Page 132 of Summer with the Single Dad

“I’ll stay away from you if you stay away from me,” she said, all the fight draining from her body and leaving her with a chill. She struggled not to shiver in front of him. But she managed. That was all she could manage. “Congratulations on the baby, by the way. I hope it looks like neither of you.” Then she spun on her heel in the gravel and booked it up the hill, yanking her phone out of her back pocket and sending off a text message to her parents.

I hear you called Tad. Yes, a patient died on my table. Yes, I’m taking it hard. No, I didn’t have a mental breakdown. Yes, I am taking a sabbatical. And in case he didn’t tell you the WHOLE truth, Tad had an affair with a nurse and got her pregnant. So we are NOT getting married. I am alive. I am working through things. I will be in touch when I am ready but please just give me the space I need to heal. I love you both.

She hit send before she could over-think things and delete it.

It wasn’t until she was through the man-door of the security gate that she exhaled the CO2 that burned her lungs like liquid nitrogen.

She paused and bent over, putting her hands on her thighs as she gulped down big lungfuls of fresh oxygen.

“You okay?” came a sweet, familiar voice. “Justine? Are you okay?”

It was Emme, and she was sitting quietly in the trees, perched on a stump and sketching some of the wildflowers that preferred the shade. She slid off her stump and came over to Justine, crouching down.

“Did something happen?”

How much did you tell a nine-year-old? They were trying so hard not to pile too much responsibility on her. Not to parentify her. Would telling her why Justine was in pain be too much information?

Emme rubbed Justine’s back. “Come into the house. Let’s get you some water.”

Justine allowed Emme to escort her into the house, where she guided Justine onto the couch, then brought her a glass of water. She sat beside Justine, ready to listen.

“I saw someone from my past just now. He hurt me a lot, and he tried to hurt me again.”

Emme’s brown eyes went wide. “Like hit you?”

“No, no.” She shook her head. “Like hurt my heart. My feelings. With his words. He was my boyfriend. Then he decided he didn’t want to be anymore, but he ended things in a really awful way. It’s part of the reason why I came to the island. To just … get away and let my heart heal after he hurt it. But he’s here … he’s staying in cabin five. We just bumped into each other and he was so mean again.”

Emme’s lips dropped into a cute little frown. “I’m sorry he tried to hurt you. That’s not very nice.”

“No. It’s not.”

Emme scooted forward and wrapped her arms around Justine in a hug.

Justine hugged her back. Tight. They held onto each other for a while, neither of them saying anything and slowly, the fight-or-flight feeling in her body began to fade. She pressed a kiss to Emme’s head before pulling away, tears in her eyes. “Thank you, sweetheart. That was exactly what I needed.”

Emme smiled.

“Where is your sister?”

“She went with Talia, Brooke, and Uncle Clint to the grocery store. I didn’t want to go. Uncle Jagger has the boys on a bike ride. And my dad is down in his office or something.”

“How do you feel being left alone? Not like too much responsibility is being put on you, I hope?”

Emme shook her head, jostling her dark curls. “No. I like the quiet. And my dad and uncles are just down the hill. She pointed to the walkie talkie on the coffee table. “I can talk to them whenever I want.”

Exhaling a deep breath that seemed to cleanse her body of all remaining negative energy, Justine mustered a real smile. She took the little girl’s hand. “I think I’m just going to hang out up here for the rest of the day, if you don’t mind the company?”

Emme lit up. “That’s okay. I was just sketching some flowers outside.”

“That actually sounds really relaxing.”

“I have an extra sketchpad and colored pencils. Do you want to go do it together?”

The back of Justine’s eyes stung as she nodded. “I’d honestly love nothing more, Emerson. Truly.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Justine offered to take care of dinner and put the girls to bed on Friday night. Bennett, Jagger, Wyatt, and Dom were all stuck down at the restaurant dealing with wedding garbage. So it was up to Clint, Brooke, and Justine to manage the children.

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