Page 8 of Their Forever Daddy

“Sure.” Grinning, Edie stepped aside and waved toward her office. “There’s a nice thick wooden ruler in the top drawer on the right, if you need it.”

A wicked smile lit Matt’s face. “Perfect. Thanks, Edie.”

Carly gasped, her eyes going wide with shocked betrayal. “You traitor!”

Edie shrugged as Matt dragged his errant babygirl toward the back of the store. “I did try to warn you he wasn’t going to be happy if he found you here.”

Whatever reply Carly might have made was cut off by the closing of the office door. A moment later, the unmistakable sound of a Daddy’s palm connecting with his Little girl’s bare bottom came through the door, followed by Carly’s pitiful wails and Edie shook her head. “I swear that girl is never gonna learn.”

“She likes it,” Taylor said with a grin. “I don’t think she’s happy if she’s not getting her butt roasted at least once a week.”

“Which is part of why Matty is so perfect for her.”

“He is.” Sighing dreamily, Taylor leaned back against the counter where the cash register sat. “They looked so in love at the wedding. I hope Ian and I will be that happy if we ever get married.”

“You will.” The same grief that had been chasing her all morning gripped Edie by the throat as memories of her own wedding day filled her mind. “You, Noelle, Carly, Ginny; you’ve all got happily-ever-after written all over you.”

Worry replaced the happiness in Taylor’s expression. “Are you okay? With Jesse being here and everything, I mean?”

It was tempting to lie and brush it off like it didn’t matter. But she’d have been pissed if any of her girls lied to her about something so important. Edie McDowell may have been a lot of things, but she certainly wasn’t a hypocrite.

“No,” she said with a jerk of her shoulder. “But I will be. Jesse will get tired of whatever game she’s playing soon enough. When she does, she’ll go back to Hollywood, and we can all get on with our lives again.”

The hesitant nod Taylor gave her clearly said she didn’t believe a word Edie had just said. Which was fair, because Edie wasn’t sure she believed any of it, either.

Chapter 4

Edie

* * *

“Where the hell could she have gotten to?” Edie muttered, stepping outside to check for any sign of Jesse, as if she would have magically reappeared in the thirty seconds since she’d last checked. Matt and Carly had left over an hour ago, and so far, Jesse still hadn’t returned to the store.

Behind her, she heard Taylor’s quiet sigh. “She knows this town as well as anybody, Edie. And it would serve her right if you went home without her and she had to find her own way.”

“That’s not the point.”

“What exactly is the point, Edie?”

Turning around, she frowned at Taylor who was watching her through slightly narrowed eyes. “What do you mean?”

Taylor’s eyes narrowed even further, giving Edie the distinct impression she saw far more than Edie wanted her to. “I mean I’ve been sitting here for an hour, watching you watch the door, waiting for her to return like some sort of lovesick puppy. Are you still in love with her?”

The question had Edie’s head snapping back as if Taylor had physically reached out and slapped her. “What? Of course not!”

“Then why didn’t you tell her ‘absolutely the fuck not’ when she asked to stay with you?”

“Because she…” Edie trailed off. “She needed a place to stay, and I have plenty of room.”

“And so does the bed and breakfast two blocks over, not to mention any number of hotels between here and Charleston. It’s not like she can’t afford her choice of accommodations, Edie. Why didn’t you send her packing?”

Frustration mixed with embarrassment was a volatile cocktail, and Edie could feel her fuse growing shorter with every passing second. “Because I didn’t. End of story.”

If Taylor heard the warning in Edie’s tone, she flat out ignored it. “Nope, not good enough. You know if any one of us were in this situation, you’d be threatening us within an inch of our lives until we told you what was going on.”

The fact that there was more than a little truth to Taylor’s statement only had that short fuse burning hotter and faster. “It’s different.”

“It’s not.” Hurt flashed in Taylor’s baby blues. “But fine. I thought we were better friends than that, but if you don’t want to tell me what’s going on with you, then just forget it.”

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