Page 50 of Just One Kiss

“She just needs to get some time off work,” Josh said.

“Can we afford that?” Jaden asked.

Carly held on to the handles of the purse she’d slung over her shoulder.

“Yeah,” Josh said. “It’ll be fine.”

“How?” Jaden asked.

“Don’t worry about it, kid. It’s going to be fine.” Josh looked at Carly until finally, she looked back. She didn’t like this, and he knew it, but she was going to have to accept his help if she wanted to be there for Jaden.

And if she did, then finally—finally—Josh would have a tangible way to prove himself to her.

And while he wasn’t thankful for the circumstances that had brought him back to Harbor Pointe, he was thankful he was there. He only prayed he wasn’t the only one.

13

“Jay, you wanna rematch?” Josh asked as they walked to the car.

A rematch of some video game battle, no doubt. Carly wouldn’t be able to think straight if Josh came to their house again. And yet, Jaden couldn’t do much else—shouldn’t she loosen up a little?

But how? The man turned her insides out, and she was terrified her resolve was crumbling right along with the anger she’d carried for so many years. That anger had kept her safe, a constant reminder of what would happen if she was foolish with her heart.

Without it, Carly was utterly defenseless.

“I mean if it’s cool with your mom,” Josh said.

Jaden glanced at Carly, then back at his dad. “She’s probably got another date with Dr. Doolittle anyway.”

“Manners.” Her tone warned. Jaden’s expression turned sheepish the way it often did when he knew he’d crossed a line. Never mind that Jaden likely viewed David as the enemy—someone who insisted on taking away the one thing that mattered most to him.

She didn’t want to think about her last conversation with David, the one in which he asked her to go out on his boat with him once they were through all of this medical stuff. He’d said it as if she could think—even for a second—about anything other than her son.

Maybe the doctor was so accustomed to delivering this kind of news and performing these kinds of procedures that he failed to realize there were real people on the receiving end of what he said.

David might be a nice guy, but right now, she sort of wanted to forget they’d ever seen each other as anything other than doctor/mother-of-patient.

“Do you?” Josh looked at her, his blue eyes drawing her in from feet away.

Carly shook her head.

“Can we go to Dockside?” Jaden asked. “You know, one last hurrah before I’m laid up for a month?”

“You won’t be a complete invalid,” Carly said. “You still have to keep your room picked up.”

“Slave driver.” Jaden smirked, a hint of amusement washing over him, then looked at Josh. “She never cuts me any slack.”

Josh still stared at Carly. “I bet she doesn’t.”

Carly tried to think of something witty and nonchalant to say in response, but her head was filled with thoughts she’d never say aloud. Besides, she didn’t feel witty or nonchalant.

They’d been through so much, and yet the journey they were walking out now felt bigger than everything that had come before.

Carly’s eyes darted from Jaden to Josh and back again. The two of them together—it was hard to get used to—and yet, nothing about their relationship seemed stunted in any way. Jaden had forgiven Josh—no strings. He didn’t even seem concerned that Josh might let him down again.

Jaden was young and foolish. Carly knew better.

“Mom?” Jaden snapped his fingers.

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