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When I woke up, it was to Bailey waving coffee under h it was a Sunday and he and Bailey typically spent the day together Bailey switched on the nehile I nibbled toast and seethed over Ian Devlin

“I called the girls They’re on their way over”

I turned my irritation to her “Why?”

“Because I feel out of my depth here” Her features were strained “I don’t knohat I can say to convince you to let go of this spiritual promise you’ve made to your sister, for lack of a better phrase But I think Jessica ht be able to help”

“So why not only call her?” I was petulant, vulnerable, now that my deepest fears were out in the world

Bailey turned pensive “Because you’re right about Eht about her situation, and I hope that if you and Jess trust her enough with your history, then maybe one day she’ll trust us with hers”

“Two birds, one stone,” I muttered

“If I had a deep, dark past, you know I’d share it in a heartbeat to help her out Fortunately, my life has been rather blessed”

I shot her a disbelieving look “Your boyfriend of ten years cheated on you Stu Devlin assaulted you, and then your sister tried to sell your inn out from beneath you”

Bailey waved her hand “That’s child play coh”

Despite my reluctance to share with Emery and Jess, I couldn’t help but admit that I was curious about Jessica’s past

While aited for the girls, I washed up and borrowed yoga pants and a T-shirt fro and the T-shirt a little too tight across the chest, but it would have to do Feeling inally more human, I made my way downstairs and discovered Emery and Jessica had arrived

They watched me with round eyes filled with curiosity and concern

“Let’s get this over with” I flopped down on an armchair with estured to the enormous L-shaped couch

Once they were settled, I pushed through my fears, my nerves, and reminded myself this was Jess and Emery I could trust them Bailey believed I could trust them too