my writing partner, then?” Tiffany asked.

“You’re the writer,” Myles said, remembering someone had warned him about her and her penchant for using everyone and, quite literally, their dogs, in her books. The reminder made him ever-so-slightly queasy.

“I am. And Shelly is telling me stories of her mother.”

Myles’s heart stuttered. “She is?”

Tiffany reached over and took his hand. “She’s a very bright little girl.”

Myles nodded, unable to get words past the sudden lump in his throat.

“Why don’t you go and have a nice, relaxing morning with Steven. I suspect you both could use a little grown-up attention. Of whatever kind,” she added when Myles’s eyes bugged a little. “Shelly is safe enough here, and maybe talking to someone less invested is just what she needs right now.”

“She can be⁠—”