Page 24 of The Marriage Mistake

The woman looked at me. “I’m Gabi.” She gestured at Jack. “Our daughters are best friends.”

“That’s nice,” I replied.

“How are you settling in? I have to say, Jack, I never thought you’d agree to your grandmother’s plans. You, married? I think you’ve broken every heart in Hancock County!”

Jack gave her one of his false, charming smiles. They were easy to spot now. He crossed over to where I stood and slung an arm around my shoulders, tugging me closer. “What can I say? Maybe Grandma’s right about the whole thing.”

I knew I was stiff, and I did my best to soften against him. My arm went around his back, and my hand curled into his shirt. He smelled like spice and man, with a hint of sweet berry from his smoothie. He was warm—he was always warm—and I didn’t want to admit how nice it felt to have the weight of his arm around me.

Gabi’s smile looked a little wooden as she flicked her gaze between the two of us. “Well, I’m delighted that you two seem to be getting along so quickly. We’ll see if it lasts,” she added with a laugh. “Right, Jack?”

Jack went still and stiff beside me, but neither of us had the time to answer before Darby returned. She looked at Gabi, then at the two of us. It looked like she had to fight hard not to roll her eyes.

“Bye, Dad. Bye, Ember.”

“Bye, kiddo,” Jack replied, disengaging from me to give his daughter a hug.

She wiggled her fingers at us—at Jack, mostly—and walked out the door.

There was a short, tense silence, and I looked at my husband. “You’ve slept with her, haven’t you?”

His head jerked toward me. “What? Jealous again, Ember?”

I gave him a flat look. “I’m not the one who was jealous in that interaction.”

He sighed. Grimaced. “Gabi and I had a little fling when the girls were little. It barely lasted a month. It was a long time ago. We’re both over it.”

“Uh-huh.”

“We are!”

“You might be,” I replied. “Just out of curiosity, how many more interactions will I have like this? Have you slept with every single woman in town?”

“Christ, Ember.” He shoved a hand through his hair.

“So that’s a yes,” I said. There was something amusing about his discomfort, but the whole interaction stung a little. It was a good reminder of what was going on here. We were playing house, we were faking it in public, but that was it.

When we went into town, I held Jack’s hand and reminded myself it meant nothing.

On Thursday, Darby and Jack went to get their second rabies prophylactic shot. No one passed out, which Darby cheerfully announced when they got back home. I told her I was glad, and she laughed while her dad grumbled.

On Friday night, I heard the noise of work in the kitchen, and I figured Jack and Darby were doing their own thing. That was fine; there were some leftovers from yesterday I could heat up when they were done. I turned back to my computer and kept working until there was a knock on the door.

With a touch of a key, I put the screen to sleep and called out, “Yes?”

“It’s me,” Jack said through the door.

My traitorous heart took off, which annoyed me. “Come in,” I said, and butterflies swarmed in my stomach as Jack appeared in the open doorway. His hair was mussy but his eyes were bright. At the end of the day, his stubble was grown out from the clean shave he gave it in the morning. Very sexy. If you were into that kind of thing. Which I was not.

“Dinner’s ready.”

“Oh,” I said, a little shocked. “Do you…want me to eat with you guys?”

Jack frowned. “Yes?”

“I heard you and Darby downstairs, and I thought… I didn’t want to intrude… I figured…”

Jack leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms, making his arms strain against the sleeves of his T-shirt. He was all easy grace and male strength. It was hard to look at him sometimes. His brow arched as his lip twitched. “Ember. Are you hungry?”